This is something that is widely known, after his work on projects like Frost/Nixon, his guest spot as Englishman “Wesley (pronounced Wez-ley) Snipes” on 30 Rock, being Tony Blair at any chance he gets, and even popping up as crazy characters in Tron: Legacy and The Twilight Saga. My personal favorite Michael Sheen role is the “pendantic gentleman” from Midnight in Paris. He has a rare talent for capturing smarmy while maintaining varying levels of redeeming qualities that make him in some cases entirely likeable, and at worst, completely fascinating.
Dr. William Masters is a tough part, since he’s a cold-hearted SOB who probably lands somewhere on the autism spectrum given his severe social and communicative challenges. He comes alive when he makes any sort of progress on his science though. And this is crucial: it’s when Virginia sees his vigor and expertise in research that she starts to sympathize with him, even grow fond of him, and the part needs to draw a parallel response in us, the audience. Sheen is rather brilliant at showing just enough of Masters’ caring side, the side that really does love his wife in a way, but loves his work in a different yet nonetheless endearing way, that we are drawn in as much to what he’s hiding as what we’re able to learn from him. On top of it all, he balances his scientific genius with an utter lack of self-awareness to perfection.
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