Elgyn

"Might I have the pleasure of your name....before I have you run through?" "Course, can't put much stock in a man who spends most part of a conversation talkin' to a bear." "You know what will be said about this in Spain, don't you?" "I collect swords, you see. I take them from the men I've killed." "Childhood's over the moment you know you're gonna die." "You ask God for help and I'll stop the moment he shows up."

WARNING: THERE ARE VIDEOS AND PHOTO GALLERIES ON THIS PAGE AND IT MAY LOAD SLOWLY

It is said that Michael Wincott is an actor who "lives the character" and he himself says, "You have to be careful so you don't make your character dull and predictable. Sometimes you have to bend the script a little". Well, just watch three different movies and you'll see three different characters, but not Michael. He blends in like a chameleon. Mind you, a gorgeous one.

This section of michaelwincott.org delves into some of the memorable characters Michael has so deftly brought to life. There are screen capture photo galleries, Flash videos, and my review of the film.

Greedy space smuggler . . .

Captain Frank Elgyn from Alien Resurrection

Alien Resurrection is the quirky, gloomy, action heavy fourth installment in the Alien series. French director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet {City of Lost Children and Delicatessen} brings together an international cast of diverse acting styles and backgrounds to try and breathe life into a somewhat predictable story. Actually, the story is formulaic of alien and monster movies, but what else would you expect from Joss Whedon, the mind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly?

Set on the massive “military ship” Auriga, the dark and slimy scenes leave the viewer feeling both nauseous and dirty. Dan Hedaya is effective as General Perez, the on-board leader of the secret operation taking place on the Auriga. It turns out there are alien eggs ready to hatch and release those long fingered suck facers which we can all admit are almost scarier than the actual adult aliens. You see “they”, the mysterious militaristic scientists of the far future, found a way to clone Ellen Ripley from blood taken just before her famous bald headed swan dive into the fire in Alien 3. Two hundred years after her death, she’s back. Well, sort of.

Sigourney Weaver is one of my favorite people in the world. Not only is she a great actress, but seems extremely intelligent and like a fun person to know. She owns the character of Ripley, and yet loses her in this film. The twisted sub-plot about her cloning procedure and sickening “offspring” with the alien queen she carried in her chest takes away the feisty Ripley we knew in Alien and Aliens. I got that she was a hybrid and didn’t have her true memories, but the tone of the film made it hard to connect emotionally. I just wanted to see her kick some alien ass, not contemplate her new place in the universe.

Enter the Betty, a small cargo ship delivering the “military test subjects” and enter Michael Wincott as Betty’s captain, Frank Elgyn. “Hey, son, I'll give ya my authorization code. It's E-A, T-M, E.” First impressions lead us to believe he has experience getting into and out of trouble, but is generally a good guy. He obviously has a thing going with his co-pilot Hilliard played by Kim Flowers, and a friendship with crew man, Christie, played by CSI’s Gary Dourdan. [RIP Warrick Brown]

His main scene is with Hedaya. “Drink, Elgyn? Constantly.” It's good. We’ve all seen it by now. However I would have liked seeing him interact with Sigourney. He is of course adorable in his spiky crew cut and big leather coat. I won’t begin to tell you how much of a turn-on those boots and fingerless gloves are. That is for another kind of website.

The crew of the Betty deliver the cargo, unaware of the gruesome fate of the comatose people in the lifepods and go about having a little R&R. Elgyn and Hilliard share some “quality time” with their boots off or knocking, whichever, Christie and Johner(Ron Perlman(LOVE HIM TOO) and the mousy Call(Winona-I thought I paid for those-Ryder) hang out drinking in the gymnasium, and Gen. Perez has a good time sex waxing his boots. Suddenly, (wow didn’t see that coming) the aliens cleverly escape and start to eat people, carry off more baby hosts, and basically all Hell break’s loose. General Perez gets his brains handed to him by an alien.

Sometime in the midst of this, Call sneeks into Ellen’s cell in a pathetic attempt to destroy the alien she thinks is still inside. DUH! This was the DUMBEST part of the whole film. What on earth or space made her think the thing was still there? How the f**k did she even know about the cloned Ripley? And who the Hell told Winona she could act?

So Betty’s crew decides to bail along with some of the militants. Elgyn is at the back of the pack with a couple of big guns in hand, but decides he’s too greedy to leave behind the guns he spots on the floor of some dark, steamy, goo-dripping corridor. (When I saw this film in theatre I giggled when several old ladies behind me said, “Oh dear that dumb boy is next.” Why they were even seeing this movie in the first place is funny.) Well as it is nearly his trademark, Michael’s underused character ignores the warnings of alien slime and gets gutted by the silver projecting teeth. An ignominious death for our Little Man.

I won’t tell you a lot about the rest as I pretty much lost interest after that. There are the classic chases through dark hallways, a claustrophobic climb up an air shaft, a swim with the aliens, and a bunch of people die. Ellen’s “baby” with the queen creeps out of the shadows (worst creature design ever) and gets sucked through a window like Goldfinger. Come to think of it the “baby” looked a little like Goldfinger. (Sorry, Gert Frobe)