Burn Gorman has the misfortune of having been born looking like the weird guy in the movie or show. Or maybe it’s not a misfortune since obviously he’s been doing very well and has managed to show up in some very popular shows and movies. Granted he’s either the guy that looks like the oddball or the bad guy but the point is that he looks the parts he’s playing and despite being typecast a time or two he’s been able to give a performance that was worthy of the production. Being the weird guy, the bad guy, or the hero isn’t so much the point in many productions to be honest, it’s what you can do with the part once you’ve got it and how well you manage to get people to like or hate you. That’s one of the biggest parts of the job after all, getting the audience to feel one way or another about your character, and Burn does that very well. Whether he’s the bad guy or the good guy he seems overplayed just a bit, but at the same time that quality is what makes him noticeable and either gets the audience on his side or firmly set against him.
That’s one of his best qualities really, being able to go over the top. Here are just a few of the instances in which he’s been seen to be very good at what he does.
Game of Thrones
He wasn’t one of the longtimers on the show but the part he did play was particularly despicable and he did have a good run while he was there. Game of Thrones is full of villains that people don’t like, and even heroes that they don’t care for, but Karl was one of the worst since he turned upon his own comrades and even caused the death of his Lord Commander. Just imagine what he might have done had he been able to get back to the Wall and start causing trouble. Thankfully he didn’t make it out of the north, as the little insurrection he caused was where he was finally put down like a rabid dog. But you’ve got to admit that his character was something quite special since it takes a lot of effort to be remembered on Game of Thrones due to the number of big names and bigger personalities that abound on the show.
Pacific Rim: Uprising
Taking up the role of Hermann once again Burn managed this time to finally pull ahead of his fellow scientist, Newt, in a couple of ways at least. Where Newt was affected and controlled by the Precursors, Hermann kept his own identity and was at the forefront of the Jaeger program, becoming highly influential and pulling away from the caricature that he’d been in the first film. This time around he was a more serious individual and became a fully-rounded character that is an integral part of the group and not just a weirdo that knows a lot about the kaiju but is kind of hard to be near. In essence Hermann finally became a guy that was really depended upon when it came to understanding the kaiju. Unfortunately Newt became the bad guy, in a way.
Pacific Rim
Hermann was kind of a goof in this movie. He was a needed goof but he was hard to listen to and even harder to take since he was more of a stereotypical intellectual that didn’t know how to deal with people all that well but at least had more people skill than Newt did. In fact if you want to be honest they both swung kind of wide of the mark when it came to being a rational, level-headed human being. But they were still vital to the movie since those that could understand the scientific aspect, or act like they did, were needed for a film like this. So putting up with him being a little nerdy is more than possible since in all likelihood just having Newt would have been less than adequate. But thankfully by the second movie his character managed to get a bit of an upgrade in the attitude department.
This one I just had to add.
You might not have believed this one had you not seen it for yourself, but Burn actually got into beatboxing and was quite good to be honest. Given what he’s already done in his career and the fact that he has been either the creepy, bad, or odd guy in many productions it’s not the kind of thing you would assume that he might do all on his own. But getting up on stage you can see that he’s actually quite good at what he’s doing and is able to lay down a pretty sick beat.
I was surprised too, but pleasantly so.
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