From Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Have you ever seen a fairly mediocre hour television that is only recovered by a killer guest star? Sometimes even professionals in the television industry will be the first to admit that they were given a fairly lackluster script and that the only thing that holds history is the strong performance of the guest actor this week. For example, the director, who worked on the episode “Roland” The X files.
Željko Ivanek with the X files episode “Roland”
If you have not seen it or just need a refreshment, “Roland” is an episode in which the title character is an intellectually disabled man who is manipulated in murderous actions by his cryogenic frozen twin brother. Even after the creepy shows, this storyline was best the 90s -soap opera Schlock. Many who have worked on this episode X files The result, which started with director David Nutter, said: “When I knew I had him, I thought it was important to drive it as far as possible to outweigh the weaknesses in the script.”
One of David Nutter’s biggest criticisms on the script of this episode is that his villain was “a bit abstract”. This is because the Big Bad was a guy in a cryogenic stasis that we cannot even see until the end of the episode … not exactly a tangible threat like the cigarette smoker lurking in the corner. However, when he realized the extensive acting coast Željko Ivanek, the X files Director attached more emphasis on the Roland figure, which led to an episode that he thought was a really strong character.
Chris Carter In general, this assessment agreed and found that “for me (Željko Ivanek’s representation) the episode made one that X files Fans will never forget. He really praised David Nutter and the writing staff for the trap and the episode. ” In fact, Carter Roland loved so much that he allowed one of the unspoken musical rules of the show to be completely broken.
Accordingly X files The composer Mark Snow, David Nutter “said that a strange little topic on the piano would be great for this figure”, but Snow knew very well that Chris Carter was “really not in melodic music”, so he knew that he had to get this song “Just Right”. The result is “this simple, very childish, slightly abandoned, sad piece” … the way that immediately stood out in the scary and atmospheric tracks of the show. Fortunately, Carter loved the song that perfectly summarized the inner struggle of the title character.
In retrospect, it is easy to see how the creative staff behind “Roland” put all of their chips on the performance of Željko Ivanek. He got a fleshy proportion of the screen time, a custom song and an unforgettable end arch. And that made him an outstanding character in one season, which included early fan favorites like the lonely armed men and Walter Skinner.
At the end of the day, David Nutter’s instincts were right: Željko Ivanek’s powerful spectacle was really the highlight of an otherwise quite mediocre X files Consequence. Fortunately for the line -up and the crew, this was a show that was about great personalities, and Ivanek’s Roland character could be as convincing in his limited time on the screen as it was David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson’s former FBI agent. And that makes this episode worth being seen again before you have put it back on hold (preferably freezing cryogenic).
