That Guy!

Matt Goltz
31 Jan 2005

We here at the Film Basement have long-appreciated the work of not just the big-name actors, but also of the bit players, character-actors if you will, who've played endless thugs, bad guys, clerks, police sergeants, and newspaper vendors over the years. These are the actors whose name you don't know, but whose face you recognize immediately. Often such actors are used in the same type or role again and again. There are some actors you see so often as the Chief of Police, that when you see them selling the Hero an ice cream cone, something feels wrong. Others are just reliable faces that can be used as "filler people" in any slot. We feel that these unsung actors deserve their moment in the spotlight, free from the shadows of the Name Talent they so often support.

This month: Kim Coates

Typical Roles: Guy Who Gets Killed

Most Famous Role: The Last Boy Scout

Most recently seen in: Assault on Precinct 13 and Hostage

Here we have Kim Coates (not to be confused with Kim Coles from "In Living Color," which I did the other day). One look at Kim and you know you're in for something special. As in "a very special death scene."

This steely-eyed freakazoid has made an impression over the years playing various reaper-bait characters in films such as Open Range, Waterworld, Innocent Blood and as Officer "Rosey" Rosen in the recent Assault on Precinct 13. The moment he appears on screen in Assault, this coffin-stuffer immediately elicits a softly whispered "uh oh" as we in the audience instinctively know that he, like the fabled Star Trek "red shirts," is not long for his particular world. In fact if I were some sort of internet hacker, I'd sneak onto imdb.com and change every character's name he ever played to "Guy Who Gets Killed."

With his funky combo of Chris Penn's voice and Vincent Gallo's sweaty creepiness, Coates always stands out -- most memorably in the cinematic treasure The Last Boy Scout, with Bruce Willis. Remember with me the moment in which he roundhouses Willis across the jawstubble, to which Willis replies, "If you touch me again, I'll kill you." Coates does, of course, and it's not long before Willis biotch-smacks him to Hell by driving Coates's nosebone up into his brain with a single punch. Coates goes down like Tara Reid after a pint of Guinness...

"...And we will always remember."

Where you've probably seen him:

Open Range
Black Hawk Down
Pearl Harbor
The Last Boy Scout

Check out Kim Coates's full list of credits at The Internet Movie Database.

And an excellent interview with Kim about Hollywood, how the industry has changed, being friends with Ewan McGregor, and how he doesn't "...want to be a movie star... " is available from The University of Saskatchewan. Says Kim, "Do I get recognized? Absolutely. Is it still quite sweet? Yes, it is. I’m ‘that guy’ to a lot of people," Indeed he is.