Arliss Howard is a fine supporting actor whose understated delivery makes authority feel ordinary. We rate him for the unease that can produce, though a brief, well-judged appearance cannot supply everything a film lacks.
Fi1m perspective
Arliss Howard's Claybourne in The Killer (2023) looks frightened and unremarkable, which is a useful way to play a man who pays for violence. David Fincher gives the supporting cast a scene apiece, and Howard does not need to make his contribution any larger. We were unsettled by that ordinariness, because Howard is showing us who these men work for. His restrained delivery gives the client enough recognisable human weakness to make him more troubling than a grand display of villainy would.
His breakthrough was Private Cowboy in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), and supporting work in ensembles became the main business of his career. R. Lee Ermey dominates the training camp, where Kubrick makes military cruelty horribly entertaining. Howard's quieter approach is well suited to a military setting: he can be one member of a group without seeming anonymous. The film loses some grip when it moves to Vietnam, though the change is not enough to undo its force.
The 1990s studio work included Peter Ludlow in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), a villainous supporting part. In Mank (2020), Fincher cast him as studio head Louis B. Mayer. Both roles fit his aptitude for ambitious, morally uncertain businessmen, and give his naturalistic delivery a useful setting. These men have positions that confer importance before Howard needs to do anything; an actor this sparing need not keep reminding us of their status.
There are limits to what such a brief appearance can achieve in The Killer, a lean thriller with little beneath its careful construction. Howard's contribution is worth noticing, but it cannot provide the substance the film lacks. Fincher remains a useful collaborator, giving him authority figures who benefit from being played without much ceremony. Start with Full Metal Jacket; turn to The Killer for a smaller demonstration of what he can do.
Biography
Arliss Howard is an American actor, screenwriter and director. Born Leslie Richard Howard on 18 October 1954 in Independence, Missouri, he graduated from Columbia College.
He is known for supporting roles in Full Metal Jacket (1987), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Moneyball (2011) and Mank (2020). He appeared as The Client – Claybourne in The Killer (2023). Howard has been married to actress Debra Winger since 1996.
