I've come out of hibernation today...

...  just to wish  you a Happy Birthday, dear Muse.

I see that you are finally signing on for some new roles after your travels and that must make you very happy.

I also notice that you are single again and I hope that is to your liking and not something forced on you.  Of course you say you like variety and perhaps that's so, so no use flogging a dead horse if that one is indeed dead.

I also see that you either finally got a stylist to help you dress since you have been looking quite the fashion plate for a while now, or you've finally gotten some fashion sense.  It makes me a little sad because I can no longer rib you about your lack of sartorial acumen.  Be a sweetheart and wear something totally mismatched just for me one of these days so that I can remember the good old days and have an honest to goodness smile knowing that still is part of who you are.

Little Boy Blue

As you enter middle age (sorry, I had to say that just to tease you) and you study how to be a better older version of yourself, I wish you much luck and good health.  I know you are always searching for meaning in everything you do and I'm glad to see that continuing classes with Mr. Speiser is part of the agenda.

I'm still watching from afar and hoping that one day I will see some of the sparks onscreen  that made me sit up and notice you in the first place.

I was reading an article about Tom Hiddleston this morning and he said that he loved that people remembered the characters he played on screen and not him the actor.  I wish that for you.   I think I've said it before and thought of you when I read that statement.   I think the problem that some of us have with you is that you are such a personality that those who watch you have problems losing themselves in your characters.   Being larger than life in person is difficult in the sense that people expect the characters you play to be as large and that doesn't often happen.

That wasn't the case when no one knew who you were.  You could be the stranger in Dear Frankie, The Phantom, King Leonidas or the guy in The Jury because you were still a new face to most.   Of course, I think the quality of the material you were working with in those instances was also there to support you and that helped.  I think the answer to this dilemma is not to tamp down your personality, because you are who you are, but to seek out roles that are maybe the opposite of what people expect or so interesting and well written that they will be memorable.

I still like to think that one day I will walk into one of your movies and see, not you, but a fully realized character with the power to move me.  There have been glimmers of it in a few good performances (Coriolanus and Machine Gun Preacher), but I'd  love to see more than a glimmer.  I do hope that once you get past your action hero phase (yes, I know you have to capitalize on that now) that you will find the right role (or it will find you) at the right time, with the right director, and that those of us who saw the early magic will see it blossom again, more seasoned, but there.

I wish you the best always, dear Gerry.  Some part of you still has a small hold on a tiny little corner of my heart because you made me care about something I'd forgotten about a long time ago and  because I had such fun watching you bluster through the scene like a small tornado with all the inherent debris left behind by its passing.

Be well, be happy and keep on being you...despite the fame and adulation.

Much affection,

Zoni

Songs out of tune, the words always a little wrong...Canzoni Stonate