Remember Casey Jones From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Here are 5 Other Movies Elias Koteas is Awesome In
We all remember the long hair hockey stick swinging Casey Jones from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles right? Well if you don’t, you should. His name is Elias Koteas and he happens to be a pretty good actor. Aside from his name being very cool, Koteas has been acting since 1985 and has seen his fair share of roles. At present time you’ve probably seen him on television in shows like CSI but cinematically he was in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Monsieur Gateau. In any event, Koteas is a pretty versatile actor and here are 5 movies that I think are worth seeing, if only to see his performances in them.
Some Kind of Wonderful – 1985
First of all, this was a classic of the ’80s. I personally thought it was way better than Pretty in Pink and Koteas’s portrayal of skinhead badboy “Duncan” was awesome. I personally think he made the movie. I particularly enjoyed him saying “Those were a gift…from your wife,” when acting out towards a teacher. Great stuff.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream – 1988
Elias Koteas played Alex Tremulis, a great scientist who helped Tucker (played by Jeff Bridges) design a car that was to defy all invention. He was incredibly good in this role as a passive sort of guy. I think it showed he can be serious as well as funny.
Crash – 1996
Now this was a creepy movie, period. Let’s not confuse this movie with the Crash of 2004. This Crash is a bit different. Here’s the plot: After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife. Koteas is a wacked out scar guy who ends up having a threesome in his car with James Spader. It’s extremely freaky and underground. This is a nutty role and Koteas nails it.
Fallen – 1998
I personally think this may have been Koteas’s best role in his career. Here he plays a complete psychopath Edgar Reese ii this thriller with Denzel Washington. Probably the best line of this movie is as Reese is about to executed he says to the guard “Hey, if you get me out of this I’ll give you a blow job.” He then starts screaming. Koteas was a solid nut job in this flick.
The Greatest Game ever Played – 2005
Koteas actually pulled off a French accent quite well in this movie. This also happens to be one of Shia Labeouf’s first roles (not that it matters). Koteas did a great job as Arthur Ouimet, the hard nosed father of Labeouf, who is aspiring to win the US Open as a teenager.
And there you have it. I just think Koteas should get more recognition is all. Honorable mention for his role as a homeless guy in Apt Pupil and a small part he had in Gattaca as a prick father.
Hey you forgot Wet Hot American Summer where he plays the chef from Nam, pretty classic one-and he was in both harold and kumar’s- freakshow and the kkk guy
Actually, Jack, in WHAS, that was Chris Meloni (of Law & Order: SVU) as the chef (it is easy to get them confused). I for one, am a huge fan of Elias Koteas, who is way underrated. While those are some great selections, there are some major oversights. I’ll stand by CRASH, as he truly personifies the character as J. G. Ballard wrote him. And he was the best thing in TMNT (sadly, yes, where I discovered him). Mr. Koteas was also worth seeing in: The Thin Red Line (underused), Exotica, The Adjuster, and anything he collaborates with fellow Canadian, Atom Egoyan.
What about Thin Red Line? He and Nick Nolte had some good scenes there.
A thoughtful insight and ideas I will use on my blog. You’ve obviously spent some time on this.
Surprised you left out the first Prophecy movie. He played the priest turned detective and took on Christopher Walken as the angel Gabriel and Vigo Mortsen as Lucifer. He did a great job and I thought for sure would have made this list.
Good tip about Fallen – not seen that. I agree with Vlade though – Koteas’s best role by a country mile was as Captain Staros in The Thin Red Line. I find it hard to take him seriously though cos he reminds me of a kid from my schooldays and every time I see him in something all I can think of is this schoolkid. Tragic.