WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I have a confession! I have never actually seen the version of Fantastic Four where Jamie Bell plays the Thing but I did have my reservations based on a personal comparison between him and Michael Chiklis who had played the same character previously.
Snowpiercer
I’m not going to lie to you, I wrote this paragraph about 2 years ago – and accidentally deleted it. Bell stars alongside future Captain America actor Chris Evans as revolutionaries aboard the Snowpiercer, but of course with Evans being the leader, Bell’s role is pretty small in comparison. I did wonder if the Irish accent he uses to play Edgar was real or not – before I found out he is actually English so clearly isnt. He really is an angry little man, and extremely impatient. Unfortunately, and I know MASSIVE spoiler, Edgar doesn’t last very long – he falls foul of being a sacrificial lamb as he is used in an attempt to stop Curtis from taking Mason hostage.
Retreat
Once again, Jamie doesn’t play the lead role in this film – just an ancillary character to that of Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton. He arrives about 20 minutes into the film, and doesn’t speak for, maybe, another 5 minutes! I’ll be honest, and most of you will see this as a little thing – but it’s hard to tell what accent he’s supposed to have. In Snowpiercer he is quite clearly Irish but this seems to be impossible to determine – unless it only sound bad when acting next to a genuine Irishman. Martin and Kate are understandably distrustful of Jack and truthfully it does start to feel like he’s playing them off against each other. Not that really needed much encouragement. However, all along he’s actually a good guy – doing bad things for a good reason!
Billy Elliot
Now, we all know with these articles I like to get hold of an actor’s first film – and honestly who doesn’t know that this is it for Jamie Bell. Funnily enough, this is also the only film in this article that Bell plays the lead character. This film tells the story of a young boy, played by Bell, choosing to perform ballet instead of doing boxing. Much like Brassed Off and The Full Monty, this is set against the backdrop of the miner’s strikes and closures up north. The weird thing is, you look at Jamie Bell here and then in the other films mentioned in this article – he hasn’t really changed at all, in looks that is. The funny thing is, everyone talks about this being about ballet but actually this isn’t the only form of dance Billy performs as we see him also tapping in the street. Bell’s ballet and dance training as a kid helped with his performance.
Honorary Mentions
It’s very common to find in an actor’s early career, quite a bit of TV appearances – however Bell only appeared in one, not long after making Billy Elliot, playing Mark Sheedy in Close & True. He also worked alongside some great talent of both acting and directing. For example, he starred in Peter Jackson’s King Kong and performed alongside Daniel Craig in Defiance (if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it!)
