Don Cheadle’s career has been a star-speckled affair equipped with a diverse array of films, television, and music projects earning him over a dozen awards including two Grammys and a Tony. And that suffices to establish the actor’s reputation as one of the best and most intensely talented performers on stage and screen. However, every performer has hit a snag at least once in their formative career and the same goes for the one we popularly recognize as Col. James Rhodes aka War Machine from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Don Cheadle Grilled Over His Ocean’s Twelve Role
In a recent interview with GQ in which Marvel actor Don Cheadle breaks down the roles he has played on the big screen over the years, the actor has gone into quite a few details about the impact a few of them have had on him and his reputation. One such film includes the infamous Ocean’s trilogy directed by the extremely venerated Steven Soderbergh.
Don Cheadle’s part in the ensemble cast had been as the bomb and explosives expert, Basher Tarr, who for some reason, hailed from Cockney and wielded a horrifying impression of the respective English accent. But this wasn’t the cause of the backlash suffered by the sequel to the original Ocean’s Eleven film. The sophomore project was the least liked among the three movies and its cast, of course, suffered the brunt of audience disapproval. Cheadle recalls to GQ:
“I love it that the second movie is the one that people will just unabashedly walk up to me and go, ‘Yeah, I hated that one. That one sucked.’ It’s like, cool, ‘You just said that to my face like I’m not a person, but alright. Thank you.’”
But despite the less than lukewarm reception received by Ocean’s Twelve, Cheadle maintains that it was the most fun to film. After reuniting with his co-stars from the first film, the gala affair seemed manifold in its scale as actors along with their families cooped up within an Italian hotel before hopping around Europe like starry-eyed visitors. His eventual redemption wasn’t too long in the making since Iron Man 2 was thrown his way after Terrence Howard’s divisive exit from Marvel.
The actor is soon to helm his very own film as part of the Marvel x Disney+ initiative in the upcoming Armor Wars.
The Various Misfires of Don Cheadle in the Ocean’s Trilogy
Don Cheadle’s characterization of Basher in the Ocean’s trilogy was as light-hearted as it was fun and it struck a chord among the viewers for representing in tone exactly what the film had attempted to portray – a dysfunctional group of rogues coming together to achieve something impossible. But one factor that was truly impossible to accept was the utter dissection of the Cockney accent that Cheadle wore with pride and honor and confidence.
Also read: Margot Robbie to Play Lead In Ocean’s Eleven Prequel
However, the accent is simply one of the aspects that went sideways for the Soderbergh production. Cheadle is only one of the eleven actors from the original film who went uncredited in the titles of the first film. The reason was later revealed to be due to his insistence on being placed among the first array of A-listers and since the production refused his request, the actor chose to stay uncredited entirely.
Source: GQ
