JON VOIGHT AS MICKEY DONOVAN: THE BREADTH OF ONE MAN’S REPERTOIRE

I don’t know how Jon Voight does it.

Sure he’s an “A-Lister” in every sense and we’ll get to all of that. His body of work and the quality of his work are virtually unparalleled. He’s been around the block a time or two and he is most accomplished in his craft.

He’s been honing his diverse talents for six decades. And there is nobody — and I mean nobody — who has perfected and can sell the Boston accent and the South Boston Irish-Catholic two-bit wise-guy/tough-guy gangster mannerisms as can he.

A “professional,” he brings you back and right into it, most compellingly and convincingly.

Just watch Showtime’s Ray Donovan.

Wahlberg, Damon and Affleck are natives; they oughta be good at this Boston thing and they are.

Voight is from Yonkers; he has no business being this good. But he is.

Others have accepted this Boston accent challenge, and heartily embraced it only to abysmally fail.

Leo, Alec Baldwin & even the legendary Jack Nicholson in The Departed — no good. No less a luminary than Tom Hanks in Catch Me If You Can — not close. Christian Bale (The Fighter) and Jeremy Renner (The Town) — better; not bad.

But Jon Voight? He kills it. Nobody elocutes Boston-style as well as Jon Voight. And that’s just part of it. He has the walk down too. Feet splayed, short staccato-like steps, a little bounce, a barely discernible spring inherent to the aging ex-con type, a slight lean. (More noticeable when a crooked plan is being hatched, interestingly).

Then there’s that smirk that often widens into a smile on its way to a duplicitous, scheming chuckle. The wheels are always turning for Mickey Donovan, anxious to identify and subsequently execute the next big extralegal score.

Similarly Voight’s wheels purposefully turn in an unyielding effort to find ways to make his character authentic and believable. And he never disappoints.

Jon Voight, a spry 77, has been involved with acting since before his graduation from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1960. He has won one Academy Award (Best Actor — Coming Home, 1978) among his four nominations (Best Actor — Midnight Cowboy, 1969; Best Actor — Runaway Train, 1985; and Best Supporting Actor — Ali, 2001).

His luck has been better with the Golden Globes, having been nominated no fewer than ten times and winning four awards thus far in his iconic career. (New Star of the Year-Actor — Midnight Cowboy; Best Actor-Motion Picture Drama — Coming Home; Best Actor-Motion Picture Drama — Runaway Train; and Best Supporting Actor-Series, Miniseries or Television Film — Ray Donovan, 2013).

No matter how you slice it, his acting resume is bursting at the seams; in all (so far) Voight has been nominated 31 times for industry-wide award recognition and taken home the hardware on 24 occasions.

Expectably as has been the case with entertainers of his ilk, Voight’s personal travails over the years have been well-documented, fairly or otherwise.

The public’s insatiable desire and unquenchable thirst for details must be satisfied, a direct by-product of the classic supply-and-demand ethos of the 2000’s and before.

We are a tabloid-lapping nation.

So all of us are aware of his failed marriages (two) and his alleged infidelity when married to Marcheline Bertrand (1971-’80) the mother of James Haven and Angelina Jolie.

And of Jolie’s disdain for him, numerous mutual reconciliatory postures notwithstanding.

But are we familiar with his unbridled and take-no-prisoners renaissance from the countercultural icon of the 60’s and ‘70’s to a right-wing itch?

What a metamorphosis!

Now, he’s a pest. A pain. Short-sighted.

He’s persistent too.

In March of this year Marlow Stern of the Daily Beast reported that, “he’s lashed out against the American public for criticizing then-President George W. Bush, narrated a video for Sarah Palin that aired on John McCain’s presidential campaign site, branded President Obama a ‘false prophet’ and makes the occasional appearance on Fox News.”

And it gets worse…much worse. Jon Voight has very publicly endorsed the Donald.

Wait what???

When???

The acting legend released this statement last March through Breitbart News, the politically conservative American website (with a radio offshoot known as the Breitbart Daily):

“I, Jon Voight, can say, without hesitation, that Donald is funny, playful, and colorful, but most of all, he is honest.

[What’s with Voight’s punctuational affinity for commas?]

When he decided to run for president, I know he did it with a true conviction to bring this country back to prosperity. He is the only one who can do it. No frills, no fuss, only candid truths…I am very disappointed at the talk show hosts, spewing out lies and propaganda against Donald. Why, I wonder? The only thing I can think of is he represents a form of freedom none of them ever saw before, and they are bewildered about it, and frightened about it.”

Sheesh.

“A form of freedom?”

The only freedom which Trump espouses is the freedom to flap his jaws and wag his tongue — freedom of his speech — during which time the facts are generally, if not almost always left by the wayside.

Never mind that the Donald has frequently exhibited racist and bigoted behavior, he is also a proud card-carrying member of ‘Misogyny International’; Voight’s daughter Angelina has been targeted many times.

In 2005 in an appearance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Trump remarked to the host that “Angelina Jolie is not beautiful…that’s why they have menus at restaurants.”

To Howard Stern a year later he really bore his fangs: …”I never thought she was good-looking. I don’t think she’s got good skin. I don’t think she’s got a great face. I think her lips are too big, to be honest with you, they look, like, too big.”

And this goes on and on, ad nauseum.

This is what you want from the Republican Party’s Presidential nominee?

And what about Voight? How can he simply stand by and say nothing in defense of his daughter, in spite of their fractured relationship?

He is endorsing Trump’s hateful barrages — tacitly accepting them in silence — by adopting this unspeakable no-speak stance.

Jon Voight is a master on the set and in front of the camera’s red light. One of the very greatest actors of his time. His repertoire is as broad and impressive as can be.

His legacy however, should not include his spinelessness and myopia.

Wake up Mick!!!

Wake up Mickey!

Wake up Jon.

Snap out of it!!

[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in August 2016.]