Tom McCarthy, a man for our season
Oh, hi. Meet Tom McCarthy, professional badass dude. What’s that? All you see is a painfully average white guy? He kind of reminds you of your buddy Derek, the one who works in a bookstore?
Let me clarify. Tom wrote and directed The Station Agent (2003), one of the more grown-up and damn humane movies of the decade; you know, a story with a dwarf character who’s not a moronic joke. Oh, he also auteured The Visitor (2007), a similarly respectful story which has Richard Jenkins in perhaps the best role of his life, learning how to kick it in a drum circle. Seriously. Did I mention Tom also played the weasely reporter Scott Templeton, a crucial character in the fifth season of the greatest TV show of all time, The Wire?
And did you know that he co-wrote one of the best Pixar movies - i.e. one of the best movies period - a heartbreaking, old-man-celebrating, cliff-jumping wonder called Up? I mean, Tom McCarthy’s score in life is like a solid 97% at this point. I love you all but if I could pick one person to sit and chat with today, Tom is it.
Huh. Good to know. The Station Agent is one of the most important movies of my life, seeing it as I did not long after my daughter was born with dwarfism. The Visitor is a movie my wife saw and won’t stop talking about. The Wire is the best TV show ever. And Up? Damn. So Tom McCarthy = better than me. Good to know.
