Talkin’ ‘Bout “D” Generation

Our theme this week
Actors of the “D” Generation

Featured this week
Monday         —   Matt Damon

Matt Dillon

The essentials
Matt Dillon has been acting in films a long time for someone his age.  He broke in at the tail end of the ’70s, more than 30 years ago.  One sign of the changing times:  When he started out, most people knew the name Matt Dillon as the marshal played by James Arness on the popular Gunsmoke series.  No one mistakes the movie actor for the TV character anymore.

Dillon was a star in his teen years.  He often played the tough kid, the troubled one, the type you didn’t want hanging out with your son, and certainly not dating your daughter.  But there was always a depth to his characters.  He was more than just a bad boy.  He tended to win your sympathy.  The problem, after all, wasn’t just him, but something bigger.  In an earlier decade he may have been a film noir regular.

A few of Dillon’s early roles won attention for the newcomer.  He debuted in Over the Edge as one of the kids messing with the police and messing with guns.  In 1980 he played the high school bully in My Bodyguard and the boy at camp who helps Kristy McNichol’s Angel lose her virginity in Little Darlings.  Dillon’s notable teen films include a trio of adaptations of S.E. Hinton novels, set and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma:  Tex (1982), The Outsiders (1983), and Rumble Fish (1983).  The latter two were directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featured early performances by some of the Brat Pack.  Dillon also starred in the 1984 comedy The Flamingo Kid, the first film to receive a PG-13 rating.

Drugstore Cowboy (1989), directed by Gus Van Sant, featured an older Matt Dillon, still in trouble, this time an addict (“I’m a junkie, I like drugs, I like the whole lifestyle”).  The film, and Dillon’s performance, were well-received by audiences and critics.  In 1991 he starred in the remake of A Kiss Before Dying and the next year in Cameron Crowe’s twenty-something romantic comedy Singles.  He played the ill-fated husband in Van Sant’s dark and smart To Die For (1994) and the sleazy P.I. in the Farrelly brothers’ hit comedy There’s Something About Mary (1998).  He was the high school guidance counselor accused of rape in a wild thriller called Wild Things.

Dillon turned to directing in 2002, with City of Ghosts, in which he also starred as a con man.  Crash (2004) was a huge success.  Directed by Paul Haggis and featuring a strong ensemble cast, the film won Best Picture, and Dillon, playing a racist L.A. cop, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor (he won a Golden Globe).  He followed that with Factotum, the adaptation of the Charles Bukowski book, with Dillon playing the alter ego of the hard-living writer:  “If you’re going to try, go all the way.  There is no other feeling like that.  You will be alone with the gods.  And the nights will flame with fire.  You will ride life straight to perfect laughter.  It’s the only good fight there is.”  The film didn’t do much at the box office but has a core of devoted fans.  Other Dillon movies this past decade include the comedy You, Me and Dupree (2006) and the Plamegate-inspired drama Nothing But the Truth (2008).

Beyond the final credits
Partners in crime (frequent collaborators):
3 films — Diane Lane
2 films — Kevin Bacon, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Gus Van Sant

Crash (2004)
Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton

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