Udo Kier
☼ Born on 14 December (year unknown), in Cologne, Germany
Biography
Beginning his life with the same flair for the dramatic that would come to define his career, Udo Kier was born in Köln, Germany near the end of the 2nd world war. The hospital was bombed and buried Kier and his mother in the rubble. Both survived, and Kier would later move to London as a young adult to study English. Kier was discovered in London by Michael Sarne, who cast him in his first role as a gigolo in "Road To Saint Tropez". Kier then starred in Michael Armstrong's extremely controversial "Mark Of The Devil". He would go on to work with Paul Morrissey in Andy Warhol's "Flesh For Frankenstein" and "Blood For Dracula", Dario Argento in "Suspiria", and Rainer Werner Fassbinder in "The Third Generation", "Lili Marllen", and "Lola".
Kier entered the American independent cinema scene many years later after meeting Gus Van Sant at the Berlin Film Festival. Van Sant offered Kier the role of Hans, the lamp-singing john in "My Own Private Idaho" with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix. He would later have roles in Gus Van Sant's "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and "Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot" as well as such 90s Hollywood hits as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", "Johnny Mnemonic", "Barb Wire", "End Of Violence", "For Love Or Money", "Armagedden", "Blade", and "End Of Days". Kier is probably best known for his collaboration with Lars von Trier, appearing in most of his films including "Medea", "Europa", "Breaking The Waves", "Dancer In TheE Dark", "Dogville", "Manderlay", "M
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elancholia", "Nymphomaniac (Vol. II)" and "The Kingdom" (Danish TV). Kier's recent renaissance has seen him play memorable roles in the Activision game "Call Of Duty", numerous television roles in North America and Europe, and in the films "Iron Sky", "Brawl In Cell Block 99", "Downsizing", "American Animals", "Bacurau", "The Painted Bird", "The Blazing World" and "Swan Song", among many others.
In the role of actor
Downsizing (31/12/2017)
A man gets shrunk down in the hope for a better life in Downsizing. Norwegian scientist Dr. Jorgen Asbjørnsen (Rolf Lassgård) has discovered a method to shrink the human body down to a height of only five inches, in an effort to combat overpopulation. Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) is a cash-strapped man living in Omaha, who decides […]
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (13/09/2017)
An imprisoned drug runner unleashes his violent side to save his wife in Brawl in Cell Block 99. Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn) is a violence-prone man, who does drug running for his friend Gil (Marc Blucas) to support his pregnant wife Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter). When a pick-up for a man named Eleazar (Dion Mucciacito) goes sour, Bradley […]
The Forbidden Room (15/01/2016)
This review was originally published as part of my coverage of TIFF15 Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson embark on a surreal cinematic journey in The Forbidden Room. A series of interconnected narratives tells stories inspired by forgotten genres from cinema’s past. Over the course of this increasingly weird and surreal journey, a number of familiar faces […]
The Forbidden Room (17/09/2015)
Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson embark on a surreal cinematic journey in The Forbidden Room. A series of interconnected narratives tells stories inspired by forgotten genres from cinema’s past. Over the course of this increasingly weird and surreal journey, a number of familiar faces show up, including Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Rampling, Udo Kier, and Guy Maddin regular Louis […]
The Editor (31/07/2015)
This review was originally published as part of my coverage of TIFF 2014 From the Winnipeg-based film collective Astron-6 (Father’s Day, Manborg) comes this homage/spoof of Italian giallo horror films. Rey Ciso (Adam Brooks) was once one of the world’s greatest film editors. However, after losing his fingers in a freak accident, Ciso has been reduced […]
The Editor (12/09/2014)
From the Winnipeg-based film collective Astron-6 (Father’s Day, Manborg) comes this homage/spoof of Italian giallo horror films. Rey Ciso (Adam Brooks) was once one of the world’s greatest film editors. However, after losing his fingers in a freak accident, Ciso has been reduced to editing schlocky horror films, all while being distained by his former […]
Keyhole (08/01/2012)
TIFF’s annual celebration of Canadian Cinema is now well underway and today I saw the first of five films I plan on seeing in the Canada’s Top Ten series – Guy Maddin’s Keyhole. This was only the second of Maddin’s films that I have seen, the other being 2008’s My Winnipeg. However, it’s definitely obvious […]
Melancholia (20/11/2011)
Melancholia was without a doubt one of the most bleak and depressing films I have ever seen. I guess that’s not too much of a surprise, considering the fact that the film was directed by Lars Von Trier, who isn’t really known for making happy-go-lucky films. The story is split into two parts, with each part […]
Rob Zombie’s Halloween (01/09/2007)
Back in April, I pondered how Rob Zombie’s remake/reimagining/whatever of Halloween would measure up to John Carpenter’s original film. My final verdict is not that well. I have to say, when I was watching the film, I was intrigued by the expanded backstory that Zombie gave Michael Myers. In fact, I thought it was quite […]