Jackie Earle Haley is Rorschach, Watchmen Movie
Profile of Characters from Alan Moore Watchmen Graphic Novel
Feb 25, 2009
It's been a rocky road to the big time for Jackie Earle Haley. Like his Rorschach "Watchmen," this former child star has struggled to find his way in the movie industry. The Watchmen movie has long been a rumored fanboy fantasy, but now that it has become a reality, so, too has Earle Haley and his legitimacy as a serious actor.
Of course, the Watchmen movie is not his first step towards the A-list, and will likely not be his last.
Earle Haley started as a young actor bouncing around from one TV show appearance to another before landing the role of Adore in John Schlesinger's film The Day of the Locust. He would further his film career as the smart-mouthed wiseguy Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears and The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, both films shot one year apart.
He followed these successes in 1979 with the popular cult classic Breaking Away, a Rocky-like film about a teen with a dream to become a bike racer. In it, Earle Haley plays Moocher, the kindly, yet hot-tempered best friend, a role he would reprise one year later for the Breaking Away TV pilot.
It was a good part, but one he spent the next 13 years trying to best. In that period, he bounced back and forth between TV and film, never earning a role worthy of his talents. His most memorable turn came in 1993, immediately before he took a 13-year hiatus from show-business. He starred as Frank Jessup, a murderous druggie hood, in Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence. While not Oscar material, the film is an esteemed sequel in the popular low-budget franchise.
In the 13 years after Maniac Cop 3, Earle Haley would work as a limousine driver, a pizza delivery boy, a commercial director, a security guard, and even a furniture refinisher.
However, a 2006 comeback would lead to acclaimed roles in a series of films that should have Earle Haley in the picture for some time to come.
Jackie Earle Haley Filmography:
All the King's Men (2006)
- Director Steven Zaillian brought Earle Haley back to audiences as Sugar Boy, the bodyguard and friend of Sean Penn's Willie Stark, a doomed southern governor based on Huey Long of Louisiana. Earle Haley's work was praised by critics and led to his next role in...
Little Children (2006)
- The Screengrab calls Earle Haley's performance as the neighborhood pedophile "heartbreaking" and "harrowing." This update of Madame Bovary finds Earle Haley's Ronnie as the target of a bigot police officer (Noah Emmerich). He received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 2007 Academy Awards for this performance.
Watchmen (2009)
- Called the most celebrated graphic novel of all time, Watchmen's most famous character is Rorschach, a hard-edged superhero out to solve the mystery of who is killing off his kind.
Earle Haley joined the Watchmen cast in this iconic role and is already exciting fans of the Watchmen graphic novel with his portrayal. This has also earned him the opportunity to revive the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, as he is currently in talks for the coveted Freddy Krueger part.
The Future
Look for Earle Haley to be in the Oscar mix with Shutter Island, set for an October 2, 2009, release. Working alongside Martin Scorcese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, and Max Von Sydow, from a Dennis Lehane novel? It looks like Jackie Earle Haley is back, and this time, he's here to stay.
To view the Watchmen trailer, visit the official site.
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