Sam McCosh from An Online Universe asked me to participate in the 6 Degrees of Separation Blogathon, a blogathon started by Nostra at My Film Views. The purpose of the blogathon is pretty straight forward – connect two actors/directors/movies in six or less steps (most of the recent posts seem to have reinterpreted the task as being about actors specifically, but I’m going with Nostra’s original charter here).
My goal is to connect Aussie actress Rose Byrne, starring in the surprisingly good 2014 comedy Bad Neighbours, with Danish actor Pilou Asbæk, perhaps best known for A Hijacking and television series Borgen.
This is a list of those who have tried their hand at this thing before it was passed on to me:
Drew from A Fistful of Films (Charlie Chaplin to Jason Statham)
Sati from Cinematic Corner (Jason Statham to Michael Haneke)
Alex from And So It Begins (Michael Haneke to Stephen Dillane)
Steven from Surrender to the Void (Stephen Dillane to Ingmar Bergman)
Chris from Movies and Songs 365 (Ingmar Bergman to Toshiro Mifune)
Josh from Cinematic Spectacle (Toshiro Mifune to James Stewart)
Shane from Film Actually (James Stewart to Spike Lee)
Tom from At the Back (Spike Lee to Birth of a Nation)
Jay at Life vs. Film (Birth of a Nation to Daniel Bruhl)
Chip at Tips from Chip (Vinnie Jones to Jean Gambin)
Shantanu at U, Me and Films (Jean Gambin to Amitabh Bachchan)
and most recently Sam at An Online Universe (Amitabh Bachchan to Rose Byrne).
Here we go, then! First things first, I decided to make things a little harder for myself by abandoning the easy link Sam hinted at in her post – that being Asbæk’s brief appearance in Lucy alongside Scarlett Johansson. While he only appeared on screen with Johansson (if I want to stick to the rule that they need to be on screen together, anyways), that still makes for a pretty straightforward 3-step connection. While I couldn’t find a direct link between Byrne and Johansson (though it wouldn’t surprise me if one exists), we can jump from Byrne to Cillian Murphy via Danny Boyle’s sci-fi Sunshine then to Johansson via Girl with a Pearl Earring (the two even shared a love scene) then straight to Asbæk using Lucy. So, if we deny that opportunity…
1. Rose Byrne shared the screen with the very magnetic Michael Fassbender in X-Men: First Class. (Though, sadly, Byrne didn’t make an appearance in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past)
2. Michael Fassbender played The Counselor in Ridley Scott’s divisive, meditative crime drama, where he encountered a Jewish diamond dealer played by Bruno Ganz, who is ironically perhaps best known for playing Hitler in Downfall (or, if you prefer, in that that stupid YouTube meme). I couldn’t find a single photo from The Counselor featuring Ganz, so here’s Fassbender looking suave with Penelope Cruz. We could also use a little bit more Fassbender in our lives.
3. Bruno Ganz appeared in this year’s Norwegian crime drama In Order of Disappearance with Danish actress Birgitte Hjort Sørensen. Having not seen the film myself, I have no idea if they shared a scene together, so this one might be a minor cheat.
4. Birgitte Hjort Sørensen and Pilou Asbæk are regular cast members in well-known political drama Borgen. That wasn’t too hard, now, was it?
Thanks to Sam for asking me to keep the chain going! I’ve asked Ella Donald over at Monumental Pictures (or Don, How Did You Come by Way of Australia?) to add the next link by connecting Pilou Asbæk to director/actor Spike Jonze. Good luck Ella!
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