Metaphorical Moustache Twirling as Villain Otto Luger

“From fleeing dinosaurs in Jurassic Park to Oscar-lauded films like The Piano and historical dramas like The Tudors, Sam Neill has treated his acting life like a grand escapade,” Richard Whittaker writes for the Austin Chronicle.

“‘I’m very serious about my work, but I’m not at all serious about my career,’ Neill said. ‘I don’t see the point. It’s just one too many thing to worry about.’

“His latest film, The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box … adapted from Mariah Mundi: The Midas Box, [is] set in the fog-covered streets and coasts of Edwardian Britain. Neill describes it as a return of the literary tradition of ‘the ripping yarn.’

“Neill plays Otto Luger, an impeccably dressed and merciless villain in the Moriarty mold, seeking the lost treasure of King Midas.

“The Adventurer is a return to the kind of period heroics that Neill depicted in his breakthrough performance in Reilly, Ace of Spies. Along with 1981’s Omen III: The Final Conflict, the 1983 British television series established Neill’s reputation as a character actor, portraying British spy Sidney Reilly (one of the real-life inspirations for James Bond).

“Luger is a good, old-fashioned, child-stealing, world-conquering villain. Not just a bad guy. A villain. ‘There’s some metaphorical moustache-twirling,’ he said.”

Original article by Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle, January 10, 2014.