Written by: Samuel K. Sloan (SoSF Producer & Managing News Editor)
James Callis just loves being the bad boy of cinema. Of course his most famous and award winning bad boy image comes from the part of traitor and President of the 12-Colonies of Kobol, Gaius Baltar, as seen each week in the Peadbody Award winning hit TV series “Battlestar Galactica” on the SCI FI Channel.
Not sure how many are familiar with the mythology of Galactica but it is heavily influenced by both Greek and Jewish historical/religious mythos. Following in that same vein, Callis has taken on the film role of someone who is so hated by Jews that his death has been celebrated annually for the last 2500 years in the Feast of Purim.
In the new film “One Night With The King,” which chronicles the life of a young Jewish girl named Hadassah, who goes on to become the Biblical Esther, the Queen of Persia, and saves the Jewish nation from annihilation at the hands of its arch enemy while winning the heart of the fiercely handsome King Xerxes. And, who is that arch enemy? None other than a real baddie and precursor to Adolph Hitler named Haman, and Callis plays him at his most evil best. If you thought Baltar was scum, wait until you see Callis’ delilciously wicked interpretation of Haman.
Most actors will tell you that they love playing the bad guy or gal because it allows them the freedom to say and do pretty much whatever they want and gives them the opportunity to explore the depths of their own hidden demons and air them out on camera. James is proving to be a master of those deep, mostly unexplored regions of the human psyche.
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