Anthony LaPaglia Movies
Despite spending the first 25 years of his life in Adelaide, Australia, Anthony LaPaglia is best known for playing street-savvy Italian New Yorkers. This was not, however, LaPaglia's original plan. Rather than testing the waters of show business, LaPaglia traveled to the United States intending to pursue a full-time teaching career. As luck would have it, however, one of LaPaglia's odd jobs was a small role in Cold Steel (1987), a low-budget detective drama. LaPaglia began pursuing theater and television in his spare time -- one of his more notable early performances was in 1988's Frank Nitti: The Enforcer -- and considered himself a full-time actor by 1989, when he made his feature-film debut in Slaves of New York. It was 1990, however, when the young actor earned critical recognition for his role as an exceedingly polite mobster in Betsy's Wedding.LaPaglia continued to build his resumé throughout the early '90s, most of which he spent playing either kindly policemen or good-hearted mobsters, and was delighted to work alongside a variety of noted actors so early in his career. Among those actors were Alan Alda in Betsy's Wedding, Michael Keaton in One Good Cop (1991), and Nathan Lane, Sharon Stone, and Kevin Bacon in He Said, She Said (1992). Later in 1992, LaPaglia could be found playing his first leading role in George Gallo's gangster farce 29th Street. Though the film did not fare particularly well, audiences were nonetheless impressed with LaPaglia's intensity, and he played a more serious gangster with great success opposite Susan Sarandon in The Client (1994). The actor switched gears for his next handful of films; in Mixed Nuts (1994) he played a disillusioned Santa Claus, while Empire Records (1995) found him as a down-on-his-luck store manager, and the Australian-helmed Brilliant Lies (1996) featured him as the defendant in a sketchy sexual-harassment case.
Despite a smattering of mediocre films between 1995 and the early 2000s, LaPaglia continued to earn critical acclaim for many of his endeavors, such as Steve Buscemi's directorial debut, Trees Lounge (1996), for which LaPaglia joined a star-studded supporting cast, as well as for his role as a detective in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam (1999). Luckily for him, 2000 and 2001 proved excellent for his career, as it was during this period that he played a wealthy businessman in The House of Mirth and an adulterous police detective in Lantana. In addition to receiving international success, Lantana earned LaPaglia the prestigious Best Actor award from the Australian Film Institute, as well as a nomination from the Film Critics Circle. In the meantime, he was adding several major television credits to his resumé, including a starring role as the head of the FBI's Missing Persons Squad on CBS's Without a Trace, and a recurring role on the long-running sitcom Frasier, a performance for which he would receive an Emmy in 2002. Far removed from his fledgling days as a teacher, 2002 also found LaPaglia working with Val Kilmer for The Salton Sea; Sigourney Weaver for The Guys; Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal in Analyze That; and Eric Stoltz in Happy Hour. In 2003, after filming Manhood with Janeane Garofalo and the late John Ritter, LaPaglia agreed to star in director Josh Sternfeld's Winter Solstice (2004). ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- 2009
In the aftermath of the shooting of five Australian journalists in East Timor, a curious sixth named Roger East (Anthony LaPaglia) is convinced by charismatic acquaintance Jose Romas-Horta, a man who would prove to have a bright and influential future, to investigate the incident. Balibo is a political thriller and true-crime story based on 1975's Balibo Five executions and an ensuing 30-year cover-up. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Oscar Isaac, (more)
- 2008
- R
A jobless 28-year-old residing in an apartment with his single father discovers the meaning of life for a bargain-basement price in this stop-motion animation film featuring the voices of Ben Mendelsohn, Barry Otto, Anthony LaPaglia, and Geoffrey Rush. Dave has made it his mission to discover the meaning of life, so when he stumbles across a book claiming to answer just that question for the low, low price of just $9.99, he can't help but make an impulse purchase. Much to his surprise, the book contains all the answers he's been searching for, a revelation that compels him to share this newfound information with his neighbors -- an eccentric bunch whose stories gradually intertwine to offer a revealing portrait of their hopes, loves, and spiritual beliefs. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Rush, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
In the world of the emperor penguin, a simple song can mean the difference between a lifetime of happiness and an eternity of loneliness. When a penguin named Mumble is born without the ability to sing the romantic song that will attract his soul mate, he'll have to resort to some fancy footwork by tap dancing his way into the heart of the one he loves. Directed by Babe mastermind George Miller, Happy Feet tells the tale of one penguin's quest for love, and features an all-star cast of vocal talent that includes Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, and Brittany Murphy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, (more)
Tonya Neely (Viola Davis) is a neighborhood activist on the south side of Chicago, trying to get her community to rally to tear down Eden Court, the dangerous housing project where she lives. After a family tragedy, she sent her youngest daughter, Cammie (Serena Reeder), off to live with friends in a middle-class neighborhood, where she could go to a better school. Leo Waters (Anthony LaPaglia), the architect who designed Eden Court many years ago, lives a seemingly idyllic life with his wife, Julia (Isabella Rossellini), his teenage daughter, Christina (Hayden Panettiere), and his son, Martin (Sebastian Stan), who has just returned home after dropping out of college. Leo's family is on the verge of a crisis. Julia's unhappiness with their marriage leads her to clean the house obsessively. Christina is only 15, but she is eager to explore her budding sexuality. Martin is understandably cynical about his home life, and confused about his own desires. When Tonya contacts Leo, hoping to convince him to sign the petition to tear down Eden Court, it sets a chain of events in motion that will force both families to confront the issues that they've tried so hard to avoid. The Architect, which also features performances by Paul James, Walton Goggins, Tijuana Ricks, Lauren Hodges, and Malcolm Goodwin, was directed by Matt Tauber, adapted from a play by Scottish playwright David Greig. The film had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Viola Davis, (more)
A family struggles to come to terms with changes after a death in the family in this independent drama. Jim Winters (Anthony LaPaglia) is a widower living in suburban New Jersey with his two teenage sons, Gabe (Aaron Stanford) and Pete (Mark Webber). Pete, the younger of the siblings, has a hearing problem that has made school difficult for him; consequently, he has lost interest in his education and spends most of his time goofing off. Gabe is smarter and more ambitious, and has a stable relationship with his girlfriend, Stacey (Michelle Monaghan), but is beginning to chafe at the limitations of small-town life. And five years after his wife's death, Jim still hasn't been able to pick up and start his life over again. When Gabe announces he's decided to move to Florida, it has differing effects on those around him -- Stacey, hurt and confused, begins to withdraw; Pete strikes up a friendship with one of his teachers (Ron Livingston); and Jim struggles to work up the nerve to talk to his new neighbor, Molly Ripkin (Allison Janney. Winter Solstice was the first feature film from writer and director Josh Sternfeld; it won enthusiastic notices following its screenings at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Aaron Stanford, (more)
An alcoholic must choose between love, life, and the bottle in this independent comedy drama. Tulley (Anthony LaPaglia) is a self-described "drinker with a writing problem," who after publishing a handful of well-respected short stories, began work on a novel. The novel, however, turned out to be a harder task than Tulley imagined, and he opted to take a job as an advertising copywriter, where he earns a good living but makes scant use of his talent. Tulley has also fallen into a habit of heavy drinking, as his best friend, Levine (Eric Stoltz), looks on with bemused concern. One night at a bar, Tulley meets Natalie (Caroleen Feeney), a teacher who doesn't much care for children, and what starts as a one-night stand turns into a love affair. As Natalie gets to know Tulley better, she discovers the talent lurking behind his alcoholic defenses, and encourages him to devote himself to literature again. However, as they fall deeper in love, Tulley discovers he has a larger problem than his novel to deal with -- he's been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, and won't have long to live if he can't change his ways. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Eric Stoltz, (more)
When Jill (Janeane Garofalo), the sister of reformed womanizer and former high-profile fashion photographer Jack (Nestor Carbonell), leaves her 17-year-old son with his uncle in an unstable bid to find herself, her brother and sister face an increasingly uncertain future in this dark drama from director Bobby Roth. Bored of working an endless string of weddings and bar mitzvahs and longing to return to the success he experienced before his luck took a nosedive, Jack attempts to connect with both his teenage son and nephew while pulling his life into focus. To make matters even more complicated, Jill's jobless ex-husband, Eli (John Ritter), has also decided to move in with Jack. Will the hapless photographer be able to keep his sanity as his dysfunctional family forces itself into virtually every aspect of his increasingly chaotic life? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nestor Carbonell, Janeane Garofalo, (more)
Roger Spottiswoode directs Jeff Goldblum, Anthony LaPaglia, and Liev Schreiber in the political satire Spinning Boris. The film takes place during the Russian elections of 1996 that ended with Boris Yeltsin becoming the head of the country. The trio of lead actors play political consultants who use their knowledge of American style campaigning to get Yeltsin the victory. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Goldblum, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C., of September 11, 2001, Jim Simpson, the creative director of New York City's Flea Theater Company, wanted to stage a theater piece which would deal with the human impact of this tragedy. When Simpson met journalist Anne Nelson, he discovered a true life story which dealt with the September 11 incidents in an intimate but affecting manner, and he encouraged her to adapt her story into a play; the drama quickly became a major critical success, and Simpson made his screen directorial debut with this film adaptation. Joan (Sigourney Weaver) is a veteran journalist who through a friend finds herself taking on an unusual assignment: Nick is a captain in the New York Fire Department who lost eight of the 12 men in his company while attempting to evacuate the World Trade Center towers following the terrorist attacks. Nick has been given the responsibility of delivering their eulogies at a series of memorial services, but Nick has no experience with such things and isn't sure of what to say. Joan volunteers to help, and over the course of several days she interviews Nick, finding out how much (or how little) he knew about the men under his command, and together they try to find the words to honor each man's memory, and pay tribute to their sacrifices in the larger picture of a national tragedy. Sigourney Weaver, who appeared in the initial Flea Theater Company production of The Guys, is also the wife of director Jim Simpson; Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Amy Irving are among the actors who have also lent their talents to the show. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sigourney Weaver, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
- 2002
In the conclusion of a two-part story, Daphne's boorish brother Simon (Anthony LaPaglia) has finally left town, but her busybody mother Gertrude (Millicent Martin) is still very much in attendance. Gertrude won't leave until Simon returns, while Daphne (Jane Leeves) can't move in with Niles (David Hyde Pierce) as long as her mom is around. As this crisis reaches the boiling point, so does the ongoing war of wills between Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and his stubborn neighbor Cam (Brian Stokes Mitchell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
In the first episode of a two-part story, Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves) have finally decided to move in together. Alas, their plans are put on hold -- maybe permanently -- when Daphne's busybody mother Gertrude (Millicent Martin) and loutish brother Simon (an Emmy-winning Anthony LaPaglia) arrive in town. Meanwhile, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) wages a war of wills against his contentious neighbor Cam Winston (Brian Stokes Mitchell) over a parking space. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The feature film debut of producer and TV director D.J. Caruso, this pulpy noir mystery is a dark tale of redemption set among southern California crystal methamphetamine "tweakers." Val Kilmer stars as Danny Parker, a former trumpet player who has become a tattooed speed freak living in a cesspool of murderous dealers and hardcore addicts near the desert lake of the title. Danny's fall from grace is the result of a hidden agenda, however -- he's seeking answers about the murder of his beloved wife. He's also working undercover for a pair of brutal narcotics cops (Anthony Lapaglia and Doug Hutchison), while trying to rescue his beautiful neighbor Colette (Deborah Kara Unger) from an abusive situation and her own demons. As he and his slacker buddy Jimmy the Fin (Peter Sarsgaard) are antagonized by the sadistic, noseless dealer Pooh Bear (Vincent D'Onofrio) and his henchman, Danny draws closer to the truth about his wife's death, but the crime's solution isn't quite what he expected. Produced by Frank Darabont, The Salton Sea co-stars Adam Goldberg, Meat Loaf, Luis Guzman, and Azura Skye. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer
A single New York woman endures a series of blind dates in search of the perfect spouse in director Jon Sherman's romantic comedy I'm With Lucy. Looking back on her search as she prepares for her wedding, Lucy (Monica Potter ) recalls the physical chemistry of her and Gabriel (Gael García Bernal), the love of Walt Whitman that she shared with orthopedist Luke (David Boreanaz), her fling with former pro-basketball player Bobby (Anthony LaPaglia), her memorable connection with affectionate computer salesman Barry (Henry Thomas), and her mysterious relationship with the shifty Doug (John Hannah). One of these men will be waiting for Lucy at the alter, but one thing keeps nagging at our protagonist's conscience -- has she made the right choice when it comes to the man she'll spend the rest of her life with? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monica Potter, Julianne Nicholson, (more)
Without A Trace is a fast-paced procedural drama about the Missing Persons Squad of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The sole responsibility of the special task force is to find missing persons by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques. The team reconstructs a "Day of Disappearance" timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance, following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is. Senior agent Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) heads the dedicated team. His squad includes Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery), Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano), and Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close).
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Poppy Montgomery, (more)
A young man fascinated with the workings of the world of banking forms an alliance with an unscrupulous corporate predator in this drama. Jim Doyle (David Wenham) developed an interest in finance while he was a young boy growing up in a small Australian town, and as an adult he and his partners have developed BTSE (Bank Training Simulation Experiment), a sophisticated computer program that can anticipate the ups and downs of the world's money markets. Jim's program attracts the interest of Simon O'Riley (Anthony LaPaglia), the head of a major Aussie financial services corporation, Centabank; O'Riley is looking to cut costs and increase profits, and he's convinced BTSE can help him do just that. However, O'Riley has other, more aggressive ways of boosting his bottom line; Centabank has been shutting down small-town branch offices that have been faithfully serving customers for decades, and has developed a new enthusiasm for foreclosing on loans from smaller customers having trouble making ends meet. Two such customers are Wayne and Diane Davis (Steve Rodgers and Mandy McElhinney), who obtained a loan to start their own business building houseboats; when the local economy went into a nosedive, the Davises found themselves under the thumb of Centabank, and the bank's hounding of the couple led to an unfortunate accident that took the life of their young son. Determined to make Centabank pay for their son's death, Wayne takes on the corporation with the help of Stephen (Mitchell Buell), an activist lawyer. Jim, meanwhile, becomes romantically involved with Michelle (Sibylla Budd), a Centabank employee, and through her gets a clearer idea of just what O'Riley is trying to do. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Wenham, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
Retired Boston policeman Pally (Kiefer Sutherland) finds himself mired in murder, mobsters, and misfired romance when he well-meaningly agrees to help his stepbrother, Ray (Anthony LaPaglia), finance a long-shot racehorse. A mob kingpin (Daniel Benzali) has his eyes on the nag as well, and he exploits a debt by a lowlife jockey (Lothaire Bluteau) to take control of the horse. Naturally, it all comes down to the Big Race, and it seems no matter where the horse finishes, Pally's going to be a loser. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kiefer Sutherland, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
The intertwined lives of four couples living in and around Sydney, Australia, form the structure for this drama masquerading as a whodunit. Andrew Bovell freely adapted his play, Speaking in Tongues, opening up the action, as the geography and topography of Sydney and its suburbs become major characters as well. The film opens with a shot of what looks like a corpse entangled in a thick stand of branches -- the title plant, which grows in profusion in Australia. Bovell and director Ray Lawrence take their time in explaining whose body that is and then slowly reveal, with no help from a number of red herrings, how it happened to be there. The principal players are Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey), a psychiatrist with issues over her child, a murder victim; her husband, John Knox (Geoffrey Rush), an aloof professor whom she suspects of infidelity; Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia), a police detective cheating on his wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong), who is a patient of Valerie's. Zat's mistress, Jane O'May (Rachael Blake), is someone he met at a dancing class his wife dragged him to; she is estranged from her husband, Pete (Glenn L. Robbins). Their neighbors, Paula (Daniela Farinacci) and Nik D'Amato (Vince Colosimo), try to stay neutral in the O'Mays' split; she works days as a nurse and he's unemployed and minds their children. Suspicion around the disappearance of one character manages to enmesh all of the others. Bovell's stories are about secrets, real and imagined, and how they can poison relationships. The film virtually swept all the major awards at the Australian Film Institute's annual ceremony, though its reception in the States was mildly respectful. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, (more)
One man's insatiable appetite for sex begins upending his life in this biting independent comedy. Jack (Nestor Carbonell) is a photographer known to his friends as "Jack the Dog," thanks to his compulsive womanizing; Jack seems incapable of staying with one partner for long before he finds himself attracted to someone else, and given his good looks and easy charm, Jack doesn't have much trouble convincing the women he meets to spend the night with him. Deep inside, Jack wants to change, and he tries to put himself on the straight and narrow by marrying Faith (Barbara Williams). Jack and Faith soon have a son, Sam (Andrew J. Ferchland), whom Jack dotes upon, but Faith turns out to be a poor advertisement for long-term monogamy; she's not especially warm or forgiving, and she's started to show her age, which only intensifies Jack's taste for younger women. Jack soon slides into chronic infidelity, and Faith leaves him, relocating to London and leaving Sam behind. This is good news as far as Jack's concerned, but as he tries to watch over his son, while also seducing an endless parade of beautiful women, Jack finds himself increasingly puzzled by the opposite sex, and he wonders if he might have a problem he hasn't learned to deal with. Jack the Dog received its world premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nestor Carbonell, Barbara Williams, (more)
