Giving Devil His Due

When Stephen Lang was offered the role of Harry Black--a dockyard strike organizer who’s tormented by his latent homosexuality, then becomes sexually compulsive--in “Last Exit to Brooklyn,” the actor experienced “initial revulsion.”

“I literally threw the script across the room,” says Lang. “I was frightened of that part. (Black was) a truly stupid man. His negativity was just something that isn’t ordinarily a part of me. I’m much more upbeat and happy-go-lucky. I was very uncomfortable with it.”

But Lang rose to the challenge, and in his portrayal, he made Black oddly sympathetic. “It was one of the most rewarding periods of work I’ve ever had,” says Lang. “The part paid me back in just the pride I had in participating in that project.”

Now Lang is back before the cameras in another character stretch--playing the Party Crasher, a serial killer in Universal’s “The Hard Way.” After more cerebral, internalized parts, says Lang, “a real physical role appealed to me. There’s a lot of running, jumping, hitting, chasing, shooting . . . “

Currently shooting under director John Badham in New York City, the film has Michael J. Fox as Hollywood’s top-ranked movie star, determined to change his image so he can land the role of a tough homicide cop in an upcoming film. A studio pulls strings, and a real NYPD homicide detective--James Woods--finds himself baby-sitting Fox while the actor does “research” in the midst of a string of grisly murders.

“The Party Crasher is the closest to evil incarnate I’ve played,” says Lang, who has appeared on Broadway in “Death of a Salesman” and, more recently, “A Few Good Men,” as well as regularly on NBC’s “Crime Story.” “He kills on whim.”

While Fox and Woods are quite “simpatico” on the set, Lang reports, he tends to keep his distance as he stays in character.

“I spend less time socializing (on the set) than I might with other roles. I’m certainly nothing like the Party Crasher. But you have to give the devil his due.”

SI John M. Wilson