FLASH FRIDAY: Leguizamo: Kartoon PEST to Shakespeare KLOWN

This week, in a corollary column to tonight's InDepth InterView: John Leguizamo, who can currently be seen nightly in his one-man-show Ghetto Klown on Broadway, we have an abundance of performance clips from his past stage shows - FREAK, SEXAHOLIX, SPIC-O-RAMA and more - as well as clips from his most beloved films - THE PEST, CARLITO'S WAY and TO Wong Foo, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, Julie Newmar, among others - as well as a look at his most memorable and mind-blowing characters - ranging from Tybalt in Baz Luhrmann's ROMEO + JULIET to Toulouse Lautrec himself in MOULIN ROUGE - all coming on the heels of the nationwide release of his newest feature film, THE LINCOLN LAWYER, co-starring Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Josh Lucas and William H. Macy, which we take a cursory look at, too, of course. Plus, some musical theatre parodies, celebrity impressions, his debut appearance in a Madonna music video, and even a visit from Elmo himself!

Cool, Boy, Real Cool

Considering John Leguizamo has appeared in nearly ninety films and television shows and has created more than ten hours of material in his five one-man-shows - starting with MAMBO MOUTH, through to SPIC-O-RAMA, FREAK and SEXAHOLIX - and, now, Ghetto Klown bringing the grand total to twelve hours, it is quite astounding when looking back through his supporting and featured roles in most of those films - many of them in admittedly less-than-stellar affairs (but, hey, what do you expect for that quantity of work?) - to see what a strong performer he was then - dipping into the late-80s with Brian DePalma's CASUALTIES OF WAR and Todd Haynes' POISON, and, even, in their own enchanting way, Madonna music videos - and how he has taken a rough, but impressive, rock of raw talent and polished it to a diamond of charisma and character commitment that simply sparkles onscreen. Few give as much to their roles - ranging from cartoons to rappers to thugs to Toulouse Lautrec, Tybalt and beyond - or give it as well. Whatever the quality of the film or the size of his role, he always holds your attention, and even in his very first roles it was clear a star was being born before our very eyes. Well, baby, here he is - literally, live on Broadway, eight times a week. Today, we are taking a triptych trip back, with a focus on TV, then the stage and ending with a look back at his best film performances and a look ahead to THE LINCOLN LAWYER, opening today, and beyond.

Admittedly, for fans of Leguizamo, this list could go on forever, so I have selected the very best - and most interesting, unique and notable - of what there is to see on YouTube from the very impressive career of the Ghetto Klown.

Note: Many of these clips contain violence, nudity, language, etc.. Watch out! You've been warned!

PART I: TV

First, from John's 1995 television series HOUSE OF BUGGIN', check out this hilarious spoof of WEST SIDE STORY's "Cool" featuring then up-and-coming actor Luis Guzman, and Ice Cube! The Day Glo make-up and spot-on choreographic parody are a mere morsel of this very witty take on the tuner. Rumble!

Now check out John with the most beloved denizen of SESAME STREET, Elmo! Portraying Captain Vegetable, watch John and Elmo enact a rousing, MUSIC MAN-esque anthem imploring the glories of greens - the good-for-you kind, of course!

In a completely over-the-top parody (?) of an actor losing the lead role in a big Hollywood studio film - in this case, Leguizamo losing to Benecio Del Toro for THE WOLFMAN - watch John completely freak out as only a, well, FREAK could do, in this entry in the "Greatest Freak Out Ever" YouTube video series. I hope he washed that remote control.

PART II: The Stage

Casting a glance at one of John's most moving, honest and eloquent monologues from his stage shows, and try not to get caught up in this quite emotionally devastating, but all-too-authentically funny, story about his parents' divorce, taken from FREAK.

Peeling away the years and going back to John's very first stage show and subsequent television airing of it, here is the "Mambo Mouf" scene from MAMBO MOUTH. A little late for St. Patrick's Day, but it will leave your eyes - and your mouth (or mouf) smiling either way - Irish or not!

Donning drag before even TO Wong Foo, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, Julie Newmar, check out John Leguizamo in this salty and sassy clip from SPIC-O-RAMA. It would have been impossible to have chosen a better soundtrack selection - or wardrobe!

Next, we have a look at John's most recent stage show prior to Ghetto Klown, the more adult and most-resembling traditional stand-up - well, at least for this athletic and rambunctious performer - the smash hit solo show, oh-so-idiosyncratically billed; SEXAHOLIX... A LOVE STORY.

Closing out the stage-centric portion of our consideration of the career of John Leguizamo onstage and onscreen, here is the trailer for his newest stage show, Ghetto Klown, currently on Broadway, directed by Fisher Stevens, in a production which has just been extended to July 10th! Don't miss him!

Part III: Film

Kicking off the clips from his most notable and well-loved film performances, check out John's hilarious - and impressively tongue-twisting and intentionally, almost impossibly, gross - opening song from THE PEST, one of his first lead film roles - and, to this day, popular among kids (of all ages). Here is surefire solid proof of the energy and excitement he can conjur out of thin air - in only his underwear! "God, it's so hard to be modest..." - at least when you have the mad skillz of Mr. Leguizamo!

Here is Leguizamo in one of his very first film roles, in the Jean Genet-inspired surrealistic trilogy film POISON, directed by visionary Todd Haynes in his feature film debut. Even the trailer gives one a sense of the menace and malevolence at play in these strange, unsettling stories. The spitting scene is something Leguizamo did not quite manage to top - at least insofar as pure, shocking sensationalism is concerned - until more than ten years later, in 2002's SPUN (more on that shortly).

Looking suspiciously similar to his friend and ROMEO + JULIET Tybalt also-ran Benecio Del Toro, here we have a clip from a lesser-known short film John appeared in in which he does a startlingly effective Marlon Brando impression. Like Richard Pryor, who also virtually did it all in the comedy performance realm, John can even do spot-on imitations to beat the band!

Speaking of Shakespeare, here is the opening sequence from Baz Luhrmann's breathtaking update of the romantic tragedy, featuring one of Leguizamo's finest performances to date. Talk about starting off as if shot out of a canon - or gun! Rarely, if ever, has the palpable energy and propulsive power of the opening of a Shakespeare play been conveyed to film as effectively - or as successfully translated to a modern idiom - as it is here, in no small part due to Leguizamo's Tybalt.

In Baz Luhrmann's follow-up to William Shakespeare'S Romeo & Juliet, MOULIN ROUGE - itself a modern musical masterpiece, trading Shakespeare's poetry for twentieth-century pop - John as Toulouse Lautrec also introduces the main film - and the main theme of the drama in his song - this time upping the ante and showing of his more-than-respectable singing skills and taking on the jazz classic "Nature Boy" in a way quite unlike it has ever sounded before, thanks in no small part to Craig Armstrong's sensational musical direction. Ghostly, eerie, spooky - and, vocally, far surpassing merely proficient. If you don't agree, see and hear him sing for you himself!

Next, check out the trailers for the two Brian DePalma masterpieces - and, yes, they certainly both fit that bill; the former thanks in no small part to David Hare's cutting script and the latter to David Koepp's smart story - in which John solidified himself as an actor who could hold the screen - and, some would say, steal the spotlight, even - from the biggest in the business - like Sean Penn, Al Pacino and John C. Reilly - in the must-see war parable CASUALTIES OF WAR and Cahiers du Cinema's choice as the greatest film of the 1990s, CARLITO'S WAY. Both are among the finest films of the last fifty years and some of the strongest entries on Leguizamo's vast and, intermittently, seriously impressive resume.

CASUALTIES OF WAR trailer:

CARLITO'S WAY trailer:

From the ending of CARLITO'S WAY, here is one of the finest cinematic set piece sequences of the 1990s and one of the best train station-set sequences since, well, DePalma's previous feature, THE UNTOUCHABLES - and, besides DePalma himself, Dario Argento and Hitchcock before him. Referred to as the Subway Ballet, here is great filmmaking as only DePalma can do it - and with Al Pacino giving one of the great performances of his career - which is saying something! See why John told me this is one of his favorite scenes committed to celluloid and why he is honored to be in it.

In one of his most fearless and awe-inspiring performances to date, check out Leguizamo's absolutely ferocious take on a methed-out man on-the-run, long-passed his sell-by date, in Jonas Akerlund's SPUN. This film is highly recommended to fans of Terry Gilliam's FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS and Darren Aronofsky's REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, but may be much too much for the squeamish or even the average viewer. It is an intense film, with John baring much more than his soul. SPUN also gets bonus points for the late Brittany Murphy's heartbreaking performance. Check out the trailer here.

Lastly, ending on a beginning since the film just opened, here is the trailer for THE LINCOLN LAWYER, co-starring Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Josh Lucas and William H. Macy, based on the best-selling novel by Michael Connelly!

BONUS: Madonna's "Borderline" music video. Yes, that's him! watch here

That's all for this week. Please remember that if you have discovered a particularly thrilling, unique, bizarre or hilarious Broadway-related clip to please send us a line at the link below. Until next week...