"when I was 16, no one talked like me"

April 28, 2016 2:21 PM

No Small Parts profiles Linda Hunt

In 1982, Linda made history as the first person to win the Academy Award for playing a role of the opposite gender for her performance as male Chinese-Australian photographer Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously. Also has an awesome house.

posted by the man of twists and turns (31 comments total)

I would love to address the substance of this post, but right now I can't get past the fact that Hunt and Klein have SUCH GOOD DOGGIES. Oh,suchgooddoggies.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 2:31 PM on April 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

I saw this movie in the theatre when it was released, and yes, the audience did gasp out loud when the credits rolled, and the name of the actor was revealed. People actually started clapping and cheering.

Amazing performance, and a fabulous film.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 2:40 PM on April 28, 2016

I haven't watched the video yet, but when I saw "Hunt and Klein" in the first comment I thought, "Kevin???" (so I looked it up and it's NOT Kevin)
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:41 PM on April 28, 2016

Love her! Thanks for this.
posted by Splunge at 2:42 PM on April 28, 2016

She's even fantastic in movies she's not even really in.

But seriously, thanks for this. I came across the No Small Parts series a while back when it only had four episodes and completely forgot about it. Time to catch up!
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 2:51 PM on April 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

This article is briefly on screen and it's very good: The Cult of Linda Hunt.
posted by anotherpanacea at 3:03 PM on April 28, 2016

This may sound like a weird question, but is Linda Hunt Asian, or was she just cast as Billy Kwan in The Year of Loving Dangerously?
posted by pxe2000 at 3:05 PM on April 28, 2016

This was great. I knew almost nothing about her before.
posted by latkes at 3:39 PM on April 28, 2016

She is also a handy Fremen to have around should you be in need of a crysknife.
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:41 PM on April 28, 2016 [8 favorites]

She's not Asian.
posted by emeiji at 3:52 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had no idea this series existed and it's such a treat.

And I love how she's a universally recognized actress and lets the NYT photograph her house with a dog bed in the dining room. She's my kind of people.
posted by mochapickle at 4:36 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

So glad she's now visible to younger folks. She was so powerful in "Year" and then... nothing, for eons.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 4:55 PM on April 28, 2016

While neither the original nor the LA version of NCIS are particularly good shows (and play into the whole weird American love of anyone with a badge), the LA version is watchable only by virtue of Linda Hunt, and her Hetty character is charming and great fun.

Her house is also charming and great fun, dogs and books and strange wallpaper. Two thumbs up!
posted by Death and Gravity at 5:00 PM on April 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oh My God thank you! I forgot about No Small Parts and am glad to see that there are so many videos now.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 5:11 PM on April 28, 2016

I miss Spalding Gray.
posted by Celsius1414 at 5:57 PM on April 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

I have never seen The Year of Living Dangerously. Was there a reason to cast a White woman in the role of am an Asian dude?
posted by Anonymous at 6:42 PM on April 28, 2016

For people who think Peter Dinklage is the most badass actor under 5 feet tall... Peter WISHES he could be as badass as Linda Hunt.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:56 PM on April 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

The role requires a really masterful actor - the entire power of the movie depends on Billy Kwan being devastating. And the pool of actors who are chinese, male, and dwarfs is pretty small, and I don't know if it contains anyone in that class. I don't know if you'd consider it a *good enough* reason, and I could see some other solutions such as deciding to remove the dwarf aspect, since there are certainly master-class Chinese male actors. Though the movie also depends on Kwan being othered within his own society.
posted by tavella at 8:26 PM on April 28, 2016

It was also 1982. Since Hollywood is still invested so heavily in whitewashing even animated characters now, it's not surprising they were doing it then. It's a hell of a performance.
posted by rtha at 8:36 PM on April 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

Checking the original novel, the character is actually biracial, a Chinese father and (white) Australian mother. Pretty much *some* aspect of the novel version has got to give, I think.
posted by tavella at 8:37 PM on April 28, 2016

I can't believe I watched the whole thing, but she's just so good.
She's also featured in the animated movie The Incredibles. She is the superhero's costume designer. Even as an animated character she is awesome. Thanks for the post.
posted by BoscosMom at 10:10 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

She was so powerful in "Year" and then... nothing, for eons.

That seems weird to me. I remembered her from Year in '82, but also Dune in '84, and Silverado in '85, and she played Alice B. Toklas in something in the mid-80s, and she was in a movie a year from the late 80s onward. But knew her best from her role as Judge Zoey Hiller on The Practice. I can close my eyes and hear her saying, "Lindsay..." or "Bobby..." or "Eugene..." and pausing, that way she does, before saying something almost simultaneously stern, compassionate, and funny with an intonation that nobody else could carry off if given the same dialogue.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 11:21 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

She played Alice B. Toklas in the excellent Waiting For The Moon.

If you were watching for her, you saw her in things. She was in Kindergarten Cop, for instance. I've missed most of her work on TV because I haven't always kept up with TV, but she is really terrific.

Her work in The Year of Living Dangerously is definitely an example of whitewashing. At the same time, it is a truly fine performance.

saying something almost simultaneously stern, compassionate, and funny with an intonation that nobody else could carry off if given the same dialogue.

Yes, this really captures her well.
posted by not that girl at 2:43 AM on April 29, 2016

I thought Edna Mode was based on Edith Head. Didn't know it was some other cultural figure we don't know a lot about.
posted by davejh at 4:22 AM on April 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

As noted in the video, her film debut was in Popeye. Which is amazing.
posted by chavenet at 4:49 AM on April 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

I thought Edna Mode was based on Edith Head. Didn't know it was some other cultural figure we don't know a lot about.

I believe that director Brad Bird (who is the one who actually voices Edna Mode) has said the character was a combination of the two.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 4:54 AM on April 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh, right, like I'm the only one here who saw Kindergarten Cop.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:56 AM on April 29, 2016

Actually, since Kwan is still biracial in the movie (called out in dialogue), it would be yellowface rather than whitewashing.
posted by tavella at 10:43 AM on April 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

And not even the first instance of Oscar-winning yellowface.
posted by emeiji at 2:54 PM on April 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

That was great! I only knew her from The Practice and her voiceover work.
posted by Sibrax at 1:51 PM on April 30, 2016

Ok, and having now spent way too much time squinting at the picture of Hunt and Klein's bookcase, I have determined that they have a copy of Te Kaihau the Windeater, which (if it wasn't obvious already) marks these folks as truly quality people.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 3:39 PM on May 1, 2016