In Character: David Paymer

David Paymer is one of film’s most recognizable character actors. And while few may know him by name, Paymer has consistently delivered stellar performances for more than two decades. He’s played dumb and down, smooth and hip, wise and eccentric, always to excellent results. All told, he’s one of my favorite actors in the business. A guy who makes everything he’s in that much better.

Five Essential Roles

Mr. Saturday Night (1992)

Stan Young

Paymer earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance as Billy Crystal’s older, wiser, and habitually undervalued brother in Mr. Saturday Night. Mr. Saturday Night is a very good film about life of a comedian named Buddy Young Jr. (Crystal), and his journey through wild success and crushing defeat. His brother/manager, Stan, routinely tries to keep Buddy grounded, but Buddy’s ego is too large to accept modesty. As advertised, Mr. Saturday Night is Billy Crystal’s show. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film, and his achievement in each of those areas is impressive. But the real showstopper is David Paymer, who plays Stan as a compassionate and earnest guy trying to show his brother the benefits of humility.

Quiz Show (1994)

Dan Enright

As instructed by network higher-ups and corporate sponsors, NBC studio executive, Dan Enright, was one of the masterminds behind the infamous rigging of the popular game show, Twenty One. In Robert Redford’s superb Quiz Show, Paymer plays Enright as a corporate snake. Enright, along with his partner in crime, Albert Freedman (Hank Azaria), are so good at convincing people to cheat, that you actually grow to appreciate the skill of their verbal deception. Dan Enright is David Paymer at his confident, rapid-fire best. A fantastic supporting turn in a film full of them.

Get Shorty (1995)

Leo Devoe

Leo Devoe is the type of character we hear much about before really meeting him. We hear that after somehow managing to fake his own death, skirt a mob debt, and collect $300,000, Leo has been partying in Vegas instead of hiding out. He’s living it up and bragging about it, much to the chagrin of the people he owes. Basically, Leo Devoe is a moron, and it takes a pretty skilled actor to live up to our expectations of such an intentionally silly character. So when we finally do meet Leo, it’s such a joy to see David Paymer shuffling into his fancy hotel room, completely unaware that John Travolta’s Chili Palmer is sitting directly behind him.

“Leo, sit down. I don’t know how you got this far, you’re so fucking dumb. But you’re through now, and let me explain why.” Yes, please, do.

The Hurricane (1999)

Myron Bedlock

One of the most gripping moments of Newman Jewison’s masterful film, The Hurricane, is a scene where Rubin Hurricane Carter’s longtime lawyer, Myron Bedlock, urges Carter to not advance his appeal case. Carter has been in prison for 30 years for murders he never committed, and he knows that in order to finally get a fair case, he has to take his appeal out of New Jersey and try at the federal level. Bedlock’s argument is that, if they skip the state level and show new evidence in a federal court first, then the judge will likely throw it out. Case closed.

Playing against Denzel Washington at the top of his game ain’t easy. And Washington is on fire in this scene. Pleading for Bedlock to hear him, to fight for him. It’s such sad and commanding work. But damn if Paymer isn’t right there with him, pound for pound. Listen to Paymer’s voice crack all throughout the scene – he loves his client and wants nothing more than to see him free, but this is simply too great a risk. Washington and Paymer’s exchange in this moment never fails to shake me.

Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)

The V.U.P.

If there’s one persona David Paymer owns, it is that of the Poor Bastard. The best example of this is Paymer’s hilarious performance in Ocean’s Thirteen, in which he plays a Five Diamond hotel reviewer subjected to all sorts of nastiness. Spoiled food, disgusting smells, bed bugs – this Very Unimportant Person has to go through hell, just so he’ll give Al Pacino’s latest hotel a crappy review. Poor bastard. But hey, all’s well that ends well, right?

The Best of the Best

State and Main (2000)

Marty Rossen

Marty Rossen is not only a character David Mamet was born to write, but once you’ve seen Mamet’s State and Main, you realize Marty Rossen is also a role David Paymer was born to play. Rossen is a fast talkin’, dirty dealin’, hot shit movie producer whose new big budget flick, The Old Mill, invades a quiet Vermont town. After problems start to plague the production, Marty is sent to the town to smooth them over.

Full disclosure: when I first drafted this post, I instinctually called Mr. Saturday Night Paymer’s best role. But while rewatching State and Main, I found myself, once again, unable to get through most of Paymer’s lines without laughing. The man is a riot in this film. Marty is hyper articulate and intimidatingly intelligent – the kind of guy who has an excuse for anything and an answer for everything.

“You forgot your case.”

“That’s not my case. That’s your case.”

You tell ‘em.

Other Notable Roles

City Slickers (1991)

The Commish (1991-1992)

The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1998)

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

Get Shorty (1995)

The American President (1995)

Nixon (1995)

City Hall (1996)

Crime of the Century (1996)

The Sixth Man (1997)

Amistad (1997)

Payback (1999)

Mumford (1999)

Focus (2001)

RFK (2002)

In Good Company (2004)

Resurrecting the Champ (2007)

Redbelt (2008)

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

The Good Wife (2009-2015)

Bad Teacher (2011)

Twixt (2011)