Giancarlo Esposito Finds Elegance in Every Bad Guy

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( a long talk [Giancarlo Esposito Finds Elegance in Every Bad Guy]( Parish is giving one of Hollywood’s greatest journeymen his long-deferred shot at anti-hero stardom. Photo: Lucas Michael American popular culture would be diminished without Giancarlo Esposito, an actor whose screen presence is as lyrical as his name. The 65-year-old has played memorable characters in many era-defining works, from the obsessives and eccentrics of Spike Lee’s early run of films to the champ’s dad in Michael Mann’s biopic Ali, federal agent Mike Giardello on Homicide, pastor Mike Cruz on The Get Down, and the omniscient narrator on Dear White People. That’s just a sample of over 200 credits since the early 1980s. But he always popped most when playing anti-heroes and bad guys, from the neighborhood gangster in the indie Fresh and a member of Christopher Walken’s crew in King of New York through his more recent turns as El Pollos Hermanos co-founder Gustavo “Gus” Fring on [Breaking Bad](, militia leader Tom Neville on Revolution, El Lazo on [Westworld](, and Moff Gideon on [The Mandalorian](. He brings a touch of Old Hollywood elegance to these sorts of parts, whether the surrounding material is a straightforward crime story or science fiction. [read more]( [Anniversary Sale: Celebrate with $20 off unlimited access, plus get a free anniversary tote.]( [Anniversary Sale: Celebrate with $20 off unlimited access, plus get a free anniversary tote.]( The Latest TV Recaps • Saturday Night Live: [Ryan Gosling Breaks Up With You]( • The Sympathizer: [Runaway]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [The Highs, Lows, and Whoas of Coachella 2024 LOW (complimentary): Lil Uzi Vert voguing.]( [Rust Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Sentenced to 18 Months “You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon,” the judge said.]( By Victoria Bekiempis null Rebecca Alter [Look, I Made a Woman: Lempicka The musical somehow turns a radical bisexual painter, living and loving in Paris between the wars, a little bit boring.]( By Sara Holdren [Grad School Was Never This Fun Park Chan-wook’s HBO adaptation of The Sympathizer is a captivating senior seminar on postcolonial theory.]( [Nicole Scherzinger Squats Her Way to Best Actress Olivier She thanked the London theater community for “wrapping your arms and legs around me like a spider monkey.”]( By Jason P. Frank [Megan Fox Believes Chelsea From Love Is Blind “I did see a picture of her. A hundred thousand percent, people have told her, ‘You kind of look like Megan Fox.’”]( By Zoe Guy [The Writers Guild Awards 2024 Winners No, this will not retroactively affect the Vulture Movie Fantasy League.]( As told to Jason P. Frank [Billy Idol Wanted More, More, More Anthems The rocker’s core belief: Bigger and louder is often better.]( By Devon Ivie [A Timeline of Will and Jada’s ‘Bad Marriage for Life’ Jada showed up to Coachella to support Will’s guest spot with J. Balvin.]( By Chris Murphy and Zoe Guy [Coachella 2024: Reneé Rapp Rewrites ‘TiK ToK’ With Kesha Rapp was introduced by the stars of The L Word and said “Fuck P. Diddy” with Kesha.]( By Bethy Squires [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Vulture Games [Today’s Crossword]( 24-Down, Four Letters: “Walk the Line” last name Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty [Today’s Cinematrix]( Can you name a Dev Patel movie with a two-word title? Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images, Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images, Theo Wargo/Getty Images A newsletter about the perpetual Hollywood awards race, for subscribers only. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved