Friday Night Law: J.K. Simmons is Cooler Than You

After his outstanding performance in WHIPLASH, the best film of last year (in my opinion), all the nominations and awards, a great interview with Howard Stern this past week, and upcoming hosting duties on Saturday Night Live, J.K. Simmons is the Hollywood’s golden boy right now. It’s deserved, no doubt, but my obsession with the man has been brewing for years.

Oz is is the revolutionary drama that started it all for HBO. It was the first, and some say, the best tv show in a long string of perfection from the channel. Simmons played Vernon Schillinger, the leader of The Aryan Brotherhood. He was one of the most feared and ridiculous characters on the show. If he wasn’t raping asses, spitting in food, dropping n-bombs, or verbally destroying other inmates, he was on the top of everybody’s murder list and getting his face shit upon. There’s not a ton of great clips online of Schillinger, which is weird because he easily had most of the shows greatest moments, but I found a couple clips that made me laugh.

He’s also J. Jonah Jameson in the original SPIDER-MAN trilogy. Almost every actor that has portrayed a character in a super hero movie has been criticized at some point. Not J.K. Simmons. With an unforgiving fanbase such as the comic fanboys, Simmons seemed to hit every nail on every head when it came to J.J.J. On his way out the door of the Stern interview he mentioned that his return to the character is a “possibility”. No matter how many times you try to reboot a billion dollar franchise, you can’t replace perfection.

And, if that wasn’t enough, he’s also the voice of the yellow M&M. I didn’t even know this until the Stern interview. Why is this cool? I have no idea. It’s not like I was a huge fan of the M&M commercials or anything (until now) but I find it hilarious that Vern Schilliger, possibly the most vile, racist, and rapey character in the history of television is a fucking cartoon candy.

He’s going to  win the Oscar next month and then we’ll see him in TERMINATOR GENISYS. He’s currently doing re-shoots for THE ACCOUNTANT with Ben Affelck and Anna Kendrick, and is on the pre-production cast list for KING KONG: SKULL ISLAND. We’ll be seeing a lot more of J.K. in the upcoming years. That, my friends, is a great thing.