World Class Everyman Chris Messina Has Earned The Chance To Lead His Own Show

HBO’s Sharp Objects has proven to be a brutal watch, week in and week out, as it plunges headlong into some seriously twisted family trauma. Although if it’s tough for the audience, it’s practically debilitating for star Amy Adams, who has to manifest her character’s pain both physically and emotionally. In order to maintain sanity on set, Adams brought along collaborators who could make her feel comfortable. “She really fought for me to be a part of this [show],” co-star Chris Messina told the podcast Still Watching, “and I think one of the reasons she did that is because she wanted to surround herself with people she trusted, and be able to go to this dark place and feel supported.”

What Adams sees in Messina, her former on-screen husband in 2009’s Julie & Julia, is what many moviegoers and TV fans alike have come to appreciate for the better part of a decade. He’s a versatile supporting player, excelling at the serious and the silly in equal measure. But now it’s time for television’s decision makers to give Messina a chance to graduate into a big leading role on the small screen.

Though the distinction between movies and TV continues to blur – case in point, director Jean-Marc Vallée treated Sharp Objects like an eight-hour film – the medium does matter here. As critic Ty Burr pointed out in his excellent history of screen acting, Gods Like Us, the kind of people you invite into your home on a regular basis are different than the ones you’d pay to watch in a theater. The television star tends to be someone less aspirational and more familial. This benefits someone like Messina, who’s exactly the kind of guy you’d want over for dinner – he’d be the life of the party without ending the night over the toilet. He boasts a charming confidence that never crosses the line into braggadocio.

Chris Messina by Spencer Heyfron from Spencer Heyfron on Vimeo.

Just take a look at the wide variety of roles Messina played across his many movies to corroborate. If you needed a character filled in a late ‘00s/early ‘10s Sundance-style dramedy, surely Messina was at the top of the casting director’s list. His chameleonic screen persona can both bring the laughs and then deliver the gut punch of emotion. Messina can go from playing Paul Dano’s horny brother in Ruby Sparks to Al Pacino’s vulnerable son in Manglehorn, from Rashida Jones’s sleazy suitor in Celeste and Jesse Forever to Melanie Lynskey’s grief-stricken husband in Away We Go.

The common thread running from Messina’s film work to his television work is his tendency to play the viewer’s stand-in or entry point into the story. As an elevated Everyman, he serves as a voice of sanity with a swagger that keeps him from veering into blandness. In his starring television gigs, where he has the chance to develop and build out a character, Messina always finds intriguing ways to approach the audience avatar role. I’ll nod in enthusiastic agreement with Lea Palmieri’s Decider appreciation of Danny Castellano from The Mindy Project, a romantic lead frequently tasked to play the straight man amidst a wild cast of characters. Messina defies the stereotype of the stingy fun sucker, providing constant joy as Mindy’s Type A-foil.

He also excelled as Chris Sanchez on Damages, an underappreciated binge-worthy gem from the early days of the Peak TV era. Playing a troubled veteran, Messina maintains the affable façade while depicting a mind rotting from damage in Afghanistan. The dissonance is jarring and a prime example of how his nice guy reputation could be subverted without going full moody anti-hero.

So broadcast, cable, streaming, or whatever platform is in need of a great leading man, look no further than Chris Messina! And you’d better hurry – given that both Chris Pine and Hemsworth are potentially dropping out of the Star Trek franchise, Hollywood might snatch him up and add another Chris to the rankings.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

Watch Sharp Objects on HBO