Can Eric Bana Lighten Up

Can Eric Bana do more than a drama?

Take a look at a list of Eric Bana's films, and you see a collection of dramatic roles. He has played a soldier at war, a single father and a King who cannot find a worthy wife. Although you wouldn't know it unless you're from Australia, Eric Bana began his career in show business as a stand up comic. So why is he so damn serious and depressing now?

The son of an immigrant, his father is from Croatia and his mother is German. Eric grew up in Melbourne Australia admiring the likes of Richard Pryor. "Early, it was Richard Pryor. I did stand-up for 10 years before acting. And the movie Mad Max (1979). It cemented in my mind that I wanted to be an actor."

After gaining some notoriety for his humor, Bana made his Australian television debut in 1993 on a talk show. He soon joined the a sketch comedy television show called Full Frontal, where was known for doing celebrity impressions, most notably Tom Cruise. In 1996 he was given his own shows titled Eric and The Eric Bana Show. He was a writer on both shows. Although it did not last an entire season, The Eric Bana Show earned Bana a Logie Award for "Most Popular Comedian” in 1997.

After his show ended, Eric’s career seemed to stall, until he was cast in the Australian indie drama Chopper, in 2000, in which Eric gained 30 pounds to play the lead role of a real life criminal. The role earned him several awards. Brad Pitt supposedly recommended him for a role in Troy after seeing him in Chopper.

Although he was famous in Australia, he was a relative unknown to the rest of the world. This all changed when he was cast in Ridley Scott’s, Black Hawk Down. The film is about United States Marines getting their asses handed to them by some African thugs, resulting in Bill Clinton pulling the troops out. This action was later sighted by Osama Bin Laden when he was trying to make a point that America did not have the stomach for war.

With this star turning role, two powerhouse opportunities came his way. One was in the form of doing voice work for Disney’s Nemo. It is his only comedy to date. The other film was The Hulk (2003). Whereas Nemo was a runaway hit, The Hulk failed to impress at the box office and with critics. This was more due to Ang Lee’s over wrought direction and a lack of action in the plot than Bana’s performance. Ed Norton’s turn as Banner, 5 years later showed, that the role of the ever suffering Banner is rather superfluous to the success, or failure, of the Hulk franchise.

The following year Eric Bana was once again on the losing side of a war movie, Troy. He has the role of the only likable character in the movie, Hector. “Yes, he is a good guy. I'd have him over for a barbecue.” Eric said in an interview with Daniel Robert Epstein.

The following year Eric appeared in the Steven Spielberg directed Munich. Spielberg claimed to not take a side, politically, with the film, but it was definitely trying to get people to question retaliatory action. "Look, it's really depressing," Bana told Harry Smith on The Early Show on January 9, 2006. "Even if you are getting these guys, if they are being replaced by worse, is what you are doing even worthwhile? It's a pretty challenging thing, I think."

In 2007 this married father of two, made the very personal Romulus My Father. He plays a European immigrant trying to raise his son while dealing with an emotionally confused wife. The critically acclaimed film barely registered in the States. In Australia it won four major Australian Film Institute awards, including a best actor for Bana.

The Other Boleyn Girl, had Bana playing King Henry, who is constantly looking for sex in all the wrong places. Henry gets into bed with more women than a porn actor but he still rarely smiles. Eric explained the film's theme to Rocco Passafuime of TheCinemaSource.com, “The issues that certainly resonated with me is the notion of ambition and the role ambition plays in our lives and the weight of balance also in the sense.” Too bad it was not just about getting laid. It would have been a much more enjoyable movie.

After not having a hit outside of Australia in several years Eric Bana is definitely due, and it does look like he is going for some lighter fare. Opening this Christmas is the romantic/fantasy The Time Traveler's Wife, with Rachel McAdams. Also in the works is an animated film called Mary and Max. If neither of those films interest you then there is the much anticipated Star Trek film due in 2009.

Also due next year is one film true Bana fans cannot wait to see, Funny People. Yes, Bana is finally going to do a comedy. After so many action/dramas I cannot wait to see if he can be make an audience laugh. Funny People is written and directed by Judd Apatow, who is responsible for the biggest laugh by Eric Bana thus far in a movie, when he wrote this line for Knocked Up, “If any of us get laid tonight, it’s because of Eric Bana in Munich.”