A Morena Baccarin appreciation post
From the wife of a traitor to Deadpool's girl to running from an apocalypse, she's done it all.
When I think of Morena Baccarin, I think of a Geena Davis and Sigourney Weaver blend in their prime. She can hang with any male co-star, and lead her own story with her name above the title. There’s something effortless about her work on screen, as if a part of the role already lived with her for a few years. Maximum effort may be playing out before our eyes, but she makes it natural and unshowy.
The Brazilian actress first turned heads as Damian Lewis’s wife on Showtime’s Homeland. While the majority of the series centered around Claire Danes’ agent, the first season included Baccarin as the unknowing wife of a traitor. She didn’t get a big monologue or even the Skylar White penthouse, but the role was hers by the end of the season. Playing the third or fourth lead on a show and making a dent isn’t easy, especially for a relative unknown.
That’s who Baccarin was when the 2011 television series struck gold. In a 15 year period of TV excellence that also included The Sopranos and Mad Men, Homeland owned the roost during its earlier years. The white hot tension tripod involving a CIA officer, a soldier broken bad, and the woman at home standing between them sung like Lady Gaga at the comfy homes of people around the world.
Baccarin owns a piece of that pie, just like she owns a healthy portion of the Deadpool success. Without pulling from the genius brain of Ryan Reynolds, it’s the girl whom Wade Wilson swoons over that makes us want to see the merc get his revenge. The stripper with a heart of gold and passion who buckles the mouth who doesn’t shut up is the secret key to the first two films rocking out.
When she briefly returned for Deadpool v. Wolverine, the heat returned. Against all odds, you wanted those two to be together. In a Disney comic book film, that’s a small win. It was Baccarin as much as it was Reynolds who struck the match on that subplot working. It’s the heart of those movies. Even when Hugh Jackman is screaming at Wade about being unable to make a relationship with a stripper work, you think fondly of the actress behind Vanessa.
At 46, she’s only acquiring more acclaim and work. She leads her CBS show, Sheriff County. In the span of 24 hours, I watched her in two relatively new movies (Greenland, Elevation) while seeing her previews for the upcoming two new releases and another semi-recent release. Baccarin had long runs on Gotham, The Flash, V, and Firefly with 3-5 or more episode arcs on a dozen other shows.
She’ll be the balancing stick between Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista in this month’s Prime release, The Wrecking Crew. In the trailer, she teases them about chasing down the mafia in a minivan. Later, it’s at the wheel as everyone is covered in blood. For some twisted reason, I want to know how it all went down. She has that effect on audiences.
Baccarin is able to level any co-star. Whether it’s Lewis or Reynolds, Butler or Anthony Mackie, she matches their work and makes the scene or story work. There aren’t a lot of awards in this kind of work, because she’s not quite the foil yet not quite the center of attention either. She makes the lead look better, but gets to shine herself enough to leave an impression.
15 years ago on television or ten years ago on the big screen, she made a decent one. Being extremely on the eyes with a realness that outshines any attempt by Hollywood to make her seem fake, Baccarin is a classic beauty that spells strength in her roles. I hope she keeps collecting steady work, with the occasional lead. If Jessica Alba and Olivia Wilde can snag lead roles in even independent films, let’s give Baccarin a shot at those roles.
You can see Baccarin in Greenland 2: Migration in theaters this weekend as Allison Garrity, the wife of Gerald Butler’s John. The husband and wife duo, who just got back together at the beginning of the first film, now have to continue to survive a global asteroid attack that left the world decimated. It’s not easy pulling the spotlight from such a magnetic personality like Gerry, but Baccarin pulled it off in the well-received original. Let’s hope that continues in the sequel.