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Stephen James Lang

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Guest MillenniumIsBliss

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Guest MillenniumIsBliss

A recent post got me thinking about Stephen James Lang, Detective Giebelhouse on Millennium. Instead of mucking up that thread, I decided to turn over a new leaf and start a new thread. I was thinking not long ago about seeing all of these former cast members of MM popping up in newer TV programs and films, but it occurred to me that I haven't seen Stephen James Lang at all sense MM. When he was on the show, something about him seemed very familiar, as though I had seen him in something before. However, in looking at his filmography, I see that he really did very little before MM, and has also done almost nothing in the 8 or 9 years sense. I find this hard to believe, because he seems like a likable character, and like he would be a very popular character actor. I don't think he would have ever been considered for an Emmy for his work on MM, but he seems like a very good natural actor. I know some people here have done some research on the cast of the show, so maybe somebody can shed some light on what as become on our Geibs. I look at almost all of the other significant actors who appeared regularly on the show, and their filmographies are as long as my arm, so I was very surprised to see SJL kind of disappear.

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Guest Laurent.

I may be completely wrong but it was my understanding that SJL wasn't an actor at all. I thought that he was a real cop or something in the like and was brought in to bring a complete level of reality to the character. If I'm right, I have to say that I am really amazed by everything he has done for the show.

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Guest MillenniumIsBliss
I may be completely wrong but it was my understanding that SJL wasn't an actor at all. I thought that he was a real cop or something in the like and was brought in to bring a complete level of reality to the character. If I'm right, I have to say that I am really amazed by everything he has done for the show.

Interesting, I had never heard that before. If this is the case, he is a pretty good natural actor. Like I said, he didn't do anything that would earn him an Emmy on Millennium, but he was a lot better and a lot more natural than a lot of the goofs you see on, for example, the soaps during the day. This would explain why he didn't do much prior to or after the series. Thanks for the info. Maybe this means he wont be busy and that we will see him again if there is a MM movie. :yes:

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  • Elders (Moderators)

The only movie I've seen SJL on was Limbo (1999). And yes, it's hard to find anything about him on the net. Here's a tiny tidbit, though, from a Lance interview by Sue Myatt:

Lance:"A lot of jokes would happen, we would start laughing uncontrollably because of the tension of the show, so some very funny things would happen on set. Mostly in terms of language [the dialogue was, at times, complex], I've already told you about the line: 'I detect an unusual level of mindfulness associated with the violence.' Well some of these things Chris would get me to say I'd have to get 10 dictionaries out to understand the words. So we'd end up saying something out of context or doing a scene out of order. You'd catch a look from another actor and start laughing. The guy who played Giebelhouse had been fisherman in Alaska, he was a real man, very funny guy, me and him would crack up a lot on the set."

https://www.lancehenriksen.info/lance_faninterview.htm

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Guest MillenniumIsBliss
The only movie I've seen SJL on was Limbo (1999). And yes, it's hard to find anything about him on the net. Here's a tiny tidbit, though, from a Lance interview by Sue Myatt:

Lance:"A lot of jokes would happen, we would start laughing uncontrollably because of the tension of the show, so some very funny things would happen on set. Mostly in terms of language [the dialogue was, at times, complex], I've already told you about the line: 'I detect an unusual level of mindfulness associated with the violence.' Well some of these things Chris would get me to say I'd have to get 10 dictionaries out to understand the words. So we'd end up saying something out of context or doing a scene out of order. You'd catch a look from another actor and start laughing. The guy who played Giebelhouse had been fisherman in Alaska, he was a real man, very funny guy, me and him would crack up a lot on the set."

https://www.lancehenriksen.info/lance_faninterview.htm

Hmm, interesting. It seems apparent that something pulled him from a pretty normal life into the acting world. He was also in Disturbing Behavior, which was a fairly big film that I still have yet to see. Who knows, maybe he just decided it wasn't for him and retired. Once in a while you even see an actor who had one major role in a big film and that's it. I had always wondered, for example, what happened to Maggie McOmie, the female lead in THX 1138. She was in that film, and then nothing else until recently, in 1996, she was in a couple of films. I also looked up the Indian woman who lives with Jeremia Johson in that film, but it appears that was the only movie she has been in. There have been others that don't come to mind right now, but I have become accustomed to discovering and actor and finding that they have a long string of other films or appearances. It's always a surprise to find out that they haven't been in anything else, especially when they did a great job in what you saw them in.

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  • 8 months later...
  • 2 years later...

Interesting stuff from Laurent there. I hadn't heard that one. Oddly enough when I was working on the campaign I tried numerous times to track him down to no avail. As far as I can tell, he isn't registered with any acting agency at all at the moment, no-one of his name is a member of The Screen Actor's Guild and so on. I took that to indicate that he was no longer involved in the business at all. It's certainly a long, long time since he did anything that registers on the internet. He could, I suppose, be involved with theatre as is the case with Allan Zinyk (Roedecker) who has worked exclusively in that medium since he did Outer Limits shortly after Millennium.

I would love Laurent's story to be true. Wouldn't that be smashing?

Eth

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Guest WaveCrest

Loved Giebelhouse in Millennium. One of my favourite recurring characters, and if a film was made he has got to be in it! I liked his sense of humour. He really added something to the scenes he was in. That's really surprised me if Stephen James Lang was a real life cop and not an actor. Actor Dennis Farina, who played Detective Fontana in Law & Order, used to be a Chicago cop before he turned to acting.

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  • 11 years later...

Been a long while since I've logged in and longer since I last posted!

Resurrecting an old thread after finally seeing the always amazing John Sayles in his 1991 film City of Hope. Stephen J. Lang showed up as a cop here as well, and apparently uncredited! Of course he's been in other Sayles films, as the previously mentioned Limbo, he also was in the highly recommended Lone Star. Digging City of Hope as well, a good inner city drama touching on a lot of social issues.

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