How Playing Skeletor Prepared Frank Langella To Play Nixon

In an acting career that includes such titanic cultural figures as Sherlock Holmes and John Adams, Frank Langella's decision to play Skeletor in the 1987 flop Masters of the Universe looks like a step down. But upon closer inspection, the part has more in common with Langella's more prestigious roles than anyone would expect -- even the actor himself.

It's no accident that Skeletor is one of the most widely remembered and discussed elements of the live action Masters of the Universe movie. As related in Slashfilm's oral history, director Gary Goddard purposefully built the story around its villain to compensate for the limited acting skills of its star. Dolph Lundgren was cast as He-Man fresh off his name-making turn as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. Although there was no question that Lundgren looked the part of He-Man, it was equally clear that Dolph brought little else to the role.

"He has a great face—I knew that he was gonna photograph well—but then he started talking," director Gary Goddard recalled. "I had to give a spine, an anchor to the movie. Dolph, with the speech issues, probably wasn't the guy to center the film on."

Goddard ultimately chose Skeletor to be the "anchor" of the film. He and Langella worked together to turn the role into a showcase for Langella's talents. "Frank and I were having a great time because we'd find quotes from Shakespeare and quotes from Moliere and James Campbell. We looked for lines that would play out in a dramatic way." In the effort to embellish a performance that had become the foundation of the film, Langella ended up writing some of his own dialogue.

"Tell me about the loneliness of good, He-Man. Is it equal to the loneliness of evil?" is the line most frequently credited to Langella's pen. On its face, it is a simple taunt directed at He-Man as he fights Skeletor alone, separated from his allies. But headier ideas squirm beneath that plain surface: Skeletor seeing himself reflected in his enemy, his supposed opposite; a convergence of good and evil leading two people to the same place, isolated from everything but their monumental goals.

This substance was not lost on Frank Langella. In a 2008 interview with USA Today, he reflected on the place of Skeletor in his career. "Sir Thomas More and Richard Nixon," he began, naming two of his most recent roles. "I am playing in both of these men the loneliness of good and the loneliness of evil." This concept of "the loneliness of good and evil" which Langella had first articulated for a film based on a toy line was now informing his more distinguished material.

To Frank Langella's surprise and delight, trying to get inside the mind of an action figure lead him to a richer understanding of his craft. While promoting his Oscar-nominated performance as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon, Frank Langella challenged the familiar hierarchies of entertainment, offering a humble reminder that inspiration (and art) can be anywhere -- especially where you least expect it. "The parallels between these two..." Langella marvelled. "Who would have known Skeletor would be the precursor?”