80 I Can Read You Like a Book R
theory about a human being’s control over facial muscles, it would
be Verbal Kint. We are not dealing with a real human being in Kint,
though, we’re seeing the output of a gifted actor, Kevin Spacey.
He’s the mastermind behind the brows that tell nothing and tell
everything.
After reviewing other Spacey movies, I now call him the actor
with the concrete brow. Control over that usually uncontrollable
part of the face is his stock-in-trade, an integral part of his talent.
He acts from the brows down until the scene demands a show of
emotion, and then he punctuates it with the appropriate brow
movement.
Contrast this with the android Data of Star Trek: The Next
Generation. Poor Data longs to be human, but cannot feel emo-
tion. Eyebrows, corner of the mouth, eyes—everything moves on
Data’s “emotionless” face. In fact, put him with Captain Picard
and Lieutenant Worf, and his face will likely be the most animated.
When John Mark Karr confessed to the killing of JonBenét
Ramsey, I watched 45 seconds of the press conference from Thai-
land in preparation for an interview on Paula Zahn’s Now. I did not
think he was being honest. One of the reasons was a simple flexing
of the pain muscle when asked how he got into the house. This
should have been a simple question but a quick look of “Oh, sh**! I
didn’t think of that!” hit his face.
