As fans of highbrow cult TV (Deadwood), schlock but addictive TV (Lovejoy), and connoisseurs of great character portrayal will attest, Ian McShane is a superb actor, one of his generation’s finest. Now 81 but a silver fox who moves with feline fluidity, and in possession of a fortune-generating rumble of a voice, he’s seldom out of work for long. But it’s rare to see him cast in a leading role; he’s usually the heavy, the antagonist, the sly puppeteer who’s been pulling the strings all along.
American Star is therefore a bit of a treat because it gives McShane fans the maximum amount of McShane time, casting him as yet another heavy but one with something of a soul. (He takes a producer credit here, so maybe that’s what it took to put him in the centre of the story for a change.)
