Maybe it's my ignorance to what Captain Sobel was like in real life; but after reading the BoB book, I felt like Schwimmer nailed the character. Sobel from my understanding was petty, sadistic, and power hungry. What exactly did people not like about Schwimmer?
shareI LOVED each and everyone of Schwimmer's scenes as Sobel. I thought he was brilliant in the role. HI HO SILVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
shareI have some related books but am yet to read them, so i'm not sure if my opinion will be as valid as others, but as someone that has watched the series probably a dozen times now i thought he was brilliant as Sobel. I think few could get his personality across so quickly and effectively.
shareThose moaning probably didn't bother reading the book so wouldn't understand he played the Sobel character exceedingly well.
shareHe played David Schwimmer. He played the same exact annoying fool he does in every single thing he's in. Saying he did an outstanding job in this is ludicrous.
He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
As far as accuracy in portrayal I have no clue, but I know I loved David's portrayal though. He does it so perfectly to the point that I loved hating the character, it's one of those situations where I couldn't see any other actor in that role, Davids appearance, facial expressions, voice, etc is perfect. Kind of like the way King Geoffrey in GoT is done so well that it's enjoyable to just watch and hate him every time he's on screen.
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But what's this got to do with the CIO?
At first, I didn't. But then I realized some casting has higher aspirations than just filling a part. Sometimes they want to sell you on a certain aspect of the character and so, they'll cast someone who's mere presence does that. In this case, Schwimmer stands out as awkward and not quite fitting in, and that seems appropriate to the character of Sobel, based on what I've read on him.
Sort of like Brad Pitt playing Jesse James.
It was a little hard for me to watch Schwimmer in this at first, but that was mostly because I've rarely seen him in anything besides Friends. And it is kind of hard to differentiate Sobel from Ross at first. But after a few scenes, I was able to forget about it.
It's interesting to see how Schwimmer plays Sobel quite similar to how he plays Ross. The character has all of Ross's negative traits amped up without any of his positive ones.
I'm gonna die of long hair!
It was a little hard for me to watch Schwimmer in this at first, but that was mostly because I've rarely seen him in anything besides Friends. And it is kind of hard to differentiate Sobel from Ross at first.
I've actually never seen "Friends" so I had no idea who Schwimmer was. I just accepted him in the part, and thought he was very good.
I love the moment in Ep. 10 when Sobel and Winters are passing each other, Sobel looks away, and Major Winters calls out, "Captain! You salute the rank, not the man.", and they give each other snappy salutes. It showed each man's dedication to the military tradition.
I think lack of familiarity with Ross was a plus for me, too. I gave up on "Friends" after watching 5 or 6 episodes; the actors were pleasant enough, but the show just didn't strike me as funny. However, I was also familiar with Schwimmer through his performance in "Apt Pupil," which I thought was good. So when "Band of Brothers" came around, I didn't associate him with any character he'd previously played; to me, he was just Sobel. And as far as I'm concerned, he knocked it out of the park.
Lack of familiarity with Jimmy Fallon was another bonus; I'd given up on SNL after the Phil Hartman era, so I wasn't familiar with Fallon at all when he made his appearance in episode 5. So I had no problem accepting him as Lt. Rice; to me he was just the helpful guy in the jeep delivering ammunition.
I finally finished the whole series and "Curahee" is my favorite episode. David Schwimmer's portrayal of Sobel was outstanding and made this episode memorable.
shareI thought his performance was fantastic, especially the scene where he knows he's losing Easy Company. It seems very true to what was portrayed in the book.
See you in hell, candy boys!share