Why Warner From Legally Blonde Looks So Familiar
Legally Blonde's Warner was many things: Elle's ex-boyfriend, yes, as well as Vivian's ex-fiance, and living slim-fit pullover. Above all other things, though, he was primarily a bonehead.
Still, that's not so bad. The world needs boneheads — they give us parking tickets and decide which Fox shows to cancel. If it wasn't for Warner's summary dismissal of Elle Woods from his private life, she might never have pursued more serious career avenues. Without Elle, Brooke Taylor-Windham might not have gone free. So, everything turned out for the best, albeit rather unintentionally on Warner's part.
Maybe you've revisited Legally Blonde recently, and found that you couldn't quite place Matthew Davis, the actor who plays Elle's former boyfriend. If that's the case, then fear not — because we're here to walk you through a few of Davis' more prominent work, from Michelle Rodriguez movies to vampire shows to Michelle Rodrigues vampire movies.
Matt Davis preempted Legally Blonde with Blue Crush
2002 was a terrible year for fictional kids and their adoring surfer sisters living in Hawaii. First, audiences were introduced to Lilo and Nani, who lost their parents and adopted Stitch, a genetically engineered alien super soldier. Then, two months later, Blue Crush debuted Penny and Anne Marie, who went through basically the same thing, only with a member of the Minnesota Vikings and not a xenomorph.
In Blue Crush, Davis plays Matt Tollman, an all-around good guy who has traveled to the Aloha State to play in the Pro Bowl. His charming presence is a real wrench in the gears for Anne Marie, played by Kate Bosworth, an aspiring professional surfer working as a maid to support her little sister. There just aren't enough hours in the day, it seems, to like a guy and also surf really well. It's a tale as old as time. Luckily, in the end, our heroes learn that, against all odds and flying in the face of conventional wisdom, one can surf and also love a football player. Three out of four stars.
Davis's wig was too beautiful to live in BloodRayne
It's hard to know exactly how history will remember the infamous director known as Uwe Boll. Critics largely stopped reviewing the director's films more than a decade ago, coincidentally right around the time that he challenged five of them to a boxing match and then punched them until they vomited (for the record, 0 percent of that story is made up. It really happened).
Boll is probably best known for his occasionally funded movie adaptations of video game franchises. Postal, Far Cry, Dungeon Siege, and House of the Dead have each become wards of the German auteur, to uniform critical dismay. In 2005, Boll released his reimagining of BloodRayne, Majesco Entertainment's bold answer to the question "What if Blade was a lady in a very small shirt?" BloodRayne saw Matthew Davis in the role of Sebastian, one of a small troupe of vampire-hunting warriors with death in their eyes and symmetry in their countenances.
It is a sad, if unavoidable, fact that Sebastian is not long for this world — the poor son of a gun falls as all unsung heroes must, fighting a Ben Kingsley vampire king who also happens to be the father of Rayne, the series protagonist. Sebastian chooses death over becoming an unholy creature of the night, and Rayne rides off into the distance to new adventures, more despicable foes, and a 4% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Also, Meatloaf shows up for a minute.
Matt Davis was back for more blood in The Vampire Diaries
BloodRayne was far from Davis's last brush with vampires. In 2009, the actor picked up what has so far been the steadiest work of his career when he was cast as Alaric Saltzman in the CW series The Vampire Diaries.
Alaric begins the series as a history teacher and — rather counterintuitively, for a person named "Alaric" — isn't a vampire. His vampirelessness is a temporary condition, and while it takes a couple of seasons and a temporary death, he eventually lives up to his dramatic name, being turned into an Original, one of the franchise's extra beefy blood suckers.
This turn of events comes particularly handy during the Vampire Diaries spin off The Originals, as it gives Alaric a solid role as a guest star in seasons four and five. Davis' run of good luck continued when a further spin off, Legacies, premiered in 2018. With Legacies having been recently renewed for a fourth season, it seems unlikely that we've seen the last of this dang old bonehead.