A few years ago, the LDS Church produced 3 new films for the temple endowment, with 3 different sets of actors. Corbin Allred, who has played one of the kidnapped missionaries in Russia (a true life story) in the film The Saratov Approach, as well as Saints and Soldiers 1 and Saints and Soldiers 2 (note these are not sequels, although both WW2 movies) was the first actor to replace Michael Ballam from the older temple films. While I have enjoyed Corbin’s acting in the 3 movies mentioned above, it seems to me that Corbin is a bit of an over-actor in the temple film, and not really believable. He seems overly eager to get Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and then over-the-top angry when God throws him out of the Garden of Eden.
I don’t know the second actor’s name, but he seems the most persuasive to me. He’s the cool Satan. He seems to use charm to get Eve to eat the fruit. From my perspective, I can see him as a seductive and persuasive. I can see why Eve would be convinced by him. I mean if Satan is the deceiver, this guy seems to be the best tempter.
The third actor, I’ll simply refer to the bald guy because, well, he is bald. He seems very robotic, and not a convincing Satan either. What do you think?
Wheat & Tares 
We call the other guy Frat Boy Satan. He’s by far the best of the three. But none holds a candle to Opera Satan.
Why not give us a chance to vote for Michael Ballam and the old other guy? The old other guy is endeared to me. I was present at a good friend on mine’s live endowment before her wedding. As I passed through the veil and entered the celestial room to congratulate her and her soon-to-be husband she ran up to me and hugged me and whispered in my ear “that guy who plays Satan looks just like you!” I don’t know why I took it as a compliment.
They can bring in all the new guys they want, but Michael Ballam will always be my Satan!
One more vote for “old other guy.”
I like Michael Ballam’s Satan the best. He seemed persuasive and scary at the same time. I don’t care for any of the new “Satans” (never thought I’d be typing that sentence). Every time I see the “other guy”, I see some petulant frat boy (maybe I’m just getting too old).
Oh, for the days of truly varied “live” role=playing endowment sessions in which a 68 year old Eve could interrupt the whole thing by starting an argument with Satan over whether he was doing it wrong! Gosh, I wonder if Brigham himself ever played Satan. That I would like to have seen.
Moss, me too! Michael Ballam.
Egee–I totally see Satan as a petulant frat boy, that’s why old other guy resonated with me so much.
Not intending to derail, but I was in the Logan temple a few weeks ago and we were shown the old film with Michael Ballam.
?
The old other guy is Darryl Yeager, who was a professional dancer. I also think he was the best Satan. Corbin Allred has some moments, but like Eve, generally over acts. And he delivers his lines …very…..very…….slow. I’m not a big fan of the new films. Did like Peter in the Allred version though.
My husband’s grandpa loved playing Satan when serving in the Salt Lake temple. It was his favorite.
I think of the three news ones as Hobbit Satan (Corbin Allred), cute Satan (laughing other guy), and Aspergers Satan (bald guy). The middle one is most persuasive/ultimately terrifying to me because he’s so relatable and sympathetic.
There are 4 temple films in rotation right now, the classic Micheal Ballam version, and the three new ones. Of the three new interpretations of satan, I refer to them as weasel satan, frat boy satan and bald satan.
I think the Ballam film is used a little still. I’ve heard it is still used if translation is needed because other languages aren’t available yet with the new films.
I never liked Michael Ballam–he always seemed overdramatic. The Other Guy was always my favorite, but maybe that’s because he was my first. He always seemed like the perfect 80’s corporate sleaze villain. I’m not familiar with the Bald Guy; I assume he came along after I left the church.
Michael Ballam will always be Satan to me, as he was my first. I remember being so freaked out by his portrayal (being my first endowment, I was already on edge and weirded out from the initiatory) especially when he turned to the camera, looked directly at me and very convincingly warned me that breaking covenants would put me under his power. I didn’t go back to the temple for six months after that.
In time, and with some maturity and many return visits, I came to see Ballam’s Satan for what it was–an over-the-top, almost comical scenery-chewing performance that, when contrasted with the wooden delivery by the other actors obviously reading from cue cards, makes me laugh a little on the inside. When you add to that the shower curtain robes and the visible strings holding up the planets, my threshold for willing suspension of disbelief has already been crossed. With that, I welcome the new films for providing some fresh perspective on old material, but I would love it if they brought back Michael Ballam for one of them.
Of the new Satans, I would reluctantly have to pick Frat Boy as my favorite, and only because he is so easy to hate.
Apparently, W.W. Phelps was everyone’s favorite Satan in early Mormonism…
“The most remarked-upon aspect of Phelps’s performance was his habit of crawling or wriggling on the floor. Two years after the Van Dusen exposé, the New York Times published a colorful biopic on “King’s jester” Phelps—“a great man in Mormondom” who in the paper’s opinion had “too many screws loose.” In the endowment, the paper reported, “he plays the part of the serpent-devil” and “wriggles and hisses so much like a snake, that he is regarded by all the Saints as indispensable.””
http://www.withoutend.org/costume-drama-early-endowment-ceremony/
ACW, those monikers are exactly right. I think of them the same way.
I updated the caption so it says Darryl Yeager & Michael Ballam as the old Satan characters. Kullervo, the new temple films came out about a year or two ago. If you haven’t been to the temple in that time period, then you haven’t seen any of the new actors. Maybe I’ll have to do a poll next week on the old Satans? Maybe I’ll also ask how many people remember Gordon Jump as Peter?
Re link provided by Moss — wouldn’t you know Brigham cast himself as Elohim! I’d still like to have seen him, as well as WW Phelps, in the role of Satan.
I really like how different they are, how well they bring different portrayals of evil to the table. I recognize frat boy Satan is the usual favorite, but for me the frat boy style just comes across as wanna be evil, that real evil would eat this guy for breakfast. For that reason he is my personal least favorite, but again I appreciate all 3 (and the old 2).
All the new Satans are the worst. The new videos in general are too much. Do they really need to cry every one-and-a-half minutes? They should keep the opening sequences of creation, then recast the whole group. I want some multicultural temple videos, please. And less crying. Their dribble adds time to an already long experience.
FUN FACT: Although I’ve recorded all four of the temple endowment movies currently in circulation, I’ve only posted one of them online in its entirety and I consider one of the new actors who plays Satan to be a friend.
what ever happened to the Darryl Yeager Endowment film?
I agree with Kol. I have heard that they want to have some different performance styles so people can look at the roles played with different perspectives. The Corban Satan is thus, the over-reacting Satan. The bald Satan is the non-reacting Satan–thus the Robotic? But, if they really want to allow patrons to look at the roles played with different perspectives, the multicultural casting idea is a much better one. I agree about the crying/dribble. I keep wishing I could fast forward through this and cut to the chase. Also, if you ever see the movie “Take a Chance” with Corban Allred (and Kirby Heyborne), I don’t think you will ever be able to seriously view him as Satan.
By far I would say the cool guy who is your buddy is my favorite Satan because to me this is really how Satan manifests in our lives. He doesn’t come into your life as this evil person and tries to get you to do bad things. He’s like “come on let’s do this it’s going to be fun you’ll love it” “Hey I’m your pal, come over here and try this fruit it’s awesome”
If the new videos seem slower to you that was deliberate. It takes longer to say things when translated into some other languages.
These comments totally cracked me up 😂😂
The ‘other guy’ Satan is Casey Elliott, one of the singers from Gentri. He’s by far the best Satan in my opinion, I was pretty sad when his performance was reduced essentially to a PowerPoint presentation. Super relatable, very cunning and likeable. Exactly how I picture real Satan.
I like The Other Guy the best – my friend and I call him “Handsome Satan.” I think he plays the role more convincingly, as he is more subtle and persuasive, rather than openly sneering. However, Bald Satan will always hold a special place in my heart, since that’s the film I saw in my own endowment.