I hear people complain, and 100% rightly, about some characters being the same character in EVERY movie they've done. Morgan Freeman gets a bunch of flak over it, as do many others. But what about people who portray a character that is WAY off what they are usually cast as? Don Cheadle played 'Rocket' in the Movie 'Colors', Rocket was a hard-core L.A. Gangsta of the 'Crip' variety, and played it well. Charlize Theron played Aieleen Wuornos in 'Monster', Wuornos was and ugly, drug-addicted, prostitute, serial killer (as was the real Aileen Wuornos, the movie was based on a true story). Anyways, Actors and Actresses get caught in ruts, but who do you know of that have broken their own mold, only to excel?
Nice, clean-cut all-American Henry Fonda as the child-murdering gunslinger in "Once Upon A Time In The West".
Nice, clean-cut all-American Frankie Avalon as the total bastard serial killer in "Blood Song"
Arch Hall, Hr. as a competent actor in THE SADIST.
on this subject, would anyone like to call the 'stereotypical' Jonny Depp performance? e.g. look at EDWARD SCISSORHANDS compared to say FEAR & LOATHING...he's far from my favourite actor but definitely has a broad palette, acting-wise.
Quote from: Rev. Powell on April 04, 2009, 05:32:57 PM
Arch Hall, Hr. as a competent actor in THE SADIST.
:bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle:
Richard (John Boy Walton) Thomas as the psycho in YOU'LL LIKE MY MOTHER (1972).
Quote from: RCMerchant on April 04, 2009, 05:54:57 PM
Richard (John Boy Walton) Thomas as the psycho in YOU'LL LIKE MY MOTHER (1972).
Ooh, I forgot all about that one. That was a favorite of mine as a kid.
here's one...Is Joe Pesci ever anything other than that p**sed-off foul mouthed mo'fo wiseguy who despises everyone?
I'd like to see him play the lead in a remake of 'Swan Lake' tbh
Paul Reiser as Burke in Aliens.
Quote from: Dave M on April 04, 2009, 07:48:20 PM
Paul Reiser as Burke in Aliens.
That's a good one, I totally forgot that was him. . .
Robin Williams playing a psycho stalker villain in ONE HOUR PHOTO!
That's funny because I was going to mention Williams as one of the actors who's characters are all very similar, but thought there was one that he was serious in. Leslie Nielson is another that I believe had ONE serious role amongst a million Frank Drebin types.
Jim Carrey in The Truman Show (at the time, anyway, however he has done more serious stuff since - maybe he's trying to be a "serious actor")
Along similar lines, Ashton Kutcher in The Butterfly Effect.
How about Arnie in Twins, and then there was Kindergarten Cop, then Junior.
Does this count too?
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/2dubious/hughgrantREX_228x334.jpg)
Andy Griffith in his very first role: A FACE IN THE CROWD ;)
Quote from: Wag on April 05, 2009, 04:42:46 AM
Jim Carrey in The Truman Show (at the time, anyway, however he has done more serious stuff since - maybe he's trying to be a "serious actor")
Along similar lines, Ashton Kutcher in The Butterfly Effect.
How about Arnie in Twins, and then there was Kindergarten Cop, then Junior.
Does this count too?
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/2dubious/hughgrantREX_228x334.jpg)
Jim Carrey did MUCH worse before "The Truman Show", besides the whole Ace Ventura thing, He was in some weird movie called "Rubberface". TTS was actually when he started turning
normal.
Burce Willis going all Disney in The Kid
Quote from: ghouck on April 05, 2009, 10:41:07 AM
Jim Carrey did MUCH worse before "The Truman Show", besides the whole Ace Ventura thing, He was in some weird movie called "Rubberface". TTS was actually when he started turning normal.
That's what I was getting at - his serious role in
The Truman Show was OOC given what came before. Not seen
Rubberface though. Any good?
I've seen part of it, but I don't remember.
I think I had this thread confused with my other thread when I made that reply. I am not proud. .
Quote from: ghouck on April 04, 2009, 10:51:45 PM
That's funny because I was going to mention Williams as one of the actors who's characters are all very similar, but thought there was one that he was serious in. Leslie Nielson is another that I believe had ONE serious role amongst a million Frank Drebin types.
Look for anything he did pre-Airplane!. He was a serious actor before that, Airplane! just gave him a second career. That's part of the reason he got the role - he never did anything NON serious.
One of his last serious roles was in the terrible Day of the Animals. In that one, he rapes somebody and fights a bear (!) in hand-to-hand combat - and loses, of course. You might also remember him as a lead character in Forbidden Planet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y4crGU7dkg
They mention him by name at 1:25.
To add to the list: Taye Diggs in Equilibrium. He's normally such a nice character in films, and they play this to effect with his villainous character.
How about Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou?
He was also in "The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday", which I can't find anywhere these days.
Keanu Reeves as anything but a stoned teenager. Its the only role he's good at, Parenthood, River's Edge, Bill and Ted. He was good in those, but they are all a variation on the stoned teenager role.
Some oldies: I have DOUBLE INDEMNITY on my Netflix queue. All I know about it is that Fred Macmurray, who usually plays very nice guys, is the murderer in this one.
A young James Stewart dun it in one of the old William Powell/Myrna Loy THIN MAN whodunits.
Lucille Ball shows up as just another little-known starlet in the Katherine Hepburn movie STAGE DOOR. I'd love to know how she made the successful jump not just to comedy, but to the absolute top of the heap in comedy.
Apparently James Cagney's tough guys were actually against type, and his very different role as George M. Cohan in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY was actually him being the song and dance man he actually considered himself to be.
---------------------------
Somebody mentioned Johnny Depp. Maybe there's another whole thread for actors who play such different types that they are almost unrecognizable from role to role. I just finally saw BEST IN SHOW and I didn't realize until the credits that I was looking at Christopher Guest on screen. I've seen him in PRINCESS BRIDE and in SPINAL TAP and I still can't believe those are all the same person. Who *is* this guy? Where did he come from? He's amazing!
Christopher Guest is a product of the Second City groups -- both in Canada and Chicago. He also worked on the National Lampoon radio shows and I believe the Harvard Crimson & Harvard Lampoon, which helped give rise to National Lampoon. Catch, if you can, his hysterical take on John Lennon off of the "Radio Dinner" albumn.
If you watch any of the SCTV shows on disc, you can sometimes catch him filling in with bit material. All of the SCTV players were astonishing in their cameleon-like character changes.
This is a difficult thread to keep focused, I think, because isn't it simply a case of an actor doing his or her job if they manage to show great range? I appreciate the Cagney citation. Yes, he thought of himself first and foremost as "a hoofer", yet could do amazing things -- Ever see him in "Man of A Thousand Faces", the Lon Chaney movie? You can stump a lot of people at horror-film trivia by posting his picture in Chaney's Hunchback makeup & saying "Guess Who?" -- Also, he was a killer comedian/very funny clown-man -- See "One! Two! Three!!" as evidence.
peter johnson/denny crane
Not really a big-name actor, but I was kind of blown away by Bill Irwin's appearance on CSI. He looked familiar, but I honestly didn't recognize him until I saw his name in the credits. For a guy known mainly as a clown, whose notable appearances include the video for Don't "Worry, Be Happy" and a recurring role on Elmo's World, he makes a really creepy serial killer. Just compare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuCNyxCyP94
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwqmBZEPGYQ
Quote from: Mr. Briggs Inc. on April 05, 2009, 10:40:18 AM
Andy Griffith in his very first role: A FACE IN THE CROWD ;)
One of the best and most terrifying performances ever. If you haven't seen Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes you own yourself this treat. You'll never look at good ol' Sheriff Andy Taylor in quite the same way again.
Boris Karloff, after a long career playing 'boogeymen', gave a touching and often hilarious performance as veteran horror actor Bryon Orlock in TARGETS.
In 1987 Vincent Price played a kindly fishman along side Lillian Gish and Bette Davis in THE WHALES OF AUGUST.
Everybody's favorite Hobbit Elijah Woods as the supremely creepy Kevin in SIN CITY.
(http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr154/Raffine/sin05.jpg)
William Shatner comes to mind especially for THE INTRUDER (1962) but also for the Ray Bradbury Theater episode "The Playground"
How about Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? I don't really care for him in most roles, but he really impressed me as the mentally-challenged younger brother of Johnny Depp. It was a terribly depressing movie, and I doubt I'll ever watch it again, but I give DiCaprio credit for impressing me this one time.
Someone mentioned actors who disappear into a role so much that you hardly recognize them (or don't recognize them at all). Depp fits that pretty well; another is (often enough, at any rate) Val Kilmer. When he's really into a role, he's outstanding. And then there's Top Gun on the other end of the spectrum :bouncegiggle:.
Anybody mention Brad Pitt as Mickey in Snatch? That one surprised me at the time.
Coutney Cox in Scream; at the time, the other Friends cast members tended to get movie roles that were very similar to their Friends characters, so it was good not to see Monica (in actual fact, I remember watching Scream for the first time without realising that it was Courtney Cox until I was about a third into the film)
Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, does that count...?