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General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: Strangeluv on May 17, 2008, 10:11:36 pm

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on May 17, 2008, 10:11:36 pm

When an actor is constantly casted as a certain type of character, he is said to be typecasted. Examples of this include Bruce Willis being cast as the brash hero sent out to save the day, Seann "Stifler" William Scott being cast as the usual perverted jerk, Tom Hanks as characters with that "tame nice guy" image, Kelsey Grammar being cast as cultured and intellectual characters after "Frasier" (even The Beast and Sideshow Bob can be considered cultured and intellectual). When an actor is cast in a role completely different from his other films or other styles of acting, he is said to be playing against type.

I found myself very interested in this and I'm going to do a list of ten instances where I thought the actor playing against type really stood out. Of course, this is all subjective and the real point of this thread is to discuss actors that are typecasted or playing against type  but I always like to kick these discussions off with a list.

10 (Click to reveal)

David Schwimmer as "Captain Herbert Sobel" in Band of Brothers (2001)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/5.JPG)

How This Role Differs from the Usual: Dramatic turn from an actor normally doing comedy.

We'll kick this off with Ross G... I mean David Schwimmer. I've only seen Schwimmer in Friends and some motion pictures (I can count them with the fingers on my right hand alone). I didn't think his acting chops extended past Ross Gellar. Then I saw the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. David Schwimmer plays Herbert Sobel, a DRILL SERGEANT of sorts and shouting insults and ordering everyone around. Though BoB is basically 10 hours long, I think Schwimmer only has like one hour of screentime. The first episode revolves around him, however, and his incredibly tricky character as Sobel isn't all that he seems to be. There's a shot of Sobel in there where he's watching the camera with this incredibly sad expression and that's what basically sold it to me.

Also, props to Ron Livingston (Office Space), another comedy actor, for turning in a dramatic performance in this same miniseries.

9 (Click to reveal)

Steve Carell as "Uncle Frank" in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/1.JPG)

How This Role Differs from the Usual: Not the usual silly, lively Carrell role.

Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch because Little Miss Sunshine IS a comedy and Steve Carrell's role isn't a big overdramatic one and I sensed a trend in him doing something "smarter" than Brick in the Will Ferrell comedy, Anchorman, and as the gibberish-talking anchor in Bruce Almighty, when he did The Forty Year Old Virgin. He starts off as almost dead (maybe literally) in Little Miss Sunshine and works his way up to a dancing machine. When I first heard Carrell was going to play a gay suicidal uncle, I was like "What?" because I didn't really think he could pull off something like that, especially if it's in a comedy. But I thought him being casted in that movie worked well because we're accustomed to seeing the silly lively Carrell and here he is, somber and lifeless, and it helped that character stand out, especially as he progressed through the film.

8 (Click to reveal)

Jim Carrey as "Truman Burbank" in The Truman Show (1998) and "Joel Barish" in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2003)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/3.JPG)

How These Roles Differ from the Usual: Dramatic turns from an actor normally doing comedy.

When I was a kid I couldn't get enough of Carrey. I watched Ace Ventura, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber numerous times. It got tiring eventually but I had a great time watching Carrey in his antics. Which kid didn't like those movies? Even though he was entertaining as hell, I guess I began to see Carrey as just the ultimate clown at a birthday party. Maybe he saw himself as that too and didn't hesitate to let Peter Weir cast him in his speculative comedy/drama "The Truman Show" as the titular character. As Truman Burbank, Carrey has toned down his antics a lot and concentrated more on his complex role. It worked for me and it was refreshing to see Carrey in a new type of role.

Then "Bruce Almighty" came and went and I thought he was back to old Carrey again. Then "Eternal Sunshine" came and his antics were gone again. He was playing a lovelorn introvert. I was pretty surprised at how well he acted this and how good he can do without his usual silly antics. However, he's had a few hard misses trying to play against type, though. Examples, The Number 23, The Majestic.

7 (Click to reveal)

Jack Nicholson as "Warren Schmidt" in About Schmidt (2002)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/6.JPG)

How This Role Differs from the Usual: Does not have most of the trademark acting tics most Nicholson roles carry.

I'm not sure if I should have put Nicholson here because he's played characters in almost every film genre; comedy, drama, horror, crime, suspense. The thing about Nicholson, though, is that I always see him as Jack Nicholson (if I'm not seeing him as Joker). That's Nicholson yelling "HERE'S JOHNNY!". That's Nicholson saying "You make me want to be a better man." That's Nicholson saying "I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of ME." That's always been the problem with me. When you really boil it down, he's either playing a psychotic madman or a sleazy womanizer.

This is why About Schmidt stands out for me. He doesn't play either of those. He doesn't give that shark grin smile. He doesn't shout swears at people and starts raving. He's just a quiet old guy whose wife just died, just retired and is unsure about his daughter's fiance. I'm thinking that was Alexander Payne's work as he always seems to tone down comedians, such as Paul Giamatti in Sideways, Matthew Broderick in Election. It worked for me, though.

6 (Click to reveal)

Bill Murray as "Polonius" in Hamlet (1999), "Raleigh St. Clair" in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), "Bob Harris" in Lost in Translation (2003)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/8.JPG)

How These Roles Differ from the Usual: Dryer style of comedy, dramatic turns.

Murray is a weird person to put on this list because I don't think he's playing against type anymore. The roles you see him in now are the roles he's probably going to play for the rest of his career. I see the Bill Murray that played Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters, played the piano in Groundhog Day and whacking flowers in Caddyshack and the Bill Murray that played the lonely man in Lost in Translation, Broken Flowers, Life Aquatic, Royal Tenenbaums etc. as different actors. Maybe he got depressed for two years, grew a beard and decided he's not going to do What about Bob anymore.

5 (Click to reveal)

Steve Martin as "Davis" in Grand Canyon (1991), "Julian Dell" in The Spanish Prisoner (1997), "Ray Porter" in Shopgirl (2007)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/2.JPG)

How These Roles Differ from the Usual: Dramatic turns from an actor normally doing comedy.

Steve Martin has always been a weird actor for me. When I watch him, he always strikes me as the type who knows how to drama but doesn't like doing it so he chooses to do comedy instead. He's always been one of the more "serious" comedians to me. That being said, I like his comedy (not his newer ones like Bringing Down the House and Pink Panther, though). I liked The Jerk (a lot), Bowfinger, Roxanne, Planes Tranes and Automobiles, Father of the Bride and these are what he's famous for. I don't really hear about the Steve Martin in Grand Canyon and The Spanish Prisoner, two dramas where he played characters of much more serious tones than his usual roles. Steve Martin playing a conman with a gun in a Davet Mamet movie? Check it out.

4 (Click to reveal)

Adam Sandler as "Barry Egan" in Punch Drunk Love (2002) and "Charlie Fineman" in Reign Over Me (2007)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/9.JPG)

How These Roles Differ from the Usual: Dramatic turns from an actor normally doing comedy.

I hate Adam Sandler's comedies. He always seems to play the same character in every single one - himself. When you walk into Anger Management or The Longest Yard (for those of you willing to) you're always expecting to see the same guy - a young man who shouts a little, gives small "motivational" speeches once in a while, gets angry again and probably kicks something. Then I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love. Paul Thomas Anderson directed Boogie Nights, Magnolia and There Will Be Blood and I don't think any P.T. Anderson movie had any acting that was nothing short of superb. Even though Punch Drunk Love can be considered comedy, I keep mentioning it and this role a lot because I find it to be paradigm of how a director can affect an actor's performance and how he can use that actor's lame regurgitated style to create something fresh. Anderson plays with Sandler's "angry" style to create a sensitivity and pain unknown to most Sandler characters.

3 (Click to reveal)

Tom Hanks as "Michael Sullivan" and Jude Law as "Harlen Maguire" in Road to Perdition (2002)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/4.JPG)(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/11.JPG)

How These Role Differ from the Usual:
Tom Hanks - Deviation from Hanks' image of being a pleasant or tame person.
Jude Law - Deviation from Law's "pretty boy" image.

I'm accustomed to seeing Tom Hanks acting as that guy who would light up a room when he enters it, whether he's acting like a little kid, a strange foreigner or a happy-go-lucky man-child. I'm also accustomed to seeing him isolated or physically suffering such as in Philadelphia or Cast Away. I'm not accustomed to seeing Tom Hanks as a hitman who acts cold and distant towards his child. But that's what we get in Road to Perdition. I don't know what made Sam Mendes cast Tom Hanks for this role (maybe star power?) but I found the role strangely fitting for Hanks.

As for Law, I believe he was relatively new at the time but I had not shaken off the Gigolo Joe image of him yet. I know everyone regarded him as a pretty boy of sorts, and I know how much good-looking actors/actresses (especially actresses) ugly themselves up for "good" Oscar-bait roles (Charlize Theron in Monster, Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby, Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose, the list goes on) but I don't think I had ever seen Law play a sinister sleazeball character before. Not like Harlen Maguire with his rotting teeth and receding hairline.

2 (Click to reveal)

Elijah Wood as "Matt Buckner" in Green Street (2005) and "Kevin" in Sin City (2004)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/7.JPG)

How These Roles Differ from the Usual: Dark villanous roles from an actor who became famous for playing Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I couldn't remember Wood as a child actor when I saw him as Frodo in Lord of the Rings so he was a new face to me and probably the face that would many would ALWAYS remember him as. When people look at him, they would always remember the emo Hobbit making his way to Mordor. He's made numerous attempts to break out of this by playing a series of creepy characters. The first would be his stalker creep character in "Eternal Sunshine", the second as the cannibalistic serial killer Kevin in "Sin City", the third as a violent football hooligan in "Green Street". Maybe now he'll be typecast as "the creepy guy who used to play Frodo" but I thought he did really well in these roles. Oh, and he also did that film, "Everything is Illuminated".

1 (Click to reveal)

Robin Williams as "John Keating" in Dead Poets Society (1990), "Sean Maguire" in Good Will Hunting (1997), "Finch" in Insomnia (2002), Sy Parrish in "One Hour Photo" (2002)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47794/10.JPG)

How These Roles Differ from the Usual: Dramatic turns and villanous portrayals from an actor normally doing comedy.

I think for every bad Robin Williams role, there's a good one. For every RV, there's a Good Will Hunting. For every Man of the Year, there's an Awakenings. I don't like most of Robin Williams' comedy roles. I liked him in Aladdin because I didn't have to see him. The only comedy movie I liked him in is Mrs. Doubtfire. And maybe Jumanji. I think most people know him as a comedian though, which is why I put him in here. He has tremendous talent when playing dramatic roles or as sociopaths. I don't know about other people who saw it, but his character in One Hour Photo scared the shit out of me. His role as the villain in the Al Pacino crime movie, Insomnia, is subtle but builds up to something intense.

Then there are his drama roles. Here's some trivia for you: whenever Williams has to do a dramatic role, he grows a beard (I don't know if this includes Jumanji heh heh). His Oscar-winning performance for Good Will Hunting will always be his tour de force performance for me, however. I can't find words to describe what that character made me feel and I really wish Robin Williams would do more dramatic roles instead of letting himself run crazy in shit like License to Wed.

Notable Instances Where I Think Playing Against Type Worked:

Tom Cruise in "Collateral", villanous performance straying from his usual good guy roles.

Mary Tyler Moore in "Ordinary People", cold distant performance from an actress known to be the motherly type.

Sean Penn in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (even though it's like his first role so it probably doesn't count lol)

Viggo Mortensen in "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises", different types of performance to move away from being typecast as Aragorn.

Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls", musical/dramatic performance from actor commonly known for his comedy.

Paul Giamatti in "Shoot 'Em Up", villainous performance from actor who usually does comedy.

Al Pacino in "Angels in America" and "Merchant of Venice"

Macaulay Culkin in "Party Monster", weird performance from ex-child actor (I liked it but a lot of people think it sucks!)

Michael Douglas in "Falling Down", violent and villainous performance from actor commonly known as the good guy (except Wall Street)


Where Playing Against Type Went Wrong:

Edward Norton in "Death to Smoochy".

Jim Carrey in "The Number 23".

Russell Crowe in "A Good Year".


So, discuss typecasted actors and instances where you think they tried to break out of being typecasted.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Wash Cycle on May 17, 2008, 10:37:13 pm

Did you see Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson's War? Holy shit that was a Tom Hanks I've never seen before (good thing)

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on May 17, 2008, 10:39:13 pm

Nah I haven't. What was different about him in Charlie Wilson's War? (I love Tom Hanks)

Oh also, I left out Bruce Willis for 12 Monkeys and The Sixth Sense.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Wash Cycle on May 17, 2008, 10:50:25 pm

Quote from: Strangeluv on May 17, 2008, 10:39:13 pm

Nah I haven't. What was different about him in Charlie Wilson's War? (I love Tom Hanks)

He had swagger, he had style, he was sexy and southern. It was pretty awesome. Actually... pretty much all the major actors in that movie went against their typecasts, though Phillip Seymour Hoffman in my mind will always be a character actor and is excellent in this film.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on May 17, 2008, 11:05:24 pm

<---morgan freeman, it's me.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Lyndon on May 18, 2008, 12:53:54 am

Matthew McConaughey in reign of fire. He usually plays the typical dreamy man. He plays a dirty fighter in this

Will Smith in Ali. usually plays the charming witty, funny character. Gives a fairly accurate representation of muhammad ali

Nicolas cage in Bringing Out the Dead. usually plays the same-ish wise cracking upbeat character. In this film he plays the lonely depressed paramedic

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on May 18, 2008, 01:10:50 am

Yeah, I think Will Smith did Six Degrees of Separation to break out of his Fresh Prince typecast and then followed some years later with Ali and Pursuit of Happyness and stuff.

Cage playing lonely depressed characters isn't unfamiliar territory for him, though. He's played the depressed types in Adaptation, Leaving Las Vegas and The Weather Man.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Ghost_Aspergers on May 18, 2008, 01:13:35 am

Quote from: Lyndon on May 18, 2008, 12:53:54 am

Will Smith in Ali. usually plays the charming witty, funny character. Gives a fairly accurate representation of muhammad ali

But wasn't Ali a charming, witty, and funny character?

...

Sandler's performance in Reign on me Made me very uncomfortable at parts. Then I realized the family he's mourning over died during the events in 9/11 and it really cheapened it for me. What's worse was how hard they plugged Shadow of the Colossus for no apparent reason.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on May 18, 2008, 02:21:02 am

(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/dan/movies/cactus.jpeg)

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Lyndon on May 18, 2008, 03:18:49 am

Quote from: KBJGXLM on May 18, 2008, 01:13:35 am

But wasn't Ali a charming, witty, and funny character?

:/

I guess. But he wasn't playing Will Smith, if you know what I mean. It was a different type of charm and wit.

Quote from: Strangeluv on May 18, 2008, 01:10:50 am

Cage playing lonely depressed characters isn't unfamiliar territory for him, though. He's played the depressed types in Adaptation, Leaving Las Vegas and The Weather Man.

Yeah, you're right, but he is still type cast as his roles in The Rock, Face Off, Con Air, National treasure etc

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 03:35:08 am

you forgot spanglish on the list of movies that would've been marginally better had they not had adam sandler in them!

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Mateui on May 18, 2008, 03:39:23 am

Interesting how every actor brought out so far in this topic is MALE. On that note, I can't even think of any actresses who successfuly played against their type. Let me think on this.. hmm..

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on May 18, 2008, 03:55:47 am

Yeah, I just noticed everyone mentioned here is MALE too (except for that Mary Tyler Moore thing I ref'd). A lot of actresses play against type in Oscar-y roles. Hmm, let's see...

Neve Campbell in Wild Things - antagonist role by an actresses usually playing the victim.

Meryl Streep in The Manchurian Candidate and The Devil Wears Prada - cold ice queen villain roles by an actresses usually doing emotional drama.

This is a stretch but...

Monica Belluci in The Passion of the Christ lol (can't say successfully though)

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on May 18, 2008, 04:10:42 am

its because women as a whole only get one role in hollywood.

I mean there's no reason a woman couldn't successfully play half the roles we're talking about here but the film industry is pretty fucking shit (http://www.cinematical.com/2007/10/08/wb-memo-says-no-more-movies-with-women-in-the-lead/) and so is the audience (the first topic in this forum about women was Lars saying POST PICS OF ACTRESSES YOU WANNA FUCK).

so yeah you can't get typecast when there's only one type ever anyways.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 06:24:59 am

i think saying women only play one role ever in all movies is a bit of a stretch!

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: theHunter on May 18, 2008, 07:26:22 am

Quote from: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 06:24:59 am

i think saying women only play one role ever in all movies is a bit of a stretch!

Agreed.  I mean Jada Picketts role in a Different World and the Matrix where totally different!

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: local_dunce on May 18, 2008, 11:38:28 am

Bill Murray in Broken Flowers and Steve Zissou.

You know I think the whole LOST IN TRANSLATION I AM A SAD ELDERLY GUY SWALLOWED UP BY THE WORLD is Billy Murray's Typecast now. If you look at the record.

Lost in Translation
Broken Flowers
Steve Zissou
Royal Tenenbaums ETC.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 02:45:02 pm

yeah i didn't really know what you were talking about with bill murray to begin with.  that is basically all he does now!

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on May 18, 2008, 04:32:28 pm

Quote from: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 06:24:59 am

i think saying women only play one role ever in all movies is a bit of a stretch!

well there are others but how often first of all is a woman the major role? then stretch it to male roles. action hero, spy, western, film noir, romance, all that shit. how often is the woman in the main role? and how often is she just there to act womanly or even worse CHARLIES ANGELS WHOA...GIRLS WHO KICK BUTT.

we're seeing more of a shift away from this especially with indie films (there were a lot of pregnant women movies out last year), but I still maintain you can't think of too many typecast female actors because they all play the same role more or less to begin with. Scarlett Johanssen plays a quiet but strong woman whoaaaaa.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on May 18, 2008, 06:50:20 pm

I read that article about the women actors before. And also a related one (can't find it) and I agreed that women aren't casted in leads (that have more than one type) as much as men.

The only situations I can think of when a woman is cast in a lead and cast to maybe play against type is when they're casted to portray real people. Examples;

Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth.
Charlize Theron in Monster.
Helen Mirren in The Queen.
Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line.
Salma Hayek in Frida.
Nicole Kidman in The Hours.
Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich.
Jennifer Lopez in Selena.
Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose.

These are probably the only types of roles women are allowed to be able to carry by themselves. Really successful women's roles are sometimes otherwise played with a male co-lead.

Laura Linney in The Savages (Philip Seymour Hoffman as co-lead)
Laura Linney in The Squid and the Whale (Jeff Daniels as co-lead)
Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets (Jack Nicholson as co-lead)
Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give (Jack Nicholson as co-lead)
Sissy Spacek in In the Bedroom (Tom Wilkinson as co-lead)
Keira Knightley in Atonement (James McAvoy as co-lead)
Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood as co-lead)

All in all, I can only think of a few examples of a real lead where it's not the typical woman's 'type' and without a male co-lead:

Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal.
Frances McDormand in Fargo.
Penelope Cruz in Volver.
Rinko Kikuchi in Babel (though she is more supporting and not the main attraction)
Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake.
Audrey Tautou in Amelie.
Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 07:07:08 pm

wasn't kikuchi's character in babel just very lonely/in need of human contact?  i guess it's sort of a stretch but that could be viewed as LOVE ME/NEED ATTENTION which is definitely one of the stereotypes i associate with female roles.


also i never saw walk the line but i didn't know witherspoon's was cast as a lead character!

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on May 18, 2008, 07:12:20 pm

Quote from: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 07:07:08 pm

wasn't kikuchi's character in babel just very lonely/in need of human contact?  i guess it's sort of a stretch but that could be viewed as LOVE ME/NEED ATTENTION which is definitely one of the stereotypes i associate with female roles.

It could be viewed that way, I guess. I always looked at it as... a little more than that, though.

Quote from: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 07:07:08 pm

also i never saw walk the line but i didn't know witherspoon's was cast as a lead character!

Co-lead with Joaquin Phoenix, so I should've put her in the co-lead category. She doesn't have nearly as much screentime as he does, though.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: headphonics on May 18, 2008, 07:40:25 pm

Yes, yes... perhaps a PHILISTINE would interpret it that way, but *I* got... a little more out of it.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: local_dunce on May 20, 2008, 01:19:05 pm

Man, I also have to say that I don't think Robin Williams is a typecast actor. Not unless you are an idiot who only watches Family movies anyway. If you look at the comparison over such a long period of time of his roles in Dead Poet Society, Goodmorning Vietnam, Death to Smoochy, One Hour Photo. The films he's been doing have been going on 20 years or more? And he's done such a broad range of roles over that entire period of time. It's not like he suddenly said I'VE BEEN DOING JUMANJI AND FLUBBER FOR 20 YEARS, NOW IT'S TIME TO DO ONE HOUR PHOTO.

He did Goodmorning Vietnam long before he did Jumanji or Flubber or any of the other shitty Family Movies he's done and in all the time he's done a really really broad range of characters. Robin Williams is WAY less typecast than someone like Sam Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino or even fucking HUMPHREY BOGART dare I say it.

I think now would be a good time to inject that Dead Poet Society really made me cry and I think it is the only film that has got that kind of reaction out of me since like, the original cut of Fox and the Hound.... Yeah.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Christophomicus on May 20, 2008, 03:14:46 pm

Quote from: scubacoaster on May 20, 2008, 01:19:05 pm

Robin Williams is WAY less typecast than someone like Sam Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino or even fucking HUMPHREY BOGART dare I say it.

Samuel L Jackson doesn't play characters in movies. He plays SAMUEL L MOTHERFUCKING JACKSON in every single fucking movie. Jesus Christ, he is the most annoying actor in existence.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Tau on May 20, 2008, 03:41:08 pm

I'm not sure if Kate Beckinsale has been in more movies like Underworld but I would say that was against the usual.. Oh shit I just remembered she played that same type of character in Van Hellshit?

Didn't Meg Ryan do something out of the norm and play some freaky suicidal chick in a horror or I don't know?

That guy who used to be in Charmed and is now doing Niptuck, the guy who was Dr Doom or something in Fantastic Four, I forgot his name, he changed completely from Charmed to his character in Niptuck which I think he did pretty well...  Julian McMahon!! that's it haha.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on May 26, 2008, 07:38:36 am

Man Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock are HORRIBLY typecasted actresses.

The thing is, I don't think they're good drama actresses, though. All their attempts to break out of type have been sort of bad.

Meg Ryan in Proof of Life and In the Cut. Just two mediocre performances in two mediocre-to-bad movies.

Sandra Bullock in Murder by Numbers, The Lake House and Crash (2004). The first two are really wooden mediocre performances and well, I'll give her a little credit for her role in Crash as YELLING WHITE WOMAN. But still, not enough.

Did you guys know Leslie Nielsen was a serious actor before Airplane?

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Roman on May 26, 2008, 05:25:18 pm

Quote from: Strangeluv on May 26, 2008, 07:38:36 am

Did you guys know Leslie Nielsen was a serious actor before Airplane?

Yeah I knew that.  I haven't seen any of his serious movies but honestly I think I could see him doing serious roles. 

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Shepperd on May 27, 2008, 10:28:45 pm

Quote from: Strangeluv on May 18, 2008, 01:10:50 am

Cage playing lonely depressed characters isn't unfamiliar territory for him, though. He's played the depressed types in Adaptation, Leaving Las Vegas and The Weather Man.

worst actor ever

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Hundley on May 31, 2008, 07:47:42 am

i don't usually give much of a shit about actors who get typecast(usually they were deserving of it in the first place) but the only example of BREAKING THAT that i ever really cared about was humphrey bogart in treasure of sierra madre (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040897/). i think his role has a little extra value if you're aware of the rest of his career, mainly because he was never ever THAT GOOD in anything else, so watching the movie you kinda believe that bogart IS ACTUALLY LOSING IT


also i guess alec guiness in a passage to india (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087892/) where he broke through that nasty habit of everyone type casting him as NON-INDIAN CHARACTERS. it's too bad nobody much seems to remember this movie. it's not david lean's most AWE-INSPIRING MOVIE visually but i think it manages to tackle some exceptionally difficult subject matter in the best way possible.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Lars on June 01, 2008, 10:11:04 am

I don't know why you've listed Viggo Mortensen there, he's not a typecast actor at all imo.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on June 01, 2008, 05:13:01 pm

He's not typecast but I figured he was a really easy target for typecasting because of his Aragorn character in Lord of the Rings. Even his next movie, Hidalgo, sort of reminded me of it.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: PTizzle on June 04, 2008, 11:26:19 am

Awesome thread, really liked the first post. I agree with nearly all of them.

I'd like to point out Joesph Gordon-Levitt in a role playing against type. He's best known for his roles in 3rd Rock from the Sun, 10 Things I Hate About You, Treasure Planet, H20 and pretty much silly stuff in general. He did a few semi-serious roles but nothing on a big level. I sorta wrote him off as another generic young actor until I saw Mysterious Skin, and holy shit did he destroy all my misconceptions with that. It was nothing like his other roles, he played a teenage gay hustler/male prostitute who was abused as a child (and enjoyed it). I thought it was incredible how he worked the character, from the accent to the personality and the overall challenge of the role itself.

He's gone on to do more serious stuff which is good.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Strangeluv on June 04, 2008, 05:04:07 pm

Yeah, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is more of a serious actor nowadays, who stars in those independent films now. He's also done Brick and The Lookout, which you should see if you haven't if you want to see him play good serious roles. In Brick, which was like a modern film noir with high school teenagers, he imitated actors from the film noir genre and he did it pretty good! In The Lookout, he played a guy with Tourette's coaxed into a bank robbery and he played it fine enough for me.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: UPRC on June 04, 2008, 05:29:05 pm

Quote from: Strangeluv on June 01, 2008, 05:13:01 pm

He's not typecast but I figured he was a really easy target for typecasting because of his Aragorn character in Lord of the Rings. Even his next movie, Hidalgo, sort of reminded me of it.

Hidalgo was a good movie.

Anyway, I think that's just Viggo's personality and acting style coming across. His roles in LotR and Hidalgo were very different, but the way he acted in each were not.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Ragnar on June 04, 2008, 07:21:27 pm

I dunno Robin Williams seems to be playing nothing but crazy guys now and I think now he's been typecasted as that it's kind of annoying

Also Tom Cruise wasn't acting out of character when he played a crazy guy in Collateral lolol

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: headphonics on June 04, 2008, 07:31:11 pm

man brick was such a cool movie, it's a shame no one ever talks about it!  it came on and i looked it up on imdb and was like OHHHH GOD THIS IS GONNA BLOW but it totally didn't!

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: WunderBread on June 05, 2008, 03:40:51 am

Someone just pointed this out on deviantart, and I realized I had totally forgotten about it: Bryan Cranston as the lead in Breaking Bad, as opposed to his role as the bumbling father Hal on Malcolm in the Middle. Seriously, such a huge gap between the two roles that I actually had no idea it was the same guy until I wikied the show.

I guess it's television instead of movies, but I think it works about the same.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Ragnar on June 07, 2008, 11:23:02 pm

Quote from: WunderBread on June 05, 2008, 03:40:51 am

Someone just pointed this out on deviantart, and I realized I had totally forgotten about it: Bryan Cranston as the lead in Breaking Bad, as opposed to his role as the bumbling father Hal on Malcolm in the Middle. Seriously, such a huge gap between the two roles that I actually had no idea it was the same guy until I wikied the show.

I guess it's television instead of movies, but I think it works about the same.

fuck yes

also wtf he was in ARMITAGE III

Edit: Oh shit he was in a lot of anime

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: theHunter on June 09, 2008, 05:25:39 am

The Rock in Be Cool.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Mongoloid on June 21, 2008, 08:32:42 am

I'd just like to point out that even though I think you're right about Sin City (Elijah Wood's role), I don't think LOTR has anything to do with it, as he was in a dozen hollywood movies (The Faculty, Ice Storm, The Good Son, Deep Impact, Flipper, etc...) before this, building up his acting personality.

Great actor btw.

Title: Typecasted Actors and Actors Playing Against Type
Post by: Damug on June 24, 2008, 04:29:39 am

Charlize Theron in Monster. She is normally a feminine type role, but really turned things around giving a stellar performance as a serial killer. The movie really showed her ability to be an outstanding actress.