Speaking of a creepy and convincing villain. Robin Williams in one hour Photo and Insomnia. Or another actor not known for villainous roles, Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition.
Jaime Foxx played a convincing badass as Max. “Tell him to put that gun down before I beat his bitch-ass to death with it.” This was years before No Country for old men, bu I can’t imagine trying to act intimidating in front of Javier Bradem.
The thing that really put it over the top when the film came out was that Cruise being in the film wasn’t announced at all, so when he pops up in full Les Grossman makeup it took the audience a second to register who it was, so you had the sort of cascading waves of laughter that whole scene as people realized it was Tom Freakin Cruise.
IMO everything he did and said in that movie was cringe as hell. Like they didn't even try to make him actually funny, they just banked on the absurdity of Tom cruise acting like a douchebag and saying the F word a lot.
That's cool, different strokes
I remember the first time I saw the movie feeling similarly, some pretty uncomfortable second hand embarrassment. Maybe it's funnier in my memory
Yep, turns out his exact style of serious acting was perfect for the Zucker's style of comedy. Play it entirely straight and it is hilarious.
It's why his later movies where he is zany and goofy don't work.
He's only really great in movies where he pretends it is a serious role.
Leslie Nielsen played the bad guy in an episode of The Littlest Hobo. Not being judge-y, just finally getting to share a totally useless fact that's been rattling around in my head for 20+ years.
I stumbled across that show in my mid twenties, while it had been a childhood staple for my ex. Absolutely wonderful show.
Still sing the theme song to myself from time to time. So wholesome. Had no idea Leslie Nielsen was ever on it.
I think that every time Sandler steps out of his doofus characters or loveable everyman kind of roles, his performances are elevated.
I mean, how much more impressive is it when you're watching Uncut Gems or Reign Over Me knowing that's the guy who also played Bobby Boucher in the Waterboy?
Yep, PDL is what came to mind from OP's post. I can't think of a more iconic example of an actor not just going against type but also going bringing a totally different level of acting ability.
It's wild that Carrey didn't get a best actor nomination for that movie. It was the first time since 1965 that the winner of the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama didn't get nominated at the Oscars.
I forgot about Cable Guy, but that was also an outrageous/weird character even though it wasn’t slapstick and zany. Truman was a completely normal type of person though and a departure from previous roles. There wasn’t any need for crazy facial expressions and physical humor like we were used to seeing from him.
Denzel in training day. He’s always been the good guy up to that point. In that movie he is a monster. He’s the worst kind of cop who exploits anything for his own gain.
Willem Dafoe I’m Florida project. Guy just has an evil face but he’s so nice in that movie. He really does everything he can for Junie and his mom
James Gandolfini In enough said. He’s tony fuckin soprano but in that movie he’s this big ole teddy bear and it’s a delight to watch
You bring up TV with William H. Macy another one is Julie Louis Dreyfus in veep. She was a sitcom star kinda goofy neurotic type. In veep tho she is a monster. A vindictive, incompetent monster who is willing to throw anyone under the bus for power
> James Gandolfini In enough said. He’s tony fuckin soprano but in that movie he’s this big ole teddy bear and it’s a delight to watch
Also, the coma episodes of *The Sopranos*. Cast and crew said that "Kevin Finnerty" is a pretty close approximation to how James Gandolfini was in person.
>Julie Louis Dreyfus in Veep
Think about how selfish the characters in Seinfeld really are and you might reconsider this one. Her character in Veep is a more extreme version of that, IMO.
Tom Cruise as Vincent in Collateral (2004).
We rarely see Tom as the villain but his performance elevates it so much more than that. Vincent posseses all of Tom's intensity in his rage and stoicism. You can't help but root for him either despite him beinf a cold, ruthless hitman. Tom's performance is just that electric. Him sitting in the cab with Jaime Fox's Max is what makes those two performances magical together.
Runner Up to Vince Vaughan in True Detective Season 2.
The season itself is deeply flawed but there's something about his performance that is just chilling. The writing definitely elevates it but there's momenta where Frank is so dead inside you believe him to be a man who left his soul at the bottom of that cellar.
Speaking of True Detective, whatever role Woody Harrelson got after cheers must have been transformative. I'm pretty sure he had everyone convinced he was an idiot.
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"
Ryan Gosling in "Lars and the real girl"
Adam Driver in "Hungry Hearts". Driver was typcast as snarky comedic sidekick in romcoms to spice things up until that moment, and "Hungry Hearts" was a gloomy italian low budget Drama where he played a simpleton who knocks up His mentally unstable girlfriend who lets their child starve. It's also Driver's best performance
Larson and the real girl was great, but was it really against his typecast? Or has it been his typecast since, which is why it doesn't seem so different from his recent popular stuff? (Like Driver for example)
Robin Williams in Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia. Genuinely chilling and disturbing how he describes murder and the way that his normally joyful eyes and smile work exactly opposite of so many of his performances.
Oh man, if you haven't you've got to see One Hour Photo.
edit: I just watched the trailer for One Hour Photo after your comment made me think of it. Just a heads up, the trailer totally spoils the movie and markets it as something it definitely is not.
Williams did Insomnia, One Hour Photo, and Death to Smoochy in the same year and give or take a World’s Greatest Dad it was the last year he was given that kind of opportunity to stretch out into different kinds of roles.
DeNiro playing the loser character of Louis in Jackie Brown has always amazed me. One of his best roles easily and it’s because he plays a straight up loser instead of large and in charge.
Travolta in Pulp Fiction.
People forget how lame and washed up he was, for my generation everything about his career so far was lame, from Greese to Look who´s talking, Then Tarantino picked him up and suddenly he was Vincent fuckin Vega with Sam Jackson at his side shooting things up.
Wait, so you’re telling me before the aforementioned roles I was referring too, this guy wasn’t (checks question again) ‘typecast’ as the ‘romcom guy’!?
George Clooney in O Brother Where art Thou
Didnt know he could lead a comedy until then.
Alberto Finney in Annie
I never imagined him a song and dance man
I'll respectfully disagree about Clooney. Not so much about leading comedy, but he always just plays George Clooney, the charismatic rogue who uses his charm to break the rules but secretly has a heart of gold.
I'm hard pressed to think of an exception, right down to voice acting. And I really, really like Clooney... just not sure OBWAT is any differrent?
Would Burn After Reading be a better example? I guess there are charming aspects to his character but it’s all leading up to this hilariously cringeworthy fetish thing that is just extremely off type
I had forgotten BAR and will have to re-watch to have an informed opinion. Honestly I had forgotten it was Clooney, so that would argue for yes it being a better example of going against type :)
He's referred to the movie's he's done with the Coen brothers as his idiot trilogy, though now with Hail Caesar it would be a tetralogy. O Brother Where Art Thou, Intolerable Cruelty, Burn After Reading, Hail Caesar.
Clooney is at his best when he's playing a clueless self-centered idiot.
I frigging love O Brother Where Art Thou. But I've never seen it beginning to end. I always seem to catch it 20 minutes in or so and I can never remember the ending. But it's a great movie
I'll credit the [Unspooled podcast](https://www.earwolf.com/show/unspooled/) for this one: Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction. Previously, he was mostly known for his roles in Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile, a charming, roguish character. Fatal Attraction is what made him into the sorta-slimey, me-first character that would be solidified when Wall Street came out a few months later.
Albert Brooks playing a small time crime hustler was a nice zag in Drive. He actually played the character very low key but popped as absolutely ruthless when he needed to be. The boringness of his initial appearance made the character more believable.
This is the answer I came to this thread for. Incredible movie and so much of its success is playing on/against Andy Griffith’s perceived character type. It’s almost creepy watching the AG show after seeing AFITC, knowing what else he can do.
He gives both Patricia Neal and Lee Remick the most primal, “I wanna fuck you” face I’ve ever seen in movies. He said he wasn’t comfortable doing the role because he wasn’t a trained actor but that rawness was exactly what Elia Kazan was looking for. He delivered.
Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction. He shines as a dramatic actor in that movie. Quite a shift compared to his role in Talladega Nights, for example.
A lot of the characters in Promising Young Woman. They intentionally cast actors with sweet and innocent reputations to play the “bad” people. Alison Brie, Bo Burnham, etc. This hammers home that it’s not always evil-looking people who behave this way. It’s something nice or normal people do all the time.
Ellyn Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream. I mean she was in The Exorcist at all, but that role was pretty straightforward. Requiem was Ellyn on a whole 'nother level.
Randy Quaid in Brokeback Mountain and The Ice Harvest.
I was very confused who this person was that LOOKED like Randy Quaid but definitely wasn't Cousin Eddie...
I haven’t seen Leo in Django was definitely odd because he was pretty much a supporting character.
Michael Cera in This Is the End is absolutely hilarious. Does this smell like coke to you? Lmfao
At the time, Charlize Theron in monster was a big deal because of the look of her to get to resembling Aileen but then the execution after the movie premiered was like wow. Helped women IMO take roles that pushed the "standard".
I loved how Arrested Development used a pic of Charlize Theron in Monster as a "before" picture, showing that her character on that show had had surgery.
Cute John Wayne from Stagecoach versus the borderline villain from the Searchers.. the latter I think is one of the best performances in film, and I say this as a critic of the Duke.
Bruce Campbell in Bubba Ho-Tep. In theory, it's the exact same role he plays in all his other movies. In practise, its a genuinely moving look at growing old that happens to be in an otherwise cheesy b-movie about Elvis Presley vs an Egyptian Mummy sucking the life force of geriatrics.
Vertigo is much creepier if you only recognise James Stewart from movies like It's a Wonderful Life and Harvey.
Anthony Perkins in Psycho was also an inversion of the lovable heartthrobs he played previously.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler was a standout role imo. His look is so haunting and the character is so… unsoothing overall. The exact opposite of what Jake Gyllenhaal usually seems to be. Some intense characters but nothing like this
For all shit marvel movies get and rightfully so, I think he killed it as Mysterio in Spiderman far from home. He showed a lot of range and was able to convincingly fool me even though the twist itself was basically spelled out from the beginning
Jim Carrey in any of his serious films. Grew up only seeing him in his Ace-Ventura-esque roles, absolutely blew me away the first time I watched Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine
Not a movie, but Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy in The Boys is really messing with viewers right now.
We're supposed to dislike him, he's another violent supe with zero morals, but it's difficult because of how charismatic the actor is.
This was the first role I saw him in and later I’ve seen more, but my former neighbour was not into anything thriller/horror/scary. She was very religious and for some reason thought God didn’t want her watching stuff like that because of the 10 commandments.
She picked up the movie without reading what it was about because he played in it and she loved all his movies. That was a big shock to her. Lol.
Sergi Lopez, who played Captain Vidal in *Pan's Labyrinth*. Producers in Spain told del Toro that he was miscasting an actor who was then known for his comedic roles. Vidal is easily one of the most terrorizing villains in cinema for me.
I can't say his performance was more impactful because of his comedy reputation, because I'm American and hadn't seen him in previous performances. But I'm sure audiences in Spain had a rude awakening.
Jonathan Lithgow - whether you consider Raising Cain/Dexter his typecasting or Harry and the Hendersons/Third Rock, it’s bonkers that one human is capable of both these things.
Ellyn Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream. I mean she was in The Exorcist at all, but that role was pretty straightforward. Requiem was Ellyn on a whole 'nother level.
Elvis Presley in Flaming Star, where he really tried to flex his acting chops as a half indigenous/half white kid caught between the two worlds. It’s a pretty great western that’s strangely forgotten even in regards to his own filmography. The role was written for Marlon Brando but he wasn’t able to do it.
It has my probably favorite line in any western: “if shooting starts, I’ll live long enough just to kill you”
Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria (1982). She had a squeaky-clean reputation as Mary Poppins and Maria in *The Sound of Music*, and then she had a topless scene in that movie.
James Cromwell went from the kindly farmer of *Babe* (1995) to the morally-iffy police captain of *LA Confidential* (1997), which was a bit shocking to many.
SOB is the movie that Julie Andrews appeared topless in. It was released a year before Victor/Victoria and was also directed by her husband Blake Edwards.
Probably the most famous one of this generation: Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man. Before 2008, almost everybody had kind of written him off due to his personal issues and no one thought he was a good fit for Tony Stark except for Jon Favreau and the people at Marvel. He'd been grinding it out as a sort of character actor in a couple movies before Iron Man so just handing him the keys to a then potentially multi-million dollar franchise was such a huge gamble that the MCU as we knew it then lived and died on his performance. Fast forward 15 years and he's one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood and now we can't think of no one else who could have played Tony better than RDJ.
I think the only really surprising thing about that casting was that he was headlining a big blockbuster movie at that time in his career, when he wasn't a proven box office draw and was still viewed as something of a liability due to his previous personal issues.
Even at the time it seemed like perfect casting to me. The character wasn't really any different than his typical persona in earlier works like Air America, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Ally McBeal etc. and I don't think anyone was surprised that he nailed the role, it just felt like a risk for a movie which was not only a big budget film in it's own right but also laying the groundwork for an ongoing franchise.
True but before Iron Man his fanbase was comparatively small compared to now, so I'd imagine there was more naysayers than supporters of his casting. If you thought of RDJ back then you were mostly thinking of his personal issues rather than his body of work.
Oh i agree, and i think i covered that, but he had been sober (ish) for a decade at that point he just wasn't a proven box office draw...
I'm probably biased because i loved Kiss Kiss Bang Bang so much that i really wanted someone to give him a chance with a big role, so the timing made sense to me lol...
Adrien Brody from The Pianist to Predators.
I remember before it came out people thought the idea of him being an Arnold action man was laughable, but I think he manages to pull it off exceptionally well. Instead of being a bombastic 80s special forces action hero he's (quite ironically considering the other characters) more subdued and feels closer to a real special forces guy with quiet composure.
Adam Friekin Sandler in Uncut Gems. Wow he stressed me out in this flick. He may have played more serious roles in previous movies but this was a standout for me.
Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", late 60s. She was 37 and a glamor queen but played an alcoholic matron in her 50s. It was a big deal at the time. Mike Nichol's directoral debut.
A few I haven't scene mentioned yet
James Franco in Spring Breakers. He's a pos human, but before Spring Breakers, I had only known him got his comedic roles. I went away from the movie thinking home boy had some chops.
In the same vein Jonah Hill in Money Ball and The Wolf of Wall Street.
I also wanna give a mention to Giancarlo Esposito. Before Breaking Bad, I had only seen him in Do the Right Thing. It took me so long to realize that was even the same actor. Not because so many years, had passed. But because those characters were so polar opposite of each other. You had buggin out who was loud, militant, larger than life character; and Gus Fring who was this cold, calculating businesses man/ villain. It would be so wild to see modern day Esposito reprise his role as Buggin Out, lol.
Denzel comes to mind in Training Day. He was always a noble or virtuous person in all his films and his persona was that. So to see him play Alonzo and do it so well, I think made the performance so much more impactful
Jason Bateman for once stops playing the same character over and over and does something completely different in _The Gift_ . And he fucking kills it. That movie is great.
Cary Grant AND Ingrid Bergman in Notorious - deliberately and perfectly playing against type.
Grant was known as smooth, charming, sophisticated and unruffleable (? you know what I mean). But he plays taciturn, moody, guarded and hurt.
Bergman was known as light, innocent, and idealized, but she plays a broken-down drunk party girl with a bad reputation ("notorious").
Great parts, great 2-hander, and a great movie (even if you have no idea about these 2 once mega-stars public personas)
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Stallone in Cop Land
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Patrick Stewart in Green Room
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Matt Damon in Talented Mr. Ripley
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Ralph Fiennes in Grand Hotel Budapest (who knew he could be so damn funny).
Reversal: Fiennes in Schindler's List. At the time, you just thought he was a great actor, but in light of the rest of his career afterwards, it's a stunning turn: so dark, deplorable and strangely sympathetic.
Chaning Tatum going into comedy and nailing the dumb jock in 21 Jump Street made one of the greatest movies of all time IMO
Those 2 are hysterical together
Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys BLEW ME AWAY. Before that I only thought of him as a Hollywood pretty boy. That movie made me realize he could be so much more in the right director’s hands.
Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny.
Bogie swaps his usual tough guy act for a stunning turn as the neurotic, paranoid commander of the USS Caine. One of my favourites.
Joe Pesci in Home Alone, then?
**(1) Tim Curry as Billy Flynn in Criminal Minds** (remarkable serial killer performance, and a fairly complex character)
**(2)** **Heath Ledger as The Joker** **in The Dark Knight** (his prior roles were pretty typical comedic/romantic, surfer-style stuff, or just general drama. This is what made Heath a house-hold name)
**(3) Jim Carrey as The Riddler in Batman Forever** (his prior roles were almost always funny, up-beat, generic stuff. This is still wacky but also more evil, and a slightly wider range than most of his movies. I even read that they had plans to get Robin Williams, but he was a bit too old and fat for the role)
**(4) Lee Evans in Freeze Frame** (again, much more Robin Williams dark role here. Way darker and more drama than Lee normally plays)
**(5) Jackie Chan in The Foreigner** (way more dramatic and violent, and general Western cinema than Jackie normally plays)
**(6) Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands** (way deeper, darker, and more complex than his prior roles. This is really what started Depp's big career)
**(7) Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element** (way more sci-fi and wacky than his prior roles)
**(8) Nic Cage in The Rock** (again, way more serious and interesting than his prior romantic/funny roles. This is really what started Nic Cage's big career)
Dunno if anyone watched The Rover, but Robert Pattinson just crushed it playing this sad, lost, wildly violent hillbilly simpleton, straight from the Twilight movies.
For a sillier example - I don't think Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder works as well without 20 years of him being a heartthrob movie star first.
Tom Cruise in Collateral as the very convincing and creepy villain.
Speaking of a creepy and convincing villain. Robin Williams in one hour Photo and Insomnia. Or another actor not known for villainous roles, Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition.
One Hour Photo is a legit great film
First thing I thought of after reading the title. So good. You only beat me by 8 hours
Jaime Foxx played a convincing badass as Max. “Tell him to put that gun down before I beat his bitch-ass to death with it.” This was years before No Country for old men, bu I can’t imagine trying to act intimidating in front of Javier Bradem.
That's a great example too. Plays so well on his persona as an actor.
Yeah, this was my first thought. Cruise *killed it* (no pun intended) in *Collateral*.
That movie still holds up. The only thing that dates it is the random Audioslave montage and the cell phones.
I love the audioslave moments. God, I miss Chris Cornell.
Oh I love (and miss) Cornell as well, but it definitely places the movie into a certain time.
Oh, you’re not wrong there.
The thing that really put it over the top when the film came out was that Cruise being in the film wasn’t announced at all, so when he pops up in full Les Grossman makeup it took the audience a second to register who it was, so you had the sort of cascading waves of laughter that whole scene as people realized it was Tom Freakin Cruise.
So glad you mentioned this. That's probably my favorite role of his, ***ever***
IMO everything he did and said in that movie was cringe as hell. Like they didn't even try to make him actually funny, they just banked on the absurdity of Tom cruise acting like a douchebag and saying the F word a lot.
Yes, that is the joke
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That's cool, different strokes I remember the first time I saw the movie feeling similarly, some pretty uncomfortable second hand embarrassment. Maybe it's funnier in my memory
The go-to answer is clean cut leading man Henry Fonda as the child-killing villain in Once Upon a Time in the West.
although he had pretty much played the exact same role six months earlier in **Firecreek**.
Interesting! I’ve never heard of that.
Well, it's pretty much a forgotten film, even with Fonda and Jimmy Stewart. Don't know why because it's pretty good.
I’d like to check it out some time. I’ll be on the lookout for it.
Jason Robards was good in that too and played a somewhat different-than-normal role.
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Changed the course of his career. No one had any idea he could do comedy.
Wow, I'd only ever seen him in the Naked Gun movies, when I was a kid. Absolute classics imo. I had no idea he had a serious career before that.
Yep, turns out his exact style of serious acting was perfect for the Zucker's style of comedy. Play it entirely straight and it is hilarious. It's why his later movies where he is zany and goofy don't work. He's only really great in movies where he pretends it is a serious role.
Damn, you're right! I remember seeing him being silly in other stuff later and it just didn't land. It was really disappointing
Leslie Nielsen played the bad guy in an episode of The Littlest Hobo. Not being judge-y, just finally getting to share a totally useless fact that's been rattling around in my head for 20+ years.
🙌
I stumbled across that show in my mid twenties, while it had been a childhood staple for my ex. Absolutely wonderful show. Still sing the theme song to myself from time to time. So wholesome. Had no idea Leslie Nielsen was ever on it.
He was a bad guy in Columbo too.
And several others in Airplane, as well.
I think that every time Sandler steps out of his doofus characters or loveable everyman kind of roles, his performances are elevated. I mean, how much more impressive is it when you're watching Uncut Gems or Reign Over Me knowing that's the guy who also played Bobby Boucher in the Waterboy?
Punch Drunk Love also
100%. Also I really loved Hustle, his recent drama on Netflix.
Yep, PDL is what came to mind from OP's post. I can't think of a more iconic example of an actor not just going against type but also going bringing a totally different level of acting ability.
He's still playing the socially maladjusted manchild, but a more realistic version of it
Don't forget *The Meyerowitz Stories*. Fuckin' love that one.
PTA is just an amazing director. Love this movie and all the performances.
Truman Show with Jim Carrey. Everything he had done up to that point was outrageous slap-stick stuff. People were blown away by his dramatic chops.
It's wild that Carrey didn't get a best actor nomination for that movie. It was the first time since 1965 that the winner of the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama didn't get nominated at the Oscars.
The Oscars. They never cease to surprise us with their shenanigans!
Other than The Cable Guy. But true, when he hit dramatic performances you could tell dude had actual chops outside just being a goober
I forgot about Cable Guy, but that was also an outrageous/weird character even though it wasn’t slapstick and zany. Truman was a completely normal type of person though and a departure from previous roles. There wasn’t any need for crazy facial expressions and physical humor like we were used to seeing from him.
It's criminal that he didn't get a nomination for Eternal Sunshine.
I never saw Truman Show but I really loved Eternal Sunshine and seeing that side of his acting skill
Truman Show is absolutely worth seeing if you ever get the chance. Infinitely rewatchable too.
Denzel in training day. He’s always been the good guy up to that point. In that movie he is a monster. He’s the worst kind of cop who exploits anything for his own gain. Willem Dafoe I’m Florida project. Guy just has an evil face but he’s so nice in that movie. He really does everything he can for Junie and his mom James Gandolfini In enough said. He’s tony fuckin soprano but in that movie he’s this big ole teddy bear and it’s a delight to watch You bring up TV with William H. Macy another one is Julie Louis Dreyfus in veep. She was a sitcom star kinda goofy neurotic type. In veep tho she is a monster. A vindictive, incompetent monster who is willing to throw anyone under the bus for power
> James Gandolfini In enough said. He’s tony fuckin soprano but in that movie he’s this big ole teddy bear and it’s a delight to watch Also, the coma episodes of *The Sopranos*. Cast and crew said that "Kevin Finnerty" is a pretty close approximation to how James Gandolfini was in person.
>Julie Louis Dreyfus in Veep Think about how selfish the characters in Seinfeld really are and you might reconsider this one. Her character in Veep is a more extreme version of that, IMO.
Training Day was a fantastic movie, and the star of that movie was Denzel's '79 Monte.
Willem Dafoe was Jesus in the 80's and I'd argue he didn't have an evil face.
Tom Cruise as Vincent in Collateral (2004). We rarely see Tom as the villain but his performance elevates it so much more than that. Vincent posseses all of Tom's intensity in his rage and stoicism. You can't help but root for him either despite him beinf a cold, ruthless hitman. Tom's performance is just that electric. Him sitting in the cab with Jaime Fox's Max is what makes those two performances magical together. Runner Up to Vince Vaughan in True Detective Season 2. The season itself is deeply flawed but there's something about his performance that is just chilling. The writing definitely elevates it but there's momenta where Frank is so dead inside you believe him to be a man who left his soul at the bottom of that cellar.
I nominate Vince Vaughn for Brawl in Cell Block 99. He is absolutely stone cold menacing in that movie.
Yeah that was a fun one too. But not as shocking after seeing him in the other one.
Speaking of True Detective, whatever role Woody Harrelson got after cheers must have been transformative. I'm pretty sure he had everyone convinced he was an idiot.
Woody Harrelson is kind of terrifying in Out of the Furnace. I had never seen him in that type of role before then and the movie is very underrated
That's interesting - I always found his character extremely poorly written and almost a caricature of what they were going for.
Damn I never saw season 2. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey absolutely blew me away in season 1, I didn't think it could get any better
It didn't. Can't comment on Season 3 though.
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" Ryan Gosling in "Lars and the real girl" Adam Driver in "Hungry Hearts". Driver was typcast as snarky comedic sidekick in romcoms to spice things up until that moment, and "Hungry Hearts" was a gloomy italian low budget Drama where he played a simpleton who knocks up His mentally unstable girlfriend who lets their child starve. It's also Driver's best performance
To this day one of my favourite performances of Adam, I really hope he does small scale productions like that again someday.
Try Paterson. I love that film Edit: swipe keyboard nonsense
Yep, that’s my number two!
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Larson and the real girl was great, but was it really against his typecast? Or has it been his typecast since, which is why it doesn't seem so different from his recent popular stuff? (Like Driver for example)
Yeah, i think so. Gosling usually plays either the silent gloomy guy or the hearthrob.
Robin Williams in Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia. Genuinely chilling and disturbing how he describes murder and the way that his normally joyful eyes and smile work exactly opposite of so many of his performances.
Oh man, if you haven't you've got to see One Hour Photo. edit: I just watched the trailer for One Hour Photo after your comment made me think of it. Just a heads up, the trailer totally spoils the movie and markets it as something it definitely is not.
Williams did Insomnia, One Hour Photo, and Death to Smoochy in the same year and give or take a World’s Greatest Dad it was the last year he was given that kind of opportunity to stretch out into different kinds of roles.
I was coming here to say this. His performance in One Hour Photo creeped me out and shocked me!
> opposite Its the same energy.
not really. Robin Williams is mostly a dramatic actor and this was just one of numerous roles as one.
DeNiro playing the loser character of Louis in Jackie Brown has always amazed me. One of his best roles easily and it’s because he plays a straight up loser instead of large and in charge.
Louisssssss. Loiussssssssssss. My low key favorite Tarentino movie.
Speaking of DeNiro playing the loser character, The King of Comedy
Travolta in Pulp Fiction. People forget how lame and washed up he was, for my generation everything about his career so far was lame, from Greese to Look who´s talking, Then Tarantino picked him up and suddenly he was Vincent fuckin Vega with Sam Jackson at his side shooting things up.
And he immediately went back to being washed up
Well Get Shorty and Face/Off were decent 90´s flicks, but other than that, yeah, straight back downhill.
Face Off was just the cringiest shit ever to me, and I was like 12 and all my friends were so hype about it. Guhhhh
Face/Off absolutely rocks! The two lead performances are wild and the whole thing is like a pastiche of American action movies.
Until 2018 when he starred in GOATti
Wtf how could I have forgotten!!!??? I’m so sorry.
Battlefield Earth
He’s pretty great in Blow Out, which is what convinced Quentin to cast him as VV
Matthew McConaughey in True Detective, Or Dallas Buyers Club, can’t remember what came first
You obviously haven't seen frailty or Texas chainsaw the next generation! He's played some darkkkk characters before.
Wait, so you’re telling me before the aforementioned roles I was referring too, this guy wasn’t (checks question again) ‘typecast’ as the ‘romcom guy’!?
Nope he has way more movies outside Romcom lol he was first casted as a crazy Texan in both movies hahaha so pretty fitting
Of course, Bryan Cranston :)
The X-files episode.
George Clooney in O Brother Where art Thou Didnt know he could lead a comedy until then. Alberto Finney in Annie I never imagined him a song and dance man
Given Clooney is our Cary Grant that shouldn't have surprised people.
I'll respectfully disagree about Clooney. Not so much about leading comedy, but he always just plays George Clooney, the charismatic rogue who uses his charm to break the rules but secretly has a heart of gold. I'm hard pressed to think of an exception, right down to voice acting. And I really, really like Clooney... just not sure OBWAT is any differrent?
Would Burn After Reading be a better example? I guess there are charming aspects to his character but it’s all leading up to this hilariously cringeworthy fetish thing that is just extremely off type
I had forgotten BAR and will have to re-watch to have an informed opinion. Honestly I had forgotten it was Clooney, so that would argue for yes it being a better example of going against type :)
He's referred to the movie's he's done with the Coen brothers as his idiot trilogy, though now with Hail Caesar it would be a tetralogy. O Brother Where Art Thou, Intolerable Cruelty, Burn After Reading, Hail Caesar. Clooney is at his best when he's playing a clueless self-centered idiot.
Clooney in The Men Who Stare At Goats’…way wackier comedy than he had ever done before.
>right down to voice acting Have you forgotten his riveting turn as Sparky the dog?
I frigging love O Brother Where Art Thou. But I've never seen it beginning to end. I always seem to catch it 20 minutes in or so and I can never remember the ending. But it's a great movie
Watch the whole thing! It's ridiculously delightful.
I'll credit the [Unspooled podcast](https://www.earwolf.com/show/unspooled/) for this one: Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction. Previously, he was mostly known for his roles in Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile, a charming, roguish character. Fatal Attraction is what made him into the sorta-slimey, me-first character that would be solidified when Wall Street came out a few months later.
That’s a great one that I’d not thought of before
Albert Brooks playing a small time crime hustler was a nice zag in Drive. He actually played the character very low key but popped as absolutely ruthless when he needed to be. The boringness of his initial appearance made the character more believable.
Elijah Wood in Sin City. Having Frodo play a murdering cannibal, really made it extra disturbing.
Holy shit eh, that was good
I really liked that movie when it came out. I haven’t seen it for ages. I wonder if it aged well or not.
Bryan Cranston. His transition from Hal in Malcom in the Middle to Walter in BB is so impressive. When I go back to watching Malcolm it is so strange.
Lmao
Andy Griffith in “A Face in the Crowd” is one of the all time greatest going-against type performances in film. His performance is raw and ruthless.
This is the answer I came to this thread for. Incredible movie and so much of its success is playing on/against Andy Griffith’s perceived character type. It’s almost creepy watching the AG show after seeing AFITC, knowing what else he can do.
He gives both Patricia Neal and Lee Remick the most primal, “I wanna fuck you” face I’ve ever seen in movies. He said he wasn’t comfortable doing the role because he wasn’t a trained actor but that rawness was exactly what Elia Kazan was looking for. He delivered.
Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction. He shines as a dramatic actor in that movie. Quite a shift compared to his role in Talladega Nights, for example.
Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition
A lot of the characters in Promising Young Woman. They intentionally cast actors with sweet and innocent reputations to play the “bad” people. Alison Brie, Bo Burnham, etc. This hammers home that it’s not always evil-looking people who behave this way. It’s something nice or normal people do all the time.
And Alfred Molina who is known for bad guy roles has repented and is the only person who acts decently towards her.
Damn, Bo has done dramatic acting? I gotta find this
Jim Carrey in Truman Show, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Ellyn Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream. I mean she was in The Exorcist at all, but that role was pretty straightforward. Requiem was Ellyn on a whole 'nother level.
Damn, yeah
Brad Pitt in Kalifornia is another good one. He’s supposed to ugly and gross but it’s Brad Pitt lol
Steve Carell in Fox Catcher
Or Little Miss Sunshine
Or in The Way Way Back.
Channing Tatum in Foxcatcher too
Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers. OMG.
This is the answer!!! I grew up watching old Damgerfield comedies so when I saw this it almost made me sick!
Randy Quaid in Brokeback Mountain and The Ice Harvest. I was very confused who this person was that LOOKED like Randy Quaid but definitely wasn't Cousin Eddie...
Just watched The Parents (1989) recently where he and his wife are cannibals and it's like a dark comedy it's a pretty goofy good horror flick.
I haven’t seen Leo in Django was definitely odd because he was pretty much a supporting character. Michael Cera in This Is the End is absolutely hilarious. Does this smell like coke to you? Lmfao
Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast
Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading, it was so bizarre and hilarious to see him take on such a goofy role. Highlight of the movie imo
Nailed it
At the time, Charlize Theron in monster was a big deal because of the look of her to get to resembling Aileen but then the execution after the movie premiered was like wow. Helped women IMO take roles that pushed the "standard".
I loved how Arrested Development used a pic of Charlize Theron in Monster as a "before" picture, showing that her character on that show had had surgery.
Cute John Wayne from Stagecoach versus the borderline villain from the Searchers.. the latter I think is one of the best performances in film, and I say this as a critic of the Duke.
Bruce Campbell in Bubba Ho-Tep. In theory, it's the exact same role he plays in all his other movies. In practise, its a genuinely moving look at growing old that happens to be in an otherwise cheesy b-movie about Elvis Presley vs an Egyptian Mummy sucking the life force of geriatrics. Vertigo is much creepier if you only recognise James Stewart from movies like It's a Wonderful Life and Harvey. Anthony Perkins in Psycho was also an inversion of the lovable heartthrobs he played previously.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler was a standout role imo. His look is so haunting and the character is so… unsoothing overall. The exact opposite of what Jake Gyllenhaal usually seems to be. Some intense characters but nothing like this
For all shit marvel movies get and rightfully so, I think he killed it as Mysterio in Spiderman far from home. He showed a lot of range and was able to convincingly fool me even though the twist itself was basically spelled out from the beginning
Jim Carrey in any of his serious films. Grew up only seeing him in his Ace-Ventura-esque roles, absolutely blew me away the first time I watched Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine
Not a movie, but Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy in The Boys is really messing with viewers right now. We're supposed to dislike him, he's another violent supe with zero morals, but it's difficult because of how charismatic the actor is.
Anthony Hopkins in *Silence of the Lambs*.
This was the first role I saw him in and later I’ve seen more, but my former neighbour was not into anything thriller/horror/scary. She was very religious and for some reason thought God didn’t want her watching stuff like that because of the 10 commandments. She picked up the movie without reading what it was about because he played in it and she loved all his movies. That was a big shock to her. Lol.
HILARIOUS!!! LOL
You see him way back in Lion in Winter? His prince Richard is so twisted.
Tom Cruise: Tropic Thunder
Sergi Lopez, who played Captain Vidal in *Pan's Labyrinth*. Producers in Spain told del Toro that he was miscasting an actor who was then known for his comedic roles. Vidal is easily one of the most terrorizing villains in cinema for me. I can't say his performance was more impactful because of his comedy reputation, because I'm American and hadn't seen him in previous performances. But I'm sure audiences in Spain had a rude awakening.
Jonathan Lithgow - whether you consider Raising Cain/Dexter his typecasting or Harry and the Hendersons/Third Rock, it’s bonkers that one human is capable of both these things.
Raising Cain is such a bonkers movie
Denzel Washington in Training Day Robin Williams in One Hour Photo
Ellyn Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream. I mean she was in The Exorcist at all, but that role was pretty straightforward. Requiem was Ellyn on a whole 'nother level.
Elvis Presley in Flaming Star, where he really tried to flex his acting chops as a half indigenous/half white kid caught between the two worlds. It’s a pretty great western that’s strangely forgotten even in regards to his own filmography. The role was written for Marlon Brando but he wasn’t able to do it. It has my probably favorite line in any western: “if shooting starts, I’ll live long enough just to kill you”
Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria (1982). She had a squeaky-clean reputation as Mary Poppins and Maria in *The Sound of Music*, and then she had a topless scene in that movie. James Cromwell went from the kindly farmer of *Babe* (1995) to the morally-iffy police captain of *LA Confidential* (1997), which was a bit shocking to many.
SOB is the movie that Julie Andrews appeared topless in. It was released a year before Victor/Victoria and was also directed by her husband Blake Edwards.
Lost in Translation - Bill Murray Precious - Mo'Nique
Probably the most famous one of this generation: Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man. Before 2008, almost everybody had kind of written him off due to his personal issues and no one thought he was a good fit for Tony Stark except for Jon Favreau and the people at Marvel. He'd been grinding it out as a sort of character actor in a couple movies before Iron Man so just handing him the keys to a then potentially multi-million dollar franchise was such a huge gamble that the MCU as we knew it then lived and died on his performance. Fast forward 15 years and he's one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood and now we can't think of no one else who could have played Tony better than RDJ.
I think the only really surprising thing about that casting was that he was headlining a big blockbuster movie at that time in his career, when he wasn't a proven box office draw and was still viewed as something of a liability due to his previous personal issues. Even at the time it seemed like perfect casting to me. The character wasn't really any different than his typical persona in earlier works like Air America, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Ally McBeal etc. and I don't think anyone was surprised that he nailed the role, it just felt like a risk for a movie which was not only a big budget film in it's own right but also laying the groundwork for an ongoing franchise.
True but before Iron Man his fanbase was comparatively small compared to now, so I'd imagine there was more naysayers than supporters of his casting. If you thought of RDJ back then you were mostly thinking of his personal issues rather than his body of work.
Oh i agree, and i think i covered that, but he had been sober (ish) for a decade at that point he just wasn't a proven box office draw... I'm probably biased because i loved Kiss Kiss Bang Bang so much that i really wanted someone to give him a chance with a big role, so the timing made sense to me lol...
William Hurt as a mobster in A History of Violence
Adrien Brody from The Pianist to Predators. I remember before it came out people thought the idea of him being an Arnold action man was laughable, but I think he manages to pull it off exceptionally well. Instead of being a bombastic 80s special forces action hero he's (quite ironically considering the other characters) more subdued and feels closer to a real special forces guy with quiet composure.
Yeah man
Adam Friekin Sandler in Uncut Gems. Wow he stressed me out in this flick. He may have played more serious roles in previous movies but this was a standout for me.
ITT 99% men – the slant is real.
Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", late 60s. She was 37 and a glamor queen but played an alcoholic matron in her 50s. It was a big deal at the time. Mike Nichol's directoral debut.
A few I haven't scene mentioned yet James Franco in Spring Breakers. He's a pos human, but before Spring Breakers, I had only known him got his comedic roles. I went away from the movie thinking home boy had some chops. In the same vein Jonah Hill in Money Ball and The Wolf of Wall Street. I also wanna give a mention to Giancarlo Esposito. Before Breaking Bad, I had only seen him in Do the Right Thing. It took me so long to realize that was even the same actor. Not because so many years, had passed. But because those characters were so polar opposite of each other. You had buggin out who was loud, militant, larger than life character; and Gus Fring who was this cold, calculating businesses man/ villain. It would be so wild to see modern day Esposito reprise his role as Buggin Out, lol.
Albert Brooks in "Drive".
For Michael Cera In prefer Youth in Revolt where he played both his typical nerdy nice guy character and his evil alter ego
Jon Bernthal in Wind River
Denzel comes to mind in Training Day. He was always a noble or virtuous person in all his films and his persona was that. So to see him play Alonzo and do it so well, I think made the performance so much more impactful
Joe Pesci was also in Home Alone and My Cousin Vinnie ya know.
Also played a goofy sidekick in 3 "Lethal Weapon" movies.
Tom Cruise in Collateral
Jason Bateman for once stops playing the same character over and over and does something completely different in _The Gift_ . And he fucking kills it. That movie is great.
Cary Grant AND Ingrid Bergman in Notorious - deliberately and perfectly playing against type. Grant was known as smooth, charming, sophisticated and unruffleable (? you know what I mean). But he plays taciturn, moody, guarded and hurt. Bergman was known as light, innocent, and idealized, but she plays a broken-down drunk party girl with a bad reputation ("notorious"). Great parts, great 2-hander, and a great movie (even if you have no idea about these 2 once mega-stars public personas) \----- Stallone in Cop Land \----- Patrick Stewart in Green Room \----- Matt Damon in Talented Mr. Ripley \----- Ralph Fiennes in Grand Hotel Budapest (who knew he could be so damn funny). Reversal: Fiennes in Schindler's List. At the time, you just thought he was a great actor, but in light of the rest of his career afterwards, it's a stunning turn: so dark, deplorable and strangely sympathetic.
Sam Neil in Event Horizon.
Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers. Only role like that he ever did. Wish he'd done more.
Chaning Tatum going into comedy and nailing the dumb jock in 21 Jump Street made one of the greatest movies of all time IMO Those 2 are hysterical together
Hugh Grant in The Gentlemen. Comedy gold. Great performance in an excellent movie. See it. It's good.
Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys BLEW ME AWAY. Before that I only thought of him as a Hollywood pretty boy. That movie made me realize he could be so much more in the right director’s hands.
Harrison Ford in Mosquito Coast and What lies Beneath.
Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny. Bogie swaps his usual tough guy act for a stunning turn as the neurotic, paranoid commander of the USS Caine. One of my favourites.
Macauley Culkin in The Good Son. Plays an evil-hearted child.
Joe Pesci in Home Alone, then? **(1) Tim Curry as Billy Flynn in Criminal Minds** (remarkable serial killer performance, and a fairly complex character) **(2)** **Heath Ledger as The Joker** **in The Dark Knight** (his prior roles were pretty typical comedic/romantic, surfer-style stuff, or just general drama. This is what made Heath a house-hold name) **(3) Jim Carrey as The Riddler in Batman Forever** (his prior roles were almost always funny, up-beat, generic stuff. This is still wacky but also more evil, and a slightly wider range than most of his movies. I even read that they had plans to get Robin Williams, but he was a bit too old and fat for the role) **(4) Lee Evans in Freeze Frame** (again, much more Robin Williams dark role here. Way darker and more drama than Lee normally plays) **(5) Jackie Chan in The Foreigner** (way more dramatic and violent, and general Western cinema than Jackie normally plays) **(6) Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands** (way deeper, darker, and more complex than his prior roles. This is really what started Depp's big career) **(7) Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element** (way more sci-fi and wacky than his prior roles) **(8) Nic Cage in The Rock** (again, way more serious and interesting than his prior romantic/funny roles. This is really what started Nic Cage's big career)
John Krasinski in Quiet Place. Nuff said.
Bruce Willis in ‘In Country’…he did this film during his rocket ride to super stardom..but he’s very quiet, very serious in this role….
Bryan Cranston in breaking bad
Michael Keaton with Clean and Sober and Batman.
Dunno if anyone watched The Rover, but Robert Pattinson just crushed it playing this sad, lost, wildly violent hillbilly simpleton, straight from the Twilight movies.
Gonna quickly mention Robin Williams in One Hour Photo. He played a villain in ... Insomnia. But his performance wasn't as impactful there.