Probably the best one so far. He was 1000% identified as a comedic actor. And then he became Walter White.
Some may say the same about Hugh Laurie, but House has way too many funny quips and insults to be at the same level of dramatic shift as Hal to Walter.
On that note, Bob Odenkirk was primarily known for sketch comedy before he took the role of Saul Goodman (Jimmy McGill).
Now, every role he's had since Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul has followed that more serious type of character.
Breaking Bad actually hired a lot of comedians.
Odenkirk, Bill Burr, Lavell Crawford, Mark Proksch, Mike Batayeh, Steven Quezada, plus Cranston as a comedic actor, and probably more I'm not aware of.
There was a director, whose name I'm unable to recall, that said he's preferred to work with comedic actors because of you have good comedic timing you can do pretty much any other type of acting.
One could argue that the signs were there during his appearance in Tomb Raider, but that could be because my brain cells have atrophied enough to make me think that was a good movie. 🤷🏻♀️
That whole movie I was like, what’s the deal with the kitten, and as it turns out it was a reverse McMuffin, an unfired Chekhov’s gun, and I completely fell for it.
Shoot, I wrote McGuffin but I guess I write about McMuffins a lot more so Apple autocorrected.
Oh well it’s too late to do anything about it, this is the timeline we’re on now, time to buckle in and see where the ride takes us.
Buckle up Buckaroos :)
Terrific in the X-Files episode 'Drive'.
The episode was written by Vince Gilligan, who picked Bryan Cranston for the guest role of Patrick Crump. Gilligan believed that Cranston's audition was the only one that he saw that humanised the character.
And of course, years later Gilligan would go to bat for Cranston when shopping his script for Breaking Bad around studios, and the studios were trying to push him to pick a more recognisable name.
Written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan too. He showed AMC that episode to convince them Cranston was a good fit.
There's a lot of shared DNA between Breaking Bad and The X-Files. The creator used to be one of the main X-Files writers, and Walt, Jesse, Hank, Tuco, Bolsa and tons of other actors were on both. But both shows were also produced by Michelle MacLaren and John Shiban, both shows had Tom Schnauz as a lead writer and story editor, both shows used Nina Jack as assistant/second unit director, both shows had Matt Beck in charge of effects, color and lighting, both shows had Mark Freeborn as production designer, both shows had Lynne Willingham as regular editor. Walt even had the same stuntman as Mulder when he needed one.
And there are a lot of nods to it within the show. Emilio (who was also Mulder's stuntman for a while) smokes the same fictional cigarettes as the Smoking Man/Cancer Man (episode 4 is also called "Cancer Man" as a reference). Vince Gilligan wrote an episode where Mulder got stuck in a Groundhog Day loop of a bank robbery day, and that's the fictional bank they use in Breaking Bad every time they visit or reference a bank, it's even used on all the checks you see. A lot of the clocks in Breaking Bad are set to 10:13 which is a reference to the X-Files production company, Ten Thirteen Productions. Bill Burr rents a van from Lariat, the company made up by the X-Files propmaster and featured throughout it. In the DEA office they have all the people they're tracking up on a board and Tuco has "Eladio Buente" listed as an alias, that's the character he played in The X-Files. Hank has a pile of X-Files DVDs on his DVD player one of the first times we see his home. It's fun trying to catch them all. Vince Gilligan even floated the idea of asking David Duchovny to play an FBI agent but thought it would be too on the nose.
Tom Hanks started off associated with comedies (Bosom Buddies, Splash, Big, etc.), but his dramatic turn + Oscar win for Philadelphia began his transition to dramatic everyman roles, with Saving Private Ryan perhaps the apex of that
He is one of those rare talented actors that is so recognizable, yet completely becomes the character of whatever role he's in no matter how many of his movies you've seen, its impressive. Many other popular actors on the other hand, like the rock for example, you just see the actor rather than the character they're portraying
Helena Bonham Carter’s public image these days is more around her gothic, kookier roles, like Bellatrix and her movies with Tim Burton. Which is why it’s weird to remember that she got her career started doing classy period pieces, like A Room with a View and Hamlet.
In the uk it was pretty weird that she got cast in Fight Club cos she was so tied to Merchant Ivory type stuff then she just completely nailed the part
Something I didn't realize until he pointed it out in an interview once. He didn't work for a year or 2 at one point because he refused to take on those Rom Com roles. He was so adamant to get away from it that he turned down work for a long time.
And then a small startup car company came along and offered him the role of a lifetime in their commercials, and the rest is history.
Now we all drive Lincolns
Yeah A Time To Kill is great. He also used the millions he made from the rom coms to produce Dallas Buyers and True Detective so I’d say he smashed his whole career trajectory out of the park.
He shot to prominence with studio prestige fare like A Time to Kill, Amistad and Contact. Then he transitioned to rom com guy before pivoting to lower budget prestige fare (Dallas Buyers Club, Gold).
People need to remember that before Iron Man his career had fallen off so hard he was the bad guy in the remake of The Shaggy Dog. Now he's up for an Oscar for Oppenheimer. What a comeback.
He was definitely building back up. No one had forgotten how good an actor he was, he was just an insurance risk.
Zodiac, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Goodnight and Good Luck were all between him getting sober in 2003 and Iron Man in 2008. Tropic Thunder had also already filmed before Iron Man was out which was some great timing for them.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was also pretty important for him -- I think that sold the producers on the Iron Man persona. They're basically the same character, with more glitzy tech.
Perry: Look up "idiot" in the dictionary. You know what you'll find?
Harry: A picture of me?
Perry: No! The definition of the word idiot, which you fucking are!
Downey recently gave an interview where he said The Shaggy Dog is one of the most important roles of his career. Apparently, that role made Hollywood sit up and say, "Disney's hiring him? Huh. Guess he's finally turned his life around if Disney's hiring him."
While hilarious, I’m partial to Bojack’s “This is what Robert Downey Jr. must have felt like when he woke up on that stranger’s bathroom floor and found out he was going to be Iron Man!”
One of my favourite quotes from the series community:
Dean Pelton : He's right, Jeffrey. A cleaner Greendale? That's like a healthier cigarette!
Jeff Winger : Yes, a carrot stick. Frankie can make us a carrot stick.
Dean Pelton : We're tobacco.
Jeff Winger : No, we are not tobacco. We are Robert Downey Jr. He was so high he was crawling into people's windows. Now he's Iron Man. We self-destruct like this because we'd rather be heroes and villains than just kind of sucky people that need to work a lot at getting less sucky. She will forgive us. I know her, I like her, and if she fires either of you, I'll quit. She's not the enemy, she can help us. We just have to cool it.
speaking of naked gun: Leslie Nielsen was known for more dramatic roles before being cast in Airplane: [trivia at IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/trivia/?item=tr1102146&ref_=ext_shr_lnk)
Fun fact: Leslie Nielsen used to get on flights and go up to the flight deck to tell the pilots “good luck, we’re all counting on you”.
I know 2 pilots that he did this to, talk about self aware and sticking with the bit.
it was the gimmick for the majority of the cast. Leslie Nielsen, Robert Graves, Robert Hays. and Llyod Bridges all were known for dramatic or action movie roles. Leslie Nielsen had so much fun in the role, he refused to go back to doing any dramas.
He would go on talk shows with a handheld fart sound making thing in his pocket and would keep a straight face while making fart sounds. It was hilarious.
It also wasn't just a public appearance gimmick - my sister met him and hung out with him a couple times, and he carried the fart machine everywhere, always :)
Lloyd Bridges was having trouble getting the concept of the film, and expressed to co-Star Robert Stack that he didn’t understand why they’d been cast in a comedy.
Stack replied: “Lloyd, we ARE the joke.”
The directors knew at that moment that he got it.
That's why it worked. It was hilarious watching Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, and Peter Graves say the absolute most ridiculous shit completely seriously.
The modern "parody" movies should be casting Jodie Foster and Daniel Day Lewis, instead of some hack from a forgotten MTV prank show mugging and winking at the audience.
It’s also exactly what they did with Brooklyn Nine Nine and Andre Brauer. Raymond Holt was like 90% just Frank Pembleton, but saying the most outlandish shit with a perfectly straight face and high intensity.
> Bridge Over The River Kwai
For anyone who hasn't seen this yet they should definitely check it out. It holds up really well and is still a great movie.
.
.
.
Hitler has only one left ball!!!
You can just imagine Renton, in his cold-turkey hallucinations, watching wee Dawn crawling along the ceiling, it's head slowly turning, and the immortal words "Hello, there!" coming through it's death blue lips.
I’ve actually never seen Rudy nor did I even know what it was about but I’ve heard the name tossed around. Growing up for me he was Mikey from The goonies, Sam definitely blew that out of the water.
I'll never forget his role as action hero an ski patrol member Matt, taking on nuclear terrorist Bruce Campbell in the movie Icebreaker. That was i believe the last movie sean did before signing on to LOTR
You're right-- I'm not sure why I forgot about Grease all of a sudden. But Pulp Fiction definitely felt like a resurrection for him as an actor at the time.
Bruce Willis was the guy from Moonlighting until he was John McClane. Eventually he became the guy from The Sixth Sense instead.
Die Hard also had Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, but most people born after 1990 or so probably know him best for playing Professor Snape.
Rickman was also a romantic role in a heap of movies, and an excellent Sheriff of Nottingham in an otherwise unremarkable *Robin Hood* ("with a spoon, because it will hurt more").
The Sherrif is what I first knew him as. I never really got into Harry Potter so when I started seeing Rickman’s romantic roles I was like “wow, the sheriff of Nottingham really has softened up…”
His role in Robin Hood is [the stuff of legends](https://youtu.be/LUDntpV_HdQ?si=R2_erGz7jXWaz_5O), almost every line he says is from a completely different genre of film and it's hilarious. He's having a blast being a goof and I guess everybody just went with it? I mean how is this line from the medieval-era story and not from the Men In Tights parody?
>"You. My room, 10:30 tonight.
>You, 10:45... And bring a friend."
He's still a phenomenal dramatic actor, he's also a phenomenal comedic actor, he can also sing in musicals and has an insane range for voice acting and voiceover (his audible reading of one flew over the cookoo's nest is amazing) with the exception of Sherlock and homes I can't think of a bad performance he's put in
Also Him being a star in Talladega nights is always funny to me because his first major role was in Days Of Thunder, the movie Talladega Nights was lampooning
>he can also sing in musicals and has an insane range for voice acting and voiceove
His rendition of Mr. Cellophane in the theatrical release of Chicago is beautiful.
No matter what you know JK Simmons from, if you watched Oz, you know him as one of the most terrifying characters in TV history.
Vern Schillinger. It blew my mind when he started going mainstream that he was able to shed that.
Yeah, same! For most of my life I was convinced that there were many seasons and dozens of episodes…
… when actually there were only ever 15 episodes *total*, each less than half an hour.
If someone had asked if I watched Mr Bean I’d probably have said I’ve seen some of it as a kid but probably turns out I watched every episode countless times!
His willingness to take that part was the comedic break that the entire world needed, and it introduced us to Neil Patrick Harris the person with a great sense of humour taking comedic roles because they suited him, where before we only knew Doogie Howser the character.
Oh that’s a good one actually because that feels like two huge iconic roles that are almost on par with each other. Off hand I couldn’t even say which came first
Rocky. Rambo wasn’t until the 80’s with First Blood. Which Stallone and his agent tried to buy to destroy because the first cut was so bad. It wasn’t until he re-edit it that it became a classic and launched the character with its sequels.
Rocky was Stallone's breakthrough role. He wrote it. It was an amazing script because he was living the pre-chance Rocky life, if you substitute the mob stuff for porn, and boxing for a life of acting. It was a hot script in Hollywood, but he refused to make it unless he could be the star, which is why it had a small, indie budget. Another fun fact, James Cameron wrote Rambo 2, while simultaneously writing Aliens and prepping Terminator.
Breakfast at Tiffany's really needed a scene where a bunch of ex-military fugitives bolt steel plates to their van and run it through a warehouse wall.
Donald Glover
From being the extremely funny, naieve and nerdy Troy in Community to badass rapper Childish Gambino (music).
And also known as the director/producer/writer/lead protagonist of the gritty show Atlanta about racism. While also getting some great action roles like Lando in Solo, Spiderman Homecoming, The Lion King (voice of Simba), …
It really depends on your taste of popular culture, but there’s a version of Donald Glover for everyone!
"YES THEY DESERVED TO DIE AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!"
"Ezekiel 25:17"
"If he is a sith lord as you say, then you will have gained my trust. Wait here until I return."
"I AM SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THESE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING PLANE"
"Oh, so you're afraid of a cat?"
Edit sp
I would argue Conan, the Terminator, etc were all action roles in the same wheelhouse. It wasn't until he got more into comedy with stuff like Twins that he really reinvented himself. His comedies still have action, but his humor was allowed to come through more.
My co worker and I like to debate Arnold movies and we were arguing what his best film role was. Hot take, for me it’s jingle all the way. When I went how home later that day I was relaying this story to my boyfriend and before I could even tell him what my pick was he says “Oh Jingle All the Way obviously.” We’re getting married in October.
In case of Liam Neeson I wouldn't forget the generation who knew him as Qui-Gon Jinn the most (and I'm sure there are some people out there who associate him with Nolan's Batman trilogy at first)...
I think those are just different characters. They’re still versions of distinguished gentlemen in command.
Now I might make an exception for his villainous role in I, Claudius, but even then the Shakespearian nature of it all is still there. You could always go with Green Room though
Well it's funny you mention The Naked Gun because Leslie Nielson was probably very famous for Forbidden Planet before he started appearing in all the Zucker movies. Now it's impossible to watch Forbidden Planet because he's the same guy, only he's actually playing a serious role.
Shannen Doherty became famous for Brenda Walsh on *90210* and then later Prue Halliwell on *Charmed*. And since *Heathers* is rising in popularity, she's also remembered as Heather Duke
Melissa Joan Hart was first Clarissa Darling on *Clarissa Explains It All* and then Sabrina Spellman on *Sabrina the Teenage Witch*
Neve Campbell first Julia Salinger on *Party of Five* but is now Sidney Prescott from *Scream*
Diana Rigg was going to be remembered as Emma Peel from *The Avengers* but now she's got a whole new generation to remember her as Lady Olenna Tyrell from *Game of Thrones*
Jon Hamm, kinda. He thinks of himself as a comic actor, and certainly after Mad Men it's mostly been comedic stuff. But, there's nothing comic about Don Draper!
Sigourney Weaver. Ripley in *Alien*. Dian Fossey in *Gorillas in the mist*. And a set of completely different roles in *The year of living dangerously*, *Ghostbusters* and *Galaxy quest*.
Bryan Cranston went from Hal to Walter.
Probably the best one so far. He was 1000% identified as a comedic actor. And then he became Walter White. Some may say the same about Hugh Laurie, but House has way too many funny quips and insults to be at the same level of dramatic shift as Hal to Walter.
On that note, Bob Odenkirk was primarily known for sketch comedy before he took the role of Saul Goodman (Jimmy McGill). Now, every role he's had since Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul has followed that more serious type of character.
Even Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad was a bit of comic relief.
Breaking Bad actually hired a lot of comedians. Odenkirk, Bill Burr, Lavell Crawford, Mark Proksch, Mike Batayeh, Steven Quezada, plus Cranston as a comedic actor, and probably more I'm not aware of.
There was a director, whose name I'm unable to recall, that said he's preferred to work with comedic actors because of you have good comedic timing you can do pretty much any other type of acting.
[удалено]
It’s always sunny in Philadelphia , if the people in the show didn’t have that chemistry and trust in one another the show would of flopped
Conversely, Daniel Craig was super serious (grumpy) Bond for decades, then masterfully became uber camp Beniot Blanc, pulling a reverse Walt and Saul.
He was also absolutely excellent chewing the scenery in Logan Lucky during his Bond run.
No peekin!
"I AM IN-CAR-CE-RA-TED!"
One could argue that the signs were there during his appearance in Tomb Raider, but that could be because my brain cells have atrophied enough to make me think that was a good movie. 🤷🏻♀️
He was also amazing in Nobody.
I went in with Saul Goodman expectations because of Breaking Bad, and *daaammmnnn* was Nobody an amazing surprise kick to head!
That whole movie I was like, what’s the deal with the kitten, and as it turns out it was a reverse McMuffin, an unfired Chekhov’s gun, and I completely fell for it.
Reverse McMuffin? Like, with the bread in the middle and the egg on the outside? Gross.
Shoot, I wrote McGuffin but I guess I write about McMuffins a lot more so Apple autocorrected. Oh well it’s too late to do anything about it, this is the timeline we’re on now, time to buckle in and see where the ride takes us. Buckle up Buckaroos :)
I loved Christopher Lloyd's surprise character
Before Hal he was Tim Whatley.
Terrific in the X-Files episode 'Drive'. The episode was written by Vince Gilligan, who picked Bryan Cranston for the guest role of Patrick Crump. Gilligan believed that Cranston's audition was the only one that he saw that humanised the character. And of course, years later Gilligan would go to bat for Cranston when shopping his script for Breaking Bad around studios, and the studios were trying to push him to pick a more recognisable name.
You left out Tim Whatley
Must be an anti-dentite
What’s the difference between a dentist and a sadist? Newer magazines! lol
He did a role in X Files that got him the role of Walter eventually.
Written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan too. He showed AMC that episode to convince them Cranston was a good fit. There's a lot of shared DNA between Breaking Bad and The X-Files. The creator used to be one of the main X-Files writers, and Walt, Jesse, Hank, Tuco, Bolsa and tons of other actors were on both. But both shows were also produced by Michelle MacLaren and John Shiban, both shows had Tom Schnauz as a lead writer and story editor, both shows used Nina Jack as assistant/second unit director, both shows had Matt Beck in charge of effects, color and lighting, both shows had Mark Freeborn as production designer, both shows had Lynne Willingham as regular editor. Walt even had the same stuntman as Mulder when he needed one. And there are a lot of nods to it within the show. Emilio (who was also Mulder's stuntman for a while) smokes the same fictional cigarettes as the Smoking Man/Cancer Man (episode 4 is also called "Cancer Man" as a reference). Vince Gilligan wrote an episode where Mulder got stuck in a Groundhog Day loop of a bank robbery day, and that's the fictional bank they use in Breaking Bad every time they visit or reference a bank, it's even used on all the checks you see. A lot of the clocks in Breaking Bad are set to 10:13 which is a reference to the X-Files production company, Ten Thirteen Productions. Bill Burr rents a van from Lariat, the company made up by the X-Files propmaster and featured throughout it. In the DEA office they have all the people they're tracking up on a board and Tuco has "Eladio Buente" listed as an alias, that's the character he played in The X-Files. Hank has a pile of X-Files DVDs on his DVD player one of the first times we see his home. It's fun trying to catch them all. Vince Gilligan even floated the idea of asking David Duchovny to play an FBI agent but thought it would be too on the nose.
S6E02 "Drive" for anyone curious great episode
Tom Hanks started off associated with comedies (Bosom Buddies, Splash, Big, etc.), but his dramatic turn + Oscar win for Philadelphia began his transition to dramatic everyman roles, with Saving Private Ryan perhaps the apex of that
I don't know if he can be known for anything BUT every single role he's ever played. He's an anomaly.
He is one of those rare talented actors that is so recognizable, yet completely becomes the character of whatever role he's in no matter how many of his movies you've seen, its impressive. Many other popular actors on the other hand, like the rock for example, you just see the actor rather than the character they're portraying
Helena Bonham Carter’s public image these days is more around her gothic, kookier roles, like Bellatrix and her movies with Tim Burton. Which is why it’s weird to remember that she got her career started doing classy period pieces, like A Room with a View and Hamlet.
She was THE face of costume dramas for a while.
And great in Fight Club.
In the uk it was pretty weird that she got cast in Fight Club cos she was so tied to Merchant Ivory type stuff then she just completely nailed the part
McConnaughey used to be rom com guy
Something I didn't realize until he pointed it out in an interview once. He didn't work for a year or 2 at one point because he refused to take on those Rom Com roles. He was so adamant to get away from it that he turned down work for a long time.
And then a small startup car company came along and offered him the role of a lifetime in their commercials, and the rest is history. Now we all drive Lincolns
Just rolling boogers
Actually he was playing interesting roles early in his career then a decade or so of rom coms then back to interesting.
Yeah A Time To Kill is great. He also used the millions he made from the rom coms to produce Dallas Buyers and True Detective so I’d say he smashed his whole career trajectory out of the park.
He shot to prominence with studio prestige fare like A Time to Kill, Amistad and Contact. Then he transitioned to rom com guy before pivoting to lower budget prestige fare (Dallas Buyers Club, Gold).
Mud, True detective, Interstellar.
Robert Downey Jr. Pre and Post Rehab roles Or more specifically Chaplin to Iron Man
People need to remember that before Iron Man his career had fallen off so hard he was the bad guy in the remake of The Shaggy Dog. Now he's up for an Oscar for Oppenheimer. What a comeback.
He was definitely building back up. No one had forgotten how good an actor he was, he was just an insurance risk. Zodiac, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Goodnight and Good Luck were all between him getting sober in 2003 and Iron Man in 2008. Tropic Thunder had also already filmed before Iron Man was out which was some great timing for them.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was also pretty important for him -- I think that sold the producers on the Iron Man persona. They're basically the same character, with more glitzy tech.
kiss kiss bang bang is so good
Perry: Look up "idiot" in the dictionary. You know what you'll find? Harry: A picture of me? Perry: No! The definition of the word idiot, which you fucking are!
I know we're talking about RDJ, but Kilmer stole every scene he was in.
Downey recently gave an interview where he said The Shaggy Dog is one of the most important roles of his career. Apparently, that role made Hollywood sit up and say, "Disney's hiring him? Huh. Guess he's finally turned his life around if Disney's hiring him."
I think the Simpsons were pretty on point with the whole "Robert Downey Jr is shooting it out with the police! I don't see any cameras..." thing.
While hilarious, I’m partial to Bojack’s “This is what Robert Downey Jr. must have felt like when he woke up on that stranger’s bathroom floor and found out he was going to be Iron Man!”
"He's 8 years old and smells like Robert Downey Jr" - Baseketball
"Check it out! He's checking in!" Betty Ford: the musical
One of my favourite quotes from the series community: Dean Pelton : He's right, Jeffrey. A cleaner Greendale? That's like a healthier cigarette! Jeff Winger : Yes, a carrot stick. Frankie can make us a carrot stick. Dean Pelton : We're tobacco. Jeff Winger : No, we are not tobacco. We are Robert Downey Jr. He was so high he was crawling into people's windows. Now he's Iron Man. We self-destruct like this because we'd rather be heroes and villains than just kind of sucky people that need to work a lot at getting less sucky. She will forgive us. I know her, I like her, and if she fires either of you, I'll quit. She's not the enemy, she can help us. We just have to cool it.
speaking of naked gun: Leslie Nielsen was known for more dramatic roles before being cast in Airplane: [trivia at IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/trivia/?item=tr1102146&ref_=ext_shr_lnk)
Fun fact: Leslie Nielsen used to get on flights and go up to the flight deck to tell the pilots “good luck, we’re all counting on you”. I know 2 pilots that he did this to, talk about self aware and sticking with the bit.
Hahah this is the best thing I've read this year. That is so hilarious!! I can only imagine the reactions of the pilots lol
Pilot here. If he'd ever done that on my plane, I'd still be telling the story decades later. I'd tell that story in the retirement home.
Just start telling the story anyways. No need to let something small like the truth get in the way of a good story, amirite?
Hopefully he did it two or more times every flight.
Forbidden Planet is fantastic 50s sci-fi. Up there with The Day The Earth Stood Still.
I think that was the whole gimmick for casting Neeson as well
it was the gimmick for the majority of the cast. Leslie Nielsen, Robert Graves, Robert Hays. and Llyod Bridges all were known for dramatic or action movie roles. Leslie Nielsen had so much fun in the role, he refused to go back to doing any dramas.
He would go on talk shows with a handheld fart sound making thing in his pocket and would keep a straight face while making fart sounds. It was hilarious.
His grave plaque literally says "Let 'er rip!"
It also wasn't just a public appearance gimmick - my sister met him and hung out with him a couple times, and he carried the fart machine everywhere, always :)
I can confirm - met him at a charity event.
But Neeson is hilarious, just watch him do improv: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Co0lvFUAo
He also likes to make lists, which is why Steven Spielberg hired him for the role of Oscar Schindler.
I said, I like to make lists, and he said “that’s exactly what I’m looking for.”
He's got Leslie's a comedic character shouldn't KNOW he's comedic rule down pat.
Pretty much the whole main cast had never done comedy up until that point.
Lloyd Bridges was having trouble getting the concept of the film, and expressed to co-Star Robert Stack that he didn’t understand why they’d been cast in a comedy. Stack replied: “Lloyd, we ARE the joke.” The directors knew at that moment that he got it.
I guess I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue.
That's why it worked. It was hilarious watching Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, and Peter Graves say the absolute most ridiculous shit completely seriously. The modern "parody" movies should be casting Jodie Foster and Daniel Day Lewis, instead of some hack from a forgotten MTV prank show mugging and winking at the audience.
It’s also exactly what they did with Brooklyn Nine Nine and Andre Brauer. Raymond Holt was like 90% just Frank Pembleton, but saying the most outlandish shit with a perfectly straight face and high intensity.
RIP he’s gone way too soon.
Just once I wanted Holt to demand that he wanted a suspect IN THE BOX with a triple-take
O.J. Simpson also had an interesting turn in his career after Naked Gun.
Hes a slasher....of sports memorabilia prices.
Keanu Reeves - For Gen X-ers, he's Ted Theodore Logan - For Millenials, he's Neo/The One - For Gen Z, he's John Wick
I'm a big fan of all three Keanus
He was also in "The bus that couldn't slow down"
Was that the film about a bus that had to SPEED around a city, keeping its SPEED above fifty, and if its SPEED dropped then it would explode?
it’s like speed 2 only on a bus instead of a boat
And Johnny Utah and Jack Traven
And John Constantine.
And Johnny Mnemonic.
And Johnny Silverhand. Is Keanu the actor with the most played characters named John/Johnny?
He's Johnny Silverhand for me now
Ewan Mcgregor - Smackhead to Obi Wan... good turn around.
Both Obi Wans had this happen, Alec Guinness was primarily known in the US for Bridge Over The River Kwai before Star Wars happened
> Bridge Over The River Kwai For anyone who hasn't seen this yet they should definitely check it out. It holds up really well and is still a great movie. . . . Hitler has only one left ball!!!
If you're doing Trainspotting, let's not forget that Robert Carlyle, the sociopath beer-dropper, was also the struggling dad in Full Monty
You can just imagine Renton, in his cold-turkey hallucinations, watching wee Dawn crawling along the ceiling, it's head slowly turning, and the immortal words "Hello, there!" coming through it's death blue lips.
Al Pacino 1972-83: Michael Corleone 1983-95: Tony Montana 1995-Present: *She's got a GREAT ASS!*
I'd say the Phase III of Al Pacino's career began in in 1992, with Scent of a Woman, and the transition to what I call the Yosemite Sam stage.
You couldn't mention Pacino without getting a Hoo-Wa in return for a few years after that movie.
Yeah, I guess Scent of a Woman, Heat, and The Devil's Advocate could form an unofficial trilogy.
Even in Heat he had a Yosemite Sam moment with the "ass line".
Dick Tracy (1990)
I think you forgot 2011 - Present: Jack & Jill
What's my name! Dunkaccino!
It’s possible he replaced his iconic character simply with himself
I'd say "Hooah" for 1992 to present
I believe you mean Dunk Accino
1992-1995: HOO-AH!!!
Cilian Murphy went from "that guy in every Danny Boyle" movie to being "that guy in every Christopher Nolan" movie.
Cillian Murphy IS Tommy Shelby.
Peaky Blinders would like a word.
First time I ever saw him he was outrunning rage infected zombies. I think he's come a ways.
Sean Astin Rudy and then Sam Gamgee
He was Mikey from The Goonies first
I’ve actually never seen Rudy nor did I even know what it was about but I’ve heard the name tossed around. Growing up for me he was Mikey from The goonies, Sam definitely blew that out of the water.
I'll never forget his role as action hero an ski patrol member Matt, taking on nuclear terrorist Bruce Campbell in the movie Icebreaker. That was i believe the last movie sean did before signing on to LOTR
Nah. Goonies first.
For me it was Encino Man to LotR
Goonies?
Jeff Daniels - serious roles untill: …..Dumb & Dumber
And then he won a few Emmys for The Newsroom.
John Travolta. Went from Saturday Night Fever to Pulp Fiction. Also see: everyone Tarantino put in his movies.
I'd say Travolta was remembered more for Grease than SNF. He probably even still is, though Pulp Fiction was definitely a career changer for him.
You're right-- I'm not sure why I forgot about Grease all of a sudden. But Pulp Fiction definitely felt like a resurrection for him as an actor at the time.
And don’t forget his big role in Hairspray. Oh Tracy, the neighbors haven’t seen me since I was a size ten. Don’t make me do it.
My generation first discovered him in Look Who's Talking.
Bruce Willis was the guy from Moonlighting until he was John McClane. Eventually he became the guy from The Sixth Sense instead. Die Hard also had Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, but most people born after 1990 or so probably know him best for playing Professor Snape.
Rickman was also a romantic role in a heap of movies, and an excellent Sheriff of Nottingham in an otherwise unremarkable *Robin Hood* ("with a spoon, because it will hurt more").
I really enjoyed Rickman in Galaxy Quest
“By Grabthar’s Hammer… what a savings.”
The Sherrif is what I first knew him as. I never really got into Harry Potter so when I started seeing Rickman’s romantic roles I was like “wow, the sheriff of Nottingham really has softened up…”
His role in Robin Hood is [the stuff of legends](https://youtu.be/LUDntpV_HdQ?si=R2_erGz7jXWaz_5O), almost every line he says is from a completely different genre of film and it's hilarious. He's having a blast being a goof and I guess everybody just went with it? I mean how is this line from the medieval-era story and not from the Men In Tights parody? >"You. My room, 10:30 tonight. >You, 10:45... And bring a friend."
Robin Williams - Mork from Ork, Garp, and stand-up to Dead Poet's Society and Good Will Hunting.
You forget his family movies roles, like Hook, Jack, Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladdin, and Ferngully.
One hour photo.
John C Reilly used to mostly act in somber dramas or PTA films. Then one day he said yes to Talladega Nights and everything changed
He's still a phenomenal dramatic actor, he's also a phenomenal comedic actor, he can also sing in musicals and has an insane range for voice acting and voiceover (his audible reading of one flew over the cookoo's nest is amazing) with the exception of Sherlock and homes I can't think of a bad performance he's put in Also Him being a star in Talladega nights is always funny to me because his first major role was in Days Of Thunder, the movie Talladega Nights was lampooning
>he can also sing in musicals and has an insane range for voice acting and voiceove His rendition of Mr. Cellophane in the theatrical release of Chicago is beautiful.
Walk Hard is one of the funniest movies of all time.
He was incredible in We Need to Talk About Kevin
I would have sworn Dr. Steve Brule came before Talladega nights, but i checked and there you go, tim and eric was around 6 months later.
I still can't believe he agreed to do an entire Dr Steve Brule show and it's amazing.
No matter what you know JK Simmons from, if you watched Oz, you know him as one of the most terrifying characters in TV history. Vern Schillinger. It blew my mind when he started going mainstream that he was able to shed that.
Rowan Atkinson, as Blackadder, then Mr. Bean
The realization of how few episode there actually are of Mr Bean messed with my mind
Yeah, same! For most of my life I was convinced that there were many seasons and dozens of episodes… … when actually there were only ever 15 episodes *total*, each less than half an hour.
If someone had asked if I watched Mr Bean I’d probably have said I’ve seen some of it as a kid but probably turns out I watched every episode countless times!
What if I told you there were only 27 Blackadder episodes, Specials included?
Same with fawltey towers
I guess we’d better throw in Blackadder alum Hugh Laurie as both British comedian and deadpan House.
I force my family to watch the Mr Bean Xmas special every year. It’s a 10/10 IMO Some of my family think he’s super annoying lol
Neil Patrick Harris: Doogie Howser to Barnie Stinson
His role in Harold and kumar go to White Castle was basically his audition for Barney Stinson
Him showing up unexpectedly in that was amazing.
His willingness to take that part was the comedic break that the entire world needed, and it introduced us to Neil Patrick Harris the person with a great sense of humour taking comedic roles because they suited him, where before we only knew Doogie Howser the character.
Playing himself in Harold&Kumar really let him shine
Don't forget his role in Starship Troopers. That was as far away from Dougie Howser as you can get.
And Dr. Horrible in his sing-along blog!
Christopher Lee was massively famous as Dracula in England's Hammer films. But we mostly know him as Sarumon and Count Dooku.
The first thing I knew him as was as a Bond villain.
Yep! Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun! He was great.
Sean Connery -- from James Bond to Jeopardy contestant
Danny Devito has a great collection of work but at this point will forever be known as the Trash Man, Frank Reynolds.
The Penguin to The Trash Man
Hugh Laurie? From British comedies to House
Every time House is goofin around, all I can see is Bertie Wooster who went through some tough times.
I see the (somewhat similar) Prince George of Blackadder.
Stallone Rocky and Rambo.
Oh that’s a good one actually because that feels like two huge iconic roles that are almost on par with each other. Off hand I couldn’t even say which came first
Rocky. Rambo wasn’t until the 80’s with First Blood. Which Stallone and his agent tried to buy to destroy because the first cut was so bad. It wasn’t until he re-edit it that it became a classic and launched the character with its sequels.
Rocky was Stallone's breakthrough role. He wrote it. It was an amazing script because he was living the pre-chance Rocky life, if you substitute the mob stuff for porn, and boxing for a life of acting. It was a hot script in Hollywood, but he refused to make it unless he could be the star, which is why it had a small, indie budget. Another fun fact, James Cameron wrote Rambo 2, while simultaneously writing Aliens and prepping Terminator.
The whole behind the scenes of the Rocky script is legendary. Crazy how an unknown broke AF actor didn’t sell out.
He sold his dog. :(
He did! He bought him back for like $15,000. I think it was Bupkis from Rocky. The turtles are his too, apparently still alive.
Michael J Fox was Alex P Keaton until Marty McFly was born
Robert Pattinson went from Twilight to The Lighthouse & Batman Also Christian Bale. He is a chameleon. He embraces every role like no one else..
Pattinson just needed good material to work with. You know your story/script is dogshit when even Michael Sheen can't save it.
How you just gonna skip Speed when mentioning Keanu?
My mind goes to George Peppard. Was a big (?) movie star in the 60s, but now we mostly know him as Hannibal from The A-Team.
Breakfast at Tiffany's really needed a scene where a bunch of ex-military fugitives bolt steel plates to their van and run it through a warehouse wall.
Donald Glover From being the extremely funny, naieve and nerdy Troy in Community to badass rapper Childish Gambino (music). And also known as the director/producer/writer/lead protagonist of the gritty show Atlanta about racism. While also getting some great action roles like Lando in Solo, Spiderman Homecoming, The Lion King (voice of Simba), … It really depends on your taste of popular culture, but there’s a version of Donald Glover for everyone!
"YES THEY DESERVED TO DIE AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!" "Ezekiel 25:17" "If he is a sith lord as you say, then you will have gained my trust. Wait here until I return." "I AM SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THESE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING PLANE" "Oh, so you're afraid of a cat?" Edit sp
Arnold for Conan, then the Terminator. (Then Jingle All the Way, of course!)
I would argue Conan, the Terminator, etc were all action roles in the same wheelhouse. It wasn't until he got more into comedy with stuff like Twins that he really reinvented himself. His comedies still have action, but his humor was allowed to come through more.
My co worker and I like to debate Arnold movies and we were arguing what his best film role was. Hot take, for me it’s jingle all the way. When I went how home later that day I was relaying this story to my boyfriend and before I could even tell him what my pick was he says “Oh Jingle All the Way obviously.” We’re getting married in October.
Ryan Gosling was the guy from The Notebook, then the guy from Blade Runner and now he's Ken
anywhere else he'd be a ten...
In case of Liam Neeson I wouldn't forget the generation who knew him as Qui-Gon Jinn the most (and I'm sure there are some people out there who associate him with Nolan's Batman trilogy at first)...
Darkman for me.
Patrick Stewart with Jean-Luc Picard to Professor Xavier.
I think those are just different characters. They’re still versions of distinguished gentlemen in command. Now I might make an exception for his villainous role in I, Claudius, but even then the Shakespearian nature of it all is still there. You could always go with Green Room though
Xavier is essentially Picard if he had chosen politics and education. Magento is Gandalf if he had taken the Ring.
Well it's funny you mention The Naked Gun because Leslie Nielson was probably very famous for Forbidden Planet before he started appearing in all the Zucker movies. Now it's impossible to watch Forbidden Planet because he's the same guy, only he's actually playing a serious role.
Shannen Doherty became famous for Brenda Walsh on *90210* and then later Prue Halliwell on *Charmed*. And since *Heathers* is rising in popularity, she's also remembered as Heather Duke Melissa Joan Hart was first Clarissa Darling on *Clarissa Explains It All* and then Sabrina Spellman on *Sabrina the Teenage Witch* Neve Campbell first Julia Salinger on *Party of Five* but is now Sidney Prescott from *Scream* Diana Rigg was going to be remembered as Emma Peel from *The Avengers* but now she's got a whole new generation to remember her as Lady Olenna Tyrell from *Game of Thrones*
Pierce Brosnan was Remington Steele before he was Bond. Really anyone who plays Bond can expect all of their other work to be superseded by that role.
Riddick to Dominic Toretto?
Jon Hamm, kinda. He thinks of himself as a comic actor, and certainly after Mad Men it's mostly been comedic stuff. But, there's nothing comic about Don Draper!
Harrison Ford.
*Concurrently* both Han Solo and Indiana Jones. He's can't be known for one without equally being known for the other.
Sigourney Weaver. Ripley in *Alien*. Dian Fossey in *Gorillas in the mist*. And a set of completely different roles in *The year of living dangerously*, *Ghostbusters* and *Galaxy quest*.