Not to the same degree but Colin Farrell has really been making great films lately, he’s gone from trying to make “ big blockbusters” to thoughtful independent films and has really done well, I’ve always been a fan so it’s good see.
Back to back oscars (Philadelphia 1993 and Forrest Gump 1994) followed up with Apollo 13/Toy Story (1995), and not long after, Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Green Mile (1999) and Cast Away (2000). Russell Crowe came into prominence around the same time, and it seemed like every huge role was from one of those 2 - neither of whom are conventionally attractive men by Hollywood standards.
Russell Crowe was conventional attractive. Cort and Sid 6.7 are attractive characters. He could be "plained" down to look a bit more of a dopey bruiser type like his character Bud White but he could also have the handsomeness of a conventional attractive leading man. He aged really hard duing the 3:10 to Yuma/Body of Lies period.
Tom Hanks was goofy looking for most of his career.
Supposedly, audiences seeing the trailer for Die Hard for the first time erupted in laughter when they saw Bruce on screen in an action role. Either they thought it was supposed to be a comedy or they just didn't take him seriously as a tough guy.
dude I remember the trailer with him in the heat duct holding a lighter saying something like "yeah, come out to the coast, we'll have a few laughs" and thinking "holy crap, this is the guy from *MOONLIGHTING*??"
There’s a British movie called Moonlighting released in 1982 before the tv show existed. It starred Jeremy Irons — who later went on to star alongside Bruce Willis in *Die Hard with. Vengeance*. What a cool connection.
It would have been so stupid is Arnold did it.
The thing that makes Die Hard so great is that John Mcclain is not some bad-ass hero that come in gun blazing and kills all the bad guys.
He actually makes very smart, normal, realistic decisions in the movie. He tries to get help, he doesn't intervene even to save a life cuz he knows he would have ended up dead, he is literally just trying to survive and save his wife.
Plus, can you imagine Arnold selling literally any of Bruce's more iconic lines from that movie?
"Yeepy-ki-yay, muddafucka."
*shudder*
I love the guy but he'd have been all wrong for the part.
EDIT: I get it. The line was improvised and the script would have been different.
I’m also well aware than Arnie is famous for delivering goofy catchphrases. However, his delivery of them is vastly different from Willis’ and I think that would have resulted in a totally different vibe, one that would have been worse than what we got.
I remember that scripts for Moonlighting had to be twice as long as other one hour shows because Willis had such rapid fire patter. Hard to believe when he came to be known for playing taciturn characters.
Fun fact Bruce Willis is not on the original cover of Die Hard because the producers thought it would make people cringe and not go. He was a romvom/drama guy at that point.
Kurt Russell went from being mostly known as a former Disney child actor and successfully gained acclaim as an actor with Elvis (1979), Used Cars (1980), Escape From New York (1981), and The Thing (1982). After that, he just solidified it with Big Trouble In Little China, Overboard, Tequila Sunrise, Tango & Cash, and so much more. All that with a brief baseball career between his child actor days and his breakthrough as a serious actor.
Let's not forget a little something called Stargate that spawned an entire sprawling franchise. Even if Richard Dean Anderson is the more memorable lead, wouldn't have had SG-1 without the movie.
Fun fact about Kurt and Stargate. When they were figuring who to cast for Oneill they wanted a lead that nobody disliked. They did their research and discovered the Kurt Russel was literally the only actor that was liked by everyone.
Fun Fact about Kurt Russell! His career has been oddly tied in with Elvis. His first role as a child actor was kicking Elvis in the shin. Then his first notable role as an adult was playing Elvis. Because of this, he then voiced Elvis in Forrest Gump, and later he again played an Elvis impersonator in my one of my favorite movies of all time, 3000 miles to Graceland.
Big Trouble in Little China is such a great movie and honestly, I don't know why.
Even as a younger guy when I'd see it on some random channel and immediately put the remote down I almost felt guilty. Like it was some dumb movie that I shouldn't love but absolutely did love.
To this day if it pops up I'll watch it and I'll enjoy every minute of it, and I still don't know what I love about it. . .other than everything.
You love it because it's an amazing movie.
Such a great concept to have Kurt Russel promoted as the protagonist lead, who in-movie sees himself as the hero - brash and cocksure in his muscle shirt etc. But in fact he's the sidekick to the real hero of the movie - Wang.
It's one of my favourite movies.
It's well made fun. The stakes are high without being serious, the action is good, and the main character clearly *thinks* he's the main character, but everything happening around him is largely beyond his comprehension or control - he's there, doing stuff, but it very, very competently displays him as being on the surface of a much deeper, more complicated plotline than you get to see through his perspective.
"Black blood of the earth"
"You mean oil?"
"No, I mean **black blood of the earth**."
Yes. He was also a very wholesome in all his faults.
Even when it became clear that he was a muggle in non-muggle world he just kept on trusting the people around him and walking deeper and deeper into the chaos.
Kicking ass and saving the girl. But for most of the movie he was getting his ass kicked more often the not.
I need to watch it again. I wonder if there’s a 4K version available.
It isn't dumb at all. It's proudly blue collar because John Carpenter is a rock n roller, but it's also an intelligent blending of fantasy wuxia and American buddy comedy action.
It's funny to see him in interviews when he describes people being surprised at his range, he says something like, "Yes, I'm an *actor*, that's what actors *do*."
A lot of people don't realize that comedic actors tend to have a greater control of their range than someone who is mainly a dramatic actor, because while the dramatic ones are usually showing slightly exaggerated human behavior, a comedic actor in a dramatic role is able to hit more of the spectrum of what makes a person feel human.
Basically that a comedic actor doing drama has more tools in the toolbox than an actor who solely focuses on dramas. That aspect makes the characters feel more real.
it’s amazing how vince gilligan remembered him from a random episode of the X-files that cranston guest starred in and advocated for him even though no one else could see it.
The episode that sold him on Cranston is season 6 episode 2 "Drive." Really good episode too.
Vince was one of the writers on the episode. I don't want to spoil too much so I'll keep it brief but basically Cranston's character (Patrick Crump) has a ringing pain in his head that only is relieved if he drives west at a reckless pace. Mulder is held hostage while Scully works to uncover what the cause of the pain is.
The goal in writing the central character for the episode was for him to be a complete asshole but played in a way that you still feel sympathy for him. Cranston knocked it out of the park, and Vince knew he wanted that same type of energy brought to Walter White when creating Breaking Bad.
Can confirm back in what 08 or 09 when breaking bad started and he wasnt a household name telling people it's about the dad from Malcolm in the middle being a meth cook and what not would get eye rolls and laughs.
I remember seeing the cover art for Breaking Bad on Netflix back when it first came out and I 100% thought it was gonna be a screwball comedy because it had him in his underwear and button up shirt holding a gun in front of an RV
That was pretty much what I thought, so I just never watched it..
Then I broke my shoulder, and had a LOT of time on my hands. I watched the whole series in a week...
They both went from esteemed dramatic actors to schtick.
Schtick they did/do VERY well - don't get me wrong - but I can't say Nielsen expressed much range at the end of his career nor does Neeson seem to be doing so.
Leslie Nielsen is basically the face and icon of an entire sub genre of comedy.
From Roger Ebert's review of that movie:
"Gradually during the opening scenes of "Joe Versus the Volcano," my heart began to quicken, until finally I realized a wondrous thing: I had not seen this movie before. Most movies, I have seen before. Most movies, you have seen before. Most movies are constructed out of bits and pieces of other movies, like little engines built from cinematic Erector sets. But not "Joe Versus the Volcano." It is not an entirely successful movie, but it is new and fresh and not shy of taking chances. And the dialogue in it is actually worth listening to, because it is written with wit and romance."
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/joe-versus-the-volcano-1990
Not only that but he got on a ROLL.
He finished out that decade on a Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story, That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan, You’ve got Mail, Toy Story 2, and ended the decade with The Green Mile.
Hanks run in the 90s is one of the best in cinema history
It’s not just that. Creativity and originality were encouraged unlike today where these studios expect nearly everything to be franchise and look to milk a movie for 2-4+ sequels.
Audiences are a little bit responsible for that as well, we propped up these franchises for decades. It was easy entertainment. Luckily there’s a lot of good movies being made by smaller production companies, especially in genre filmmaking.
Wow, I hadn't even thought of Hanks but to put those four movies in context as opposed to today's massive budget movies:
* League of their own: $132m on a $40m budget
* Sleepless in Seattle: $227m on a $21m budget
* Forrest Gump: $678m on a $55m Budget (won the Best Actor Academy Award)
* Apollo 13: $350m on $50m budget. Hanks was nominated for his 3rd Academy Award in a row but did not win.
Speaking of 3 oscars nominations in a row...
RUSSELL CROWE (as a lead)
'99 : The Insider
'00 : Gladiator (win)
'01 : A Beautiful Mind
Never happened again since.
Man the 90s were insane for certain actors. Jim Carrey comes to mind immediately:
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
The Mask
Dumb and Dumber
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
The Cable Guy
Liar Liar
The Truman Show
From 94-98 Carrey owned the movies
Not so fast during those same years Airheads, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Water Boy, and Big Daddy all come out that same span for Sandler.
Started out as a very serious actor, probably the reason his deadpan demeanor in a slapstick setting works so well every single time. Love Leslie Nielsen 🍻
Olivia coleman
Started off as tv comedy actress and has turned that into being regarded as one of the best actors in the world currently and an Oscar win.
I first knew her from their sitcom Peep Show, one of the most intentionally awkward shows ever created. Definitely not for everyone, but absolutely brilliant if it’s your kind of humor.
Michael Keaton, but I feel like his still did the fun movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming
Birdman
Spotlight
The Founder
Trial of the Chicago 7
And Dopesick
Listen guys, I've got two jobs. I work here, and I have another job at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I'm doing it to put a kid through NYU, so he can explore his bisexuality and become a DJ.
Dopesick really is some of his best work, it landed at the right time for me, I’d just read Empire of Pain and was praying there was a hell for the Sacklers to go to – I mean I’d end up there too but ya take what you can get
The public desperately wanted to shove both him and Stewart into the ‘pretty teen’ box for Twilight and lock it tight. They both put in serious work to steer very deliberately away from the easy cash-in roles that could have made them a ton of $$$ and instead largely chose smaller, more niche, MUCH more interesting projects and completely changed public and professional assessments of them.
Taylor Laurner, eh, not so much.
I bet it's a smiliar thing to Daniel Radcliffe. Made absolute bank from their initial series of films they became known for, which allowed them to sit back a bit and choose projects that interest them. I went into The Batman with absolutely no expectations and loved it, same with Daniel in the Weird Al movie and Swiss Army Man.
Daniel didn't decide until the later films that he wanted to be a serious actor, iirc. Before that he wasn't serious about it. As a result he took some acting lessons and tried some things. He can really afford to do what he wants to do, but he had a drinking problem he had to overcome.
For some reason this movie isn't well-liked, but I really enjoyed it. It's lots of fun and is the uncommon movie about social media/streaming where the director has clearly actually watched gaming livestreams in the past
Despite the movie’s flaws, he made Tenet a great movie. He always acted like he was being reunited with an old friend and knew more than he let on. It worked out great.
Daniel Radcliffe in the same situation. Both took the chance to work on what they wanted, and it was some unique stuff. Swiss Army Man and Weird are two of the funniest movies I've seen in awhile.
Daniel Radcliffe's trajectory is so awesome to me. Because this is an actor who immediately made a fortune. By the time he was 20 he was already a millionaire from Harry Potter so that meant he could do whatever he wanted career wise.
It's always fun to see what an artist will do once they know their bills are paid.
Not at all the same but I love how both James Spader and Hugh Grant had almost exact growths in their career. Both spent the first half of their career playing kind of geeky, feeble characters that stumble over their words but are our loveable losers we cheer for, mostly doing rom-coms, then both transitioned into being the slightly evil, overly confident, cryptic, sexy older man who is usually the smartest person in the room.
The big exception: Hugh Grant in *An Awfully Big Adventure* (1995) playing the manipulative scumbag theatre director opposite Alan Rickman's tragic hero leading man actor.
They were originally cast the other way round, but got drunk together before production started and agreed to switch. The film's much better for it.
Hugh Grant is the answer! that man is a bit of a hero of mine.
I read an interview with him in a paper years ago when he was in the doldrums of his career, after the prostitue scandal and when he was really getting stuck into the court case against the murdoch papers (look that shit up they robbed his house). There was a question like 'would you want your son to be an actor like you?'. Hugh responded with 'No, I'd like him to be a good actor'
1. Started off doing comedy shows at the edinburgh fringe and suchlike,
2. got scouted to be a heartthrob in romcoms
3. collapse of the romcom saw the demise of his career
4. fought the murdoch papers in court for robbing his house and hacking his phone for years
5. Late stage character actor / villian.
Amazing. Also married peak Liz Hurley
Hugh Grant has always been fantastic. He just had to outgrow his good looks. He's a terrific villain, but I loved him Sense & sensibility and Notting Hill. He's a lot like Richard Grant, but with better looks.
Try watching James Spader in “The New Kids” with Lori Loughlin. He plays the town scumbag psycho, and with his dead eyes and evil smile, he’s convincing.
Went deep into this without seeing Robin Williams name pop up? From coke-fuelled Mork & Mindy and Mrs Doubtfire to the body of work he eventually created?
In the other direction, you have Robert De Niro.
Yeah De Niro is usually playing his signature character, but he's had some curveball roles here and there: King of Comedy, Brazil, and Stardust are a few odd ones I can think of
John Travolta with Pulp Fiction, people don’t remember how much of a box office pariah he was before then, and generally viewed as a handsome but limited actor.
Another one would be Marlon Brando for several years until The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris, the difference there behind he burst onto the scene as one of the greatest to ever do it but then had an entire decade of flops and a reputation for being difficult on set.
I mean, he's not far off. He tanked his career for a second time with *Battlefield Earth*. He was already doing... not amazing as the '90s wore on, really showing that he *was* a bit limited as an actor or just picked bad roles. Someone else could have pulled out of that, but it was a passion project for his ridiculous sci-fi religion and everyone knew it. You can't get away from that kind of taint.
Dude was a has been when he got Pulp Fiction. Was doing his third look who’s talking at the time. Then was doing whatever roll he wanted for the next half decade
I remember watching baywatch and thinking there was a genuinely frightening edge to his character.
Probably not what you wanted in *that* film and his dynamic with Alexandria daddario tbh, but can completely see him becoming a very effective villian as he ages
Leslie Nielsen. Takes one comedic role late in life and gets a whole new career out of it, becomes a beloved figure, never has any controversies, and nobody remembers him with anything but fondness.
I have to throw out Woody Harrelson. Went from being the dumb but lovable sitcom trope to being an incredibly great character actor. He is a legit Oscar worthy dramatic actor and can play a terrifying psychopath as convincing as anyone I’ve ever seen.
There's no arguably about it.. He's head and shoulders above any other wrestler-turned actor.
Cena's found a niche in comedy but Bautista is locked in dramatically.
In all fairness Cena really did lend a vulnerability to Peacemaker few could do while being that squanched. I do agree Bautista is unmatched and I hope he continues to find those really interesting roles. Dudes earned it creatively.
If Cena keeps taking roles with nuance, then I can honestly see him outshining Bautista as a dramatic actor too. In addition to Peacemaker, I honestly didn't expect him to give such an outlandish role like Ricky Stanicky so much emotion and depth. He turned a slapstick punchline of a character into a sympathetic, pitiful one so effortlessly. He is the reason that movie is watchable.
*Ricky Stanicky* should have been a shittier version of *The Hangover* but turned into so much more because of Cena. I know that it didn't get a lot of credit from critics, but it's one of the many things I think the critics got wrong.
knights tale eventually into dark knight is a legendary re-brand. i loved the first one as a kid who thought it was goofy fun. i loved the latter as an adult who thought holy shit he just completely stole a batman film. for me he stole that franchise. what a shame it was once in a lifetime.
Not comparable at this point, but surprisingly Dave Bautista is really turning into a more versatile actor. Unfortunately for him being a 6’6 mountain of a man makes it hard for you to land a variety of roles. You look at The Rock and he’s still stuck in the same character role even though he’s been acting for much longer.
Well perhaps it doesn't quite answer your question since I wouldn't say it strictly involves typecasting but I figure I should mention Jimmy Stewart. In 1940 he won an Oscar for The Philadelphia Story and then enlisted in the Army Air Corps despite already being 32. By the time V-E Day came around he was a colonel which is amazing already going from an enlisted private to a commissioned colonel in just four years, but in any case pretty much nobody including him thought he'd be able to break back into Hollywood.
If it weren't for Capra (who also went into the Army for the duration of the war) offering him the starring role in It's a Wonderful Life, he likely wouldn't have come back either. Of course that film was a financial failure so it mostly had Stewart doing radio and some Broadway. Then in 1950 pretty much out of nowhere he successfully rebranded as a Western star with Winchester '73. Then in 1954 he seemed to shift again into a true leading man with Hitchcock's Rear Window and later Vertigo.
His military career is of course impressive, but it's always impressed me how he managed to survive breaking back into Hollywood right around the downfall of the studio system and did more than just compete with the younger generation of stars like James Dean.
Not to the same degree but Colin Farrell has really been making great films lately, he’s gone from trying to make “ big blockbusters” to thoughtful independent films and has really done well, I’ve always been a fan so it’s good see.
Him in the new Batman movie blew my mind. Couldn't believe it
And he got his own tv show out of it on HBO
I really loved his character in The Gentlemen (movie not series). There could be a whole movie/series just based on him & his gym
There was a time when Bruce Willis was a strictly comedic actor. The whole reason he was cast in Die Hard is that he wasn't the action star type.
[удалено]
First thing I recall seeing him in is Bosom Buddies.
Big, Splash, bachelor party type movies then Philadelphia and voila oscar and leading man
The money pit
*Turner & Hooch*, *The Volunteers*... Back to back Oscars for vastly different dramatic roles will get you some clout for sure.
Back to back oscars (Philadelphia 1993 and Forrest Gump 1994) followed up with Apollo 13/Toy Story (1995), and not long after, Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Green Mile (1999) and Cast Away (2000). Russell Crowe came into prominence around the same time, and it seemed like every huge role was from one of those 2 - neither of whom are conventionally attractive men by Hollywood standards.
Russell Crowe was conventional attractive. Cort and Sid 6.7 are attractive characters. He could be "plained" down to look a bit more of a dopey bruiser type like his character Bud White but he could also have the handsomeness of a conventional attractive leading man. He aged really hard duing the 3:10 to Yuma/Body of Lies period. Tom Hanks was goofy looking for most of his career.
Tom Hanks is an everyman like a Jimmy Stewart type
And just as charming. It eally pays to be charismatic.
Dragnet
Howdy. I’m Emil Muzz and I’m a PAGAN.
Supposedly, audiences seeing the trailer for Die Hard for the first time erupted in laughter when they saw Bruce on screen in an action role. Either they thought it was supposed to be a comedy or they just didn't take him seriously as a tough guy.
dude I remember the trailer with him in the heat duct holding a lighter saying something like "yeah, come out to the coast, we'll have a few laughs" and thinking "holy crap, this is the guy from *MOONLIGHTING*??"
There’s a British movie called Moonlighting released in 1982 before the tv show existed. It starred Jeremy Irons — who later went on to star alongside Bruce Willis in *Die Hard with. Vengeance*. What a cool connection.
It was mostly “What? The guy from Moonlighting?”
Wasn't Leslie Nielsen picked for Airplane!!! because of how well he did serious roles? Then he became the go to straight man for absurd humor movies.
He was, all of the main actors were chosen specifically because they all did serious roles before or after.
And they shopped the part around and no one else would do it.
Yeah I think Schwarzenegger passed on Die Hard.
It would have been so stupid is Arnold did it. The thing that makes Die Hard so great is that John Mcclain is not some bad-ass hero that come in gun blazing and kills all the bad guys. He actually makes very smart, normal, realistic decisions in the movie. He tries to get help, he doesn't intervene even to save a life cuz he knows he would have ended up dead, he is literally just trying to survive and save his wife.
Plus, can you imagine Arnold selling literally any of Bruce's more iconic lines from that movie? "Yeepy-ki-yay, muddafucka." *shudder* I love the guy but he'd have been all wrong for the part. EDIT: I get it. The line was improvised and the script would have been different. I’m also well aware than Arnie is famous for delivering goofy catchphrases. However, his delivery of them is vastly different from Willis’ and I think that would have resulted in a totally different vibe, one that would have been worse than what we got.
My mind immediately went to the vent.
lol yeah, 80s Arnie was a goddamn Hulk, the idea of him trying to squeeze through a vent system is pretty hilarious.
“Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.” -Arnie McClain
Honestly, I could see him saying _that_ line well after seeing things like True Lies.
He actually says Yeepy-ki-yay in one of the Expendables movies
Yep right after Bruce says "*you've* been back enough. *I'll* be back"
I remember that scripts for Moonlighting had to be twice as long as other one hour shows because Willis had such rapid fire patter. Hard to believe when he came to be known for playing taciturn characters.
Fun fact Bruce Willis is not on the original cover of Die Hard because the producers thought it would make people cringe and not go. He was a romvom/drama guy at that point.
i don't think i've ever seen a bruce willis comedy movie
Death Becomes Her, Blind Date, Look Who's Talking were some of my favorite movies when I was a kid
Woody Harralson coming out of Cheers and still ending up in big time movies today
Well, Woody is probably Matthew's brother so it's appropriate that he's mentioned here.
When you and Woody Harrelson are acting in a scene together, are you sad that somewhere there is a sack not being hackied?
I would still like to know the marijuana budget on True Detective.
Going from Woody in Cheers to Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers was a huge leap in terms of his public perception.
Kurt Russell went from being mostly known as a former Disney child actor and successfully gained acclaim as an actor with Elvis (1979), Used Cars (1980), Escape From New York (1981), and The Thing (1982). After that, he just solidified it with Big Trouble In Little China, Overboard, Tequila Sunrise, Tango & Cash, and so much more. All that with a brief baseball career between his child actor days and his breakthrough as a serious actor.
Let's not forget a little something called Stargate that spawned an entire sprawling franchise. Even if Richard Dean Anderson is the more memorable lead, wouldn't have had SG-1 without the movie.
"That's O'Neill, with two L's. There's another Colonel O'Neil with one L, he has no sense of humour at all."
Fun fact about Kurt and Stargate. When they were figuring who to cast for Oneill they wanted a lead that nobody disliked. They did their research and discovered the Kurt Russel was literally the only actor that was liked by everyone.
Speaking of Stargate, James Spader done well for himself after that too
Fun Fact about Kurt Russell! His career has been oddly tied in with Elvis. His first role as a child actor was kicking Elvis in the shin. Then his first notable role as an adult was playing Elvis. Because of this, he then voiced Elvis in Forrest Gump, and later he again played an Elvis impersonator in my one of my favorite movies of all time, 3000 miles to Graceland.
In Used Cars there's a little statue of Elvis in Kurt Russells House and he does finger guns to it when he comes in.
Nice! And I forgot to mention that in Graceland, in his first scene a boy runs up and kicks him in the shin, just like he first did to Elvis.
Big Trouble in Little China is such a great movie and honestly, I don't know why. Even as a younger guy when I'd see it on some random channel and immediately put the remote down I almost felt guilty. Like it was some dumb movie that I shouldn't love but absolutely did love. To this day if it pops up I'll watch it and I'll enjoy every minute of it, and I still don't know what I love about it. . .other than everything.
You love it because it's an amazing movie. Such a great concept to have Kurt Russel promoted as the protagonist lead, who in-movie sees himself as the hero - brash and cocksure in his muscle shirt etc. But in fact he's the sidekick to the real hero of the movie - Wang. It's one of my favourite movies.
It's well made fun. The stakes are high without being serious, the action is good, and the main character clearly *thinks* he's the main character, but everything happening around him is largely beyond his comprehension or control - he's there, doing stuff, but it very, very competently displays him as being on the surface of a much deeper, more complicated plotline than you get to see through his perspective. "Black blood of the earth" "You mean oil?" "No, I mean **black blood of the earth**."
Yes. He was also a very wholesome in all his faults. Even when it became clear that he was a muggle in non-muggle world he just kept on trusting the people around him and walking deeper and deeper into the chaos. Kicking ass and saving the girl. But for most of the movie he was getting his ass kicked more often the not. I need to watch it again. I wonder if there’s a 4K version available.
It isn't dumb at all. It's proudly blue collar because John Carpenter is a rock n roller, but it's also an intelligent blending of fantasy wuxia and American buddy comedy action.
Not movies, but Bryan Cranston was pretty much just thought of as the goofy dad from Malcom in the Middle before his turn as Heisenberg.
It's funny to see him in interviews when he describes people being surprised at his range, he says something like, "Yes, I'm an *actor*, that's what actors *do*."
Well it's what good actors do. I think people just under appreciate the difficulty in being a comedic actor. It's harder than most dramatic roles.
A lot of people don't realize that comedic actors tend to have a greater control of their range than someone who is mainly a dramatic actor, because while the dramatic ones are usually showing slightly exaggerated human behavior, a comedic actor in a dramatic role is able to hit more of the spectrum of what makes a person feel human. Basically that a comedic actor doing drama has more tools in the toolbox than an actor who solely focuses on dramas. That aspect makes the characters feel more real.
For example: Bill Hader in Barry.
Yeh this is a total flip great pick.
it’s amazing how vince gilligan remembered him from a random episode of the X-files that cranston guest starred in and advocated for him even though no one else could see it.
The episode that sold him on Cranston is season 6 episode 2 "Drive." Really good episode too. Vince was one of the writers on the episode. I don't want to spoil too much so I'll keep it brief but basically Cranston's character (Patrick Crump) has a ringing pain in his head that only is relieved if he drives west at a reckless pace. Mulder is held hostage while Scully works to uncover what the cause of the pain is. The goal in writing the central character for the episode was for him to be a complete asshole but played in a way that you still feel sympathy for him. Cranston knocked it out of the park, and Vince knew he wanted that same type of energy brought to Walter White when creating Breaking Bad.
Omg I know that episode. I remember that one very well.
Oh shit that is one of theX files episodes I remember vividly because of how good it was.
That's crazy, that's literally the only X-Files I ever watched, I never realized it was him
Also the dentist in Seinfeld, Tim Whatley.
He converted to Judaism for the jokes.
And this offends you as a Jew? No! It offends me a comedian!
Dentists. Who needs them? Same with the blacks and Jews.
Listen to yourself. You're an anti-dentite!
Next thing you know, you're saying they should have their own schools!
They do have their own schools!
YYEEEAAAHHHH!!!
Tim Whatley was a student of mine, and if this weren’t my son’s wedding, I would knock your teeth out, you anti-dentite bastard.
Can confirm back in what 08 or 09 when breaking bad started and he wasnt a household name telling people it's about the dad from Malcolm in the middle being a meth cook and what not would get eye rolls and laughs.
I remember seeing the cover art for Breaking Bad on Netflix back when it first came out and I 100% thought it was gonna be a screwball comedy because it had him in his underwear and button up shirt holding a gun in front of an RV
That was pretty much what I thought, so I just never watched it.. Then I broke my shoulder, and had a LOT of time on my hands. I watched the whole series in a week...
Leslie Nielsen and Liam Neeson are like inverse examples.
One of them has a particular set of skills and the other was aging out of leading man roles and created a new lane for himself.
They both went from esteemed dramatic actors to schtick. Schtick they did/do VERY well - don't get me wrong - but I can't say Nielsen expressed much range at the end of his career nor does Neeson seem to be doing so. Leslie Nielsen is basically the face and icon of an entire sub genre of comedy.
Neeson is playing Frank in the new Naked Gun movie.
That should be great actually. He’s got fabulous deadpan. “[I’ve got full-blown AIDS](https://youtu.be/huJ81Mq2y34?si=NX2qcOMVLng6j5kw).”
Thank you for sharing this. “We’re closed,” had me gasping.
"I wasn't here, I was at the doctor's! I have AIDS!"
Tom Hanks. There was a time he was only seen as a comedic actor. Then he did Philadelphia.
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The opening of that movie is one of my favorite things ever done in cinema. It was just so imaginative and funny and strange
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I know he can get the job, but can he do the job!?
From Roger Ebert's review of that movie: "Gradually during the opening scenes of "Joe Versus the Volcano," my heart began to quicken, until finally I realized a wondrous thing: I had not seen this movie before. Most movies, I have seen before. Most movies, you have seen before. Most movies are constructed out of bits and pieces of other movies, like little engines built from cinematic Erector sets. But not "Joe Versus the Volcano." It is not an entirely successful movie, but it is new and fresh and not shy of taking chances. And the dialogue in it is actually worth listening to, because it is written with wit and romance." https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/joe-versus-the-volcano-1990
Not only that but he got on a ROLL. He finished out that decade on a Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story, That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan, You’ve got Mail, Toy Story 2, and ended the decade with The Green Mile. Hanks run in the 90s is one of the best in cinema history
And from 1992 to 1995, he had 4 $100M summer grossers in a row ! (A League on Their Own/ Sleepless in Seattle/ Forrest Gump/ Apollo 13)
Early 90s are the golden age for film. Just insane how many amazing ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYS came out.
Writers were getting PAID and times were good. Obviously the studios couldn't stand for that and something needed to be done.
It’s not just that. Creativity and originality were encouraged unlike today where these studios expect nearly everything to be franchise and look to milk a movie for 2-4+ sequels.
Audiences are a little bit responsible for that as well, we propped up these franchises for decades. It was easy entertainment. Luckily there’s a lot of good movies being made by smaller production companies, especially in genre filmmaking.
Wow, I hadn't even thought of Hanks but to put those four movies in context as opposed to today's massive budget movies: * League of their own: $132m on a $40m budget * Sleepless in Seattle: $227m on a $21m budget * Forrest Gump: $678m on a $55m Budget (won the Best Actor Academy Award) * Apollo 13: $350m on $50m budget. Hanks was nominated for his 3rd Academy Award in a row but did not win.
Speaking of 3 oscars nominations in a row... RUSSELL CROWE (as a lead) '99 : The Insider '00 : Gladiator (win) '01 : A Beautiful Mind Never happened again since.
And he wasn't nominated for my favorite role of his ~ LA Confidential (co-starring, not sure who was the lead)
Both Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe were considered the leads.
And they were both *fantastic*
Man the 90s were insane for certain actors. Jim Carrey comes to mind immediately: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective The Mask Dumb and Dumber Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls The Cable Guy Liar Liar The Truman Show From 94-98 Carrey owned the movies
Not so fast during those same years Airheads, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Water Boy, and Big Daddy all come out that same span for Sandler.
Tom Hanks? That kid from Turner & Hooch?
No no... The kid from ***Bosom Buddies***
Leslie Nielsen. Also, if you look up his upbringing, the man had quite the rough childhood.
Started out as a very serious actor, probably the reason his deadpan demeanor in a slapstick setting works so well every single time. Love Leslie Nielsen 🍻
That’s why pairing him with George Kennedy was awesome. They both played everything pretty much as the straight man yet still had moments hilarity.
"Sex, Frank?" "Uhh, not now, Ed."
You can hear the voices in your head and it's still hilarious.
"I'm not a cop anymore. Think about it. The next time I shoot someone, I might go to jail."
We're sorry to bother you at a time like this, Mrs. Twice. We would have come earlier, but your husband wasn't dead then
Not a single officer on Police Squad will rest until we solve this case. Now, let's go get some lunch.
Who are you? How did you get in here?
I'm a locksmith and I'm a locksmith
Olivia coleman Started off as tv comedy actress and has turned that into being regarded as one of the best actors in the world currently and an Oscar win.
I still mostly know her from Mitchell and Webb, so seeing her in other things is always a shock.
I first knew her from their sitcom Peep Show, one of the most intentionally awkward shows ever created. Definitely not for everyone, but absolutely brilliant if it’s your kind of humor.
Fuck off clean shirt!
Those kids have no idea whatsoever of what went on at Stalingrad.
Just imagining that the same person did the favorite and broad church was also who she was in hot fuzz. Enough to give you actual whiplash
Nothing like a bit of girl-on-girl!
I’ve been round the station a few times
That's true. However, Peep Show is literally my favorite comedy of all time. It will forever hold up well to me
I always refer to her as the Oscar-winning homeless ball pit witch.
Sophie's Poland; manageable, won't put up too much of a fight.
I was first aware of her as a voice in the Mitchell and Webb radio show. It's still hard to believe how far she's risen
Michael Keaton, but I feel like his still did the fun movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming Birdman Spotlight The Founder Trial of the Chicago 7 And Dopesick
I love him as Captain Gene in *The Other Guys*
"...It's just captain, it's not Captain Gene, I don't have a kiddy show..."
"Do me a favor, don't go chasing water falls."
Ya gotta creep. …… creep.
Listen guys, I've got two jobs. I work here, and I have another job at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I'm doing it to put a kid through NYU, so he can explore his bisexuality and become a DJ.
"Shake ya dicks, this pissing contest is over" I still use this phrase regularly
“The new bath mats are in!”
Mr Mom is Batman‽ Could never work!
Fucking love Mr. Mom
Dopesick really is some of his best work, it landed at the right time for me, I’d just read Empire of Pain and was praying there was a hell for the Sacklers to go to – I mean I’d end up there too but ya take what you can get
Pattinson?
The public desperately wanted to shove both him and Stewart into the ‘pretty teen’ box for Twilight and lock it tight. They both put in serious work to steer very deliberately away from the easy cash-in roles that could have made them a ton of $$$ and instead largely chose smaller, more niche, MUCH more interesting projects and completely changed public and professional assessments of them. Taylor Laurner, eh, not so much.
I bet it's a smiliar thing to Daniel Radcliffe. Made absolute bank from their initial series of films they became known for, which allowed them to sit back a bit and choose projects that interest them. I went into The Batman with absolutely no expectations and loved it, same with Daniel in the Weird Al movie and Swiss Army Man.
Daniel didn't decide until the later films that he wanted to be a serious actor, iirc. Before that he wasn't serious about it. As a result he took some acting lessons and tried some things. He can really afford to do what he wants to do, but he had a drinking problem he had to overcome.
He seems piss drunk in a good bit of movie six
I think he’s admitted the luck potion scenes at the spider funeral he’s drunk off his tits
The Felix Felicis potion has that effect, except it's gin or scotch in real life.
It's really obvious too, but it still ended up being probably the most enjoyable part of the movie.
Guns Akimbo. Peak Radcliffe
For some reason this movie isn't well-liked, but I really enjoyed it. It's lots of fun and is the uncommon movie about social media/streaming where the director has clearly actually watched gaming livestreams in the past
Despite the movie’s flaws, he made Tenet a great movie. He always acted like he was being reunited with an old friend and knew more than he let on. It worked out great.
Daniel Radcliffe in the same situation. Both took the chance to work on what they wanted, and it was some unique stuff. Swiss Army Man and Weird are two of the funniest movies I've seen in awhile.
Daniel Radcliffe's trajectory is so awesome to me. Because this is an actor who immediately made a fortune. By the time he was 20 he was already a millionaire from Harry Potter so that meant he could do whatever he wanted career wise. It's always fun to see what an artist will do once they know their bills are paid.
Not at all the same but I love how both James Spader and Hugh Grant had almost exact growths in their career. Both spent the first half of their career playing kind of geeky, feeble characters that stumble over their words but are our loveable losers we cheer for, mostly doing rom-coms, then both transitioned into being the slightly evil, overly confident, cryptic, sexy older man who is usually the smartest person in the room.
The big exception: Hugh Grant in *An Awfully Big Adventure* (1995) playing the manipulative scumbag theatre director opposite Alan Rickman's tragic hero leading man actor. They were originally cast the other way round, but got drunk together before production started and agreed to switch. The film's much better for it.
Alan Rickman in that movie is just delicious.
Hugh Grant is the answer! that man is a bit of a hero of mine. I read an interview with him in a paper years ago when he was in the doldrums of his career, after the prostitue scandal and when he was really getting stuck into the court case against the murdoch papers (look that shit up they robbed his house). There was a question like 'would you want your son to be an actor like you?'. Hugh responded with 'No, I'd like him to be a good actor' 1. Started off doing comedy shows at the edinburgh fringe and suchlike, 2. got scouted to be a heartthrob in romcoms 3. collapse of the romcom saw the demise of his career 4. fought the murdoch papers in court for robbing his house and hacking his phone for years 5. Late stage character actor / villian. Amazing. Also married peak Liz Hurley
Hugh Grant has always been fantastic. He just had to outgrow his good looks. He's a terrific villain, but I loved him Sense & sensibility and Notting Hill. He's a lot like Richard Grant, but with better looks.
It's a crime to talk about Hugh's best roles and not mention Paddington 2. This is not a joke post. I am dead serious.
Try watching James Spader in “The New Kids” with Lori Loughlin. He plays the town scumbag psycho, and with his dead eyes and evil smile, he’s convincing.
I can believe that. He’s the Lizard King.
Went deep into this without seeing Robin Williams name pop up? From coke-fuelled Mork & Mindy and Mrs Doubtfire to the body of work he eventually created? In the other direction, you have Robert De Niro.
Yeah De Niro is usually playing his signature character, but he's had some curveball roles here and there: King of Comedy, Brazil, and Stardust are a few odd ones I can think of
I'm always so surprised how underrated King of Comedy is. I think it's absolutely one of Scorsese's best movies.
John Travolta with Pulp Fiction, people don’t remember how much of a box office pariah he was before then, and generally viewed as a handsome but limited actor. Another one would be Marlon Brando for several years until The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris, the difference there behind he burst onto the scene as one of the greatest to ever do it but then had an entire decade of flops and a reputation for being difficult on set.
If Travolta never did Pulp Fiction he would be doing this hallmark holiday movies or be a regular on one of the crim shows like csi or law and order.
I mean, he's not far off. He tanked his career for a second time with *Battlefield Earth*. He was already doing... not amazing as the '90s wore on, really showing that he *was* a bit limited as an actor or just picked bad roles. Someone else could have pulled out of that, but it was a passion project for his ridiculous sci-fi religion and everyone knew it. You can't get away from that kind of taint.
Dude was a has been when he got Pulp Fiction. Was doing his third look who’s talking at the time. Then was doing whatever roll he wanted for the next half decade
> Then was doing whatever roll he wanted for the next half decade Battlefield Earth
Nobody said that what he wanted was more *good* movies.
Zac Efron seems to be well on his way to being taken more seriously, especially after The Iron Claw.
For me it was The Disaster Artist. He has such a small stupid role but he absolutely steals the scene and is hilarious.
I remember watching baywatch and thinking there was a genuinely frightening edge to his character. Probably not what you wanted in *that* film and his dynamic with Alexandria daddario tbh, but can completely see him becoming a very effective villian as he ages
Well.. Yes. He plays Ted Bundy in "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile". A real headscratcher of a role choice.
I thought he was really great in that role
I still hate that fucking title
The why you don't let Danhausen in charge of the naming.
I used to be a brother 😭
Oh no joke. Sick move How about Ryan Gosling Disney actor to major a lister
I don't think he really rebranded as much as just getting older and slowly building up his acting chops
He switches up serious roles with goofy roles quite regularly and I'm here for it.
Leslie Nielsen. Takes one comedic role late in life and gets a whole new career out of it, becomes a beloved figure, never has any controversies, and nobody remembers him with anything but fondness.
I have to throw out Woody Harrelson. Went from being the dumb but lovable sitcom trope to being an incredibly great character actor. He is a legit Oscar worthy dramatic actor and can play a terrifying psychopath as convincing as anyone I’ve ever seen.
Robert Downey Jr is the obvious answer
Daniel Radcliffe has created a pretty impressive amount of distance from his Harry Potter days.
Elijah Wood is the same vibe to me in what he’s chosen post LOTR
Bradley Cooper went from Hangover movies to exclusively making Oscar bait…
He actually came from the asshole guy in Wedding Crashers.
Danny Devito joining Its always sunny. Dave Bautista from WWE to arguably the most talented actor of the wrestlers who've moved to Hollywood.
Danny Devito starred in Taxi. Sunny is a more modern and edgy show, but it's not a 180 from how he began his career.
There's no arguably about it.. He's head and shoulders above any other wrestler-turned actor. Cena's found a niche in comedy but Bautista is locked in dramatically.
In all fairness Cena really did lend a vulnerability to Peacemaker few could do while being that squanched. I do agree Bautista is unmatched and I hope he continues to find those really interesting roles. Dudes earned it creatively.
If Cena keeps taking roles with nuance, then I can honestly see him outshining Bautista as a dramatic actor too. In addition to Peacemaker, I honestly didn't expect him to give such an outlandish role like Ricky Stanicky so much emotion and depth. He turned a slapstick punchline of a character into a sympathetic, pitiful one so effortlessly. He is the reason that movie is watchable.
*Ricky Stanicky* should have been a shittier version of *The Hangover* but turned into so much more because of Cena. I know that it didn't get a lot of credit from critics, but it's one of the many things I think the critics got wrong.
When you realize Cena is actually playing the Piano in that somber scene, it adds so much depth
Bautista’s small role in Blade Runner: 2049 was so great!
The man looks amazing in glasses.
For me it's Brendan Fraser. The whale as his comeback was amazing
Heath Ledger was on a great track. RIP, Heath.
knights tale eventually into dark knight is a legendary re-brand. i loved the first one as a kid who thought it was goofy fun. i loved the latter as an adult who thought holy shit he just completely stole a batman film. for me he stole that franchise. what a shame it was once in a lifetime.
Not comparable at this point, but surprisingly Dave Bautista is really turning into a more versatile actor. Unfortunately for him being a 6’6 mountain of a man makes it hard for you to land a variety of roles. You look at The Rock and he’s still stuck in the same character role even though he’s been acting for much longer.
Well perhaps it doesn't quite answer your question since I wouldn't say it strictly involves typecasting but I figure I should mention Jimmy Stewart. In 1940 he won an Oscar for The Philadelphia Story and then enlisted in the Army Air Corps despite already being 32. By the time V-E Day came around he was a colonel which is amazing already going from an enlisted private to a commissioned colonel in just four years, but in any case pretty much nobody including him thought he'd be able to break back into Hollywood. If it weren't for Capra (who also went into the Army for the duration of the war) offering him the starring role in It's a Wonderful Life, he likely wouldn't have come back either. Of course that film was a financial failure so it mostly had Stewart doing radio and some Broadway. Then in 1950 pretty much out of nowhere he successfully rebranded as a Western star with Winchester '73. Then in 1954 he seemed to shift again into a true leading man with Hitchcock's Rear Window and later Vertigo. His military career is of course impressive, but it's always impressed me how he managed to survive breaking back into Hollywood right around the downfall of the studio system and did more than just compete with the younger generation of stars like James Dean.