Typecasts — Movies

~AlFor Sun, Mar 7, 2004 (23:25) seed

On watching the "Much More Movie" version of "Thelma & Louise" on AMC, I saw the interesting tidbit that Michael Madsen, who played Louise's boyfriend Jimmy, turned down the role of Horton (the rapist) because he didn't want to become typecast as a villain. I suppose he thought that folks would remember his role in "Thelma & Louise" later on when he joined up to play Mr. Blonde in "Reservoir Dogs". Other examples of typecasting include Ted Danson and Ed O'Neill, who are hardly considered for dramatic roles although they started out as dramatic actors and ended up becoming famous for their first comedic roles. Similarly, the guy who played "The Professor" on "Gilligan's Island" (how's that for typecasting? I don't even know the guy's name!) had played several bad guys before being "Gilligan's Island" and the show destroyed his formerly steady work as a bad guy. Any other noteworthy and unfair stereotypes you wish to add?

~terry Mon, Mar 8, 2004 (08:46) #1

Steve Buscemi is the wacky bad guy, the loveable bad guy, the bumbling bad guy. He's making hsi debut on the Sopranos next Sunday. Colin Firth tends to get typecast as the counterpart to Hugh Grant which may be why "Huge Gnat" gets the ire of drool. Google kind of let me down on this, but I found this one little relevant quote on http://mrcranky.com I guess Rob Schneider's entire career is going to be comprised of fish-out-of-water roles. Look! It's Rob playing a sexy male prostitute. Look! It's Rob pretending to be an animal. Look! It's Rob pretending to be an 18-year-old girl. Look! It's Rob pretending to be a comedian. This sort of typecasting happens when you're incapable of any level of acting that requires actual talent or subtlety -- or you simply have a personality disorder. I haven't given up. I'll have to sit on this one for a bit.

~autumn Mon, Mar 8, 2004 (14:49) #2

Don't forget Rob pretending to be a horny Hawaiian guy! (50 First Dates) Too many to mention! Meg Ryan is the perky girl-next-door (even though she's trying to break out of that with her boxing flick). She's getting kind of old for this typecast--look for Reese Witherspoon or Kate Hudson to take over these roles. Ashley Judd is the wholesome heroine of the thriller genre. John Cusack is the quirky, underdog anti-hero. Christopher Walken is just plain creepy.

~AlFor Mon, Mar 8, 2004 (19:12) #3

Meg Ryan has been trying to break out of that cast for some time. I forgot the name of that movie with Denzel Washington, Matt Damon and Lou Diamond Phillips where she plays a dead Marine hero seen only in flashbacks. Robin Williams seems to be trying to build a new typecast for himself by playing psychotic bad guys rather than just psychotic funny guys. I think he's just trying to get another Oscar. Tom Hanks is a phenomenon. I wonder how many people remember (or even know!) that Tom Hanks started out in comedy? As for Colin Firth playing Hugh Grant's foil, well, I guess Alan Rickman beat him to it in Sense & Sensibility. Alan Rickman is more typecast as being eccentric than he is as being a bad guy. The artist sidekick in The January Man, his amazing performance as Hans Gruber in Die Hard that was more instrumental to the show's watchability than Bruce Willis's John MacLaine, The Voice of God in Dogma (and isn't it interesting that the heroes are Jay and Silent Bob and the villains are Ben and Matt?) and Professor Snape in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (the perfect distraction!). He's even better at being bizarre than at being evil. Christopher Lee will be remembered by several generations as an evil guy. To have played Dracula, Scaramanga, Count Dookoo and Saruman the White is to have been remarkably well typecast. At least Hugo Weaving will have a more mixed reception; will he be remembered more as Elrond or Agent Smith?

~AlFor Mon, Mar 8, 2004 (19:30) #4

It would be very interesting to see Greg Kinnear, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams and Steve Martin in a dramatic film. One night, I turned on the television and saw a scene where Leslie Neilsen had Ted Danson at gunpoint. I looked it up in a TV guide and saw that the name of the movie was "Creepshow". I recognized the name as something that Stephen King was involved with so I turned it off at once. I wonder how many people would have seen that scene and thought it was a comedy?

~AlFor Mon, Mar 8, 2004 (19:32) #5

P.S.: I meant in the same dramatic film. BTW, Greg Kinnear was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work in As Good As It Gets but lost the Oscar to Robin Williams. A good year for comedians turned dramatic actors, no?

~autumn Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (00:03) #6

John Malkovich always does well in a villainous role.

~terry Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (17:06) #7

What about Richard Dreyfuss? The James Bond actors?

~autumn Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (21:53) #8

Richard Dreyfuss I don't know well enought to know his type--I've never seen any of his movies. The only Bond actor I've seen out of a 007 role is Sean Connery, and he still embodies the virile, tough guy persona.

~AlFor Sun, Mar 14, 2004 (09:10) #9

Hm... Richard Dreyfuss: neurotic, argumentative, annoying; is that the type he's cast in? Everything from American Graffiti to Mr. Holland's Opus and that TV show The Re-education Of Max Bickford... I guess he is typecast. Brad Pitt - typecast as "hunk" and probably hates it.

~cfadm Sun, Jul 2, 2006 (04:58) #10

Did you know that if you do a google search for typecasts this comes up number one. Richard Dreyfuss I can see as argumentative and annoying.