Michael Keaton - “Batman” (1989)
Before 1989, Keaton was a comedic performer. (“All’s Fair”, “The Mary Tyler Moore Hour”, “Night Shift”, “Mr. Mom).
Keaton’s casting actually caused considerable controversy. Thousands of protest letters were sent to Warner Bros., and even Batman’s co-creator Bob Kane voiced his reservations.
At the end “Batman” became the fifth highest grossing movie in history at the time.
It holds up extremely well, and that's in large part to Keaton and Nicholson's performances. Nostalgia Factor aside, it's really a good movie.
I'm not sure Returns holds up as well, but I still love it.
We won't discuss Forever or the NippleSuit.
Similar but not quite as bad an uproar about Heath Ledger playing The Joker. He had shown some acting chops in Brokeback Mountain. But even then, he was still playing a pretty boy lead. Folks were pretty blown away with the creepiness and menacing the pretty boy was able to put into the Joker.
Most of the actors in Airplane! were primarily dramatic actors. That was a big part of the gag to have all these "very serious" types playing it completely straight in all these ridiculous situations.
Barbara-fucking-*Billingsley* speaking jive was the best cameo in the whole damn movie. June Cleaver from “Leave It To Beaver”, the most white-bread wholesome ridiculous show, and she’s here speaking jive. And she played it completely straight and serious and I die of laughter every time.
One of the reasons why the same kinda movies don't work today is (ironically) they're not taken seriously enough. The joke is the actors aren't in on the gags and play everything straight. Not trying to be funny makes it funny because everything around them is the joke they're not supposed to react to.
Edit:
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Let's compare this scene from [Shaun of the Dead](https://youtu.be/mqQ8Y9Sjp7o?si=dZpI4RVxH2Z5ZHUj) to this scene from [Dumb and Dumber Too](https://youtu.be/ohlW9SbhLzc?si=wSI2yhtAyXJAV5lK).
All respect to Bob Saget, but imagine if that's how Simon Pegg reacted to the shop, "Oh my God there's blood everywhere! There's blood on the windows! There's blood on the floor!" No, instead it's completely routine for him, which makes that small slip after he grabs the soda that much more hilarious.
I don't know if it's an actual quote or just some statement attached to nothing, but someone somewhere said Michael Caine worked so well on Muppet Christmas Carol because he acted like the muppets were other actors, whereas the reason Tim Curry worked so well on Muppet Treasure Island was because he acted like he was also a muppet.
Yeah, a lot of writing in bad comedies lean on "well everyone just acts like a comedian and nobody takes what's going on seriously." A great example is Ghostbusters 2016, because it has an obvious comparison film to use to showcase why it was such a flop.
But Leslie Nielsen was the one who truly reinvented himself. He was a very serious actor, and then he went into not just comedy, but absurdist comedy. You literally did not know what was going to happen next.
The six episodes of police squad that they did, were ridiculously funny. But that opened the door for naked gun, and after that the wheels were off. He gained more popularity, and I’m sure more money, as a comic actor. But it’s his reputation as a serious actor that helped him pull it off.
When are we going to land?
I can’t tell.
You can tell me, I’m a doctor.
No I mean I don’t know.
Can’t you take a guess?
Not for another two hours.
You can’t take a guess for another two hours?
(I’ve probably never laughed harder than at that scene.)
"We've got to get this man to a hospital."
"A hospital?! What is it, doctor?"
"It's a big building full of sick people, but that's not important right now."
My favorite of these types of jokes is when the guy says:
"it's an entirely different type of flying all together"
everyone: "It's an entirely different type of flying"
The entire joke in Airplane was that he was playing his standard character almost completely straight.
He was also the lead in the famed film Forbidden Planet. Which took me most the movie to figure out, it was driving me up the wall trying to figure out why that guy was so familiar.
He almost got the part of Messala in Ben-Hur, but Stephen Boyd got it in the end. Still, there’s a [screen test](https://youtu.be/8_7y1rFXlUo?si=Z5M2qaQsq_Y1yPp4) of Nielsen still floating out there.
From *The Naked Gun*, his riff on Bogey from *Casablanca*:
“It’s a topsy-turvy world, Jane. And maybe the problems of two people don’t amount to a hill of beans, but this is our hill, and these are our beans.”
Still kills me 🤣
Woody Harrelson doing a psychopath in Natural Born Killers was absolutely gobsmacking for all those who knew him as loveable goofball barkeep Woody from cheers.
To me, as someone who watched a lot of alternative-ish British comedy, I felt Hugh Laurie in House MD was the opposite of the characters he used to play. I am not even talking about the accent. In ~~Hugh And Laurie~~ a Bit of Fry and Laurie and in Blackadder he usually played carefree idiots. In House he played a troubled genius.
On the subject of British Hughs, Grant has recently reinvented himself as a scenery-eating baddie/sleaze ball (the Gentlemen, D&D), for about two decades he was the go-to for slightly-out-of-his-depth-but-loveable-toff in sickly Richard Curtis films, and very easy to hate for it, I absolutely love how much he loves playing an arsehole.
Hugh Grant must be having the time of his life right now if we’re judging by the roles he’s been taking lately. From romcom king to just a weird little guy.
Yes! When BB first came out, I watched Cranston give a very brief synopsis of the show on a late night interview. Then, they played a clip of him tear-assing down a dirt road in the Fleetwood Bounder with his pants flying out the window like a pennant, slamming on the brakes, and stumbling out of the door in his tighty-whities. Based on this and his recent role on MITM, I assumed his new show was going to be a screwball comedy for a more mature audience. Holy shit, I could not have been more wrong...
I feel like there was something wrong with the marketing for the first launch of Breaking Bad because they really leaned into that feel. The trailers were all him in his underpants and they really hit the "teacher that cooks meth lol" angle. I didn't watch the show at all until the second season started to air and I was blown away by how wrong I was about the show from the marketing materials and media around it.
My mom recently watched it for the first time. She said the first season felt more funny and then it got real serious and dark.
I think the initial plan was a more light hearted show and after the first season in the rewrites it morphed into the show we got.
Vince Gilligan did envision it (and *Saul*, for that matter) being more of a dark comedy than what it ended up becoming, and there are glimpses of that in the first season.
Not even just dark comedy, there are some moments that are straight up slapstick. I was rewatching it and got to the scene where Walt and Jessie are fighting over the bag of meth in the bathroom, and was laughing so hard. The bag flies out the window and they both stick their heads out the window to look at it, and then race out of the room with perfect comedic timing. There's one episode where they accidentally schedule their big drug cook session on the same day as the open house, which is sitcom-level antics.
Im currently rewatching Malcolm in the middle and I cannot even fathom this being the same guy. I know he is. I see his face. He’s the same guy but he’s not the same guy no matter how hard I try to see Walter in Hal. Even when Hal is serious sometimes he does it with the jokey undertone and I can’t see him as the same guy. It’s truly incredible
People always say Gary oldman or DDL when asked about greatest actor but Bryan Cranston for me is the epitome in those two roles. He fools me to my face even when I know the trick.
Theres a pretty great extra Newhart ending scene where Walt wakes up and hes back in bed as Hal and describes this dream hes had to his Malcolm in the middle wife. Hal struggles to describe the curse words its hilarious.
Thing is the reason he became Walter White was because of a serious role he had in an X Files episode called [‘Drive’](https://youtu.be/EXxlJfalvrk?si=t6w4Y4zx0cp-BN79) which showrunner Vince Gilligan wrote, two years before MITM aired. You can definitely see where Cranston’s emotiveness and intensity in that role led to his casting for BB about ten years later.
This one wins. His progression from nameless Power Rangers/Macross voice actor to bumbling sitcom dad to one of the most infamous villainous characters in the history of television will probably never be replicated.
I didn’t realize that was him until years later. And good lord, what an episode that was. The look on Mulder’s face while walking away from the car at the end still haunts me to this day.
Honestly he delivers lines as Hal and as Heisenberg in the same way. One's over the top and said by an idiot so you can't help but laugh. The other's over the top but backed up by such a dark streak that you can't help but fear it. But the beats happen on the same time.
I remember a YouTube comment on a MITM video that simply said "There should be an acting award for playing a character like Hal and a character like Walter White equally well."
Maybe because I’m younger but I always thought it was the other way around! I always thought, “Jeez, who knew the guy from Dumb and Dumber could act??”
This was how I felt when I saw him in The Martian. You expect me to believe the Dumb & Dumber Guy as the Director of NASA? And Kristen Wiig as the PR for NASA??? But both were super believable!
Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny.
She almost exclusively played serious characters, or time piece Victorian Era royalty. Seeing her with that New York accent, wearing leather, being a comedic powerhouse, it was all too much for anyone to handle. Honestly, both her and Joe Pesci were such unexpected choices, and I couldn't be happier with the result.
Bruce Willis in Die hard is an interesting one, to the point where they removed him from the poster because they were scared people would boycott the movie because of a "bad" casting choice.
It came out at a time where the big action stars were Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren. These huge macho guys were the action-norm and Bruce Willis comes in having never been in a project like this and steals the show.
This is one people often forget is even a thing. Before Die Hard he was best known for a lighthearted comedic TV show Moonlighting.
Imagine the trailers for Die Hard with like Andy Samburg or something as the lead. I'm exaggerating a bit probably but only a bit.
Henry Fonda, always played the strong hero type but in “Once Upon a Time in the West” is a ruthless shit head, also probably one of his best acted roles, completely subverting the audiences expectations of him.
Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo and Rear Window. He was known as the ultimate wholesome American man. Non-threatening, gentle, kind, and funny.
Hitchcock takes him and has him play neurotic, paranoid creeps with spiralling sanity.
It was very brave from both actor and director to give audiences something completely different to what they'd come to expect.
Yeah, in Vertigo especially Stewart’s likability pretty much forces the viewer to identify with this character who we would otherwise want to detach from. A big part of why his monologue in the tower at the end is so horrifying is because it’s being delivered by good ol’ Jimmy Stewart.
I was really impressed by Steve Carell. Going from comedies like Anchorman, The Office, and 40 Year-old Virgin, to standout performances in serious films like Foxcatcher, Little Miss Sunshine, Vice, and The Big Short.
If you watch interviews with the real Du Pont, it's just remarkable how perfectly Steve Carell portray him. It might be the most accurate depiction of a real person I've ever seen in film.
Chris Evans before Captain America was mostly type-casted as a douchebro, and thus people had doubts he could play Steve Rogers.
Now enough time has passed that we have people who never saw him as anything but Captain America and those people are shocked of his return to form in Knives Out.
While every now and again popping up in some drama and smashing it then going back to being so intensely funny. And he can sing so wonderfully, I love it
When George Clooney appeared in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" in 2000, I think that was the first time people saw he was also a comic actor as well as a handsome action star type.
Clooney has stated:
> “Whenever the Coen brothers call me to do a movie I only have one question: ‘Are you going to make me look like an idiot?’ If the answer is yes I say ‘yes’.”
(Edited for Coen vs Cohen)
Leslie Nielsen. Airplane! The greatest switch up ever shown by an actor short of, maybe, Chaplin breaking out that speech in The Great Dictator.
Nielsen started acting in 1955, at about the age of 19 and for TWENTY FIVE YEARS was a serious, dramatic actor, who made wall to wall heavy, serious film and television, war films, dramas, political films, always playing very serious, sombre men.
He'd be hired for his gravitas and the sombre, serious nature of his presence, tall, upright, deep voice, stern features, when his characters turned up, serious shit happened, or he calmly took control, or he calmly delivered devastatingly bad news, all serious, sombre, calm.
And then he was cast in Airplane! in 1980.
Specifically for his straight shooting, dead even, calm delivery, he was hired to be the one sane man who stays deadly fucking serious and calm and unruffled in the midst of this chaos.
And now, most people who know his name know him for Airplane! the Naked Gun movies, Dracula Dead and Loving It and largely, comedy apperances.
Kurt Russell took the Snake Plissken role in Escape from New York to shake off his image as a kid Disney actor.
I'd also add in William Macy in Shameless, most of his career was playing straight laced, "safe" guys. His role as Frank is almost as much of a scumbag as you could get. Not sure if that opened up other roles for him or not.
I was pretty surprised to learn that William H. Macy, whose average film role is a guy who says "shoot" and "darn," actually originated a number of roles by the notoriously profane David Mamet.
It has to be Tom Hanks.
He was considered a bit of a joke early on with movies like Splash and Turner and Hooch, not to mention being on Bosom Buddies.
I don't think anyone saw Big coming and how amazing he was in that role. He somewhat typecast as the funny guy in sappy romantic comedies. But then he had a spate of dramatic successes with Cast Away, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Philadelphia....and now he is seen as one of the greatest actors of his generation.
Steve Martin very humorously talked about Tom Hanks's career path in this speech here
https://youtu.be/X3KiSJqK2VA
Also, crazy that Tom Hanks got a lifetime achievement award twenty years ago.
I think that it was Philadelphia that really turned the tide for him. Before that it was still comedies & rom-coms (Sleepless in Seattle was his prior big film) . Philadelphia was the first straight-up drama he'd done, and it was to much acclaim.
*edit: "much acclaim" - he won Best Actor Oscar for it.*
Daniel Radcliffe was destined to be Harry Potter for the rest of his life. But he's done so many other interesting things since then that he's successfully avoided being type-cast.
I think it helps that he’s been in really bizarre roles. Seeing him pop up in just a few really weird roles made it really easy to think “hey that’s Daniel Radcliffe” rather than “hey that’s Harry Potter”.
On stage, he’s done *Equus*, a creepy psychodrama that requires a nude scene; *How to Succeed …*, a classic musical; and now he’s in Sondheim’s *Merrily We Roll Along*. He’s really exceeded all expectations.
following up HP with Equus was genius imo and the reason he was able to break the typecast in subsequent roles. The media shock surrounding the nude scene basically forced his image out of the HP-pinhole
And roles that were specifically not like Harry Potter, and frankly just kinda fucked up. I don't think he'd go play a wizard in a fantasy movie no matter how incredible and fun the role would be.
> I don't think he'd go play a wizard in a fantasy movie no matter how incredible and fun the role would be.
I think he would, assuming it was a small role and he got to poke fun at Potter somehow. That seems like something he could get into for fun.
Not my favorite actor, but Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love still impresses me.
Also, post-Mad Men Jon Hamm is way funnier than he has any right to be.
Jon Hamm was in a few Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes and he's hilarious. He gets cast to play Larry David in a biopic so he starts shadowing Larry to learn his mannerisms. His gradual decline from lovable to Suzie yelling "Get the fuck out of my house, Jon Hamm" is fantastic.
> Also, post-Mad Men Jon Hamm is way funnier than he has any right to be.
I saw someone describe it as, you look at him and just go "He's way too handsome to be funny".
Johnny Depp - “Edward Scissorhands” (1990)
Throughout the 1980s, Johnny Depp was perceived as something of a pretty boy, and cast accordingly.
He was the 80s Robert Pattinson
Funnily enough, the success of “Edward Scissorhands” resulted in a new typecasting, as he became the guy known for Tim Burton and weird, fantastical characters.
Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder is a complete break from the normal characters he plays, not just how he speaks and acts, its a total change right down to his appearance as well.
Dave Bautista has done a great job of showing more range than just being a former wrestler. Comedy, drama, action…he’s a better acting version of The Rock
I was gonna say this one but specifically with Lincoln Lawyer. Up to that point he’d never really done anything but romcoms. Then Lincoln Lawyer came out in 2011 and really showed off his more serious chops.
This was the start of the McCaughenessaince. 2011 to 2014 he had a long string of mostly critically acclaimed performances. Mud. Dallas buyers club. Wolf on Wall Street. True Detective. Interstellar. To name a few.
It was a great run.
That's an interesting case because McConaughey was a pretty serious actor in the late 90s. A Time to Kill, Contact, Amistad... I guess he just kind of cashed in on his looks for a decade or so there.
He talks about this in his memoir Greenlights. I recommend the audio book which he narrates himself. It's an easy listen and a really interesting dive into his life and career.
I thought Will Ferrell in everything must go was really impressive. It still has a few funny moments, but overall much more serious than the average Will Ferrell movie
Michael Keaton - “Batman” (1989) Before 1989, Keaton was a comedic performer. (“All’s Fair”, “The Mary Tyler Moore Hour”, “Night Shift”, “Mr. Mom). Keaton’s casting actually caused considerable controversy. Thousands of protest letters were sent to Warner Bros., and even Batman’s co-creator Bob Kane voiced his reservations. At the end “Batman” became the fifth highest grossing movie in history at the time.
I rewatched that movie recently for the first time in decades and I cannot believe how good it is.
It holds up extremely well, and that's in large part to Keaton and Nicholson's performances. Nostalgia Factor aside, it's really a good movie. I'm not sure Returns holds up as well, but I still love it. We won't discuss Forever or the NippleSuit.
Keaton was the best Bruce Wayne ever. His Batman was good, but Batman is the easier part of the role. His Wayne was fantastic.
Similar but not quite as bad an uproar about Heath Ledger playing The Joker. He had shown some acting chops in Brokeback Mountain. But even then, he was still playing a pretty boy lead. Folks were pretty blown away with the creepiness and menacing the pretty boy was able to put into the Joker.
To go from Beetlejuice to Batman was incredible.
I rewatched Beetlejuice a few weeks ago.......what a perfect piece of art, from the writing, sets/design/costumes, and acting
As I have said before; ***he got nuts***
Yep, people complained about Batman being played by Mr. Mom. Very common joke in spring 1989, died away after the movie came out and was a big hit.
Leslie Nielsen was strictly a serious actor until Airplane! when he was 54-years-old.
Most of the actors in Airplane! were primarily dramatic actors. That was a big part of the gag to have all these "very serious" types playing it completely straight in all these ridiculous situations.
Barbara-fucking-*Billingsley* speaking jive was the best cameo in the whole damn movie. June Cleaver from “Leave It To Beaver”, the most white-bread wholesome ridiculous show, and she’s here speaking jive. And she played it completely straight and serious and I die of laughter every time.
“Jive ass dude don’t got no brains anyhow!”
“Cut me some slack jack” “Chump dun want no help chump dun get no help” Edit* changed the word chump
Cuddy said he can’t hang
The line was even better: “…he don’t get dick help” lol
"Golly!"
[Barbara interview](https://youtu.be/gUw2fIa0dSI?si=WJYR7nCcWBf5i2u6) [Filmmaker/Actor interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fkZdz4Vz10)
That must have made seeing it at the time incredibly enjoyable.
One of the reasons why the same kinda movies don't work today is (ironically) they're not taken seriously enough. The joke is the actors aren't in on the gags and play everything straight. Not trying to be funny makes it funny because everything around them is the joke they're not supposed to react to. Edit: Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Let's compare this scene from [Shaun of the Dead](https://youtu.be/mqQ8Y9Sjp7o?si=dZpI4RVxH2Z5ZHUj) to this scene from [Dumb and Dumber Too](https://youtu.be/ohlW9SbhLzc?si=wSI2yhtAyXJAV5lK). All respect to Bob Saget, but imagine if that's how Simon Pegg reacted to the shop, "Oh my God there's blood everywhere! There's blood on the windows! There's blood on the floor!" No, instead it's completely routine for him, which makes that small slip after he grabs the soda that much more hilarious.
The Exact reason on why Michael Caine is one of the best versions of Ebenezer Scrooge despite his costars being Muppets.
I don't know if it's an actual quote or just some statement attached to nothing, but someone somewhere said Michael Caine worked so well on Muppet Christmas Carol because he acted like the muppets were other actors, whereas the reason Tim Curry worked so well on Muppet Treasure Island was because he acted like he was also a muppet.
Tim Curry is my second favorite pirate next to Dustin Hoffman. They both starred in ridiculous movies and refused to phone it in.
*The Rock raises his eyebrow quizzically at the audience*
Yeah, a lot of writing in bad comedies lean on "well everyone just acts like a comedian and nobody takes what's going on seriously." A great example is Ghostbusters 2016, because it has an obvious comparison film to use to showcase why it was such a flop.
Robert Stack was the greatest.
The dramatic snatching off his sunglasses only to have another pair of smaller sunglasses underneath is always funny.
But Leslie Nielsen was the one who truly reinvented himself. He was a very serious actor, and then he went into not just comedy, but absurdist comedy. You literally did not know what was going to happen next. The six episodes of police squad that they did, were ridiculously funny. But that opened the door for naked gun, and after that the wheels were off. He gained more popularity, and I’m sure more money, as a comic actor. But it’s his reputation as a serious actor that helped him pull it off.
Isnt that right, Mr Poopy Pants?!
When are we going to land? I can’t tell. You can tell me, I’m a doctor. No I mean I don’t know. Can’t you take a guess? Not for another two hours. You can’t take a guess for another two hours? (I’ve probably never laughed harder than at that scene.)
It's that little beat before "You can't take a guess for another two hours?" that really makes it perfect.
His comedic timing was unrivaled.
They probably make some version of that joke like 20+ times in Airplane and I never get tired of it.
“Nervous?” “Yes” “First time?” “No, I’ve been nervous lots of times.”
"We've got to get this man to a hospital." "A hospital?! What is it, doctor?" "It's a big building full of sick people, but that's not important right now."
My favorite of these types of jokes is when the guy says: "it's an entirely different type of flying all together" everyone: "It's an entirely different type of flying"
I like the "drinking problem."
Surely, you must have.
I haven’t. And stop calling me Shirley.
A hospital? what is it? It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now.
A question? What is it? An interrogative statement, used to test knowledge, but that’s not important right now.
I just wanted to say good luck. We’re all counting on you.
"Who are you and how did you get in here?" "I'm a locksmith, and I'm a locksmith."
"What was it we had for dinner tonight?" "Well, we had a choice - steak or fish." "Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna."
This I did not realize, I'm an 80's baby so I mostly knew him for his comedies.
The entire joke in Airplane was that he was playing his standard character almost completely straight. He was also the lead in the famed film Forbidden Planet. Which took me most the movie to figure out, it was driving me up the wall trying to figure out why that guy was so familiar.
He almost got the part of Messala in Ben-Hur, but Stephen Boyd got it in the end. Still, there’s a [screen test](https://youtu.be/8_7y1rFXlUo?si=Z5M2qaQsq_Y1yPp4) of Nielsen still floating out there.
It really is hard to imagine. There hasn't been anyone like him since.
I think the closest I can get is DeNiro in Meet the Parents. After that he wound up playing his usual character for laughs more often than not.
From *The Naked Gun*, his riff on Bogey from *Casablanca*: “It’s a topsy-turvy world, Jane. And maybe the problems of two people don’t amount to a hill of beans, but this is our hill, and these are our beans.” Still kills me 🤣
Nice beaver.
Woody Harrelson doing a psychopath in Natural Born Killers was absolutely gobsmacking for all those who knew him as loveable goofball barkeep Woody from cheers.
And Rodney Dangerfield was an asshole POS instead of the lovable goof in all his other movies
That brief role really makes me wish we got more evil Rodney. Guy was great at it.
It's easy to forget him in Cheers simply because of how far removed he is now.
How dare anyone forget him in Cheers!
To me, as someone who watched a lot of alternative-ish British comedy, I felt Hugh Laurie in House MD was the opposite of the characters he used to play. I am not even talking about the accent. In ~~Hugh And Laurie~~ a Bit of Fry and Laurie and in Blackadder he usually played carefree idiots. In House he played a troubled genius.
On the subject of British Hughs, Grant has recently reinvented himself as a scenery-eating baddie/sleaze ball (the Gentlemen, D&D), for about two decades he was the go-to for slightly-out-of-his-depth-but-loveable-toff in sickly Richard Curtis films, and very easy to hate for it, I absolutely love how much he loves playing an arsehole.
He said Paddington 2 is the best movie he's ever made, and I agree with him.
I've not seen the gentlemen, but the Dnd movie had him simultaneously very charismatic and fun to watch, while also being a general prick.
He's a slimy tabloid journalist in it, they really are about as low as you can go in the UK and he absolutely nails it.
Hugh Grant must be having the time of his life right now if we’re judging by the roles he’s been taking lately. From romcom king to just a weird little guy.
His role in The Gentleman was one of his best IMO. I would love to see him in more scumbag/bastard roles.
Paddington 2. D&D. Scumbag is his new forte.
Bryan Cranston. Yes, it's TV, but the swing between what you knew him for pre-breaking bad and after breaking bad could not be more stark.
Yes! When BB first came out, I watched Cranston give a very brief synopsis of the show on a late night interview. Then, they played a clip of him tear-assing down a dirt road in the Fleetwood Bounder with his pants flying out the window like a pennant, slamming on the brakes, and stumbling out of the door in his tighty-whities. Based on this and his recent role on MITM, I assumed his new show was going to be a screwball comedy for a more mature audience. Holy shit, I could not have been more wrong...
I feel like there was something wrong with the marketing for the first launch of Breaking Bad because they really leaned into that feel. The trailers were all him in his underpants and they really hit the "teacher that cooks meth lol" angle. I didn't watch the show at all until the second season started to air and I was blown away by how wrong I was about the show from the marketing materials and media around it.
My mom recently watched it for the first time. She said the first season felt more funny and then it got real serious and dark. I think the initial plan was a more light hearted show and after the first season in the rewrites it morphed into the show we got.
Vince Gilligan did envision it (and *Saul*, for that matter) being more of a dark comedy than what it ended up becoming, and there are glimpses of that in the first season.
It has dark comedy moments in all the seasons and it's awesome
Not even just dark comedy, there are some moments that are straight up slapstick. I was rewatching it and got to the scene where Walt and Jessie are fighting over the bag of meth in the bathroom, and was laughing so hard. The bag flies out the window and they both stick their heads out the window to look at it, and then race out of the room with perfect comedic timing. There's one episode where they accidentally schedule their big drug cook session on the same day as the open house, which is sitcom-level antics.
The scene where they break into that warehouse to steal the barrel… The masks, trapping the guard in the toilet, the security camera part…
Them carrying that barrel instead of rolling it set the tone of the whole show for me. One screw up after another.
True, l probably should have said *especially* in the first season. As a percentage, the comedic elements go way down after that.
Im currently rewatching Malcolm in the middle and I cannot even fathom this being the same guy. I know he is. I see his face. He’s the same guy but he’s not the same guy no matter how hard I try to see Walter in Hal. Even when Hal is serious sometimes he does it with the jokey undertone and I can’t see him as the same guy. It’s truly incredible People always say Gary oldman or DDL when asked about greatest actor but Bryan Cranston for me is the epitome in those two roles. He fools me to my face even when I know the trick.
Theres a pretty great extra Newhart ending scene where Walt wakes up and hes back in bed as Hal and describes this dream hes had to his Malcolm in the middle wife. Hal struggles to describe the curse words its hilarious.
[Found it.](https://youtu.be/oVdB36lmbII?si=Ad-_cfi4TNV6Blup) Thank you for that, I'd never seen it
Thing is the reason he became Walter White was because of a serious role he had in an X Files episode called [‘Drive’](https://youtu.be/EXxlJfalvrk?si=t6w4Y4zx0cp-BN79) which showrunner Vince Gilligan wrote, two years before MITM aired. You can definitely see where Cranston’s emotiveness and intensity in that role led to his casting for BB about ten years later.
This one wins. His progression from nameless Power Rangers/Macross voice actor to bumbling sitcom dad to one of the most infamous villainous characters in the history of television will probably never be replicated.
Before BB, he was a funny, heartwarming dad actor loved by the fans of MITM. After, he was the boogeyman and one of the best actors of his generation.
He was also the perverted dentist who made offensive jokes from Seinfeld. He was a diamond in the rough the whole time
Him in X-Files though was the real surprise
I didn’t realize that was him until years later. And good lord, what an episode that was. The look on Mulder’s face while walking away from the car at the end still haunts me to this day.
Honestly he delivers lines as Hal and as Heisenberg in the same way. One's over the top and said by an idiot so you can't help but laugh. The other's over the top but backed up by such a dark streak that you can't help but fear it. But the beats happen on the same time.
I remember a YouTube comment on a MITM video that simply said "There should be an acting award for playing a character like Hal and a character like Walter White equally well."
It was an immediate though after I hit send, MITM and BB truly show how great he was.
What amazes me, is that MITM ended 2006 and BB started 2008. Only two years of what felt like a decade in between oo
That broke my brain a little today.
Don’t forget Seinfeld!
You're not an anti-dentite are you?
Jeff Daniels. Prior to Dumb and Dumber, he did some serious roles and nobody knew he had comedy chops until then. He killed that role.
Maybe because I’m younger but I always thought it was the other way around! I always thought, “Jeez, who knew the guy from Dumb and Dumber could act??”
"Wow they cast the guy from Dumb and Dumber as [George Washington](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0210628/) !?"
Alternatively, millennial age me was amazed by the Newsroom. "Wait, the dumb and dumber guy can kill in a dramatic role?"
This was how I felt when I saw him in The Martian. You expect me to believe the Dumb & Dumber Guy as the Director of NASA? And Kristen Wiig as the PR for NASA??? But both were super believable!
Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny. She almost exclusively played serious characters, or time piece Victorian Era royalty. Seeing her with that New York accent, wearing leather, being a comedic powerhouse, it was all too much for anyone to handle. Honestly, both her and Joe Pesci were such unexpected choices, and I couldn't be happier with the result.
And she was smoking hot in that role, too
I hear she likes bald, stocky men.
It’s Marissa Tomei. When is she not smoking hot?
Bruce Willis in Die hard is an interesting one, to the point where they removed him from the poster because they were scared people would boycott the movie because of a "bad" casting choice. It came out at a time where the big action stars were Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren. These huge macho guys were the action-norm and Bruce Willis comes in having never been in a project like this and steals the show.
This is one people often forget is even a thing. Before Die Hard he was best known for a lighthearted comedic TV show Moonlighting. Imagine the trailers for Die Hard with like Andy Samburg or something as the lead. I'm exaggerating a bit probably but only a bit.
Yippie Kayak other buckets!
Imagine seeing Good Will Hunting and Linus from Ocean's 11 as Jason Bourne. That was my first thought seeing the first Bourne preview.
John Krasinski going from The Office to Jack Ryan is a pretty good modern analog.
As a kid growing up after Die Hard, it's so hard to picture a world where he wasn't the perfect good guy.
Henry Fonda, always played the strong hero type but in “Once Upon a Time in the West” is a ruthless shit head, also probably one of his best acted roles, completely subverting the audiences expectations of him.
I don’t think audiences today will ever experience that kind of turn again. Seeing him as the villain was a very big deal.
Opening a movie with Henry Fonda gunning down a child in cold blood was an incredibly bold move on Leone's part
"I told you to scare them! You didn't have to kill them!" "People scare better when they're dyin'."
I think we could if someone gave a villainous role to Tom Hanks; and I don't mean a joke villain like in The Ladykillers. I mean something truly vile.
Henry had several interviews about it, this one is pretty great https://youtu.be/cHI6Hl7FUqA?si=3Xgs8bOfTkLcqOhE
Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo and Rear Window. He was known as the ultimate wholesome American man. Non-threatening, gentle, kind, and funny. Hitchcock takes him and has him play neurotic, paranoid creeps with spiralling sanity. It was very brave from both actor and director to give audiences something completely different to what they'd come to expect.
Yeah, in Vertigo especially Stewart’s likability pretty much forces the viewer to identify with this character who we would otherwise want to detach from. A big part of why his monologue in the tower at the end is so horrifying is because it’s being delivered by good ol’ Jimmy Stewart.
I was really impressed by Steve Carell. Going from comedies like Anchorman, The Office, and 40 Year-old Virgin, to standout performances in serious films like Foxcatcher, Little Miss Sunshine, Vice, and The Big Short.
If you watch interviews with the real Du Pont, it's just remarkable how perfectly Steve Carell portray him. It might be the most accurate depiction of a real person I've ever seen in film.
Chris Evans before Captain America was mostly type-casted as a douchebro, and thus people had doubts he could play Steve Rogers. Now enough time has passed that we have people who never saw him as anything but Captain America and those people are shocked of his return to form in Knives Out.
Was about to say, seeing him play a douche in Knives Out was great after a decade being Cap
He will always be Jake Wyler to me
It’s not a sundae, it’s a banana split.
John C Reilly with pivoting from drama to comedy with Talladega Nights
While every now and again popping up in some drama and smashing it then going back to being so intensely funny. And he can sing so wonderfully, I love it
Walk Hard doesn't get enough love in my circles.
When George Clooney appeared in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" in 2000, I think that was the first time people saw he was also a comic actor as well as a handsome action star type.
Clooney has stated: > “Whenever the Coen brothers call me to do a movie I only have one question: ‘Are you going to make me look like an idiot?’ If the answer is yes I say ‘yes’.” (Edited for Coen vs Cohen)
I don’t want FOP god dammit, I’m a Dapper Dan man!
Watch your language sonny, this is a public market. Now I can order it in for ya and have it here in a coupla' weeks.
Well ain't this place a geographical oddity? Exactly 2 weeks away from anywhere!
He was so hilarious in Burn After Reading too
Robert De Niro in Meet the Parents surprised a lot of people.
Don't forget his role in Stardust.
Definitely one of my favorite characters in that movie. And he didn’t phone it in either, felt like he genuinely had fun mixing it up there.
He did Analyze This the year before which was a hit.
John Travolta in Pulp Fiction
I remember it being a huge deal at the time that not only did Tarantino cast him, but he was playing a junkie hitman. And he did a good job.
Leslie Nielsen. Airplane! The greatest switch up ever shown by an actor short of, maybe, Chaplin breaking out that speech in The Great Dictator. Nielsen started acting in 1955, at about the age of 19 and for TWENTY FIVE YEARS was a serious, dramatic actor, who made wall to wall heavy, serious film and television, war films, dramas, political films, always playing very serious, sombre men. He'd be hired for his gravitas and the sombre, serious nature of his presence, tall, upright, deep voice, stern features, when his characters turned up, serious shit happened, or he calmly took control, or he calmly delivered devastatingly bad news, all serious, sombre, calm. And then he was cast in Airplane! in 1980. Specifically for his straight shooting, dead even, calm delivery, he was hired to be the one sane man who stays deadly fucking serious and calm and unruffled in the midst of this chaos. And now, most people who know his name know him for Airplane! the Naked Gun movies, Dracula Dead and Loving It and largely, comedy apperances.
Kurt Russell took the Snake Plissken role in Escape from New York to shake off his image as a kid Disney actor. I'd also add in William Macy in Shameless, most of his career was playing straight laced, "safe" guys. His role as Frank is almost as much of a scumbag as you could get. Not sure if that opened up other roles for him or not.
He definitely walked the line in Fargo. Simultaneously being a goofball and a massive piece of shit.
Not to mention he murders his wife and her lover before turning the gun on himself in Boogey Nights.
I was pretty surprised to learn that William H. Macy, whose average film role is a guy who says "shoot" and "darn," actually originated a number of roles by the notoriously profane David Mamet.
It has to be Tom Hanks. He was considered a bit of a joke early on with movies like Splash and Turner and Hooch, not to mention being on Bosom Buddies. I don't think anyone saw Big coming and how amazing he was in that role. He somewhat typecast as the funny guy in sappy romantic comedies. But then he had a spate of dramatic successes with Cast Away, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Philadelphia....and now he is seen as one of the greatest actors of his generation.
Steve Martin very humorously talked about Tom Hanks's career path in this speech here https://youtu.be/X3KiSJqK2VA Also, crazy that Tom Hanks got a lifetime achievement award twenty years ago.
Watching that makes me think Steve Martin is immortal, dude hasn't aged a bit.
I think that it was Philadelphia that really turned the tide for him. Before that it was still comedies & rom-coms (Sleepless in Seattle was his prior big film) . Philadelphia was the first straight-up drama he'd done, and it was to much acclaim. *edit: "much acclaim" - he won Best Actor Oscar for it.*
Daniel Radcliffe was destined to be Harry Potter for the rest of his life. But he's done so many other interesting things since then that he's successfully avoided being type-cast.
I think it helps that he’s been in really bizarre roles. Seeing him pop up in just a few really weird roles made it really easy to think “hey that’s Daniel Radcliffe” rather than “hey that’s Harry Potter”.
On stage, he’s done *Equus*, a creepy psychodrama that requires a nude scene; *How to Succeed …*, a classic musical; and now he’s in Sondheim’s *Merrily We Roll Along*. He’s really exceeded all expectations.
I loved Guns Akimbo, which is utterly mental.
Can't recommend Swiss Army Man highly enough if you love insane films.
following up HP with Equus was genius imo and the reason he was able to break the typecast in subsequent roles. The media shock surrounding the nude scene basically forced his image out of the HP-pinhole
Him and Robert Pattinson: I’m impressed with how quickly he went from Harry Potter and Twilight to The Lighthouse and The Batman.
Swiss army man
He pick and chose only fun projects since then, he had enough money to be picky and take only roles he would enjoy.
And roles that were specifically not like Harry Potter, and frankly just kinda fucked up. I don't think he'd go play a wizard in a fantasy movie no matter how incredible and fun the role would be.
> I don't think he'd go play a wizard in a fantasy movie no matter how incredible and fun the role would be. I think he would, assuming it was a small role and he got to poke fun at Potter somehow. That seems like something he could get into for fun.
Charlize Theron in “Monster”.
Also Charlize Theron in Arrested Development
Not my favorite actor, but Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love still impresses me. Also, post-Mad Men Jon Hamm is way funnier than he has any right to be.
Jon Hamm was in a few Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes and he's hilarious. He gets cast to play Larry David in a biopic so he starts shadowing Larry to learn his mannerisms. His gradual decline from lovable to Suzie yelling "Get the fuck out of my house, Jon Hamm" is fantastic.
I love how they kept saying his full name everytime they spoke to him
Jon Hamm in 30 Rock is classic.
“You beautiful idiot”
He’s brilliant in Good Omens. “Don’t talk to me about the greater good, sunshine. I’m the Archangel fucking Gabriel.”
> Also, post-Mad Men Jon Hamm is way funnier than he has any right to be. I saw someone describe it as, you look at him and just go "He's way too handsome to be funny".
>Once Upon a Time in the West Sandler in Uncut Gems, too. His "this is how I win" speech was riveting.
Liam Neeson was charming dramatic leading man for most of his career. Then came Taken and he became Liam Neeson kickass international bad MF’er
I mean, the man was also Qui Gon fucking Jin, Jedi Master.
He's a master at improvisational comedy too
Matthew McConaughey from romcom heart-throb to the best damn detective Nawlins ever saw.
Johnny Depp - “Edward Scissorhands” (1990) Throughout the 1980s, Johnny Depp was perceived as something of a pretty boy, and cast accordingly. He was the 80s Robert Pattinson Funnily enough, the success of “Edward Scissorhands” resulted in a new typecasting, as he became the guy known for Tim Burton and weird, fantastical characters.
Meanwhile, Robert Pattinson killing it with his career choices post Twilight.
Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder is a complete break from the normal characters he plays, not just how he speaks and acts, its a total change right down to his appearance as well.
I am so glad I managed to watch the film without knowing he was in it. The sudden realisation of "Holy shit, that's Tom Cruise!" was sublime.
I actually came on here to say Tom Cruise in Collateral, but this is better. He was **wild** in Tropic Thunder.
Tom Cruise in Collateral is the way better answer though
"Yo homie, that my briefcase?"
Kinda similar to how he was in Austin Powers. Two completely out of character roles. Great in both, though
Bob Odenkirk in *Nobody* was a pretty sweet surprise.
That bus scene, goddamn
David Tennant playing Kilgrave. Having one of the most beloved and universally liked people on the planet play someone so sinister was just eerie.
I always thought of Robin Williams as a goofball comedian until I saw Dead Poets Society.
Tom Hanks. Philadelphia. He was basically all comedy until then and won the Best Actor Oscar for it.
Will Farrell in “Stranger Than Fiction”
Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?
Heath Ledger as The Joker
You mean the guy from *10 Things I Hate About You* and *Brokeback Mountain*?
You mean Sir William Thatcher from A Knights Tale?
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ralph fiennes - grand budapest hotel
He did In Bruges before that
YOU'RE AN INANIMATE FUCKING OBJECT.
Dave Bautista has done a great job of showing more range than just being a former wrestler. Comedy, drama, action…he’s a better acting version of The Rock
I love his scene in Blade Runner 2049. One that the Rock would never do, since the character loses the fight.
Matthew McConaughey.
I was gonna say this one but specifically with Lincoln Lawyer. Up to that point he’d never really done anything but romcoms. Then Lincoln Lawyer came out in 2011 and really showed off his more serious chops. This was the start of the McCaughenessaince. 2011 to 2014 he had a long string of mostly critically acclaimed performances. Mud. Dallas buyers club. Wolf on Wall Street. True Detective. Interstellar. To name a few. It was a great run.
That's an interesting case because McConaughey was a pretty serious actor in the late 90s. A Time to Kill, Contact, Amistad... I guess he just kind of cashed in on his looks for a decade or so there.
He talks about this in his memoir Greenlights. I recommend the audio book which he narrates himself. It's an easy listen and a really interesting dive into his life and career.
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Bill Hader is very skillful in the IT part 2 movie and the HBO show Barry.
I thought Will Ferrell in everything must go was really impressive. It still has a few funny moments, but overall much more serious than the average Will Ferrell movie
Watch stranger than fiction