I’m making a video for my middle school drama students to help them understand character immersion. I need help coming up with examples of actors who during their career have convincingly played roles that are complete opposites of each other. It would be nice if you could tell me which roles too so I can try and clip some film.
Many of these students have little exposure to film outside of summer blockbusters and Disney cartoons so it completely blows their mind to see Gary Oldman, Stephen Root, or Charlize Theron in clips juxtaposing opposite characters they have played. It is good for them to see that it can be done.
Gary Oldman is the guy who always gets cited in these threads. See him play very different roles in Sid and Nancy, True Romance, Dracula, The Fifth Element, and Batman Begins.
If you just want two performances that are pretty close to opposites, try True Romance and Batman Begins.
(Although, hmmm, not sure that True Romance performance would be right for middle schoolers. Maybe The Fifth Element instead.)
I think Edward Norton has a great range. Off the top of my head I’d compare his roles in “Keeping the Faith” and “American History X”. Actually, I guess he plays dark characters more often than not but KTF was a big departure.
Two of our best character actors in one scene: Benicio del Toro and Jeffrey Wright in Basquiat.
You can find them both in very different roles, Benicio del Toro in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or The Pledge, or The Usual Suspects. Jeffrey Wright in Cadillac Records, or Broken Flowers, or Ride With the Devil, or Syriana.
Just do a review of the acting career of J.K. Simmons. Most of your students will be surprised to learn that all of those parts were played by the same guy.
Johnny Depp as Capt Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka (two roles they will probably be familiar with), James Barrie in Finding Neverland and something older, maybe Gilbert Grape?
I go with Victor Garber: before he was a cold-blooded secret agent gunning people down in ALIAS or even a no-nonsense official in LEGALLY BLONDE, he was Jesus Christ as a face-painting song-and-dance man in floppy clown shoes and rainbow-colored suspenders in GODSPELL.
Are TV actors included? John Carroll Lynch first hit my radar as Drew’s cross-dressing brother on The Drew Carey show, but has played very different parts in Carnivale and Body of Proof. (He’s also been in several very good movies: Fargo, Zodiac, etc.)