I’m not sure if this is the right place for thice but here goes.
Actors with the widest range of character in somewhat recent film, and actors with a narrow range?
I bring this up after watching Tombstone, loving the performance of the actor (Stephen Lang) that plays Ike Clampett, finding out he played a completely different character in Avatar.
Another one, watching Aliens, I thought the character Vasquez (Jennette Goldstein) was well played, turns out, Shes John Connor’s Mom in T2 (OK, borh scifi movies, but very different characters).
Opinions? Any other completely different characters in recent Scifi?
Sam Rockwell has range, both in and out of Sci-Fi.
He played Guy in Galaxy Quest, Sam Bell in Moon, Captain K in Jojo Rabbit, and Wild Bill in the Green Mile.
She thought the part was for an illegal alien, and was the only one to show up for the audition in a dress while all of the other actors showed up in camo outfits. She still got the part, and they added the “illegal alien” line into the script.
If superhero movies count as science fiction, then I give you Chris Evans:
In 2005 and 2007, he played Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) in two Fantastic Four movies. Johnny Storm is reckless, impulsive, egotistical, and immature.
From 2011 to 2019, Evans played Steve Rogers (Captain America) in a bunch of Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Steve Rogers is the polar opposite of Johnny Storm: he’s loyal, thoughtful, kind, and selfless.
If you were the parent of a child, Steve Rogers is the kind of guy who you’d want your child to marry. Johnny Storm is the kind of guy whom you dread your child will fall in love with.
I think you are really overstating Johnny Storm as an opposite of Steve Rogers–I admit Johnny Storm is can be reckless and impulsive but Storm as loyal and selfless to his friends as Captain America is to his.
Yes, Johnny is, ultimately, loyal to his family and friends, but he frequently does thoughtless, rash crap that gets all of them into trouble and angry with him, before he ultimately makes things right. Cap would never put himself or his friends in that kind of position in the first place. Johnny has matured, to an extent, over the 60 years of the Fantastic Four, but he is still, at heart, an impulsive and unwise person.
When Evans was cast as Cap, I admit, I was very skeptical; my only real knowledge of him, as an actor, was as Johnny Storm, and I wasn’t convinced that he would do well playing an extremely different type of character. Happily, I was wrong, and Evans was, in fact, perfectly cast as Cap.
Christian Bale starred in the Nolan Batman movies and Terminator Salvation, but he also was in The Machinist, Empire of the Sun and The Fighter (among many other movies).
Christopher Eccleston played an Army colonel turned murderous sexual predator in 28 Days Later, and the king of the Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World.
He also played the Doctor in the first season after Doctor Who returned from its 16-year hiatus.
Gary Oldman has played pretty wild range of characters over the years from Commissioner Gordon in Nolan Batman movies to Sirius Black in Harry Potter.
Also Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour, Mason Verger in Hannibal, Dr Smith in Lost in Space, Zorg in The Fifth Element, Beethoven in Immortal beloved, Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Agent Stansfield in Leon: The Professional among others.
With Gary Oldman, I have more than once had this experience:
I’m watching a movie, notice a particular character, and say to myself, “That guy’s really good! I wonder why I’ve never seen him in anything before. I’ll have to watch for his name in the end credits, so I can keep an eye out for him in other stuff.”
And then, when I find his name in the credits, I realize it was Gary Oldman all along. He was so deeply immersed in the role that I didn’t even recognize him.
I was going to say exactly the same thing. There have been numerous movies I’ve seen and then watched the credits and went “that was Gary Oldman?!” He has this uncanny ability, even without makeup and prosthetics, to look like a totally different person depending on the role. It’s the reason he’s one of my favorite actors.
Brian Thompson is one of those guys that’s in everything and everyone recognizes but nobody really knows his name. He’s been in Star Trek: TNG, ST: Enterprise, ST: DS9, ST: Generations, The X-Files, The Orville, Buffy, Alien Nation (both the movie and the series), Werewolf, and a ton of movies and other non-sci-fi shows. He’s just got that “bad guy” face and body.
Liberally abusing the word “recent,” I offer Christopher Plummer. Star Trek VI, The Sound of Music, Murder By Decree, Oedipus the King. The man had range.
I saw one of the Star Trek reboot movies, and assumed that Chris Pine was just always a shallow unlikeable jerk who was playing himself. Then I saw him in Wonder Woman, and realized that he was just doing a really good job of playing a shallow unlikeable jerk.
