Ben Kingsley is great as Trevor in two of the Marvel movies. He was set up to be portraying the Mandarin, which is kind of a great reference to the fact that he played Gandhi even though he is not the correct race.
In the end, it is revealed he is a massive cowardly and pathetic actor.
He’s great in both movies his character appears in.
Fair point, but it’s worth noting that Nielsen was a serious dramatic actor until Airplane! and then Police Squad! - now he’s mostly remembered for making goofball comedies.
See also: Harry Morgan, who went from Dragnet-type roles to MASH despite initial concerns that he couldn’t do “funny”.
Bruce Willis has done it more than once. First he was seen as a comic actor. Then he played against type and did Die Hard. He was then seen as just an action star. He then played against type again when he did Pulp Fiction and The Sixth Sense and showed he could be a dramatic actor.
Which two is he in? He was hysterical in Iron Man 3, but I must not have seen the other one.
The Ben Kingsley who was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji? That Ben Kingsley?
He reprises the role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. In between, he’s also in the Marvel One Shot cinematic short, All Hail the King, which bridges his character’s appearance in the the two films.
It might even be worth having a separate thread of actors playing to type in intentionally ridiculous or over the top performances. But similarly, Jason Statham plays an absurd version of every character he plays in the movie Spy with hilarious results.
A bit off topic, but comedian Roy Wood Jr does a hilarious take on DiCaprio’s performance in Djengo Unchained.
“Called Jaime Fox a n*** to his face! Not an empty chair! They didn’t CGI Jaime Fox in later! …in FRONT of Samuel L Jackson! Bravery!”
Michael McKean in Better Call Saul. Having only seen him in comic roles over 40+ years, it was a surprise how great he was in a dramatic role.
He was also excellent in the Netflix series “The Spy”.
In Shang-Chi, we learn that the main villain…is…The Mandarin. Wait. Wasn’t that the bad guy in Iron Man 3? It is explained that the main villain of Iron Man 3 took that title, but was not actually the Mandarin.
And for some reason, they kidnapped Trevor since he was part of that mess. I forget why even though I’ve seen Shang-Chi twice.
It’s a great movie, by the way. You should see it immediately.
Spoilers, just in case:
The armed group that kidnaps Tony Stark in Iron Man is the Ten Rings. We don’t learn much about them in that movie, other than that they are an armed extremist group with fighters of various nationalities that is secretly purchasing arms from Stark Industries.
In Iron Man 3, Aldrich Killian sets up a fake Mandarin, leading a fake Ten Rings group, to cover his own Extremis program, and create a demand for his super-soldiers. That movie establishes that “the Mandarin” is an underworld rumor, and that very little is known about the Ten Rings. Killian seems to think that the Mandarin is a fairy tale, and that the Ten Rings is a minor group that was more or less destroyed by the events depicted in Iron Man, so they’re convenient covers for his own activities.
The Marvel One Shot cinematic short, All Hail the King, establishes that the Mandarin is very real, and that the Ten Rings is still active, and is far more widespread and capable that anyone realized. They kidnap Trevor Slattery from a maximum security prison in an elaborate assault, in order to torture him to death in retaliation for his role in stealing the Mandarin’s name and making it a mockery.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings reveals the true Mandarin and the true nature of the Ten Rings organization. It also reveals that after capturing Slattery, instead of torturing him to death, the members of the Ten Rings become so enamored of his acting ability that they keep him around as their in-house entertainment.
Will Ferrel in The Shrink Next Door. We’re just a few episodes in, but he’s great.
Ferrel was also fantastic in Stranger than Fiction. Saw it off Netflix, with Bullets over Broadway as my other rental, which coincidentally also has a major theme about great art not being more important than human life. They worked surprisingly well as unintended companion pieces.
Jerry Lewis was quite good in The King of Comedy.
Well, I can vouch for that. I have watched both series and really enjoyed the episode Sandeep but until I read this I hadn’t realized who played the role. And he was excellent.
Sarah Silverman was harrowing as a drug addict mother in I Smile Back.
I thought that AdamSandler’s best dramatic role was in Judd Apatow’s Funny People where, oddly enough, he is probably playing someone more like Adam Sandler than the routine Adam Sandler that he plays in every other Adam Sandler movie.
He was hilarious in 1967 The Flim-Flam Man.
Not to mention Twelve Monkeys.
Steve Buscemi as Donny in The Big Lebowski. I think it’s the first time I ever saw him where he didn’t play an aggravated grouch. He’s really the only likable character in the film.
He was absolutely outstanding in Maggie with Abigail Breslin. He hired an acting coach and it paid off big time, IMHO.