I really agree with what has been said about Gary Oldman. He is a true genius about getting into a character.
Despite her fame and gazillions of Oscar nominations, I think the same thing of Meryl Streep too.
Philip Seymour Hoffman has been quite impressive with his body of work also.
But to match Oldman’s ability to disappear into a character, the only other name that comes to me is Vincent D’Onofrio.
A slight and probably pointless nitpick, but for the benefit of anyone who might try to find info on this movie, its title was actully Bedtime Story. It was remade starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin and called Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Caine, as usual, acquitted himself well, but Steve Martin is NO Marlon Brando.
Gary Oldman has an incredible range.
**Brendan Fraser ** is under appreciated IMO. He can do goofy comedy (George of the Jungle, Blast from the past) action (The Mummy) and sinister (The quiet American).
John Goodman shows the same range, especially noticable in his movies with the Cohens, but also in West Wing, as a voice actor (Monsters Inc.).
Why hasn’t someone meantioned the greatest of our time - Gary Oldman?
Really? While he’s played several different types of roles like you say, I don’t really think he really shows a great range, in that in all those different roles he seems to be playing rather similar characters. It’s more over the top in comedies obviously,. but it seems to come through in all of his movies.
As opposed to Oldman who actually seems like he’s different people in his different rolls.
Depp, Oldman, and Norton are the most versatile actors working today, and probably my three favorites. But credit where credit is due – I totally agree that Brad Pitt is a helluva talented and multifaceted actor who just happens to look like a “movie star.”
No one mentioned Bryan Cranston. Granted, I’ve really only seen him as Hal from Malcolm in the Middle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another actor that versatile all in the same role.
I like Depp and think he’s a good actor, but I’ve never seen him pull the Oldman thing where you say “that’s Gary Oldman?!” At some level, Depp is back there, doing the Depp thing - this may be more of a function of being cursed with “leading man” like Brad Pitt than anything else - but he does tend to also pick a type of role that fits him.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman has incredible range.
From the house boy in the Big Lebowski, to the buffoon who “sharted” in Along Came Polly to *Capote *to the sad sack in Owning Mahowney to the raving bad guy in MI:III. . .there’s just nothing you can nail down as a “phillip seymour hoffman” role.
“Range” defines him.
If anyone has seen Along Came Polly and Capote, he’s completely believable in basically two roles that are the complete opposite of each other.
Robin Williams. His comic work is far different from his serious roles.
He was mentioned in passing, but I’d like to say Michael Caine - from quirky caper movies, spy films and Alfie to such different modern roles as the pageant consultant in Miss Congeniality to the sadistic warden in Quills
Along Came Polly reminds me of another person, what about Hank Azaria.
…On second thought, no. As much as I like him, Hank Azaria is always Hank Azaria. There are the 800 voices on Simpsons, the pool boy in The Birdcage and the odd ball roll in Along Came Polly, but it’s always still him.
Nevermind
A lot of great actors have been mentioned already. But I’d like to add Kevin Kline and Sean Penn - they’ve done some amazing performances.
I’ll suggest another surprise choice with Leo DiCaprio. Damn good job as Howard Hughes, I thought. He seems to do a wide range of accents well. At least he does a Southern accent well. His South African accent and Boston accent also sound pretty good to my ears, but who am I to judge those?
And for guys who have completely disappeared into a wide variety of character roles, I nominate Benicio Del Toro and Stephen Root.
Oh and a couple of actresses who have handled a wide range of characters (and accents) well:
I’ll second Sean Penn. One of my favorites.
Him doing Django in Sweet and Lowdown was the movie that made me realize his talent.
I’m going to have to throw in Kurt Russel. He’s done everything from Elvis to being a supersoldier and Captain Ron to Wyatt Earp.
He doesn’t give powerful performances, but very human. I somewhat think that Soldier was his best movie (though the movie itself was stupid.) He had something like 3 lines in the whole thing, and yet was able to let you know what he was thinking and feeling at every point.
I agree that Oldman has a wider range, but he had already been mentioned.
He was also the dentist Tim Whatley in Seinfeld. He really is a great physical comedian, but I’m sure he has more to show than that.
Hank Azaria - I have to disagree that he is always Hank Azaria. From TV Exec in Quiz Show to faux-hero in Mystery Men to reporter in Tuesdays with Morrie all the way to Huff. He’s got range.
– IG