Enver Gjokaj as Victor in Dollhouse vs Enver Gjokaj as Victor in Dollhouse.
Seriously.
He is amazing, especially when he’s being Topher.
Jack Lemmon in Days Of Wine and Roses/Some Like It Hot.
Ian McShane in “Lovejoy”/“Deadwood”
Guy Pearce in “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”/“Memento”/“L.A. Confidential”
Ciaran Hinds in “Persuasion”/“Munich”
Charles Dance in “Alien3”/“The Last Action Hero”/“Bleak House”
Robert Patrick in “Terminator 2”/“Spy Kids”/“The X-Files”/everything else he’s done
You can’t leave out his star turn in “The Jewel in the Crown.” I don’t think he played that kind of a straight-arrow hero after that.
I can barely believe that Michael Chiklis was the The Commishand also Vic Macay. Characters don’t come much more different than that.
Peter Cushing as the hero in the movie Dr Who and the Daleks compared to his performance as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars.
Just wanted to throw in that the best specific scenes for Johnny Depp, in my opinion, would be one as flamboyant Jack Sparrow, and then the one from Finding Neverland where he’s playing “pirates” with the children - he could have easily slipped right into familiar territory and gone “Jack Sparrow” with it, but he “plays” as a completely different style pirate with the children (and likely one more in tune with the Victorian idea of how a proper pirate behaved).
Also, on the Brad Pitt front (in response to a different post) - his characters in 12 Monkeys, Fight Club, and Snatch are all somewhat similar - I would far rather suggest, perhaps, Interview with the Vampire, A River Runs Through It, or Benjamin Buttons in juxtaposition to said roles.
He also played Johnny Cash’s dad in Walk the Line. Come to think of it, he’s probably one of the more underrated actors out there. I’m surprised that he never became a bigger star than he did.
And The Thing/Ben Grimm. That seems to be a pretty different character than either of the other two.
Have there been any women suggested yet?
Elizabeth Berridge, the bubbly Constanze in Amadeus, and mousy Eve Eggers in The John Larroquette Show.
Bruno Kirby in Donnie Brasco and Bruno Kirby in any movie with Billy Crystal.
I don’t know. To me it’s just Bruno Kirby being serious and Bruno Kirby being funny. He’s always Bruno Kirby, never a completely different person.
I have to ask, Speak to Me Maddie… just what examples DID you end up using?
Chris Cooper in just about anything he’s been in. Sometimes it takes me a bit to figure out who he is.
Okay so I know Johnny Depp has been mentioned repeatedly but not his role in Boys Don’t Cry
I’m surprised no one mentioned Tim Curry, from Rocky Horror Picture Show to Legend to Disneys 3 Musketeers.
Curry was also a staid ship’s doctor in The Hunt for Red October.
And Pennywise the Clown in Stephen King’s It
Hell, compare his role as the T-1000 in Terminator 2 versus his role as David Scatino in The Sopranos.
This is whom I came to mention… but in I Am Sam and Milk… but as I think about it, your two seem to symbolize the widest variation. That said, I wonder how deep into character Penn had get to for Spicoli (very deep for DMN, though).