That is why Stephen King disliked Nicholson being in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
It wasn’t a normal guy going mad from the isolation—it was Jack Nicholson being Jack Nicholson. Or something to THAT effect.
Steven Weber was probably more in line with King’s vision. I saw Weber talking about his version of The Shining and while he knows it can not compare to Kubrick’s, he is glad it is out there for people who want a version closer to the book.
Strongly disagree. Bucket List. Somethings Gotta Give. About Schmidt. As Good as it Gets. Hoffa. Ironweed. Heartburn. Prizzi’s Honor. Terms of Endearment. Carnal Knowledge. If you think he’s the same guy in Chinatown and A Few Good Men and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest I don’t know what to tell you. His fame overshadowed his acting at times but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t different in everything he did.
Have you seen them? He is certainly not a alpha male in As Good as it Gets. He’s a misanthrope with debilitating OCD. Deeply flawed with an inability to deal with people. But he gets better. Sort of.
I don’t remember Five Easy Pieces enough to comment on it. It isn’t helpful to compare two clips of a few seconds. But even with that it’s obvious they are two very different characters from very different times.
He wasn’t very flinty Clinty in Bridges of Madison County, either.
It’s much easier when you can just make up definitions.
Nicholson doesn’t play the same character every time. He does plays every character the same way. They’re all doing a Jack Nicholson impression. His mannerisms dominate his performances.
Speaking of Jumanji, Jack Black was ridiculously believeable as a teen age girl in it.
Harrison Ford started out his career that way. IMHO there’s almost no difference between Indiana Jones and Indiana Jones in space (AKA Han Solo). Then he took the role of Jack Ryan and since then he never went back to his type*, other than in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones sequels.
*. Unless there’s a movie of his that I haven’t watched where he goes back to that type. If there is please let me know. I like that version of Harrison Ford better than his later roles.
Indeed, seeing Jack Black trying to teach Karen Gillan to be sexy was epic.
Out of curiosity: has Christopher Walken ever done a movie where he doesn’t pause at times you and I wouldn’t, in between emphasizing words you and I wouldn’t? I know impressionists exaggerate what he does, but — does he ever not do it?
I can’t think of one role early in his career where he was like that. The Walken persona didn’t happen until later.
There’s also Ironweed, in which he and Meryl Streep play a couple of vagrants living on the streets of Albany during the Great Depression. He really tones it down for that one. Pretty depressing movie, actually.
i don’t know if anyone has mentioned him, but Bill Murray also started out as a comedic actor and when he did The Razor’s Edge, he really changed. Now seems to do a mix of funny and serious roles, but it’s pretty much always him.
There’s also Snitch, a good little action flick from 2013, in which he plays a contractor who agrees to become an informant for the feds in exchange for them releasing his son from jail. He actually delivers a pretty solid performance as an anguished father, keeps the badass brooding to a minimum and even displays some fear and vulnerability.
Pauly Shore is trying to get a biopic made about Richard Simmons. He intends to star, and insists it will be a sincere tribute. If he gets it produced (the family apparently objects), it will he a departure from his typical annoying schtick as a whiny stoner.
Sly Stallone has tried to play against his type. In Cop Land, he intentionally gained weight to play an out of shape small town sheriff (ok, so he didn’t go that far from his typical guy with a gun).
Harrison Ford hasn’t always been a swashbuckler. Regarding Henry had him with brain damage, and I really enjoyed him as a stuffy rich man finding love in the remake of Sabrina.
He said he wanted to do Cop Land to show that he could do art for art’s sake. That is what he intended for his career but the offers to continue the sort of character started in Rocky were too lucrative to ignore. He thought Rocky was that kind of role and not intended as sequel fodder, which was a fairly new concept way back in those days.
He really had the intention to become a character actor? I mean, that would have been very optimistic, I think he’s one of the most wooden Hollywood stars ever, even more than John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. Maybe even non-actor Schwarzenegger has more range.
Charlize Theron doesn’t usually play a type, though. She’s always done different stuff. Imperator Furiosa isn’t the same character as Josey Aimes.
Women don’t usually get the same opportunities as men to have big careers doing the same shit and then get a breakout role in a major film.
Gene Hackman seems to have similar roles in the films he’s in. His bit part in Young Frankenstein, though, is a total departure from his usual role. I didn’t even realize it was him until I read the Wiki page on the film.