My nomination: Orlando Jones in Drumline. Who’da thunk it, a wacky comedian famous largely for doing 7-Up commercials doing such a great job in a dramatic role?
Going back a bit, Michael Keaton in Batman.
Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Tom Cruise (cringe) in Interview with the Vampire. (It certainly could have been worse.)
Toby Maguire in Spiderman.
Mandy Moore in Saved. I was surprised she could act at all, as the only thing I knew her for was singing. (Although I knew about her role in that teen thing, “A Walk to Remember”, I’d never seen it…don’t really plan to, either…)
I have heard this said many times, and in conunction, that people were upset when he was first cast as Spider-Man…and I never understood why! He is CLEARLY the perfect choice! He’s a smallish nerdy-looking guy who can pass for a teenager if he has to. He didn’t have a lot of movies under his belt, but what he had done he was good in.
Ted Danson in this adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels.
One of the greatest dramatic performances ever captured on film: Bjork in Dancer in the Dark. And Dean Martin shoulda won an Oscar for Rio Bravo.
Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas. I don’t think much of Cage as an actor, but he nailed this role.
Yeah, I gotta agree. You don’t want a heartthrob anyway, that’s not what Spiderman is all about. And didn’t he get an Oscar for Cider House Rules? BTW, rumor has it that Jake Gyllenhal was this close to being Spiderman, but was either turned down for the role or refused it (he was considered a hot prospect because he looked young, was a good actor, seemed right for the role, and, last but not least, was dating Kirsten Dundst at the time (who had already been cast)).
Charlize Theron in Monster. 'Course, then she pulled a Catwoman with Aeon Flux, so I gotta wonder now…
Mel Gibson’s Hamlet was prety good, and before it I would have rated his chances of doing it right at about 0%.
I thought Joan Jett was really good in Light of Day. The only other dramatic role I’ve seen her in was in the TV version of Highlander, and she was good there, too.
Exactly what I stopped in to say. I was most vocal about him being wrong for the part. I was the one who was wrong.
Robin Williams in Awakenings. Prior to catching the movie on a Sunday afternoon, I only knew the standup routines and the comedic movies and Mork. But he did a great job in a serious role in a somewhat depressing movie.
By now, we’ve seen enough examples of people who are known for wacky, broad comedy but go on to shine in dramas or more subtle comedies that it shouldn’t be so surprising (Jim Carrey, Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd (Driving Miss Daisy), Bill Murray, Robin Williams, maybe Adam Sandler (Punch Drunk Love)). What’s rarer is when an established serious actor manages to carry off a wacky comedic role.
Want to second the already mentioned Toby McGuire and Michael Keaton nominations. But my first instinct upon reading this question was definitely Bruce Willis in “Die Hard.” NO ONE I knew thought he could pull off a tough guy action hero role at the time.
Like Leslie Nielson in Airplane!. People forget he was known only for his serious roles (though no one objected to the casting at the time – Nielson was too obscure).
Steve Martin in Roxanne was a surprise; he was not the romantic hero type previous to that.
Another one for Toby Maguire in Spider-Man. I thought it was a terrible idea when I first heard it, but he couldn’t have been more perfect.
Same for John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda. I wish he’d gotten more roles like that.
Serious actors doing good comedy stuff…
Bob Hoskins in Rodger Rabit.
Jack Nicolson in Witches of Eastwhick
Michael Caine and Lawrence Olivia in Sleuth