# Poll: What actor surprised you in a role you didn't think they could pull off? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082 "2006-05-24T20:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/21 "2006-05-24T23:12:30Z")
Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys. Previous to that I had thought of him purely as a crappy chick flick actor, eyecandy for the ladies, but he did a wonderful job in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/22 "2006-05-24T23:39:08Z")
[QUOTE=RikWriter] 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. [/QUOTE] Really? Huh, I’ve only known him as a tough guy. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/23 "2006-05-24T23:45:31Z")
[QUOTE=RandMcnally] Really? Huh, I’ve only known him as a tough guy. [/QUOTE] Yeah, he first came to prominence on the sitcom _Moonlighting_. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/24 "2006-05-25T01:01:00Z")
[QUOTE=Bippy the Beardless] Mel Gibson’s Hamlet was prety good, and before it I would have rated his chances of doing it right at about 0%. [/QUOTE] I’ll second that; I was quite astonished. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/25 "2006-05-25T01:18:48Z")
Sarah Michelle Gellar as “Buffy.” Kristy Swanson is much prettier and has more of an athletic build. However, in retrospect it was Swanson who was miscast. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/26 "2006-05-25T01:32:13Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Ted Danson in [this](http://imdb.com/title/tt0115195/) adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels. [/QUOTE] Darn, that was the one I was going to say. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/27 "2006-05-25T01:37:58Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] 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. [/QUOTE] OK, seeing as I already mentioned why I thought he was perfect when I first heard he was cast, can you enlighten me as to why you, and maybe others, thought it was such a bad choice? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/28 "2006-05-25T05:37:41Z")
[QUOTE=flight] Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys. Previous to that I had thought of him purely as a crappy chick flick actor, eyecandy for the ladies, but he did a wonderful job in that movie. [/QUOTE] Quite the contrary, he’d already done several good guy-accessible films early in his career: Kalifornia, True Romance and Se7en all came out before 12 Monkeys. (As did Interview With A Vampire, but that was more targeted to women.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/29 "2006-05-25T07:29:44Z")
Gwyneth Paltrow in _Proof_. She always struck me as someone who just turned up and read their lines – and then she rocked my world. Jennifer Aniston in _The Good Girl_. She never stood out to me as someone who was capable of turning in a really compelling dramatic performance – but good god, she hit all the right notes in that one. (Looking at these two examples, maybe all that the actors I’m so-so about need to do to impress me is to rub up against Jake Gyllenhaal a little on-screen. Hmmmmm.) Anyway, I saw _The Good Girl_ last night and my sole reservation about going to see [_Friends With Money_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436331/) was instantly lost, like tears in rain. ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/30 "2006-05-25T07:45:25Z")
Thomas Haden Church in _Sideways_. I only knew him before that as the goofy mechanic from _Wings_. In fact another _Wings_ alumnus that surprised me was Tony Shalhoub in _The Man Who Wasn’t There_. It’s good to see accomplished actors shed the “wacky sidekick” TV roles. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/31 "2006-05-25T07:46:37Z")
[QUOTE=flight] Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys. Previous to that I had thought of him purely as a crappy chick flick actor, eyecandy for the ladies, but he did a wonderful job in that movie. [/QUOTE] Same for me. **Ellis Dee** has pointed out other non-chick flick movies he’d done prior to 12 Monkeys, but that was the first of the bunch that I saw. The biggest surprise for me, though, was Leonardo DiCaprio in _What’s Eating Gilbert Grape_. Because of that film, I’m willing to give any post-2000 film of his a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Dervish\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dervish\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervish_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/32 "2006-05-25T08:20:27Z")
Another nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio, although the film was _Catch Me if You Can_. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/33 "2006-05-25T10:53:16Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Yeah, he first came to prominence on the sitcom _Moonlighting_. [/QUOTE] It wasn’t a sitcom – it was an hour-long detective show, with a romantic comedy vibe. For someone who went from heavy drama to something lighter: I first saw Stanley Tucci as a truly evil billionaire in [_Murder One_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0112086/) (Best. TV. Show. Ever.) – though it was far from his earliest role, it was a huge, major breakthrough for him – so imagine my astonishment to learn he could do comedy, as in [**The Impostors**](http://imdb.com/title/tt0120823/), which he not only starred in but directed and wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/34 "2006-05-25T11:26:45Z")
Hayden Christensen in _Shattered Glass_. Any performance that makes you want to crawl into the screen and just beat a guy in the face with your fists until your fists are broken has to be worth something, right? > [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Anyway, I saw The Good Girl last night and my sole reservation about going to see Friends With Money was instantly lost, like tears in rain. Well, I’ve always liked Aniston, so I didn’t have ANY reservations about that movie, and I thought it was great. She’s good in it, and holds her own against the best women working in the field. Her instincts seem to be to just “tone it down” or underplay things, like when Robin Williams gets a dramatic role. I never find that great, but I find it hard to criticize. BTW, I think that “Along Came Polly” is one of the most underrated comedies from the past 5 years, and if you like Phillip Seymour Hoffman AT ALL, I consider it _essential viewing_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/35 "2006-05-25T12:02:49Z")
> [@](#): > > though no one objected to the casting at the time – Nielson was too obscure Nielson obscure? Heck, _I_ knew who he was, and not just because of **Forbidden Planet**. Nielsen, who’d had his share of roles (including leads) back in the 1950s, was familiar from plenty of TV shows and movies. He played the captain in **The Poseidon Adventure** , fer cryib’ out loud, and had just appeared as a villain in Stephen King’s **Creepshow** (opposite Ted Danson, who _was_ obscure at the time. I was shocked when I saw the film years later and realized who it was.) And **Airplane** was _full_ of serious stars tapped (usually against type) to play humor – Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Chuck Connors. The casting of Neilsen shouldn’t have raised any eyebrows – he was in distinguished company in doing this. And his role wasn’t anywhere near as broad as Frank Drebbin would later be. Neilsen just turned out to be one of the few Zucker/Zucker/abrahams went back to for more movies. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/36 "2006-05-25T12:18:43Z")
I never think I’m going to like Nick Nolte or Kevin Bacon in anything they do, and I always love them. Even KNOWING I’ve always loved them doesn’t make me go into a film THINKING I’m going to love them…or even LIKE them. But I always do. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/37 "2006-05-25T12:26:59Z")
The stage version of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”: I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that John Lithgow has a really good singing voice. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/38 "2006-05-25T13:03:09Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] And **Airplane** was _full_ of serious stars tapped (usually against type) to play humor – Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Chuck Connors. The casting of Neilsen shouldn’t have raised any eyebrows – he was in distinguished company in doing this. And his role wasn’t anywhere near as broad as Frank Drebbin would later be. Neilsen just turned out to be one of the few Zucker/Zucker/abrahams went back to for more movies. [/QUOTE] Well, while they never used anyone quite as heavily as Nielsen, Robert Stack appeared again in Baseketball, Lloyd Bridges did the Hot Shots movies, and they even reused Kareem in Baseketball and Reggie Jackson as well. (who first appeared in The Naked Gun.) ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/39 "2006-05-25T13:48:12Z")
Two for me… I was furious when I heard Reese Witherspoon would play June Carter in _Walk the Line_- but she did a more than decent job. I liked her performance much more than Joquin Phoenix. Secondly, I’ve always thought _Friends_ was awful and admittedly held a prejudice towards its cast until I saw Lisa Kudrow in _The Opposite of Sex_. I couldn’t believe how funny and touching she could be and I must confess to occasionally watching re-runs of friends just to watch her. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082/40 "2006-05-25T13:55:13Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Nielson obscure? [/quote] Well, I chose the term poorly; I meant “washed up.” Sure sign: he was a guest star three times on “The Love Boat.”\* > [@](#): > > And **Airplane** was _full_ of serious stars tapped (usually against type) to play humor – Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Chuck Connors. The casting of Neilsen shouldn’t have raised any eyebrows – he was in distinguished company in doing this. First of all, Connors wasn’t in the film. And, of course, Stack and Bridges were in the same boat – former leading actors who were cast, not because they were top stars at the time, but because of the connection to their earlier persona. I could have mentioned them, but focused on Nielson because he was able to revitalize his career with the role. Bridges was particularly bad doing comedy (unlike Nielson and Stack, he didn’t undertand he was funniest when he underplayed, and he was even worse in **Hot Shots** ), and Stack didn’t seem particularly interested in doing more comedy. \*Love Boat guest stars fell into two categories: young, upcoming actors/actresses for the younger audience and old, washed-up names for the older audience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-actor-surprised-you-in-a-role-you-didnt-think-they-could-pull-off/358082.md?page=3)