What actors do you think have succesfully made the transition to “badass” after starring in roles where their characters were unrealistically (and even sickeningly) “good”? Usually these roles were prime-time family entertainment, so there’d be a lot of cartoon violence with no one ever actually getting hurt.
Fer example, Kevin Sorbo starred as Hercules. They tried to make him complex, but basically he came across as repulsively good, and he really can’t rise above that. Even though they’ve tried for a harder edge in Andromeda, it just doesn’t work. He’s still a Good Guy, even if he does shoot to kill.
Who else:
Obviously Scott Bakula. Quantum Leap to Enterprise. Nope -- can't rise above it. If you ask me, this bit of casting ruined the series from the git go.
Bruce Boxleitner. From Scarecrow and Mrs. King to Sheridan in Babylon 5. This one is debatable, but he never did it for me. I never really bought him as the hard-edged military guy. He smirked too much.
Richard Dean Anderson From MacGuyver to Jack O'Neill on Stargate SG-1. I'd say this was just about the most successful transition. (I used to hate it that MacGuyver would be fleeing from hordes of badguys with automatic weapons; would knock one out, and then would * leave the freaking gun lying there * ). But I totally buy him as the tough (but not that smart) Colonel O'Neill.
And while we're on the subject of Stargate, Kurt Russell has certainly made the transition from "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" to Snake Plissken, Jack Burton, and other hardasses. He doesn't have much range, but what range he has is pretty damn bad.
Bruce Campbell as Ash in Evil Dead, and then Bruce Campbell as Ash in Evil Dead 2. Ash… or ‘Ashley’ as he was called… was pretty much a pansy in Evil Dead. By the time the end of evil Dead 2 rolls around, he’s got some serious mojo.
Well, if actors doing the same role count, I’d say Alexis Denisoff did a pretty amazing job transitioning Mr. Wyndam-Pryce from “Rogue Demon Hunter” Wesley to bad-ass mofo Wes.
Alexis Denisoff changed from a silly-ass goody-goody in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to a hardass on Angel. The character change was handled over time, and quite well.
The googly-eyed boy singer Dick Powell of 42nd Street and Footlight Parade, and the steely, hard-bitten Dick Powell of Murder, My Sweet and Johnny O’Clock.
I don’t know if I’d call David Addison from Moonlighting exactly a wimp, but Bruce Willis did successfully move from a smirking, wise-cracking ladies man to a hard-assed action hero in Die Hard.
Sylvester Stallone was doing the simple-minded but good-hearted Rocky in one series of movies while being Rambo in another series.
Let’s not forget just about anyone who did any version of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
George Clooney started off playing Mr. Sickeningly Sweet Guy in various crappy and/or smarmy sitcoms in the 80s (Facts of Life for one). But he went on to play some pretty hard-edged roles in movies like **Out of Sight ** and Three Kings. Whether he is convincing as a hard-ass is, of course, a point of debate. I’d say sometimes yes, sometimes no. (He sure as hell ain’t Batman!)
Renee O’Connor started off as a wimpy sidekick to Xena’s badass bitch, but by the end of the series she was mopping up the floor with bad guys in every episode.
I think if this were given out as an award, it would be called the Anthony Michael Hall Award. Going from that loser in *Sixteen Candles * and *Weird Science * to a jock football player in *Johnny Be Good * to the current hardass in The Dead Zone on USA, he personifies “wimp to badass.”
Don Adams went from being the voice of the happy go lucky Tennessee Tuxedo to become the hardbitten, brutally cynical secret agent Maxwell Smart.
Seriously, I think Leonardo de Caprio is trying to do it. He started off with “cute kid” and “romantic hunk” roles, and in none of his early roles, as far as I can tell, was he the bad guy. Then, recently, he’s been the con artist antihero of “Catch Me if You Can”, and the hard bitten gang leader out for revenge in “Gangs of New York”.
He may have played the cute kid very early in his career (see: Family Ties), but his roles in *Basketball Diaries * and *What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? * came before any of his romantic hunk roles. Those were meaty, dark, disturbing/complex characters. Also, his role in The Quick and the Dead was mid-heartthrob period.
Edward Norton is a prime example. In his first film, Primal Fear, he made the ultimate transition from wimp to badass in the same role! He’s done other wimpy roles (Everyone Says I Love You, Death To Smoochy) and other badass roles, most notably American History X. Fight Club is just one more Norton movie where he starts out as another wimp and becomes another brutal badass.
Heh, in Death to Smoochy, it implies he was a bad ass before he took his anger management classes and created Smoochy…so I guess that would be example of moving the opposite direction…
