# What actors should try something new?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-should-try-something-new/983267>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\
**Created:** [April 27, 2023, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-should-try-something-new/983267 "2023-04-27T12:34:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-should-try-something-new/983267/21 "2023-04-29T01:36:39Z")

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> [@Tibby](#):
>
> I’d like to see Anthony Hopkins branch out into comedy roles. I find typically serious actors who do comedy to be especially funny, providing they have the chops for comedy—and I think Hopkins does.

Hopkin’s performance in _The Road to Wellville_ was comedic in nature and he wasw great in it. So he is definitely capable of comedy.

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-should-try-something-new/983267/22 "2023-04-29T08:21:06Z")

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> [@Tibby](#):
>
> Likewise, George C, Scott, a typically serious actor in many fine dramatic roles, knocked it out of the park as [Gen. ‘Buck’ Turgidson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZm3qBdECdw) in _Dr. Strangelove_. One of the funniest performances I’ve ever seen. Sterling Hayden did a great job in that film, too.

I’ve read that Stanley Kubrick kinda tricked Scott into giving that performance. He asked him to play the role really broadly for a few practice takes, with the promise that he wouldn’t use them, and then he did. Scott was not amused.

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**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-should-try-something-new/983267/23 "2023-04-29T19:07:21Z")

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I’ve read the same. I think the best directors (like Kubrick) follow their own instincts rather than cater to the whims of their actors. Kubrick may, for example, have pushed Shelley Duvall too far in The Shining (she apparently suffered nervous exhaustion from the many takes he pushed her to do), but he got a stellar performance out of her. Stanley was a perfectionist, and that’s what it takes to make great art.

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