# William Hurt, why does this guy get roles?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 3, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744 "2012-11-03T08:16:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 18

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/18 "2012-11-03T13:46:19Z")

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I’ll just quote myself ( slightly edited ) from a previous thread…

> [@Bad actors who show up in good movies with surprising frequency](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-actors-who-show-up-in-good-movies-with-surprising-frequency/463853/15):
>
> See, now I _like_ William Hurt, despite the lack of a vast range. He’s not a chameleon like Gary Oldman, but then neither was Humphrey Bogart. It’s all a matter of casting - cast him properly and I think he works well. Blocked up and slightly lost is what is called for in films like _Accidental Tourist_ or _Rare Birds_. And IMHO he can twist slightly-lost-and-vacant to slightly-deranged-and-vacant with good effect as in _History of Violence_ or _I Love You To Death_.

I don’t think you can fault him all that much for _Lost in Space_. It was a dog of a movie and I agree he was probably miscast.

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