My Favorite Cast Against Type Performances
 

Sometimes it's an actor's idea and sometimes it's the idea of a screenwriter or director. Like it or not, most actors get typecast or have a specific onscreen image. Every now and then, an actor gets taken out of his comfort zone and is given a role unlike he's ever done. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. One more thing I need to clarify beginning this list...this subject came up on another thread awhile back and a specific performance was cited as an example...Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd. An argument was given because Griffith played Lonseome Rhodes before he played Andy Taylor, the character that created Griffith's "good ole boy" image. I don't think type casting has anything to due with chronology. Even though his image was created after A Face in the Crowd, the image is what is viable in everyone's mind, our image of Andy Griffith is centered around Andy Taylor, therefore, as far as I'm concerned, his casting in the 1957 film is against type (spoiler alert: that performance will be on this list). OK, we all clear now? Here comes my favorite cast against type performances:

Re: My Favorite Cast Against Type Performances
 

This will be an interesting list - several come to mind just thinking about it (...let's see if they show up)!

Very interested to see this list!

Before beginning this list, I should also mention that this list will include made for television movies and mini-series as well as theatrical films.

40.

Stockard Channing, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar

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Stockard Channing is a powerhouse actress who usually plays strong, independent, no-nonsense women. It was rather startling seeing her playing a timid housewife who is being physically abused by her husband. Never imagined I would see Channing playing a character like this, but she nailed it.

39.

Bette Davis, The Great Lie

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We watched Bette Davis walk all over movie characters, male and female alike, but in this movie, she was actually cast as the good girl. Davis plays a woman whose husband (George Brent) dies in a plane crash and then she learns that his ex-wife (Oscar winner Mary Astor) is carrying her husband's child. As I watched this film, I actually kept picturing Davis and Astor switching roles.

38.

Jennifer Aniston, Horrible Bosses

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Aniston was a real eye-opener in this comedy playing a dentist who sexually harasses her assistant (Charlie Day) on a regular basis, threatening to fire him or tell his fiancee if he didn't give into her demands. Aniston never played a role like this before and I was surprised as to how good she was. I actually think it's one of her best performances.

37.

Halle Berry, Monster's Ball

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Halle Berry took a serious career risk and was awarded with an Oscar for her efforts playing the lonely wife of a death row inmate (Sean "Puffy" Cmbs) who begins a relationship with a a Death Row corrections officer (Billy Bob Thornton) after her husband is executed.

36.

John Lithgow, The World According to Garp

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Lithgow received his first Oscar nomination playing a transsexual who used to be a running back for the Philadelphia Eagles who befriends writer TS Garp (Robin Williams) and Garp's independently-mother (Glenn Close, in her film debut, also earning a nomination).

35.

Mia Farrow, Broadway Danny Rose

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Farrow was hysterically funny in this role that was definitely foreign territory for her. She plays a loud and brassy gangster's girlfriend who also complicates the life of a 4th rate lounge lizard (Nick Apollo Forte) and his slick talking agent (Woody Allen).

34.

Charlize Theron, Monster

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Personally, I have always found the performance slightly overrated and I'm not sure it was worthy of an Oscar, but I could not omit this performance from the list. Glamorous and sexy Charlize Theron completely buried her outer glam to be convincing as real life murderess Aileen Wournos.

33.

Andy Griffith, Savages

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Andy Griffith turned in a bone-chilling performance in this 1974 TV movie playing a wealthy executive and part-time big game hunter who hires a guide (the late Sam Bottoms) to assist him in staking out his prey but decides to hunt down the guide instead. Can't believe this was the same guy who played Andy Taylor.

32.

Will Smith, Six Degrees of Separation

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At a time when his movie career was just gaining some momentum, Smith took a real career risk taking the lead in this film adaptation of John Guare's play as a gay con artist who charms a wealthy Manhattan couple (Donald Sutherland, Stockard Channing) by telling them that he's the son of Sidney Poitier. Smith was very convincing in this role that proved he could actually act, though he did refuse to do the scene where he was supposed to kiss co-star Anthony Michael Hall.

Agreed that was an Against Type Performance. Did you know that Bette's first movie she also played a quiet, dutiful sister in The Bad Sister (1931)...and she's the good sister!

Lithgow has made a career out of playing unusual & colorful characters, that's nothing unusual for him to do.

I thought the same thing about John Lithgow. I've seen him as so many different types of characters that I don't think he really has any one type.

.

31.

Leslie Nielsen, Airplane!

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After three decades as one of Hollywood's busiest dramatic actors, Nielsen accepted the role of Dr. Rumac in the classic 1980 spoof that triggered a complete renaissance in the actor's career.

30.

Adam Sandler, Reign Over Me

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Sandler took a break from his man/child comedies to star in this emotionally charged drama about a man who lost his wife and child in 911 who tries to rekindle his relationship with his college roommate (Don Cheadle). Sandler was heartbreaking in this movie.

I would have thought Leslie Nielsen's type was this type of comedy spoofs, so against type for him would be something like Forbidden Planet (1956).

Re: My Favorite Cast Against Type Performances
 

I'm pretty sure that this Airplane! role was quite the departure for Nielsen.

You should look at his resume prior to Airplane!...not a lot of comedy going on there.

He was always a dramatic 2nd-string actor before Airplane in both TV and movies.
This movie was the one that launched him into comedy.
Part of the comic appeal of Airplane was putting well-known dramatic faces (who would have fit well in a serious "Airport" style disaster movie) into a comedic farce... such as Leslie Nielson, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves.

29.

Elizabeth Montgomery, The Legend of Lizzie Borden

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After spending seven years playing the sugary sweet Samantha Stephens on Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery delivered a bone-chilling performance that earned her an Emmy nomination playing the 19th Century spinster who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother. I get chills when I think about this 1975 TV movie. Still can't believe this was the same actress I fell in love with playing Samantha.

I'm aware that Leslie Nielsen started out as a dramatic actor, but this thread isn't about the way an actor's career changed. It's about the actor's type, or rather being cast against their type. Leslie Nielsen is now known for the comedy spoofs, not his dramatic acting, so his type, would be the comedy spoofs.

As per the first post of this thread:

I'm just going by what the first post of this thread says about this list. The type is not based on chronological order. It's based on "what is viable in everyone's mind", and most people think of Leslie Nielsen as a comedic actor, therefore the movie Airplane is not against his type.

Touche' (on a technicality)! ;)

Re: My Favorite Cast Against Type Performances
 

That's a fair point, gbg. I think of it as cast against type, but as that's what Gideon wrote, it's a legitimate call.

I have to agree with GBG about Leslie Nielsen. If it's not about chronology...and with Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd being cited as playing against his usual type of a good nature country boy. Then in the same vein Leslie Nielsen's type is the comic goofball, making his early performances such as Forbidden Planet against type. But it's all good:) and just for fun:p I'm enjoying this list:up:

Yeah, I've been thinking about this... before A Face in the Crowd (1957) Andy Griffith didn't have a "type" since that was his very first movie. Had he played a loose cannon in his next movie he might have been type cast as a villain after that. But his next movie cast him as a kind-hearted country bumpkin and that later translated into his country-fied TV sheriff persona. So Griffith's first reference of going against type was before he had a type!

Leslie Nielson's switch of genres (and thus switch of typecasting) reminds me a lot of Rip Torn who was also a 2nd string dramatic actor who became much more famous after moving to comedy (perhaps he'll show up here later).

Yes - great thread!

I'm glad to see that people are starting to see my point about Leslie Nielsen. I was already thinking up another reply with Vincent Price as an example just in case I had to explain it again. :)

28.

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher

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Carell gave an eye-opening performance here that earned him his only Oscar nomination to date. Carell plays an eccentric millionaire named John du Pont who wants to sponsor a wrestling team for the 1988 Olympics and hires a pair of brothers (Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum) to train the team and pretty much destroys the brothers' relationship in the process. Carell's performance in this film made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

27.

Walter Matthau, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)


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Walter Matthau has provided a lot of laughs through his long and distinguished career, but he also impressed in this offbeat change of pace playing a veteran cop whop becomes a hostage negotiator when three crooks take a subway car with 18 passengers for ransom.

26.

Harry Dean Stanton, Pretty in Pink


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I loved this performance. After a long career of playing mostly criminal low lifes, Stanton took on something completely different here. He plays the unemployed single dad of a pretty but lonely teenager (Molly Ringwald) who has never gotten over his wife walking out on him. Stanton has never been more warm and endearing onscreen and provides more than one lump-in-the-throat moment in the 80's comedy.

Great movie! (Did not need to be remade!)

25.

Barbra Streisand, Nuts


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Barbra Streisand gave a startling performance that should have earned her an Oscar nomination in a movie that nobody saw. Streisand plays Claudia Draper, a prostitute whose outrageous personality has the court system thinking she is not mentally fit to stand trial when she goes to jail for murdering one of her johns (Leslie Nielsen). Streisand had never done anything like this but delivered the goods, under the direction of Martin Ritt.

24.

Farrah Fawcett, Small Sacrifices

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The late actress received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her icy performance in this fact-based ABC miniseries. Fawcett played Diane Downs, a postal worker and mother of three children who, upon learning that her new boyfriend (Ryan O'Neal) doesn't want children, decides to murder her children. For my money, her work here trumps her work in The Burning Bed and Extremities, bringing to life one of the most disgusting characters I have ever seen.

23.

George Clooney, The Descendents

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I'm expecting this one to spark some discussion but I definitely felt this was casting against type. I had always considered Clooney a romantic lead or action hero and was quite thrown watching him play a husband and father who finds himself in some muddy emotional waters when his wife has an accident and slips into a coma and is left to care for his children himself for the first time, while also learning that before she was hurt, his wife was having an affair. Clooney was surprisingly effective in this performance that deservedly earned him an Oscar nomination.

Two words:
Batman & Robin

;)

I thought George Clooney was great in The Descendents. I don't know if I'd consider his performance "against type", but maybe more like it felt "out of character" for him because his character seemed to have less control over what was going on in his life than his characters normally have in most of his movies. I haven't seen a lot of his movies, but in the ones that I've seen, he always seems to be the guy who knows everything that's going on, and is basically the leader, but he seemed to be kind of lost in The Descendents.

I had a feeling I was going to hear from you regarding this one...this is my opinion. I always think of Clooney playing this womanizing stud and this character was nothing like that.

I'm not saying that you're wrong. I'm just saying that I see it a little bit different in this case, but I can understand your point on this one.

22.

Will Ferrell, Stranger than Fiction

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Will Ferrell nailed this 180-degree departure from the assorted nutballs that he usually plays. Ferrell plays an IRS agent who wakes up one morning and hears a voice narrating his life. The voice belongs to a writer (Emma Thompson) and Ferrell's character is a character in her latest book who she says is going to die but she hasn't figured out how and our hero tries to get to her to save his life.

21.


Sandra Bullock, Crash (2005)


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Sandra Bullock was surprisingly effective in a VERY unsympathetic role in this 2005 Best Picture Oscar winner featuring an all-star cast. Bullock is the pampered and arrogant wife of a politician who is a bigot, even though she doesn't realize it but a minor household mishap has her changing her tune. It was so bizarre seeing the new millenium Doris Day playing such a nasty character.

20.

Christopher Walken, Catch Me if You Can


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This might seem to be an odd choice for this list, but think about it for a minute. First, think about all the demented weirdos and psychos that Walken has played in his long career and think about this character, a gregarious and charming salesman, husband, and father whose wife walked out on him but he has no ill will toward her. His son (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a criminal being pursued by the FBI. He doesn't condone what his son is doing but he offers the FBI no help in finding him either. The beauty of this performance is in its simplicity...Walken puts away all the acting trickery that usually comes with his performances and still provides a three dimensional character who we love from the beginning of the movie to the end.

19.

Jennifer Aniston, Cake


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Jennifer Aniston hits the list again in this raw nerve of a performance that definitely raised eyebrows in Hollywood and earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Aniston plays a woman who becomes obsessed with the suicide of another woman in her chronic pain support group (Anna Kendrick), an obsession that eventually leads her into a squirm worthy relationship with the woman's husband (Sam Worthington) and her son. Aniston really scored playing this woman with a questionable moral barometer.

18.

Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra


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A remarkable performance from the two time Oscar winner which added an Emmy and a Golden Globe to his trophy case. Douglas lights up the screen in this HBO TV movie playing the flamboyant Las Vegas entertainer who fooled millions of female fans into thinking he was heterosexual who would eventually enter into a toxic affair with a young dog groomer (Matt Damon). Douglas disappears inside this role, clearly like nothing he had ever done before. I love the scene where Lee and Mark meet for the first time...Douglas looks at Damon like he's a hot fudge sundae.

17.

Henry Gibson, Nashville

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The late actor first gained attention as part of the comic ensemble on the classic variety series Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, but director Robert Altman seemed to know exactly what he was doing when he cast Gibson in this role that earned him a Golden Globe nomination and should have earned him an Oscar nomination as well. Gibson turned in an intense, almost chilling performance as a legendary country and western singer who is seriously thinking about throwing his hat in the political arena. Can't believe this was the same guy who recited poetry on Laugh In carrying a giant flower in his hand.

16.

Alan Alda, Crimes and Misdemeanors


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Alda was robbed of an Oscar nomination for his on target performance playing a totally slimy character. Alda plays an arrogant, self-absorbed television star/producer who becomes the subject of a cinema verite' piece being made by his brother-in-law (Woody Allen) who is so full of himself that he doesn't see his assistant (Mia Farrow) falling for his brother-in-law. This was probably the first time I truly despised a character played by Alda. One of Hollywood's most likable actors playing one of cinema's most unlikable characters.

15.

Christopher Guest, The Princess Bride


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Christopher Guest totally blew me away with this performance that just drips venom...under the skillful direction of Rob Reiner, who also directed Guest as Nigel Tufnel in This is Spinal Tap, Guest created a totally hissable villain in Count Rugen, the number one henchman to Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) who has a fateful showdown with Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin). I still can't believe this was the same actor who played Nigel Tufnel.

14.

Eddie Murphy, Mr. Church

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Murphy blew me away in this warm-hearted melodrama playing a gourrnet cook who is sent to the home of a woman dying of cancer (Natasha McElhone) and her young daughter (Britt Robertson) after his employer passes away. There's nary a hint of Axel Foley or Billy Ray Valentine in this characterization. This is the first time I've seen Murphy play a character completely devoid of anything resembling ego...and he nails it.

I don't know if I've seen Christopher Guest in any other movies, (including This is Spinal Tap), but I loved him in The Princess Bride.

13.

Michelle Pfeiffer, Hairspray (2007)

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Yes, she nailed the Catwoman in Batman Returns, but I've never really thought of Pfeiffer as a comic villainness. In my opinion, she just about walked off with this 2007 film version of the Broadway musical based on the John Waters movie as the venemous owner of a television station who squares off against pleasingly plump Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonski) when Tracy starts stealing the spotlight from her own daughter (Brittany Snow).

12.

Harrison Ford, What Lies Beneath

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For years, he was Hollywood's ultimate action hero, but this was the first time he went straight up bad guy. Ford is actually bone-chilling as research scientist who is trying to gaslight and murder his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer).

He was surprisingly good.

11.

Bing Crosby, The Country Girl

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The silver haired crooner was known for a series of comedies he made with Bob Hope, some classic musicals (including White Christmas) and won an Oscar for playing a kindly priest in Going My Way, but he took a real career risk that paid off in spades in this film adaptation of a play by Clifford Odets playing an alcoholic actor who has been offered a chance for a comeback and is terrified about it. For my money, the strongest performance of Der Bingle's career that earned him a richly deserved Oscar nomination.

10.

Andy Griffith, A Face in the Crowd

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This is the performance that was the impetus for my doing this list and caused a spirited debate among Mo-Fo's before I even began. The argument was that this movie was made before Andy Griffith established his "good ole' Boy" image as Andy Taylor, but as I explained in the opening post, I don't think playing against type has anything to do with chronology. Whether you want to admit or not, when you think about Andy Griffith, the first image that pops into your head is that folksy sheriff taking his son Opie fishing. Yes, it happened after this film, but it is Griffith's established type, no matter when it happened and this character was NOTHING like Andy Taylor. Griffith plays a drifter from Arkanses who goes from a two day drunk in a jail cell to becoming a media sensation, using and abusing a lot of people on his ascent to the top. I swear my mouth hung open during most of the running time of this movie. This guy, Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, was NO Andy Taylor. Griffith was robbed of an Oscar nomination for this blazing performance that actually sent chills down my spine.

I've long said that Christopher Guest is a chameleon. I've seen him in things where I didn't even realize it was him. He had a short dramatic role in A Few Good Men as a military Dr. that was also a departure from his more satiric roles. Seeing as Guest is such a chameleon I'm not sure if this role was set against type, but I'm not going to argue! ;)

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...istopher+guest

I have The Country Girl on DVD, but I just haven't found the time to watch it yet. :(

9.

Carol Burnett, Friendly Fire


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After spending 11 years making people laugh on her classic variety show, Carol Burnett blew everyone away in this 1979 CBS TV movie playing the mother of a Vietnam soldier who learns that her son might have been killed during a training exercise instead of actual combat. Burnett's powerhouse performance in this fact-based TV movie earned her a richly deserved Emmy nomination.

8.

Michael Keaton, Clean and Sober


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Michael Keaton gave a mind blowing performance that should have earned him an Oscar nomination playing a drug addict who is on the run from the police who decides to hide out in a rehabilitation facility. Before Birdman, this was the finest performance of Keaton's career unlike anything he had ever done.

7.

Dick Van Dyke, The Morning After

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Dick Van Dyke turned in a memorable Emmy-nominated performance in this 1974 TV movie playing a public relations man who is methodically destroying his marriage and career with his alcoholism. If the truth be told, as incredible as the performance is, it wasn't much of a stretch for the actor because he was drinking very heavily at the time he made this movie.

6.

Meredith Baxter, A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story


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After all those years playing aging flower child and passionate mother Elyse Keaton on Family Ties. Meredith Baxter was frighteningly unhinged in this 1992 ABC TV movie based on the true story of the pampered Beverly Hills wife and mother who couldn't handle it when her husband left her for another woman. He divorced her and remarried and Betty responded by sneaking into their new home and murdering both of them. Baxter was nothing short of bone-chilling in this movie.

5.

Adam Sandler, Punch Drunk Love

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Sandler was robbed of an Oscar nomination for his performance in this Paul Thomas Anderson drama playing a troubled young novelty salesman who likes to buy tons of canned pudding and is being blackmailed by a phone sex line.

4.

Tony Curtis, The Boston Stranger

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Tony Curtis turned in the performance of his career that should have earned him an Oscar nomination playing famed serial killer Albert De Salvo.

3.

Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems


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Sandler hits the list for the third time as a jeweler who is having problems balancing his personal life with his professional one, including some heavy gambling debts. Sandler was again robbed of an Oscar nomination, but he did get some serious Oscar buzz on this one.

2.

Robin Williams, One Hour Photo

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The late comic genius was nothing short of bone-chilling in this psychological thriller playing a lonely photo developer who becomes obsessed with one of his regular customers (Connie Nielsen) and her young son. Still find it hard to believe that this was the same guy who starred in Mork and Mindy and Mrs. Doubtfire.



Well, we're finally down to #2...before revealing my #1, I do have a few honorable mentions in this category:


Jason Bateman in The Gift
Natalie Wood in The Cracker Factory
Will Ferrell in Everything Must Go
Elizabeth Montgomery in Amos
Bruce Willis in Death Becomes Her
Sylvester Stallione in Oscar
Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast
Bill Murray in Broken Flowers
Paul Newman in The Hudsucker Proxy


And now...my # 1 favorite performance cast against type:

1.

Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People


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Regular followers of my threads shouldn't be too surprised by this choice. After six years of playing the wholesome and sexy Laurie Petrie and seven year of playing the wholesome but sexy Mary Richards, the late Mary Tyler Moore shocked moviegoers and earned her only Oscar nomination for her often bone-chilling performance in this 1980 Best Picture Oscar winner. Moore plays a wealthy Chicago matriarch who has never gotten over the death of her eldest son and, even though she's in denial about it, blames her younger son (Oscar winner Timothy Hutton) for what happened. Moore has never been so icy and insensitive onscreen, a performance unlike anything she ever did. And I will say it again...Sissy Spacek was terrific in Coal Miner's Daughter and I understand her winning Best Actress, I still think that award should have gone to Mary Tyler Moore.





Hope someone enjoyed the list.

Couldn't agree more. I think this is the best performance of his entire career, every second he was onscreen was mesmerizing to watch.

Re: My Favorite Cast Against Type Performances
 

Also want to comment on One Hour Photo. One of my favorite stalker thrillers. Robin Williams had a lot of varied roles over the years, so I'm not really sure if it's against type, but he's definitely brilliant in it. He manages to give his character such vulnerability that you almost feel bad for him, until he reminds you in the next moment that he's completely unhinged.

His role in Insomnia is another excellent one, and I'd classify it more as against type since unlike One Hour Photo he's just straight-up evil throughout. He gave me the major creeps there.

Robin Williams did perform several times in more serious roles, besides One Hour Photo one could also mention Insomnia and Dead Poets Society. But yes, it was his comedical roles that made him famous.

Sylvester Stallone, I would chosen Copland over Oscar as his prime role outside of his usual muscle image. Being part deaf myself i might be biased in that judgement.

Over all a great list.

Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People is an excellent choice for #1. She was robbed of an Oscar for that performance.

Ironically, I fell asleep during Insomnia

I did actually consider Copland for the honorable mentions, but Oscar seemed a more obvious choice because it was a comedy and Sly hasn't done a lot of comedy.

You found it boring? Why? I personally love this movie, it's got Pacino and Williams at their career-best.

I don't know, maybe I was tired the first time I saw it...I may re-visit it sometime.