My Favorite Cast Against Type Performances

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).

31.

Leslie Nielsen, Airplane!



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.

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).

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.

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:

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.

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 I'm enjoying this list

Touche' (on a technicality)!

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 I'm enjoying this list

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!

27.

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





Walter Matthau provided a lot 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.

23.

George Clooney, The Descendents



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.

23.

George Clooney, The Descendents



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.

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.