10 times actors proved critics wrong with their performances
There’s nothing wrong with actors getting comfortable in their positions and sticking rigidly to type, so long as audiences keep parting with their ticket money to see them do it.
Of course, there’s only so long a star can do the same thing over and over again in perpetuity before people start growing bored of the schtick, which oftentimes necessitates an unexpected reinvention.
It doesn’t always come off as intended, but credit should always be given for trying, at least. However, certain performers have gone against expectations and played against type to such a stellar extent that critics of their work had no other choice but to eat their words.
The following ten dug deep into their bag of tricks to pull out something quite extraordinary, made all the more impressive by the fact there were no shortage of doubters sharpening their knives until the exact moment their socks were knocked clean off.
10 times actors proved critics wrong:
10. Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve, 2017)
Professional wrestlers who made the jump into acting always aimed for the action hero arena, the only question was whether they’d enjoy a silver screen career more like Dwayne Johnson or Hulk Hogan.
Bucking the trend in mesmerising fashion, Dave Bautista sought to prove himself as a dramatic talent, which he did thanks to a small but pivotal role in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, a part the director was initially reluctant to give him based on the sheer size of the man.
Quiet, reflective, and introspective, Bautista’s performance opened up new doors that blew away any preconceptions that just because he was a huge dude, he couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. ‘The Rock’ remains the most successful wrestler-turned-actor, but he’s not the most talented.
9. Harrison Ford (What Lies Beneath, Robert Zemeckis, 2000)
Playing clean-cut everymen and white-hat heroes had worked very well for Harrison Ford for almost a quarter of a century, to the point nobody really believed he had it in him to play a villain.
Needless to say, he took What Lies Beneath as a challenge to subvert his persona in favour of embodying a calculating, manipulative, and ruthless antagonist that flew in the face of virtually his entire filmography.
The Star Wars and Indiana Jones icon breaking bad remains a very rare sight, but Robert Zemeckis’ supernatural psychological thriller was proof that he had what it took to chill the spine of audiences.
8. Marlon Wayans (Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
Marlon Wayans had never appeared in a movie or TV show that wasn’t a comedy until Requiem for a Dream, which is precisely why it took everyone by surprise.
Best known for his sitcom and stand-up work as part of his family’s sprawling dynasty, Wayans was a revelation as Tyrone C. Love in the harrowing drama, and it’s a performance he hasn’t even attempted to replicate or emulate since.
His final scenes are agonising to watch, offering a glimpse of a phenomenal dramatic talent that ended up going down in his filmography as an anomaly as opposed to a new dawn.
7. Charlize Theron (Monster, Patty Jenkins, 2003)
There’s nothing wrong with being a very attractive person, but Charlize Theron was beginning to view it as an albatross around her neck, with her looks limiting the type of roles she was offered.
There were never any doubts that she was a talented actor, but her back catalogue lacked anything truly transformative until the part of serial killer Aileen Wuornos came along and won her an Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’.
In an instant, Monster underlined Theron’s multifaceted talents and indicated to the cinemagoing public and casting agents everywhere that she was exponentially more than just a pretty face, which had informed her trajectory up to that point.
6. Henry Fonda (Once Upon a Time in the West, Sergio Leone, 1968)
Some actors build their entire careers on playing good-hearted, wholesome figures, with Henry Fonda spending decades using that inbuilt reputation to his advantage.
However, the chance to sink his teeth into an outright villain was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up, even if his image was so entrenched into the cinematic consciousness there were worries nobody was going to buy it.
Needless to say, Once Upon a Time in the West‘s Frank was an eye-opener, revealing to the world that Fonda had the meanest of mean streaks buried under his endearing veneer as a true gentleman of Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’.
5. Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan, 2008)
Furious fanboys weren’t the only ones questioning Christopher Nolan’s decision to cast Heath Ledger as Batman’s iconic arch-nemesis in The Dark Knight, and to be fair, they had a point.
The handsome and charming Australian was only 27 years old when his casting was announced in August 2006, with his most famous performances up to that point coming in rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, A Knight’s Tale, and Brokeback Mountain.
The latter earned him an Oscar nod, but it didn’t offer any indications he’d be able to pull off the Joker, questions and concerns that were alleviated in spectacular fashion when he gave one of the comic book genre’s greatest-ever turns.
4. Jim Carrey (The Truman Show, Peter Weir, 1998)
It was the rubber-faced mugging of Jim Carrey that transformed him from unknown to superstar in less than a year when he enjoyed a banner 1994, and if it wasn’t broke then it didn’t need to be fixed.
And yet, reigning in the very things that made him an A-lister in the first place gave way to the best performance of his entire career, with The Truman Show winning him a Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor – Drama’.
It remains a head-scratcher that he didn’t even make the Oscars shortlist that year, but any lingering questions over whether or not the exuberant over-actor had potential as a heavyweight thespian didn’t even make it past the credits.
3. Tom Cruise (Collateral, Michael Mann, 2004)
Tom Cruise had played against type before – most notably in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July – but even his more daring turns in that film and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia required his signature brand of charisma.
Suppressing his unmatchable star power, greying up his hair, and embracing the art of villainy, Collateral indicated beyond doubt that Cruse needed to play bad guys a great deal more often than he ever had.
Unfortunately, Michael Mann’s sumptuous crime thriller remains the last time he ever did, a missed opportunity considering it deftly handled any questions held over whether or not he could give a performance that didn’t rely on his tried-and-trusted persona in any way, shape, or form.
2. Robin Williams (One Hour Photo, Mark Romanek, 2002)
Everybody knew Robin Williams could do drama – and he had an Oscar to show for it – but could he play an unstable and obsessive madman without stretching suspension of disbelief to breaking point?
Of course he could, because he was one of the greats, with One Hour Photo a startling account of an unassuming worker who secretly harbours a deep-seated infatuation with the people he’d literally watched grow up and evolve in front of his very eyes by developing their memories.
Before that, Williams’ dramatic work tended to rely on the natural heart and warmth he exuded, but One Hour Photo‘s Sy Parrish was as ice-cold as they come.
1. Adam Sandler (Punch-Drunk Love, Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)
Adam Sandler’s five previous movies before he partnered up with Paul Thomas Anderson were The Waterboy, Big Daddy, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Little Nicky, and The Animal, to give an indication of how he was perceived at the time.
Of course, it’s easy to look back now and say Sandler was always a phenomenal actor when he wanted to be, but nobody had any idea he was capable of delivering a performance like the one he gave in Punch-Drunk Love.
The comedy star has it in his locker to go against the grain of everything that made him famous when he plays it straight, but more than 20 years on, it remains something he doesn’t do anywhere near often enough.
