Submitted by mikebalsaricci t3_z78hey in movies
For example Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook in "Hook." I always forget that it's him and yeah there was the wig and mustache, but it's still weird to me how it's the same guy from "Meet The Fockers". What's your favorite performance that when you think of the role you don't necessarily even think of the actor because they became the character so well?
Shit, I didn't even realize that was him
I think he was in a lot of movies that no one knows about, because he can
Cause much of the audience, like me, doesn't find him memorable.
Fascinating, can you give an example of a movie he was in that you didn't find memorable?
Can't remember.
I don't find any of them memorable with the possible exception of Zorg in The Fifth Element. But he was especially boring as Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula. But I know I'm right because he's never given leads these days. At most he'll play the villain or some secondary character role.
Lol he's one of the leads in a fantastic TV show at the moment.
If you aren’t finding Gary Oldman’s role memorable, I think you are just smoking too much.
He was excellent and the best part of Dracula
The film was too dark. Oldman was supposed to be a romantic figure and he wasn't. He wasn't even scary.
I still can't believe it's the same actor from that other movie.
True Romance
Tiptoes
IN THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME
Dude, I just now realized that Sirius Black was played by Gary Oldman.
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Rob Reiner once said he wished there had been a role for his actor friend Christopher Guest in The Princess Bride, forgetting that Guest was in it, as Count Rugen, the Six-Fingered Man. Guest so disappeared into the role as a sociopathic coward that the film's DIRECTOR forgot he was in it!
Gary Oldman in, like, any movie ever. You never realise it’s him without knowing it’s him.
I was thinking much the same thing
Christopher reeves in superman2 when he turns from Clark Kent to superman in front of us
Edit:ok, I was wrong, it's superman one I was thinking about. I thought it was at the Niagra falls hotel, but they are both good.
It's Christopher Reeve, not Reeves. (many people do this, no doubt mixing up the surname with the first actor to play Superman on TV, George Reeves).
That's some of the best physical acting I've ever seen in a movie. Completely transforms himself with zero effects or CGI - yet is clearly two very different people.
Christian bale - the machinist
Would have disappeared completely if he’d lost any more weight
Any role Daniel Day-Lewis does.
This is the right answer, see 'My Left Foot', then compare it with his later role (Butcher Bill , Daniel Plainview).
Helps too that he has no "baggage" or real persona in the real world. So many actors are all over the place, doing interviews, tweeting, or otherwise being newsworthy. Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't seem to exist outside his films. Bill the Butcher or Daniel Plainview just seem to be these characters that come from the ether and disappear back into it.
De Niro in Stardust.
Haha this is a good one. He’s so uncharacteristically flamboyant.
Thought the exact same thing when I read the title!
The role that made me love him.
Sean Penn in Carlitos Way
Sean Penn as Larry Fine
What a piece of s*it
Vincent D’Onofrio as Edgar in Men in Black. It was a goofy blockbuster, but he absolutely transformed his body movements and voice.
Oh and pretty much every character portrayed by Nick Cage, especially the one where he portrays himself...brilliant.
Willy's Wonderland is the best example.
I have yet to see that one, it looks fucking crazy lol. Have you seen The Color Out of Space?
I'm going to now.
It's wild, I advise getting as stoned as possible. It's based on an H.P. Lovecraft story.
Leaving Las Vegas is a perfect example of this
It's great
This is also one of first examples that came to my mind... although I think that side is a component of his personality;) In my top 3 personal movies.
You mean Nicolas fuckiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin oh yeah! Cage?
Lol yes the very same.
Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos(Monster), Tom Cruise as Les Grossman(Tropic Thunder), those are only two from a long list.
Tom had a lot of makeup
Are you sure? Maybe he looks like that away from the camera....just kidding lol. I wanted to add Collin Ferrell as Oswald Cobblepot(The Batman) but he wore a buttload of makeup and prosthetics.
Yeah I love your enthusiasm but you are…sorta.. missing the…mark
Yeah suppose I did.
So did Theron.
To be fair, it's hard to enforce the no makeup rule when the example OP gave was a character with makeup, a wig, a big curly mustache and fake eyebrows.
True!
Theron had to transform quite a bit. Definitely wasn’t the least amount
I just wrote about this on another post: Christopher Lloyd as Reverend Jim!
He’s WILDLY underrated as a chameleon actor….Doc Brown, Uncle Fester, Judge Doom, Rev Jim, Professor Plum are all so different and all so memorable.
Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems.
To me that seemed like the opposite. That it was so based on Sandler and previous Sandler roles that the character was almost Adam Sandler playing himself (Jewish New Yorker, sports fan, unlucky but still charming, has the manchild type personality and petulance of usual Sandler characters, etc).
Ah, you seem to be mistaken. Sandler is a New England sports fan, so playing a New York fan probably took a lot of acting chops.
I think a better example of his is Punch Drunk Love.
Francis McDormand in Nomadland, miraculous.
She was incredible. Well deserved Oscar win imo. Many have underrated her performance
I know it's not a movie but Tatiana Maslany disappears so completely into every one of her Orphan Black clones that even though you explicitly know that the trick is that she's playing all the roles and that whenever you see two of them on screen it's being done with clever camerawork and doubles you mostly just don't think about it. None of those characters feels like an actor playing a role.
I’m glad she’s getting some Marvel money now but I think she’s somehow so talented no know one has known what to do with her based on how she’s not a massive star…or maybe she’s a chill Canadian who doesn’t want that life lol.
I can't imagine a better acting showcase than pulling off Orphan Black. It's not like it was obscure either, she won an Emmy and everything. So yeah, maybe she was just so good that it backfired. Hopefully She-Hulk gets her more public recognition, although it's a shame that the reaction to it was so ugly (for the most part undeservedly so).
CHRISTIAN BALE
THE FIGHTER
IS SOOOOOO FREAKING GOOD
Peter Sellers in Being There.
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On disappearing into his roles, Sellers said in an appearance on the Muppet Show: "there used to be a real me but I had it surgically removed"
Early deniro. I chased down all his early work just for his previously strong commitment to method acting.
Rupert Pupkin might be one of his best performances ever.
James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
Travis Bickle is a character almost bigger than the movie he's in, and a huge part of that is how De Niro channeled that character from paper into film. It feels like a real person in that movie, with his own thoughts and insecurities. De Niro kind of disappears and that is actually Travis on the screen the whole time.
Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump
Or as Colonel in Elvis. I didn't like his choices, but he did disappear into the role at least
Brent Spiner - Independence Day
Denzel in Training Day. A close second is Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman.
Kevin James in “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.”
Monique in precious
Viola Davis in doubt. That powerful 7 minute scene.
Lupita nyong'o in 12 years a Slave.
Jodie Foster in Nell.
Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco. His body language was incredible
Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade
You can see him transform in an instant during an interview here.
Watching Legend, I didn't once question that Ron and Reg are played by the same actor. Twins...but clearly unique characters.
Joaquin Phoenix in Walk The Line. He didn't really look like Cash but man did he nail the character.
Daniel Dayl-Lewis has already been mentioned, so I will offer Joaqim Phoenix. I utterly hated Commodus in 'Gladiator' and I could entirely feel his sense righteousness at being unfairly treated or misunderstood. He channels a similar vibe in 'Joker', but it's completely different to 'Inherent Vice' or signs.
Heath ledger's joker from the dark knight
Sam Rockwell. I remember seeing him as Guy Fleegman in Galaxy Quest and thinking he looked familiar but I couldn't figure out where I had seen him. Finally I realized he played Wild Bill in The Green Mile. Those two characters were so completely different that I've been in awe of his acting ever since.
You should watch him in Heist with Gene Hackman. All star cast too.
RIP Ricky Jay.
Val Kilner as either Doc Holiday in Tombstone , or as Jim Morrison in the Doors
Danny Masterson in Face / Off.
There was a wig and later a shaved head, but Stephan Gierasch in "Jeremiah Johnson" as Del Gue. I've seen him in other things and he is never the same - a character actor's character actor.
They also gave him the best lines in the film.
Collin Farrell as the Penguin
Gary Oldman in anything where your makeup clause applies. The Professional for example
Meryl Streep in every movie she's in.
Matt Damon in euro trip
Scotty doesn't know, Scotty doesn't knooooow!
Al Pacino is so damn good in Michael Mann's THE INSIDER that I genuinely forgot that I was watching a goddamn Al Pacino performance and just sat in awe of the tenacity of Lowell Bergman the character.
THE INSIDER is underappreciated and you should visit / revisit it sooner rather than later.
Crowe too, nothing like a usual Crowe performance. Mann's a really good director.
Cliff Curtis in Training Day.
Cate Blanchett in TAR, Elizabeth, The aviator, I’m not there (Bob Dylan), Carol, Blue Jasmine, Don’t look up.
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Pom Klementieff in guardians of the galaxy.
Nicole Kidman in Destroyer is a pretty mean shift from basically everything you’ve ever seen her as
Jake Gyllenhall Bubble Boy
DiCaprio in The Aviator. Maybe his most un-Dicaprio-like role.
Robert Duvall - Augustus McCrae: Lonesome Dove
A friend once told me that Leo won for The Revenant, but should have won for Calvin Candy in Django Unchained. I never thought I wanted to see Leo die a horrible, horrible death until his portrayal.
I am personally very used to Ryan Gosling as the cool guy, but Gosling does goofy and fidgety pretty well in roles like La La Land & The Nice Guys.
What about everyone in LotR
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Capote."
Alec Guinness, yes Obi wan, in Kind hearts and Coronets and the lady killers. Dude was amazing comedic actor.
Maybe people might disagree but I though Andrew Dice Clay in "A Star Is Born" was pretty intriguing and totally different than his usual shtick. So much so I didn't even think about him being in the movie till it was already finished.
I watched all of House of Gucci and did not know that was Jared Leto ....
Robert Pattinson in good time or the lighthouse
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Capote”
Jared Leto - “The Dallas Buyers Club”
Chris Evans in Snowpiercer. I had NO IDEA it was him until halfway when I realized - hey this guy is pretty good. Who's the actor??? What - Captain America???
Hugh Grant in The Gentlemen
Dan Aykroyd in the film Neighbors which is a crazy ride start to finish and I feel like more people need to see. Like he has such a goofy nice guy image that to see him in an unhinged and really pretty menacing role was a trip. My friend and I watched it for the first time with absolutely no clue where it was going to go, we kept wondering if it was going to turn into like a horror- comedy situation. his character is just that strange and unpredictable. the only thing I could compare it to is maybe Jim Carrey in The Cable Guy.
He also has this bleached blonde hair and the most intense blue eye contacts you've ever seen, which looks incrediblely uncanny and adds to the unease of it all.
Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove. It genuinely took me years to realise he was playing multiple characters.
Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, Ewan McGregor in The Lottery, John Candy in Space Balls (ok, no! just joking around)
Currently, Everything Everywhere All At Once
I had no idea it was >!Jamie Lee Curtis as the IRS agent!<. I guess I Just hadn't looked at her face for long since so much is happening in that movie. She was very good in the role.
Marlon Brando in "Last tango in Paris".
Charlize Theron in Monster. She was transformative.
Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black.
Tea_Reckz t1_iy58p6n wrote
Gary Oldman in that one movie