re: Famous actors who essentially play the same character in every film

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It's not terrible. We don't pay millions of dollars to watch Tom Cruise play someone else. We pay millions of dollars to watch Tom Cruise play some slight variation of the same Tom Cruise Character. Same goes for Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp.

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Every actor injects some of himself into each role and, therefore, the roles they choose and the manner in which they portray the characters are similar in some fashion.

But Johnny Depp, for instance, does not play the same character in every film. To say so is flat ignorant and inflammatory. Gilbert Grape is about as far from Jack Sparrow as possible. Edward Scissorhands is about as far from J.M. Barrie as possible. Sweeney Todd is 180 degrees from Inspector Abberline.

The same is true of Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and Russell Crowe, all of whom you named as playing the same character in every film. Obviously, the characters portrayed by these actors are similar in some small way. The same person is portraying them. But they are hardly the same character.

The same character is Peter Lafleur, Wes Mantooth, Jeremy Grey, Brad, Dave, and Bob, all of which are played by Vince Vaughn who is not acting so much as being himself. There is nothing wrong with that and, in fact, I enjoy his movies, but they are the same character.

I only argue with you on this point because (a) you're wrong and (b) I believe you know you're wrong and are simply saying actors who have already been listed in the other thread as having the most range because you want to get a rise out of somebody or because you want to be contrarian, which, given your history on this board and the fact that you've recently been called out for your contrarian sentiments (LINK makes sense to me.

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Man DanMullen you have some angst. This is a bit different from your previous posts. Kudos on the personal attacks, those were necessary. I just await the Nicholson head nod gif.

You have been missed.

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Haha, yeah I don't know why I got my hackles up on that. Went full retard berserk mode. My apologies.

But I'll answer too

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Every actor injects some of himself into each role and, therefore, the roles they choose and the manner in which they portray the characters are similar in some fashion.

The same is true of Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and Russell Crowe, all of whom you named as playing the same character in every film. Obviously, the characters portrayed by these actors are similar in some small way. The same person is portraying them. But they are hardly the same character.

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To each his own. I put, probably, absurdly high qualifications on what great acting is (same for great films). I'd also say that 90% of actors are just that, good, not great. It's only the very few who are truly great.

There's nothing wrong with being very good at playing a low range of characters. Ok, if those people make you feel ill, here's a few more: James Stewart (one of my all time favorites) and John Wayne. And there are literally hundreds more.

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But Johnny Depp, for instance, does not play the same character in every film. To say so is flat ignorant and inflammatory. Gilbert Grape is about as far from Jack Sparrow as possible. Edward Scissorhands is about as far from J.M. Barrie as possible. Sweeney Todd is 180 degrees from Inspector Abberline.

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Honestly, I don't see how you can see such difference in Abberline, Todd, Wonka, and the Mad Hatter, and Barnabass, Sparrow and Duke. Those are all slight variations of the same kind of character. Granted, Gilbert was different, as was Barrie, but... If you want to put a number on it, I want to see more than half of an actor's performances to be vastly different characters for them to be considered "range" capable.

Dustin Hoffman, Klaus Kinski, Toshiro Mifune, Brando, Robert Duvall, Daniel Day-Lewis, De Niro. Those are your actors with range.

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I only argue with you on this point because (a) you're wrong and (b) I believe you know you're wrong and are simply saying actors who have already been listed in the other thread as having the most range because you want to get a rise out of somebody or because you want to be contrarian, which, given your history on this board and the fact that you've recently been called out for your contrarian sentiments (LINK ), makes sense to me.

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I am a Micheal Bay proponent, contrarian I cannot be. And you do realize that the thread was about me actually admitting that I liked Breaking Bad? That I reversed my opinion? That I took not one, but two, lumps in that thread which I fully admitted? Don't pay attention to one fanoy's reaction to me not thinking Breaking Bad is the greatest show of all time. I like the show, Top 5 on television right now.

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Yes. I do recall you reversing your opinion on BB. I also remember someone sarcastically exclaiming they were shocked that you initially didn't like Breaking Bad since it was so popular (in other words, saying it was no surprise that you did not like a popular show simply because it is popular). To be honest, I don't pay near enough attention to the post history of others to have formed a personal opinion on your contrarian tendencies, so, perhaps wrongly, I took it from that thread that you are one of those people who enjoys trying to be slightly left (or right) of "normal." If that's an incorrect position to take, fair enough. Like I said, I may be wrong and freely admit that.

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If that was an apology, sure I'll accept it. There's a difference between being contrarian with no reason, and maybe having opinions different from the norm and having reason.

Case in point. What do The Godfather, The Sorpranos, The Shield, Breaking Bad all have in come? Universally loved by the critics and universally loved on here.

I've already explained on most accounts, I generally dislike all of those properties. I point out all of my reasons, but what do they all have in common? Very serious anti-heroes at the front and center, which I dislike greatly. It has nothing to do with being contrarian, I just really like pointless anti-heroes. See the Breaking Bad thread for more.

It's not my fault they get talked about a lot.

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But saying you like Michael Bay is actually contrarian because everybody hates that guy, so you can most certainly be contrarian.

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On here yes, but not in terms of the public. The guy can still gross 500+ on a film no matter what. The public love him and so do I. No shame admitting that.

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Joe Pesci

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He's got range. In Goodfellas and Casino, he'd scare the everliving crap out of me. In Home Alone, I know he's only a danger to himself.

After O Brother, we gave him a pass.

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Joe Pesci


He's got range. In Goodfellas and Casino, he'd scare the everliving crap out of me. In Home Alone, I know he's only a danger to himself.

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whatever you want, leo getz

Pitt often seems to play different characters the same way, but I do think he's shown a bit more range than some of these other guys.

Rusty Ryan, John Smith, Mickey, etc. seem to have a very similar vein running through them, though I think they are much different characters.

But I think his turns in Legends of the Fall, A River Runs Through It, Twelve Monkeys, Snatch, Fight Club, Interview With a Vampire, Se7en, Meet Joe Black, Seven Years in Tibet, Sleepers, Babel, Jesse James, Burn After Reading, Benjamin Button, Tree of Life, and Moneyball put him outside the category of "the same character in every film." I do agree, though, that his portrayals of the characters are often similar, though I can't say why. Perhaps he plays the brooding young man the same way in each film - Interview, Legends, River Runs Through It, Se7en, Jesse James...

I don't know. I don't know what it is, but he definitely has a go to style, though I hesitate to put him in the same category as Denzel or Nic Cage.

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adam sandler

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Has more range than he's given credit for.

He has a bunch of similiar comedies that seem to occupy their own niche - "Sandler comedies", but he does play some different characters:

The Zohan
Little Nickie
Happy Gilmore, et al
Waterboy
Robbie Hart in Wedding Singer

But he's had a couple of more serious roles, two of which were quite extraodinary:

Charlie Fineman in Reign Over Me
Barry Egan in Punch Drunk Love
John Clasky in Spanglish