Great actors with great range; Famous actors with no range

Peter North has good range -- two to three feet.

On a serious note, Rod Steiger is a great actor, as is Sean Penn.

overwithtruth wrote:

Great actors who are gifted in range:

Russell Crowe - he might be obnoxious but no one delves into a character like Russell.

Leonardo Dicaprio - from Titantic, Howard Hughs, to The Departed - he's got range and he's good.

Kevin Spacey - He has definite range but not quite as good as the others.

Famous actors who essentially play the same character in each movie:

Hugh Grant - I use the term actor loosely

Matt Damon - basically he's the same edgy character

Jack Nicholson - love his movies but its always Jack Nicholson in a different setting. This started way back from One Flew over the cuckoo's Nest to current movies.

See "the Talented Mr. Ripley" and rethink Matt Damon. Great performance. Hard to believe its Damon inside the skinny white psychopath.

Beantowned wrote:

overwithtruth wrote:

Great actors who are gifted in range:

Russell Crowe - he might be obnoxious but no one delves into a character like Russell.

Leonardo Dicaprio - from Titantic, Howard Hughs, to The Departed - he's got range and he's good.

Kevin Spacey - He has definite range but not quite as good as the others.

Famous actors who essentially play the same character in each movie:

Hugh Grant - I use the term actor loosely

Matt Damon - basically he's the same edgy character

Jack Nicholson - love his movies but its always Jack Nicholson in a different setting. This started way back from One Flew over the cuckoo's Nest to current movies.

See "the Talented Mr. Ripley" and rethink Matt Damon. Great performance. Hard to believe its Damon inside the skinny white psychopath.

To what extent is "range" a decision made by the actor, given that roles in movies are driven by many factors.

Was it Jack Nicholson's choice that every movie he makes that we ended up seeing is always so Jack Nicholson?

He could be "Hugh Grant" for all we know ... if he was cast as such.

Michael Douglas. Most. Overrated. Actor. Ever.

bradd pitt has excellent range. from a crazy man's delusions in Fight Club, jive talking pikey in Snatch, crazy hippy in 12 monkeys, death (with a Jamaican accent) in Meet Joe Black, and pretty good in that new movie, Babel

but we wont mention mr. and mrs. smith

Great actor, great range:

Gary Oldman (he is so convincing, I forget it is him at times)

Daniel Day-Lewis

BL wrote:

Daniel Day-Lewis

hell ya! Bill the Butcher!

Kevin Spacey is a great actor. The gimpy criminal mastermind he plays in the Usual Suspects is great.

Honorable mentions; Geoffrey Rush, Anthony Hopkins, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman...these 3 guys are chameleons.

Matt Dillon always seems to be the same guy in every movie he's in...Something about Mary he just played a comic version of the slimeball he usually plays.

BL wrote:

Great actor, great range:

Gary Oldman (he is so convincing, I forget it is him at times)

Daniel Day-Lewis

Could not agree more...

Gary Olman

Daniel Day Lewis

Others I like up there:

Sean Penn

Johnny Depp

Geoffrey Rush

Frances McDormand

My worst list:

Keanu Reeves

Ben Affleck

Michael Rapaport

Owen Wilson plays the same character every time as well. I guess you can put sean william scott in the mix too. neither are good actors though

If you think Robin has no range watch 'One hour photo'

Good movie

I agree that Daniel Day Lewis is currently the best actor, Sean Penn #2 Philip Seymor Hofman in third

all time:

5 Jack Lemon

4 Robert Duval

3 Dustin Hoffman

2 Al Pacino

1 Robert Deniro

Honoarable mentions: Harvey Keitel, Marlon Brando and Daniel Day Lewis and Tony Hopkins and Jeremy Iron

Huge fan of DeNiro's earlier stuff from the Godfather to Ruppert Pupkin.

Reese Witherspon is lately showing some range.

Sandra Bullock is the same popular character in each movie.

Bernoulz wrote:

Ian McKlellan (sp?) - that guy can pull off just about anything.

Robin Williams - whatever he does, from funny to evil, it works.

Forrest Whitaker - gotta give him props for some of the diverse roles he's done, especially "The Last King of Scotland."

Damn! I didn't think of any of those guys off the top of my head, but you're spot on. McKellen will always have a special place for geeks like me, thanks to his portrayals of Gandalf and Magneto. That a timid, elderly gay guy could pull both off those characters off to perfection is a testament to his ability.

Those who were criticizing Robin Williams, go watch Good Morning Vietnam, some old Mork & Mindy, Mrs. Doubtfire, then watch One Hour Photo, Insomnia, The Final Cut, etc. He may have been in some bombs in the past and and may overact on occasion, but he can be very good in a variety of roles.

Squid wrote:

Worst: ... Jeff Bridges...

That's just like your...opinion...man. C'mon- he was at least quite good in the Big Lebowski? haha.

gv10k wrote: McKellen will always have a special place for geeks like me, thanks to his portrayals of Gandalf and Magneto.

And Richard The Freakin' III!

gv10k wrote:

Great range:

Anthony freaking Hopkins! Shocked that no one mentioned him yet.

He's wonderful. Here's Tony Hopkins as George W. Bush:

overwithtruth wrote:

Great actors who are gifted in range:

Russell Crowe - he might be obnoxious but no one delves into a character like Russell.

Leonardo Dicaprio - from Titantic, Howard Hughs, to The Departed - he's got range and he's good.

Kevin Spacey - He has definite range but not quite as good as the others.

Famous actors who essentially play the same character in each movie:

Hugh Grant - I use the term actor loosely

Matt Damon - basically he's the same edgy character

Jack Nicholson - love his movies but its always Jack Nicholson in a different setting. This started way back from One Flew over the cuckoo's Nest to current movies.

I had an acting teacher who was a veteran character actor (William Hickey) and he had a succinct insight about this whole phenomenon. Basically, actors like your first group are character actors. Second group, Leading Men. Now, we might not like this oversimplification, but the point was that these are the boxes that casting agents and directors put people into...and that accounts for the sort of roles these actors get.

Jackie Chan