[subego]

I was thinking about the movie Beetlejuice, and the distance between Alec Baldwin's colossal douchebag self and the character he plays in that movie. People don't give him credit for the range.

People do give Sean Penn credit, but I'm still impressed with the distance between his colossal, greasy douchebag self and Spicoli from Fast Times.

Any others come to mind?

[Waragainstsleep]

Mel Gibson?

[residentEvil]

Dang, thought this was going to be about a new kitchen appliance.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

Mel Gibson?

Excellent example, sugar tits!

What's the best role to contrast with his colossal, drunk douchebag self? Signs is what comes to mind, but I'm sure there's a movie I haven't seen which fits better.

[Laminar]

Vin Diesel.

[subego]

Is he a douchebag IRL?

That's not a necessary requirement, but from what I've seen he's mostly playing the same character.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Vin Diesel.

Greater range than Vin Regular Gas.

-t

[Waragainstsleep]

Vin Diesel is a D&D geek.

Braveheart or Lethal Weapon might be good examples for Mel. Or maybe What Women Want? Maverick, Gallipoli (been a while since I saw that, bit of a guess, or perhaps best of all Chicken Run.

[Waragainstsleep]

I've been pondering range recently too with all the calls in Hollywood for cisgendered actors to stop being cast as transgendered characters. Personally I can't think of a more challenging role for an actor than to play something like that if its so far from what they themselves are. I sort of understand the calls that it implies there aren't good enough transgendered actors to play those characters, though I have more sympathy for the same argument when actors are playing outside their race, if only for the aesthetic of the film. Otherwise why aren't we hearing "Why are serial rapists always played by such nice, law-abiding actors. I'd like to see more actual serial rapists playing serial rapists in the movies." Its pretty stupid when you put it like that. The whole point is for an actor to play something they are not. Most of the time anyway.
If anything a really talented transgendered actor should be more versatile than any cisgendered actor as they might be able to play any gender convincingly.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by subego 

...sugar tits!

Still one of the funniest celebrity-behaving-badly quotes of all time. Sure, I'd want to kill him if he said it to my wife, sister, or mother, but I remember first reading it and actually snorting.

Also, his new movie is supposed to be pretty incredible.

[Laminar]

Taylor Lautner in The Ridiculous Six.

[P]

Not that I like the guy, but... After you've seen Tom Cruise doing more or less the same manic character in every movie, it is quite refreshing to see him in something like Collateral or even Magnolia.

Other than that, I think that the generation of actors now in their twenties or thirties have more range than the ones from when I was a kid.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by subego 

I was thinking about the movie Beetlejuice, and the distance between Alec Baldwin's colossal douchebag self and the character he plays in that movie. People don't give him credit for the range.

People do give Sean Penn credit, but I'm still impressed with the distance between his colossal, greasy douchebag self and Spicoli from Fast Times.

Any others come to mind?

Johnny Depp.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

DiCaprio
Pitt
Chris Tucker (watch the Fifth Element)

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

DiCaprio
Pitt
Chris Tucker (watch the Fifth Element)

Are you complimenting their range or saying they are assholes? Or both?

[subego]

If you've ever seen Swimming with Sharks, the smelly lead actor is based on Pitt.

Doesn't make him out to be an asshole so much as an idiot.

Who smells funky.

[subego]

Full disclosure: I didn't get The Fifth Element.

That felt like Chris' normal character (like from Friday) turned up to 11 with some queen stereotype.

[P]

Originally Posted by subego 

If you've ever seen Swimming with Sharks, the smelly lead actor is based on Pitt.

Doesn't make him out to be an asshole so much as an idiot.

Who smells funky.

Rob Lowe's character from Californication is also based on Pitt.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

Are you complimenting their range or saying they are assholes? Or both?

Actors that have more range than most people realize.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by subego 

Full disclosure: I didn't get The Fifth Element.

That felt like Chris' normal character (like from Friday) turned up to 11 with some queen stereotype.

Leeloo Dallas multipass?

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

Actors that have more range than most people realize.

I agree then. Though I haven't seen Chris Tucker in a movie in ages.

[subego]

I feel like DiCaprio and Pitt get credit for range. That said, I think Pitt is overrated.

Long story with no payoff for why Pitt made me think of this, but I have a potential proposal.

Crispin Glover.

I'm feeling there's a good spread between McFly and that dude from River's Edge, but I haven't seen Back to the Future since it came out, so my memory might be hazy.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Pitt usually is overrated, then you watch 12 Monkeys or Snatch... and realize he's mostly underutilized.

[subego]

12 Monkeys is the specific movie which I was thinking of when I mentioned Crispin.

He would have wiped the floor with Pitt.

[Waragainstsleep]

I've always thought there were some actors who are better than you realise because they have sort of overly cheesy good looks. What I call American Soap Opera looks. Usually square jawed, buff men and generally fit women but they are often rather interchangeable. Like as long as you get another one with the right hairdo and outfit, the audience might not even notice.

Adrian Paul was a good example of this. Now he's a bit older his face has gained some character, but back in the 90s when he was in Highlander, he just looked and sounded like he couldn't possibly be a great actor. Then you watch him for years here and there and one day you realise, actually he isn't half bad. He's a particularly good example because as well as the soap star looks, he has the American soap villain English accent as well.