10 unexpected roles of popular actors

Most actors, after becoming famous in a certain genre, turn into its hostages. This genre becomes, as it were, their comfort zone: for example, Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to be born for action movies, and Jim Carrey for comedies. Not everyone dares to leave this comfortable niche, but sometimes there are daredevils.

Today we will remember 10 actors who surprised us with their roles.

10 Tom Cruise, Tropic Troopers | 2008

In 2008, Cruise already had “Rain Man”, “Interview with the Vampire”, several parts of “Mission Impossible”, as well as 3 Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe award. In general, no one had any doubts that Tom copes well with both dramatic roles and images of brutal heroes who save the world and kick ass.

But as a comedian, he first showed himself only in “Soldiers of Failure” and it was truly epic.

Firstly, handsome Tom is not so easy to recognize in a balding overweight producer, and secondly, his game was fundamentally different from what it was before.

The character Less Grossman played by him became a meme and was invited to the MTV ceremony, where Cruz performed an incendiary dance in this image with Jennifer Lopez.

9. Wesley Snipes, “To Wong Foo, thanks for everything! Julie Newmar» | 1995

3 years before Wesley Snipes dressed in black leather and went to exterminate vampires in the image of Blade, he starred in the comedy Beban Kidron, where he dressed very differently.

In this film, he tried on the image of a drag queen: an artist performing in a female image. Can you imagine the surprise of the audience in those years? In 1993, “The Destroyer” with Stallone was released, in 1994 – the action movie “Drop Zone”, and a year later, the brutal Snipes flaunts in a dress and with makeup on his face.

8. George Clooney, Burn After Reading | 2008

The role of George Clooney is a successful, charming, invariably popular man with women. In the tragicomedy of the Kan brothers “Burn After Reading” he is completely different. This is no longer a rich businessman, not a smart robber, not a brave hero. Here he is the most ordinary civil servant who sleeps with someone else’s wife and is afraid of his own.

After this role, Clooney repeatedly experimented with images, agreeing to non-standard proposals, but this particular film can be considered the first “deviation from the norm.” Time has shown that the experiment was successful.

7. Adam Sandler, Empty City | 2007

Adam Sandler has always been considered, is and will be considered a comedian who is not afraid of participating in frank “slag”. The saddest thing is that he sometimes also produces, shoots and writes scripts for this “slag”. In general, having gone deep into comedies with jokes far below the belt, he suddenly starred in the drama “Deserted City” along with Don Cheadle. He again plays gouging, but with a huge life tragedy: his wife and daughters died in the terrorist attack on September 11, and after that he seemed to have fallen into childhood.

Unusual for Sandler, the role was given to him surprisingly easily, but the film itself, unfortunately, went unnoticed. On IMDb, he has a 7.5 rating, which is much higher than most of his comedies.

6. John Travolta, “Hairspray” | 2007

In the 90s, Travolta became a real action movie star and tried to stay in this genre with the advent of the new millennium. At the beginning of the XNUMXs, his career began to decline, so he started throwing and trying to break into other niches, but it didn’t always work out well, but the role in the musical

Hairspray is a pleasant exception. Despite the fact that the tape itself is an amateur, Travolta’s performance deserves attention: he got the role of a very plump middle-aged woman who is raising a teenage daughter.

5. Gwyneth Paltrow, “Love is Evil” | 2001

This actress received an Oscar in 1999 for her work in the film Shakespeare in Love, in which she played the beloved of the great playwright.

The viewer is used to seeing her as a beauty with a memorable appearance, always slim and well-groomed, so “Love is Evil” was a very bold experiment on the part of Gwyneth. Here she played a girl weighing 150 kg, with whom the hero of Jack Black falls in love. Later, the actress admitted that this comedy is a low-grade craft, in which she agreed to act solely because of the fee.

4. Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There” | 2007

Cate Blanchett at the time of filming the drama about the life of Bob Dylan was considered one of the most versatile and talented actresses in Hollywood. Behind her shoulders were shootings in “Elizabeth”, “The Aviator”, “The Lord of the Rings”, but even so, the role in “I’m Not There” became a real challenge. She had to play Jude Quinn, Dylan’s alter ego, and Blanchett did an amazing job.

Her film partners were Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Julianne Moore, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Ben Whishaw, but it was Kate who was recognized as the best actress at the Cannes Film Festival that year.

3. Charlize Theron, “Monster” | 2003

Charlize Theron was and still is (even despite the fact that she is already 43 years old) one of the most attractive actresses, so she shines in every film.

In each, except for the “Monster”. In this drama, based on real events, she reincarnated as a serial killer – a degraded street prostitute Aileen Wuornos. Gaining more than 10 kg. overweight and thanks to the make-up artists, Charlize has completely changed, greatly surprising everyone. Not surprisingly, this role brought her an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a bunch of other awards.

2. Nicolas Cage, «Pippet» | 2010

In the 90s and XNUMXs, Cage saved someone in almost every film, chased someone, opposed someone. He became a hostage to the image, his career began to decline, and he was looking for a way out in every possible way, accepting all the offers in a row. One of these came from the creators of the tape “Kick-Ass”, where he was offered to play the father of Killer. Not the best, but definitely one of his most unusual roles.

1. Jim Carrey, Fatal Number 23 | 2007

Such a selection simply cannot do without Jim Carrey: everyone knows how, after Ace Ventura, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber and other comedies, he surprised everyone with his performances in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . However, these films, although beautiful, are still the most unusual in his career.

“The Fatal Number 23” is a lesser-known tape, but much more suitable for the subject of this article. A psychological thriller without a drop of humor, in which Carrey is really different. In some places harsh, and in some places – frightening, but not a bit funny and not kind.