Seeing familiar actors in unfamiliar roles
 

The other day I watched a movie from 1981 that I remembered liking. It was "Excalibur", about King Arthur, pretty cool movie if you like that sort of thing. Anyway, I was surprised to see Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) and Liam Neeson in minor roles. I was also surprised to see how hot Helen Mirren was back in the day.

Who have you seen in an unexpected movie or show?

I just watched "Krull" for the first time in a long time the other day, and Liam Neeson was in that one, too.

Also just realized today: the guy playing Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit movies (Martin Freeman) is the same guy who played Arthur Dent in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" movie. Bizarre.

"Back in the day"?!?!? You mean Wednesday? Helen Mirren was hot today. (And she still will be hot tomorrow.)

:hyper:

Back on topic...

Not so much an "unexpected movie or show" but more along the lines of "familiar actors in unfamiliar roles"
...I'd say that 50% of the roles that Charlize Theron plays I do a double-take halfway through the film when I finally recognize her. It's like there are two Charlize Therons, one who is instantly recognizeable and who portrays a very similar character in all her movies, and the other who is a chameleon, completely disappearing into her role, stretching boundaries, defying convention, and not looking at all like Charlize #1.

Tyler Perry is in a serious movie and plays a male. Does that count?

I saw badass Boyd Crowder from "Justified" playing the role of a victim on an older episode of Criminal Minds.

RE: Theron, I just looked up her filmography and I never would have guess she was Rita from Arrested Development.

One of my favorite roles!

"Yes Michael, I want to have sexual relations!"

...who made his name playing Tim in the UK version of The Office (or Jim, in the US version). And he plays Watson in the BBC's stunningly good interpretation of Sherlock Holmes.

Leonard Nimoy once played a young pearl diver on an episode of "Sea Hunt" and a Martian in the old cheesy movie serial "Disc Men from Mars", and a reporter in an Outer Limits episode.

Speaking of Helen Mirren, I stayed at Castle Stuart in Inverness which is where Mrs. Mirren had her honeymoon. There was a book about her life there and some nude pics of her when she was younger. Wow!:eek: I haven't looked at her the same since.:hiding:

I was surprised to see Bryan Cranston playing Cohaagen in the new Total Recall. He was the only good actor in it. :hiding:

Cranston's great.

Definitely!

But, because of that, he inadvertently made Colin Ferrel and Kate Beckinsale come across as even more wooden than they normally are!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IvswzP_jg0

One of my favorite TZ episodes. Didn't find out that the hottie was Samantha, aka, Elizabeth Montgomery, till I watched it with my grandparents and they recognized her. Also, Charles Bronson.

Really though the Twilight Zone is chock full of famous cameos. Sorta adds to the fun while watching through them.

Yeah, I love Sherlock. Apparently new episodes are being filmed in early 2013 which is a very good thing in my mind.

A young Christopher Walken on Hawaii Five O
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9y6eElFPk

Cranston shows up in a few places. He had a recurring role on Seinfeld as the dentist whose name I can't recall at the moment. My kids were watching Madagascar 3 and he's in the credits as doing the voice of the Tiger with the Russian accent. I would have never guessed it was him.

Back a couple years ago when I watched Band of Brothers for the first time I was surprised to see David Schwimmer as Capt. Sobel.

Does he ever not fit that role.

--Silvie

isn't that the point? shouldn't every actor want the chance to use their craft to its fullest? i would think most wouldn't want to be typecast. i guess if you're talking about something like.... say, Ron Pearlman doing a sitcom on disney, then i'd agree that's unusual. i'd suspect all actors at least try to keep each character unique. whether or not they can is a different story (see: anything with kristen stewart). then there are the "journeymen" type players that can get away with just being themselves no matter the script or character, and nobody seems to care (like rick moranis in "knocked up" for example).

He's also the voice of Lieutenant (sp?) Gordon in the recent Batman:Year One animated feature.

Red Foreman as Clarence Bodicker in RoboCop is a perennial favorite. "Bitches Leave" trumps "Dumbass" in my book.

And Liam Neeson in Darkman, was pretty much Liam Neeson in every film after it......