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A good example of an actor too perfectly typecast.....

posted 4 years ago by TruMovieFan (1990)
6 replies | jump to latest

Woods is too good at playing slimy characters. I'm trying to think of a role that was against his typecasting and am having a problem doing so.

[–] Jones70 (6195) 4 years ago

Cop, Salvador, My Name is Bill W

[–] TruMovieFan (1990) 4 years ago

In both Cop and Salvador, he plays a slimy character. One of my favorite pictures was Salvador, though. Without seeing it more recently, I would suggest it is one of the most underrated movies around.

My first encounter with Woods' acting that I can recall is from The Choirboys. To me, that is probably one of his less slimy rolls (and one of my all-time favorite movies). Then, I saw him in The Onion Field and that cemented his typecasting for me.

[–] Jones70 (6195) 4 years ago

oh ok, I was associating slimy with villainous.

[–] Jones70 (6195) 4 years ago

Also Northfork

[–] snepts (11123) 4 years ago

Not many actors truly escape what they are best at doing. One could argue that Cruise, Redford and Newman only played slight variations on their film personas. A lot of people like Joe Pesci, but as a romantic lead? So Woods played the roles he was given very well and not asked to be a gifted chameleon like Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight or Bryan Cranston. He still was a riveting presence on screen.

[–] TruMovieFan (1990) 4 years ago

He is....

Though I'm sure there are others, about the best middle of the road roles I can think where he wasn't slimy was that of him in The Choirboys and years later in True Crime (oddly, he played a really slimy role in another movie based on a Joseph Wambagh book The Onion Field).

You mentioned Pesci - and I think his role in The Irishman was such a surprise because of his past typecasting of him as a volatile, raging maniac.

It'd be kind of like seeing Tom Sizemore in a role where he is a kind and loving mentor type character.