Why do you think some actors never play a villain?

[dennilfloss]

Arnie was a great villain in Terminator but I don't remember ever seeing Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal, Harrison Ford, Jean-Claude Van Damme, etc... playing villains. We keep hearing that villain parts are the most fun to act but some actors really seem to not want to play them for some reason or just are never offered these parts.

Some of the best actors have played both villains and good guys, for example: Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum.

 

[hdeck]

wasn't bruce willis the bad guy in The Jackal? harrison ford was the "bad guy" in What Lies Beneath.

 

[dotcom173]

their personalities dont match the part.....george clooney has a nice-guy personality, at least from what i've figured from his good-guy roles.

 

[AlgaeEater]

Public perception is what dictates what actors can play what and to which degree. In all honesty, some actors just can't get out of their "hero" role no matter how good they do it, because the public just can't accept them in that role and say "It's weird seeing him do bad things".

And if I'm not mistaken, Bruce Willis was a bad guy in an assassin movie... The Jackal was it?

 

[dennilfloss]

Their personalities could be changed: it's called acting for a reason.

 

[AlgaeEater]

Damnit, beaten by hdeck by 1 minute :S

 

[dennilfloss]

Hasn't Clooney played a crook/thief in several movies?

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: AlgaeEater
Public perception is what dictates what actors can play what and to which degree. In all honesty, some actors just can't get out of their "hero" role no matter how good they do it, because the public just can't accept them in that role and say "It's weird seeing him do bad things".

And if I'm not mistaken, Bruce Willis was a bad guy in an assassin movie... The Jackal was it?

Gotta agree with this post. Sums it up nicely IMHO.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
Hasn't Clooney played a crook/thief in several movies?

A crook/thief isn't so much a villian. It just means they're not lawful

 

[dennilfloss]

Originally posted by: hdeck
wasn't bruce willis the bad guy in The Jackal? harrison ford was the "bad guy" in What Lies Beneath.

Never saw The Jackal. Saw the original version though (The Day of the Jackal) in the 70s.

 

[mooglemania85]

Originally posted by: AlgaeEater
Public perception is what dictates what actors can play what and to which degree. In all honesty, some actors just can't get out of their "hero" role no matter how good they do it, because the public just can't accept them in that role and say "It's weird seeing him do bad things".

And if I'm not mistaken, Bruce Willis was a bad guy in an assassin movie... The Jackal was it?

Unfortunately, it never stopped Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme from continuing to make bad movies.

I also disagree that public perception dooms actors to certain roles. Who would ever deny the comic genius of Schwarzenegger and DeVito in Junior???

 

[mugs]

This phenomenon really ruined Training Day for me. I spent the first half of the movie wondering how Denzel could be the good guy. I just assumed he was the good guy, because he's always a good guy.

 

[dennilfloss]

Never saw Training Day either but I love the French original (Les Ripoux) with Philippe Noiret (my favourite French actor, RIP).

 

[Ricochet]

Typecasting has put a damper on Christopher Reeves career well before his neck injury. No one could imagine him playing anything else besides the hero in blue & red much to the dismay of Reeves. Public perception does have an affect on an actor's role.

Christopher Walkin is the first name that came to mind that plays both good guy and bad guy.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Training Day is a prime example of why it makes no sense for them to not play a villain. People were getting tired of Denzel always playing the good guy, he plays a bad guy and people love him again. Of course at the same time it also answers the question. Have those actors ever been offered a really good villain role? There's far too many of the lame stereotypical villains that those guys go up against in their movies, and if I were them I would turn down those roles just because they don't really give them much to work with.

Road to Perdition is another example of when a good guy goes bad.

I think the much more diffficult roles are to play a charismatic villain, the bad guy that you root for. George Clooney is pretty good at it, with his characters in From Dusk Til Dawn, Out of Sight, and Ocean's Eleven.

 

[TallBill]

Training Day was horrible, and The Jackal was pretty bad too I'm looking forward to seeing Kevin Kostner as a bad guy soon though.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

because Gary Oldman does it so well they don't even try.

 

[Queasy]

Some guys couldn't pull off playing a bad guy. Best example - Wayne Brady. :laugh:

 

[bfdd]

Jackie Chan has stated he doesn't ever want to play a villian because he wants to be a positive role model towards kids. I'm sure it mostly has to do with things along that line.

 

[dennilfloss]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Queasy
Some guys couldn't pull off playing a bad guy. Best example - Wayne Brady. :laugh:</end quote></div>

Yes he could. He looked particularly scary at times during his Chappelle skit.

"Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?"
"If you don't smoke this, we have a problem."
:Q

 

[herkulease]

some people just can't pull it off is what I think.

the opposite is also true. Some people do so much better as the bad guy. Or they have the look of a shady person or a weasel. They can't pull off being the good guy.

I see it more with men than women. Women I think have a much easier time playing both roles. though of course there are just some actresses you can't see play the bitch. LIke the olsen twins but that has more to do with typecasting.

 

[Jeff7]

I was on Wikipedia and Memory Alpha yesterday, and one of the actors in something on Voyager (I think it was Voyager) got his start in a movie, think it was in 1977. He played some psychopath killer, and apparently did a good job. Wikipedia said that he received numerous death threats afterward.

I wish I had more details but I just can't remember. He's played several aliens in the various Star Trek series.


So maybe that's a reason - not wanting to be threatened by morons who fail to understand the concepts of fiction or acting.

 

[nageov3t]

didn't harrison ford kinda get out of the whole big action movie, good v evil type thing after the indiana jones movies?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: loki8481
didn't harrison ford kinda get out of the whole big action movie, good v evil type thing after the indiana jones movies?

Fugitive? Clear and Present Danger? Air Force One?

With that said, the public thought Tom Cruise kicked ass in Collateral didn't they?

 

[spherrod]

Originally posted by: OrganizedChaos
because Gary Oldman does it so well they don't even try.

QFT - same for Alan Rickman Must be something villainous about a British accent