Tatum, a resident Hollywood Heartthrob, has been known to play the hunky lead is action flicks with a good dose of comedy as he did in GI Joe and Whitehouse Down.
Carell had been acting for several years before finding fame with movies like Bruce Almighty and Anchorman. Since that time he has continued to make hit comedies like 40-year-old virgin and was the lead man for the Office.
Type casting is a double-edged sword in Hollywood. On one hand a successful actor in a genre has
a huge likelihood of being cast again in that genre, keeping them working. On the other, attempts to find work in other
genres are difficult because they have not really “proved themself”. Plenty of actors fell victim to the latter
situation and it can stifle their creativity.
No one really knew how well Robin Williams was going to be
in Good Will Hunting because his background does not give you any indication
that he can play serious roles.
Foxcatcher is one of those rare opportunities for these
two actors to test their mettle in uncharted waters. As an actor I appreciate this kind of
opportunity because so often we see the same character types played by the same
people with little chance for some new blood.
I also think it helps actors who have been placed in a bubble a chance
to escape, especially comedic actors.
Because of the lighthearted nature of comedies people downplay the
actor's level of commitment need to sell the character. Some of the most difficult roles to make
believable are indeed, the silliest ones.
I only hope that Foxcatcher is successful and proves to be
a platform to display Carell and Tatum’s versatility.
I think another problem that is caused by type casting is the ridiculous stress that is piled on the actor for the role in which they are trying to break there mold with. Hollywood is so unforgiving that if an actor gets one chance to change their stars and it does not turn out absolutely life changing for the audience that actor will never get a chance again. As new and innovative minds are trying to change the landscape of the industry, I believe the main problem they need to account for is the extremely limited minds of the audience. Actors exchange a wide diversity of work for success and audiences eat it up.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing, you look as some actors that have had opportunities in a variety of characters and how could you not think that more should be given the same chance but unfortunately budgets and numbers in my opinion hold too much power in the main stream despite countless performances proving them wrong...
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