Finding a good script is tricky. Constantly being after good scripts and trying to be versatile at the same time is even trickier. An actor might often find himself playing a character more often than other roles- such as being a cop or a villain too often. So just when you think you’ve seen all the cards up his sleeve, he surprises you as a character you have never seen before. Below are 3 examples:
* Harrison Ford in Six Days Seven Nights
We are accustomed to seeing Ford in serious roles. Whether he is a cop (The Devil’s Own,Witness) or The President (Air Force One). Sure he had his characters with a sense of humor (Indiana Jones) but this one really caught me off guard.
In Six Days Seven Nights, he is a middle-aged pilot who lives on an island in Tahiti and is pretty pleased with his easy-going life. That’s until he meets Robin (Anne Heche) and a plane crash puts them both an island.
Ford’s character gets drunk too often and makes jokes at Anne Heche’s character Robin’s expense. He also falls down, gets beaten up and smiles a lot, all the while managing to be the masculine Harrison Ford we know him to be. Watch this one to see Harrison in an action/romance/comedy genre.
Two other movies if you like the combination of these genres:
Birds on a Wire starring Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson
The Bounty Hunter starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Anniston
* Gary Oldman in The Scarlet Letter
We saw Gary play the bad guy too often. Sure, when he isn’t playing the ultimate-villain (Léon, Murder in the First, Dracula), he does play a lot of shady/grey characters (Romeo Lies Bleeding, Sid and Nancy). So I am guessing I am not the only one surprised to find him as Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in the film adaptation of The Scarlet Letter in 1995. He was a reverend, he was genuinely nice and he was playing a romantic character! And being Gary Oldman, he pulled this off brilliantly. You may or may not like the movie but Gary’s performance was…well, up to Gary’s standards.
* Russell Crowe in A Good Year
Russell Crowe might be an academy-award-winning actor, but hey let’s face it, he doesn’t have typically have a boyish charm. And he doesn’t really look like as if he is ready to make a fool out of himself. I am checking out his films to see another light-hearted role and I can’t. He played a warrior, a cop, an agent, an “insider”…. Sure, Mystery, Alaska is fun but A Good Year is even better. Not just because it features the Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies, Inception) but because it shows us the two sides of Crowe- one we know so well and we are not so used to.
A Good Year follows Max Skinner- a ruthless and successful British broker in London to Provence, France. His uncle has died and left him his vineyard. All Max wants to do get the paperwork out of the way and do whatever the hell he wants with it. But before he can change the property, the property, its residents, his uncle’s (Albert Finney’s) memories and a certain French girl changes him.
This movie is directed by Ridley Scott, a director that Russell collaborates with quite often. The duo also did Gladiator, American Gangster, Body of Lies and Robin Hood together. But among them all, this is the sweetest, lightness and the most romantic movie of them all. Here, Russell’s hotshot Max gets into funny situations, falls in love, falls in love with the vineyard and discovers a side to himself that he didn’t know or forgot that it existed. And best of all, Russell isn’t alone in providing the comic relief. His friend Charlie (Tom Hollander) comes to visit. And well, Tom’s scenes are usually not so charismatic in movies and this one is no exception. Max’s broker nemesis is played by Richard Coyle– who you might remember as Jeff from TV Show Coupling– the British series that had most viewers laughing their butts off. And that’s an understatement. So it doesn’t matter if you put Richard in a semi-serious, small role. I start laughing the moment I see the guy. Oh, and the female lead is so elegantly beautiful that the story wouldn’t have made sense if Max hadn’t fallen head over heels with her. This film really made me like Russell. Yes, he is a good actor but he was just not this fun before.
