Typecasting: Difference between revisions

* [[Keanu Reeves]] is the embodiment of spaced-out characters. See ''[[The Matrix]]'', ''[[Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure|Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure]]'', and ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]''. There is some debate over [[Dull Surprise|how intentional this is]].

** It's a pity that so few people have seen the movies in which he plays [[The Heavy]]: in ''[[The Gift]]'', he plays a violent, wife-beating redneck, and in ''[[The Watcher (film)|The Watcher]]'', he plays a ''[[Serial Killer]]'', and is terrific in both. As an [[Action Hero]]? Not so much.

* Andrew J. Robinson made his film debut as the baby-faced serial killer Scorpio in ''[[Dirty Harry]]''. He was so associated with the role that, despite winning an Emmy as the lead on ''[[Ryan's Hope]]'', he was recast after two seasons because they didn't want someone noted for playing a serial killer as a sympathetic lead. He went on to play a whole string of psychotic killers in films like ''Hellblazer'' and ''[[Child's Play (film)|Childs Play]] 3'', until he finally got to play one of the good guys: former assassin and torturer Elim Garak in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''.

** Also his role in ''[[Hellraiser]]''.

* [[Tim Roth]] usually plays thugs/murderers/convicts/all of the above at the same time. And he tends to die violent deaths.

** He's playing a rare good guy (and television role) in ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]''.

** He plays a computer scientist in 1983's ''[[Twilight Zone the Movie]]'', a University of Kansas science professor in 1983's ''[[The Day After]]'', physicists in 1986's ''[[The Manhattan Project]]'' and 1984's ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension]]'', and an engineer who designs interplanetary spacecraft in 1984's ''[[Main/ptitledixtv 2 ac|2010]]''

* Rodney Dangerfield had pretty much played the same act in most movies he did the past couple of decades, with the possible darker exception of ''Natural Born Killers''.

* Vincent Price, as 'the really creepy scary movie actor'.

* [[Tom Selleck]] has been typecast as cops or soldiers, particularly in [[Magnum, P.I.]]. Selleck himself, however, claims that [[American Gun Politics|his support for the NRA]] has hurt his career.

* [[Claudia Black]] seems to show up as capable, confident, and very [[Deadpan Snarker|sarcastic]] characters, whether she is there in person or it is just her voice.

* [[Zooey Deschanel]] seems to either play the [[Deadpan Snarker]] or the [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]]. Or both. She's the [[Love Interest]] a lot, too. No wonder, she's ''beautiful''. It would take a lot of makeup and editing to make her creepy enough to be a villain, because [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]. She could probably pull off [[The Vamp|a seductress role]], though.

* Loretta Devine is almost always cast as a doting mother/grandmother. And, she is rarely in starring roles.

** Except in ''[[Urban Legend (film)|Urban Legend]]'' and its sequel ''[[Urban Legends Final Cut]]''.

* Actress Lupe Ontiveros estimates that she's played a maid between 150 and 300 times on screen.

* Joan Plowright is the ultimate Sweet Old English Lady.

** Oddly averted in her breakout role, ''[[Bagdad Cafe]]'', where she is in charge of delivering the [[Whoopi Epiphany Speech]].

** Now subverted with ''Warehouse13'': Mrs. Frederic is definitely an authority figure, but rather than being [[Affably Evil]], she is a gruff, kind of creepy [[Da Chief|Chief]] who nevertheless ''not'' evil (so far).

* Catalina Saavedra originally refused (angrily) the role of Raquel in ''[[The Maid]]'' (2009 Chilean film) because she had already played too many maids.

* Luciana Salazar as "eye candy on rehashed sequel of an old comedy franchise/movie based on cartoon".

* Ever since ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', [[Brenda Song]] has been typecast as the [[Asian Airhead]] in [[Disney]] productions. Ironically, her first major role was in a [[Nickelodeon]] show, ''[[100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd|One Hundred Deeds for Eddie Mcdowd]]'', as an ''[[Asian and Nerdy|egghead]]''—a retroactive [[Playing Against Type]]. Outside of Disney, she still occasionally gets typecast as an [[Asian Airhead]]. It seems she's just good at comedy.

* [[Tilda Swinton]] as the androgynous [[Ice Queen]].

* Although her most popular role was as Elliot's mom in ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|E.T.]]'', the rest of Dee Wallace's acting career seems to subsist of that of the victim in various horror films, with ''[[The Howling]]'', ''[[The Hills Have Eyes]]'', ''[[Cujo]]'' and the remake of ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'' being amoung the most popular.

** Subverted in ''The Frighteners'', where she is portrayed as the victim only to {{spoiler|change gears halfway through the film to become the villain)}}.

* When Zhang Ziyi appears on the screen, you start to count down to the beginning of some serious [[Waif Fu]].

* Kelly Preston seems to usually play the doting mother in family films (e.g. ''Jack Frost'', ''What a Girl Wants'', ''The Cat in the Hat'', ''Sky High'', ''Old Dogs'', and ''The Last Song'').