Character Actors

Not Normal

Sometimes there is such a thing as going to far. There are actors known as character actors and actors known as chameleons. Most actors are character actors who are, more often than not, type written for roles. Some examples of this are Samuel L. Jackson who makes every character he plays a B.A.M.F. Even in Black Snake Moan when he plays a crazy old man trying to teach Brittney Murphy how not to be a whore by chaining her up in his house he still comes off as badass. Michael Cera will forever be an awkward teen well into his forties.

            On the other hand there are actors known for getting well into their roles. Actors who can play characters that differ greatly are true actors. One of the greats was Heath Ledger; he played roles ranging from a knight it the medieval times to a gay cowboy. His role as the Batman villain The Joker earned him an Oscar, after his untimely death he still starred in a movie. Well for the first part at least then his character was replaced by a series of A list actors.

            Christian Bale took the idea of being diverse to an extreme. For the movie the Batman movies he trained everyday to get jacked up, then lost a scary amount of weight for his role in The Machinist. He gained the weight and muscle again then lost the weight again for The Fighter, his latest movie. I can only imagine what he did to get into the mindset for the batman movies, probably ran around the set in his pajamas punching stagehands.