In the world of film acting, there are different certain kinds of actors. There are the “Star” actors: actors who are big-time, world-renowned and –respected actors that have a self-defined brand that they always carry with their roles. People go see “star” actors not to see them blend in as new characters or disappear on-screen, but rather to continue being that certain type of character that an audience grows to feel comfortable and familiar with.
For instance, Kevin Costner is almost always the soft-spoken, stoic everyman; Tom Cruise is the action star with the bright shiny smile and intense charm; Harrison Ford is the gruff action hero hidden in the façade of an average middle class man. None of these guys would often be considered consistently “Oscar-caliber”, but audiences are happy to see them being presented as a set-in-stone cinematic idea rather than a necessarily fully dimensional character.
There are the “character” actors: lesser known actors who tend to have big cult followings and are dependable to bring the audience memorable supporting characters, be it in dramas or comedies. Some examples would be Steve Buscemi, Ward Bond, M. Emmet Walsh, and William Fichtner. Each of these guys are known for popping up in a plethora of different films, usually as fairly important supporting characters. It’s very likely that these are the type of actors where, when discussing them in retrospect, you would suddenly realize who that actor is and respond with, “Oh, THAT guy! I’ve seen him before.” Most likely.
Then, there are the “chameleons,” the real heavy-hitters. The actors who can change almost everything about them, mentally, physically, emotionally, no matter what role they are given. The actors who have a tendency of being not even recognized when on film, even if they were the big star of the film.
It seems like they really could play most any role that imagination could throw at them, and we continue to marvel at the performance on screen. We are going to be looking at some of these chameleonic performances throughout history. Please note that this is not an end-all be-all list; surely there are some performances that I either have not seen or cannot recall at the moment that could belong in this company.
20. Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise
Ralph Fiennes is an actor known for his fluid accent, his sense of charm and wit, and primarily his dashing good looks that make him appear to be English royalty. All of that is either completely stripped away or twisted in his portrayal of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named in one of the most popular franchises of recent memory. Voldemort is a foul, disgusting creature with a bald, rat-like head and face, no nose, and sickly eyes. To achieve such an effect, the filmmakers put makeup and CGI markers on Ralph Fiennes’ face that worked to make his skin a sickly pale color and replace his full nose with serpent-like vertical slits.
Fiennes himself uses some of what he is known for and turns it on his head. That charming accent of his is turned into a slick, slithering hiss that continuously produces a kind of hypnotic, seductive quality that shows how Voldemort can be such a charismatic and fearsome creature. Fiennes just as easily takes that hiss and turns it into a wailing howl when he’s enraged at his current situation. He carries his body language as if he is separate from time and space, as if he’s a monster floating around briskly rather than walking like a normal human being.
19. Jim Carrey as the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas
This was a film that was not very well received by either critics or audiences, citing its apparent lack of genuine cheer and joy and overly-complicated plot. But one thing that must be commended is Jim Carrey’s performance. As is pretty typical of him when doing comedic roles, he’s going big or going home. Rather than being limited by his yellowy contact lenses, crooked and gnarly false teeth, heavy facial makeup that completely changes his real face, and his full body green hair-covered body suit, Carrey uses it to give a master-class in how body language can be used to elicit comedic responses.
The Grinch might be a humanoid creature, but most of the time he carries himself like a bum: constantly slouching everywhere he walks, or standing up so straight that it comes off as he’s sarcastically paying attention at whatever is going on as a sign of how little he cares. This works because it shows how self-absorbed a character he is: he is both so comfortable in his own skin that he does not care how others see his appearance (in fact he knowingly uses his appearance against most everyone he comes across to get what he wants, with Carrey milking it for all it’s worth), and also so contemptuous of the Who’s that he tries his hardest to disrespect as many as he can.
One of the best examples of Carrey’s genius can be found in the scene where the Grinch confront Cindy Lou Who after she broke into his cave home on Mount Crumpit. Grinch is trying to terrify Cindy Lou Who so she can run away from the cave, and most every line of dialogue and physical action that the Grinch has is cranked to 11 in Carrey’s performance.
He flails his arms around, strikes poses even when he’s just standing still, and every word he says is either elongated or given an extra flavor by how precisely Carrey is speaking it. Some would argue that, besides the heavy makeup, Carrey isn’t really acting any different than he’s known to. But I would argue Carrey’s type of acting is the perfect method to provide laughs out of such a ridiculous creation as the Grinch.
18. Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach in Watchmen
In today’s day and age, we are drenched in superhero films of all kinds. Watchmen came out right as the superhero films began to become a constant thing in Hollywood, and the standout character of that film was Jackie Earle Haley playing the overly-intense, overly-confident vigilante known as Rorschach. It was probably the only element of the film adaptation of the famous graphic novel that was almost universally praised by fans of the novel, citing his performance as exactly how Rorschach is in the book.
Haley is an actor who, in real life, has a fairly high-pitched voice and comes off as a laidback, if not outright quiet person. But as Rorschach, he does a better Batman voice than Christian Bale could ever hope for. Every line of dialogue, as done by Haley, is delivered with such a commandingly controlled gruff voice that (unlike when done by Batman in the Dark Knight Trilogy) never dips into a self-parody ridiculous tone. It’s consistently terrifying and well-tempered.
For half of the film, Rorschach is wearing a mask, but when his bare face is shown, Haley switches up his usually short (if not bald) hair and lack of facial hair for a strong 5 o’clock shadow and spiky red hair. This combined with Rorschach’s habit of slouching mysteriously and self-absorbedly for most of the film makes for an intriguing and conflicted character.
17. Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire
This if a film that works off a fantastic idea: what if Max Schreck, cinema’s first famous vampire Count Orlov in Nosferatu, were actually a vampire and not simply an actor. It’s the made up story of how vampire Shreck acted in Nosferatu and how many of the cast and crew would eventually “figure it out”.
As played by Willem Dafoe, who’s donning a bald skull-cap that enlarges his cranium and makes his ears more pointy, along with his sharp teeth and bulbous nose, Schreck goes beyond simple method acting to a degree where cast and crew of the production start to question who this guy really is. Appropriately, Dafoe knows that going over-the-top is the way to sell this character: he uses a grotesque Transylvanian accent, and is always stooping and sleuthing his way around the sets like a real creature of the night. It would eventually earn Dafoe an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
16. Gary Oldman as Drexl Spivey in True Romance
He’s only on-screen for around 6 minutes, but Oldman gives one of his best performances as the disgusting drug dealer who helps get the plot started in the Tarantino-penned, Tony Scott-directed film.
Oldman is astonishing: with his dreadlock hairdo and heavy thug-wannabe Rastafarian accent, swinging his gun around and lounging around the strip club in his boxers and fur coat, it’s one of those kinds of performances where you would probably have to see it multiple times before you realize that that’s actually a renowned British thespian and not an actual thug off the street.
15. Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Mara comes off as a perfectly well-adjusted, very pretty young American woman, with her well-kept long hair and nice smile. So it’s a real shock to see her turn as the terribly gaunt, isolated, quiet Swedish computer hacker in David Fincher’s remake of the Swedish film of the same name.
With her spiked and chopped hair and enhanced cheek bones, Mara does wonders with her body language, projecting the character’s intense loneliness and sense of being jaded with humanity just with the way she walks through a room and the way she looks around at other people. She’s a character who does not often say much of anything, so it helps that Mara has the ability to communicate an array of emotions with her eyes.