10 Intense Movie Performances NO ONE Was Ready For
Were we ever going to be ready for an evil Patrick Stewart?
It's always fun to see an actor take on a a type of role they don't often get the chance to play. No matter how far into their career, any time a performer mixes things up, it's something exciting to watch.
Knowing an actor is about to play a character archetype we haven't seen them tackle in the past creates a slight swell of excitement. It's the thrill of our personal perceptions of a performer being turned on their head, as the actor embodies a serious, comedic or other-worldly roll we could never imagine them playing.
It's proof that an actor shouldn't be typecast for specific roles, and thankfully not every casting director has taken this rule to heart. Actors train for decades to master their craft, and rarely do we ever see their full potential.
Some of these unique performances might not win awards, or be ranked in their top 10 roles, but they're a monument to the lengths and depths and actor will go to for a role. They could be the defining roles and performances that change their entire career trajectory - opening up new opportunities for them to pursue in the future.
10. Jason Sudeikis - Colossal
When you look at Jason Sudeikis, you see a handsome, funny actor who's bounced from one comedy to the next. He's the charming one from those films you (probably) forgot you saw.
But given the chance to play a bad guy (a REALLY bad guy), and he's not so charming after all.
At the beginning of Colossal, the film makes us wonder if Jason Sudeikis' character Oscar is going to be something of a romantic interest for Anne Hathaway's Gloria. It certainly looks the case, but about a third of the way through the movie we get a very realistic portrayal of a real-world villain.
It's a welcome surprise when comedians play serious characters, so watching Oscar's turn into a nasty villain was certainly a twist. What's intense about his character, is that his behaviour is very familiar to a certain demographic of audience members.
The clever script, twinned with Sudeikis' charisma to play a gaslighting antagonist, generates a performance that feels all too real for people who've experienced adult bullying or specific levels of abuse.
It's hard to look at Jason Sudeikis the same way again after this film, especially since he's often playing such charming characters with his winning smile.