11 Safe Good Guy Actors Who Should Have Played More Villains
6. Tom Hanks
Went Bad In... The Ladykillers Sacrilige! Hanks has been the single most dependable actor in the history of modern cinema, in terms of the roles he takes, and the success of most of his performances, but the fact remains that he doesn't tend to stretch himself. He never has - from playing the young, slightly goofy everyman, Hanks has progressed through the various stages of the everyman roles, with occasional regal-like side-steps (such as his upcoming turn as Walt Disney) or misplaced heroic steps (as in the Dan Brown movies.) But when he was given the chance to flex his more malignant muscles in the Coen Brothers' unthinkable, but not altogether terrible remake of classic comedy caper The ladykillers, Hanks was handed a different prospect entirely. The cast of the movie was great (aside from Marlon Wayans) but it was all hobbled quite badly by the over-shadowing presence of the original Ealing comedy's legacy, and it suffered overly-harsh reviews as a result. Hanks is surprisingly good as the charming, roguish chief antagonist Goldthwait Higginson Dorr, and he obviously has fun in a movie many have accused of being too insistent and trying too hard, and it's a major shame that Hanks wasn't able to play those all-too-infrequently played notes again in a film with less baggage.
Went Bad In... The Ladykillers Sacrilige! Hanks has been the single most dependable actor in the history of modern cinema, in terms of the roles he takes, and the success of most of his performances, but the fact remains that he doesn't tend to stretch himself. He never has - from playing the young, slightly goofy everyman, Hanks has progressed through the various stages of the everyman roles, with occasional regal-like side-steps (such as his upcoming turn as Walt Disney) or misplaced heroic steps (as in the Dan Brown movies.) But when he was given the chance to flex his more malignant muscles in the Coen Brothers' unthinkable, but not altogether terrible remake of classic comedy caper The ladykillers, Hanks was handed a different prospect entirely. The cast of the movie was great (aside from Marlon Wayans) but it was all hobbled quite badly by the over-shadowing presence of the original Ealing comedy's legacy, and it suffered overly-harsh reviews as a result. Hanks is surprisingly good as the charming, roguish chief antagonist Goldthwait Higginson Dorr, and he obviously has fun in a movie many have accused of being too insistent and trying too hard, and it's a major shame that Hanks wasn't able to play those all-too-infrequently played notes again in a film with less baggage.