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I'll go for Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Barron Cohen in Les Miserables . Genius .
Not sure about 'unexpected', but for genius -
James Gandolfini - The Sopranos (ok, not a film but marone! what a performance!)
Tom Hardy - Bronson
Ben Kingsley - Sexy Beast
Val Kilmer - The Doors
Christopher Walken as Capt Koons in Pulp Fiction.
I’ll go for Helena Bonham Carter
So will I. In anything.
Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman. Probably overstating it but was unexpected after Kylo Ren
I’ll go for Helena Bonham Carter
So will I. In anything.
Including Planet of the Apes
Christopher Walken as Frank in the Outlaws
Heath Ledger as The Joker.
His career up until then was mostly light hearted fluff.
Peter Falk (aka TV detective Colombo) in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire. A beautiful art-house movie into which he fits perfectly in a central role.
this
to this
Harrison Ford in starwars? Wasn't he a set carpenter up until this?
James Taylor, Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton in Two Lane Blacktop.
Dennis Wilson? Not so much.
Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game.
Meat Loaf in Fight Club.
Bruno Kirby in Spinal Tap.
Daniel Craig in Knives Out.
greyspoke
Free Member
Peter Falk (aka TV detective Colombo) in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire. A beautiful art-house movie into which he fits perfectly in a central role.
Very much this.
Christopher Walken as Caesar the Exterminator in Mousehunt...
John Travolta in Hairspray...with Christopher Walken...
Joe Pesci in Home Alone 🙂
Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark.
James Gandolfini – The Sopranos (ok, not a film but marone! what a performance!)
Casting a member of the E Street Band into a major role was a pretty bold move, too. 🙂
Sam Rockwell in anything but he was great in Galaxy Quest
John Travolta in pulp fiction.
the "podgy" kid from parks and recreation as Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy
Leslie Nielsen in Airplane! Had pretty much only played tough-guy serious roles up until then, basically invented a genre.
Burt Lancaster in Local Hero.
It's Alec Guinness (and Peter Cushing) that was the masterstroke, not Harrison Ford.
Gravitas darling.
Anyway: Martin Freeman in Fargo series 1
Michele Dotrice in And Soon The Darkness.
Mind you, it was pre 'Betty' by a few years........
Tom Cruise in Tropical Thunder was a pleasant surprise.
I don't know how unexpected it was, but, Jodie Foster in Contact. I haven't even seen the damn film, but I read the book and I instantly headcasted Ellie Arroway as Jodie Foster- every word in her voice, etc.
Agree on Robert Downie Jr as Iron Man, that was a bit of a punt but he was just perfect. Not just in delivery but he was responsible for a bunch of adlibs and script changes
The Jewish New Yorker as Il Brutto.
George Clooney in O Brother Where Art Thou and Robert Pattinson in The Batman.
Daniel Craig in Knives Out.
Came here to say this, outstanding.
Harrison Ford in starwars? Wasn’t he a set carpenter up until this?
Nope. His career started in the 60s.
Star Wars made him a recognisable name.
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban as Kirk, Spock and McCoy in J J Abrams Star Trek reboot
The first three ‘Wrong Turn’ movies were fab. Checkout Henry Rollins* in the second instalment.
Number four was dire, but the very sadly missed Doug Bradbury’s (Pinhead) performance in number five was deelish.
Ed O Neill, briefly, in Wayne’s World.
Ray Wise (Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks), turns in a scorching performance in the tv show ‘Reaper’.
*Also worth checking out his deadpan performance in Charlie Sheens ‘The Chase’.
Eartha Kitt and Grace Jones in Eddie Murphy’s ‘boomerang’:
Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad. He wasn't originally meant to be such a major character and to get killed off at the end of S1, but Raymond Cruz (Tuco) took other roles and the Jesse Pinkman character just worked so well that they kept him around. Hard to imagine the show without him.
Two possibly controversial picks here.
Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Aging (by standards at the time) schmaltzy tv actor and sometime singer gets cast in B movie action film that comes to redefine the genre. And indeed the definition of what a 'christmas' film is.
In similar ilk, Matt Damon as Bourne. Floppy haired, wannabe 'serious' actor redefines himself as ass whooping secret agent. In a moment redefined that genre and gave Bond an almighty kick up the jacksie into the bargain..
Bruce Willis in Die Hard.
I thought casting him in Pulp Fiction was brilliant.
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape
Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter
James Earl Jones (voice) as Darth Vader
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
Perhaps not all of them are unexpected, but they turned out to be perfect in that role
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban as Kirk, Spock and McCoy in J J Abrams Star Trek reboot
The reboots get a lot of criticism, but the casting in the first one was absolutely perfect.
Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Keeanu as Keeanu in Always Be My Maybe. Sublime taking the piss out of himself.
Gary Oldman in Leon.
"EVERYONE!!!"
High Grant as Fletcher in The Gentlemen.
Daniel Craig in Layer Cake. Felt like an audition for Bond.
Tom hiddlestone as Loki, he originally auditioned for the part of Thor but thankfully they saw the opportunity.
Michael Sheen as president Bartlett in the west wing
Viggo mortenson in green book
Vince Vaughn in brawl in cell block 99
You are all wrong it's Michael St. Michaels
Goes down like most threads on here......
Christophe Waltz in Inglorious Bastards
Daniel Bruhl in Rush was outstanding, not sure if that counts as unexpected.
Oh yeah, not a film but David Strathairn in the Expanse- every scene he was in just sparked. Another humdrum dialogue scene with Dawes or Holden or whoever? Send in Klaes Ashford, spouting incomprehensible space-gibberish and bird noises. I want some sort of insane piratey crossover with him and James Delaney just being mental and unintelligble at people.
Tom Cruise in Collateral. He should play the bad guy more often.
Ade Edmondson’s brief cameo in ‘Return of the Jedi’. Class.
Many of the suggestions so far seem like "casting decisions" rather than "unexpected casting decisions".
I thought the archetypal unexpected casting decision was Henry Fonda as the bad guy in "Once Upon a Time in the West".
Fonda was one of the generation where people kind of believed that the actor was like the characters he played. He'd always been a stand up guy, and to have him appear as the villain in a Leone Western was genuinely shocking at the time.
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape
Never mind the bloody kiddies, wizard film...
Alan Rickman as Hans Bloody Grubber!
Can't believe all the die hard love for Bruce, and Alan gets overlooked. I'd argue Rickman as the baddie actually made that film what it was at least as much, if not more than Willis...
I’d argue Rickman as the baddie actually made that film what it was at least as much, if not more than Willis…
Rickman was excellent as always, but it's hardly an "Unexpected casting masterstroke" to have him as the bad guy. The first thing I saw him in was a BBC (I think) Romeo and Juliet, where he played Tybalt.
Alanis Morrisette as God in Dogma was brilliant.
Karl Urban in Dredd got it 100% right.
Hugh Grant in Paddington 2.
@donks he'd been in American Graffiti just before.
Christopher Eccleston in the reboot Dr Who.
Cher in Mask
Chris Pratt in GotG.
Edward James Olmos as Adama in Battlestar Galactica - the whole cast of BSG was what made the reboot work.
The first thing I saw him in was a BBC (I think) Romeo and Juliet, where he played Tybalt.
I wanna see that!
IMDb: : The BBC Television Shakespeare
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14801528/
He was in 1 episode of this...
Rickman was excellent as always, but it’s hardly an “Unexpected casting masterstroke” to have him as the bad guy. The first thing I saw him in was a BBC (I think) Romeo and Juliet, where he played Tybalt.
Well Die Hard was first actual film he was cast in, and his Tybalt was almost a decade earlier, I'd call it an "unexpected Master stroke" bit of casting. Imagine it's 1986ish you need to cast a German baddie in a Christmas action movie to antagonise Bruce Willis, and you go and pick some British actor who's never done a film before but has a decade of British Stage and Telly Drama. In that context Rickman wasn't exactly the obvious choice.
A bit like Ian Holm before he did Alien, you wouldn't have picked him for a Sci-Fi horror movie his film and TV roles had mostly been historical/war Dramas, but he was a bloody brilliant homicidal android. Fast forward 20 odd years and he was getting cast in fifth element and then as a bloody Hobbit, I don't reckon those later casting decisions would have happened without that one slightly 'off-type' role years before...
Lots of things seem obvious with 20/20 hindsight...
Gary Oldmam in True Romance. Thinking about it, Val Kilmer in the same film playing Elvis not long after starring as Jim Morrison.
Alan Rickman? Absolutely stole the Robin Hood movie. He played the comedy of the part so well. Not what I expected from him or the movie
Honourable mention to Sean Connery as King Richard 😂
Hugh Grant in Paddington 2
Excellent shout, sent himself up brilliantly
Hugh Grant in The Gentleman was an amazing casting decision
Second only to Cruise in Tropic Thunder
Fair comment, but I’d argue that there are deliberate casting decisions that far surpass the filmmakers expectations.
Tv series, but Robert Knepper as Theodore ‘T-Bag’ Bagwell was a casting masterstroke.
I don’t think anyone anticipated how charismatically he could portray the ultimate anti-hero. Genius.
It's ages since I've seen it so it might have aged badly but, following up Arnie's performance in the first film by casting Danny Glover in Predator 2.
Steve Coogan in Philomena
Oh.
Freeze Frame. Psychological thriller starring... Lee Evans. Plays it totally straight and he's brilliant in it.
Hard to imagine Lee Evans being brilliant in anything,if it cancels out some of his (IMO) many crap performances then that's a good thing.
Marky Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights
Lance Armstrong in Dodgeball
Donald Trump in Home Alone 2
Robert Knepper as Theodore ‘T-Bag’ Bagwell was a casting masterstroke.
Yeah, Prison Break was a preposterously silly show, but it had a great cast. T-Bag and Haywire were great characters.
Cougar
Full Member
Oh.Freeze Frame. Psychological thriller starring… Lee Evans. Plays it totally straight and he’s brilliant in it.
Wow, forgot that one.
Made me think of Ross Noble as the clown in Stiches. Great film.
Anyway, I've ticked Googling 'ross noble clown horror' off the bucket list.
Hard to imagine Lee Evans being brilliant in anything,if it cancels out some of his (IMO) many crap performances then that’s a good thing.
Hence, "unexpected."
I like Lee Evans as a comedian, most of his acting roles not so much. His performance in Freeze Frame is light years away from anything else he's done.
the Robin Hood movie
You mean The Sherif of Nottingham, starring Alan Rickman?
Hugh Grant
In most things he's done lately, I'm forced to admit. British Scandal for instance.
Comics doing dark roles
Robin Williams in One Hour Photo and Steve Carell in Foxcatcher both give pretty good performances.
Honorable mention also for Charlize Theron in Monster. Transforming herself into a unlikeable and unattractive character
Another vote for Hugh Grant in the Gentleman. Somewhere above Martin Freeman was mentioned. I can usually take him or leave but thought he was fantastic in The Responder when the standard choice might have been someone like Steven Graham.
Oh, and Will Ferrell in Everything Must Go.
I've no idea whether it's a masterstroke or not but I just tripped over this unlikely trailer:
Robin Williams in One Hour Photo
Dead Poet's Society.