4 Actors Typecast Beyond the Point of Sustainability
Hollywood studio executives aren’t always the most imaginative folks *gestures at the entire state of the film and television industry*, so when a movie star delivers a successful performance, sometimes they get locked into a certain type of role, from which there is no escape — like a prison in which you get paid millions and millions of dollars. Some actors we think may currently be trapped in a typecasting hell include…
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Jesse Eisenberg Is Stuck Playing Nerdy Dicks
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Eisenberg is a great actor, but it would be nice to see him in a movie where he’s not playing an awkward, dickish intellectual. It probably didn’t help that The Social Network became so ubiquitous because even when Eisenberg was tapped to play Lex Luthor in a superhero movie, Superman’s arch-enemy may as well have been plotting to take down Myspace.
This has followed him to his indie roles, like his turn as a weirdo martial arts student in The Art of Self-Defense. It has even popped up in his non-acting gigs as his directorial debut (which he also wrote), When You Finish Saving the World, sees him passing the douchetorch to Finn Wolfhard because Eisenberg apparently had the wherewithal to see the folly trying to play a high-schooler himself.
His recent show Fleishman is in Trouble was good, but it would be nice to see Eisenberg break out of this mold and play, say, a nice guy instead of a “nice guy.” So let’s see what his role as Ralphie in the upcoming Manodrome is all about: “Ralphie is introduced to an intense all-male self-help group by a friend, and after suffering a breakdown, he descends into madness, tapping into his destructive and violent instincts.”
Fine.
Chris Pratt Is Hollywood’s Go-To Bland Action Hero
Putting aside his recent childhood-ruining vocal performances, Pratt has become Hollywood’s de facto bland action hero; after Guardians of the Galaxy, there was the Jurassic World series in which he played… Handsome McForearm? Literally, no one remembers his name — just that he was able to somehow hypnotize raptors with the palm of his hand.
And the less said about The Tomorrow War, the better. Remember how funny and charming Pratt was on Parks and Recreation? Studios are treating him like an off-brand G.I. Joe action figure they found at a garage sale. Even when given material with a more comedic slant, like the aforementioned Guardians of the Galaxy films, it’s still surrounded by PEW-PEW and explosions.
He needs to get into another comedy — rom-com, buddy stuff, whatever — and take a break from trying and failing to fill his action-icon father-in-law’s boots.
Michelle Rodriguez Keeps Playing Badasses Who Die and Then Come Back to Life
Rodriguez has been typecast in an extremely specific role: She keeps showing up in action movies as a badass who dies, then later comes back from the dead. It happened in Resident Evil, the Fast and the Furious series and then again in the recent Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Reportedly, James Cameron even wanted to resurrect her Avatar character for The Way of Water, but she refused. Even as far back as Lost, Rodriguez played a tough-as-nails character who gets bumped off and returns (it’s in the final season’s confusing ghost-filled parallel universe, but still). Let Michelle Rodriguez play someone who lives and/or dies and stays dead.
Ryan Reynolds’ Smarmy Leading Man Routine Is Getting Old
Reynolds is just Deadpool in every movie now? Free Guy, Red Notice, The Adam Project — Reynolds has been relegated to playing ultra-smarmy, frequently winking leading man roles.
Which is a shame because he’s clearly capable of more. 2010’s Buried is one of the best thrillers of the 21st century, and it wouldn’t have worked if Reynolds had been making goofy asides while he was trapped in a coffin. He was also great as a serial killer suffering from hallucinations in 2014’s The Voices.
Even within the confines of action-comedy, he’s shown himself capable of playing the straight man, dramatic glue like in Smokin’ Aces. Don’t get us wrong, Reynolds is perfectly cast as Wade Wilson, but he can do so much more than just that. Then again, that doesn’t get you Mint Mobile and Aviation Gin money, so what do we know?
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