The 10 Best Actor Transformations
December 4, 2015 1:22 AM Subscribe
Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth is missing from this list and that's a damn shame.
posted by Fizz at 4:31 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 4:31 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Although it is certainly dated and somewhat cringe-worthy with the use of black face, Olivier's Othello [1965] performance is remarkable. Using little more than stage makeup, costuming, voice and movement he essentially transforms himself into Paul Robeson for the camera...
posted by jim in austin at 4:34 AM on December 4, 2015
posted by jim in austin at 4:34 AM on December 4, 2015
The lack of Lon Chaney on this list is bewildering. He was impossible to recognize from film to film.
posted by maxsparber at 4:53 AM on December 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by maxsparber at 4:53 AM on December 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
No Alec Guinness or Peter Sellers?
posted by octothorpe at 4:57 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 4:57 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
"The lack of Lon Chaney on this list is bewildering. He was impossible to recognize from film to film."
That makes me think of Gary Oldman.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:07 AM on December 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
That makes me think of Gary Oldman.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:07 AM on December 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
The list should also mention Tom Hanks. No matter what costume or makeup they put on him, he's instantly recognizable.
posted by blue_beetle at 5:21 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by blue_beetle at 5:21 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
@blue_beetle I absolutely loved The Cloud Atlas as a novel. I was stupid, I also went to the movie. After 15 minutes I gave up and threw my hands in the air. To make the rest of the flick bearable, I pretended to watch Where's Waldo? featuring Tom Hanks. Then it was fun, again.
posted by ouke at 5:26 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ouke at 5:26 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
That makes me think of Gary Oldman.
One area where I think Oldman would have the lead on Chaney is a greater range and deftness in accents. These days Oldman is well-known for the Batman movies, but twenty years ago his most prominent role had probably been in JFK. I saw him interviewed in Dennis Miller's late night show in the late nineties and Miller -- who had not met him until that day -- confessed that he had no idea Oldman was not American.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:31 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
One area where I think Oldman would have the lead on Chaney is a greater range and deftness in accents. These days Oldman is well-known for the Batman movies, but twenty years ago his most prominent role had probably been in JFK. I saw him interviewed in Dennis Miller's late night show in the late nineties and Miller -- who had not met him until that day -- confessed that he had no idea Oldman was not American.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:31 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
I comfort myself by thinking that Depp really just went natural for Black Mass, and the rest of the time he's either in a hat or a wig.
posted by nevercalm at 5:46 AM on December 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by nevercalm at 5:46 AM on December 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
I for one was impressed with Depp's transformation into Christopher Walken. He even got the speech patterns right.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:06 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by pxe2000 at 6:06 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
I saw him interviewed in Dennis Miller's late night show in the late nineties and Miller -- who had not met him until that day -- confessed that he had no idea Oldman was not American.
That makes me think of Michael Caine seeing Forest Whitaker in The Crying Game and assuming he was Cockney. Whitaker wouldn't be on a list like this, though, because he's so physically recognizable and these "transformations" are usually more about weight gain/loss and makeup than performance.
posted by thetortoise at 6:08 AM on December 4, 2015
That makes me think of Michael Caine seeing Forest Whitaker in The Crying Game and assuming he was Cockney. Whitaker wouldn't be on a list like this, though, because he's so physically recognizable and these "transformations" are usually more about weight gain/loss and makeup than performance.
posted by thetortoise at 6:08 AM on December 4, 2015
I thought Willem Dafoe was amazing in Shadow of the Vampire, as "Max Shrek". Obviously there was a lot of makeup involved, but he seemed truly alien, hilarious and terrifying in that role. It was a movie where a real vampire was playing a vampire in a movie, and I left the theater half believing that Dafoe was a vampire playing a vampire playing a vampire.
(This is a hell of a spoiler for the original Sleuth, but...) Michael Caine in Sleuth is also just amazing. Even though you know you're being played, even though you know the old police inspector guy has to be Michael Caine, you're still wondering if maybe they just found some old guy with a Michael Caine-esque quality.
I for one was impressed with Depp's transformation into Christopher Walken. He even got the speech patterns right.
From the previews I was getting a major Ray Liotta vibe.
That makes me think of Michael Caine seeing Forest Whitaker in The Crying Game and assuming he was Cockney.
I thought Whitaker was English too! Then the first time I saw him playing an American, I was like, "Wow, his American accent's good."
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:12 AM on December 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
(This is a hell of a spoiler for the original Sleuth, but...) Michael Caine in Sleuth is also just amazing. Even though you know you're being played, even though you know the old police inspector guy has to be Michael Caine, you're still wondering if maybe they just found some old guy with a Michael Caine-esque quality.
I for one was impressed with Depp's transformation into Christopher Walken. He even got the speech patterns right.
From the previews I was getting a major Ray Liotta vibe.
That makes me think of Michael Caine seeing Forest Whitaker in The Crying Game and assuming he was Cockney.
I thought Whitaker was English too! Then the first time I saw him playing an American, I was like, "Wow, his American accent's good."
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:12 AM on December 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
The phenomenon of actors gaining and/or losing huge amounts of weight for a role (De Niro, Bale, Chris Hemsworth coming up, apparently) both impresses me with their dedication and makes me a little worried for their health. And they missed what might be one of the more extreme transformations because of its permanence: Nicolas Cage had a couple of teeth pulled for his supporting role in the movie Birdy (he plays a Vietnam vet with facial injuries).
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:24 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:24 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
What about Fisher Stevens playing an Indian guy in the Short Circuit movies?
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:37 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:37 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Didn't Christian Bale lose a bunch of weight for The Machinist?
posted by ian1977 at 6:40 AM on December 4, 2015
posted by ian1977 at 6:40 AM on December 4, 2015
Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously is another one I was surprised not to see here.
posted by thetortoise at 6:44 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by thetortoise at 6:44 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
The phenomenon of actors gaining and/or losing huge amounts of weight for a role (De Niro, Bale, Chris Hemsworth coming up, apparently) both impresses me with their dedication and makes me a little worried for their health.
Hanks has said that his weight fluxuations for roles probably contributed to his diabetes.
posted by maxsparber at 6:45 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Hanks has said that his weight fluxuations for roles probably contributed to his diabetes.
posted by maxsparber at 6:45 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Didn't Christian Bale lose a bunch of weight for The Machinist?
Yeah that should have been in the linked article! Also Johnny Depp in the upcoming Black Mass should be included!
posted by shakespeherian at 7:01 AM on December 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
Yeah that should have been in the linked article! Also Johnny Depp in the upcoming Black Mass should be included!
posted by shakespeherian at 7:01 AM on December 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
> Didn't Christian Bale lose a bunch of weight for The Machinist?
An insane amount of weight. He was so thin it was hard to watch.
posted by Horselover Fat at 7:01 AM on December 4, 2015
An insane amount of weight. He was so thin it was hard to watch.
posted by Horselover Fat at 7:01 AM on December 4, 2015
Ursula Hitler: "From the previews I was getting a major Ray Liotta vibe."
I came in here only to say exactly that. The first time I saw the preview I was convinced it was a badly-aging Ray Liotta, especially with those eyes. Startled to realize it was Depp.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:23 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I came in here only to say exactly that. The first time I saw the preview I was convinced it was a badly-aging Ray Liotta, especially with those eyes. Startled to realize it was Depp.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:23 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Monster was an amazing and underappreciated movie. Charlize Theron has my heart forever, she absolutely flattened me with her performance.
posted by emjaybee at 7:41 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 7:41 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Re: Bale
To make matters more extreme, he then had to bulk back up to play Batman, gaining 7st, most of it muscle, in six months.
I can't even imagine the toll it must take on your body to going from starving yourself to juicing full time in the space of a year.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:44 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
To make matters more extreme, he then had to bulk back up to play Batman, gaining 7st, most of it muscle, in six months.
I can't even imagine the toll it must take on your body to going from starving yourself to juicing full time in the space of a year.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:44 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
ricochet biscuit: "These days Oldman is well-known for the Batman movies, but twenty years ago his most prominent role had probably been in JFK. "
He was also Sid Vicious in Alex Cox's "Sid & Nancy." A remarkable transformation in its own right.
posted by chavenet at 8:10 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
He was also Sid Vicious in Alex Cox's "Sid & Nancy." A remarkable transformation in its own right.
posted by chavenet at 8:10 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
I loves me some Gary Oldman, but he also committed this travesty of a transformation
posted by grippycat at 9:30 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by grippycat at 9:30 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
After seeing "Carlito's Way", I left the theater asking, "I thought Sean Penn was supposed to be in this movie?", having not recognized him at all.
posted by The Gooch at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by The Gooch at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I loves me some Gary Oldman, but he also committed this travesty of a transformation
Dude. Please, please, please tell me the entire internet colluded to make that a thing and it's really a joke. I can't even believe that is even real. "Role of a lifetime" indeed. Ugh.
posted by nevercalm at 9:59 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Dude. Please, please, please tell me the entire internet colluded to make that a thing and it's really a joke. I can't even believe that is even real. "Role of a lifetime" indeed. Ugh.
posted by nevercalm at 9:59 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
DeNiro deserves a second citation for his portrayal of Al Capone in The Untouchables.
...and maybe a third for Cape Fear?
posted by Chuffy at 10:44 AM on December 4, 2015
...and maybe a third for Cape Fear?
posted by Chuffy at 10:44 AM on December 4, 2015
I thought Whitaker was English too! Then the first time I saw him playing an American, I was like, "Wow, his American accent's good."
The first role I can remember Whitaker in.
posted by Chuffy at 10:48 AM on December 4, 2015
The first role I can remember Whitaker in.
posted by Chuffy at 10:48 AM on December 4, 2015
I can't even imagine the toll it must take on your body to going from starving yourself to juicing full time in the space of a year.
It also says he "took up smoking" to lose weight for Machinist. I have no doubt that the greasy douchenozzle already smoked, but if he did actually, literally adopt a drug addiction that's one of the single deadliest practices a human can take on, then that's beyond any ethical standard for any occupation. If he did it voluntarily then we're not, probably, talking about any laws being broken but the idea that a job can compel somebody to take up smoking- to perform that job- is sickening to me.
So, so, so sick of lists like this that extol Renee Zellweger's "transformation" into Bridget Jones. She gained a bit of weight and looked completely average as a consequence. The idea that gaining weight and looking normal is brave or even career suicide for women in Hollywood is problematic (to put it mildly) and treating that modest weight gain as something magical deserves analysis in its own right.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 10:53 AM on December 4, 2015
It also says he "took up smoking" to lose weight for Machinist. I have no doubt that the greasy douchenozzle already smoked, but if he did actually, literally adopt a drug addiction that's one of the single deadliest practices a human can take on, then that's beyond any ethical standard for any occupation. If he did it voluntarily then we're not, probably, talking about any laws being broken but the idea that a job can compel somebody to take up smoking- to perform that job- is sickening to me.
So, so, so sick of lists like this that extol Renee Zellweger's "transformation" into Bridget Jones. She gained a bit of weight and looked completely average as a consequence. The idea that gaining weight and looking normal is brave or even career suicide for women in Hollywood is problematic (to put it mildly) and treating that modest weight gain as something magical deserves analysis in its own right.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 10:53 AM on December 4, 2015
I loves me some Gary Oldman, but he also committed this travesty of of a transformation
Whoa, that's a real film? It seems like a fake trailer by SNL.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:10 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
While we're extolling the virtues of actors who lose weight for a role, I'd like to remind folks that both Anne Hathaway and Natalie Portman dropped a lot of weight for their Academy Award winning roles in Les Miserables and Black Swan respectively. I feel like I don't see them mentioned on lists like these.
posted by kat518 at 11:25 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by kat518 at 11:25 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
While it wasn't nearly as dramatic as The Machinist to Batman Begins, I ended up getting Rescue Dawn and American Psycho in my Netflix queue nearly back-to-back. It was disorienting.
posted by ckape at 12:32 PM on December 4, 2015
posted by ckape at 12:32 PM on December 4, 2015
Orson Wells' face was so completely transformed when he played police captain Hank Quinlan in "Touch of Evil". I recall the first time I watched the film and kept thinking how much the actor playing Quinlan sounded like Wells. A clip and a still.
posted by but no cigar at 5:50 PM on December 4, 2015
posted by but no cigar at 5:50 PM on December 4, 2015
Whoa, that's a real film? It seems like a fake trailer by SNL.
Even gazing at its IMDB entry, my previous faith in my ability to see through a miasma of culturally-sussed internet fraud has been forever shaken; this is me in my middle age, easily-duped and vulnerable.
posted by specialbrew at 10:53 AM on December 5, 2015
One area where I think Oldman would have the lead on Chaney is a greater range and deftness in accents.
Seeing as Chaney's career was during the silent era I'd argue that this will forever go unresolved.
posted by mr. digits at 11:20 AM on December 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seeing as Chaney's career was during the silent era I'd argue that this will forever go unresolved.
posted by mr. digits at 11:20 AM on December 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
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