Actors that play "themselves" in every movie role

[Nightmare]

Shia Labeouf definitely.

 

[Johnny Drama]

Smith is like Bill Murray. As he has aged and changed, so have the characters in his movies.

Will Smith was the same guy in movies like Men In Black, Hitch, Indepence Day, ect.

And he was the same guy in I am Legend, I Robot, and Pursuit Of Happyness. Same dude under extremely different circuimstances.

 

[Haff]

Shia Labeouf definitely.

Yeah I know. It's like every movie he's in he plays the same kind of goofy guy from Even Stevens.

 

[edonian]

Kevin Costner.

 

[Drizzle]

Robert Downey Jr

I wholeheartedly disagree. Have you seen "Tropic Thunder"?

 

[jacobed]

Aside from Tropic Thunder I would agree with Robert Downey Jr especially more recently. He's just the fast talking quick wit guy.

 

[terry78]

Jason Statham is basically Jason Statham in every movie. But considering he's an action star, that's what we want, so he gets a pass.

 

[backo]

Jack Nicholson

 

[wattabrownsound]

I gotta say Paul Rudd.

 

[A&W]

Will Smith comes to mind

will smit seems to be very diverse. Fresh Prince is nothing like who he played in I-Robot or I am legend.

 

[terry78]

Yeah, Big Willie plays himself on occasion, but **** like Hancock, Seven Pounds, Six Degrees, Ali....he put in the work. It's just that his face is so recognizable, it's hard to become a chameleon unless he sports some makeup or changes his look completely. Which I hope he does for a future film.

 

[Brother Jack]

I wholeheartedly disagree. Have you seen "Tropic Thunder"?

Have you seen Chaplin? RDJ doesn't play the same persona very often, even though his roles sometimes mirror his off-screen life.

 

[zeptron]

Adam Sandler.

 

[Catman]

Well, this is why we have the terms 'character actor' and 'leading man'. Most Hollywood stars have an onscreen persona that audiences like, so obviously they want to see that, with a slight variation, every time.

Genuinely amazing actors like Gary Oldman never even seem to be the same person from film to film. Dracula and Commisioner Gordonare the same actor. Amazing.

This. However, you can be a leading man (or woman) and change it up a bit. To use an extreme example, look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Terminator is not the same as Julius from Twins. Audiences do like it when actors try something different...or atleast poke fun at their on-screen persona.

 

[bullets]

I gotta say Paul Rudd.

That's agreeable but I enjoy it too much to care.

 

[Bunker]

Aside from Tropic Thunder I would agree with Robert Downey Jr especially more recently. He's just the fast talking quick wit guy.

Go watch Zodiac.

Jason Statham is basically Jason Statham in every movie. But considering he's an action star, that's what we want, so he gets a pass.

Go watch The Bank Job.

Adam Sandler.

Go watch Punch Drunk Love.

 

[zeptron]

Go watch Punch Drunk Love.

I'm talking about his comedic roles. He always plays the same character in those.

 

[SuperFerret]

The point is that "Micheal Cera sucks because he plays himself/the same type of character all the time" isn't valid because the reasoning of "he plays himself/the same type of character all the time" isn't. And I think we all agree on that. There are just some actors and/or types of characters that are less universally appealing, such as the case of "Micheal Cera sucks because he always plays that one type of character that makes me want to kill him and use his facial skin as toilet paper."

 

[Bunker]

I'm talking about his comedic roles. He always plays the same character in those.

Punch Drunk Love is technically a romantic comedy. Also, his role in Funny People was way different than his roles in The Waterboy and Happy Gilmore.

 

[zeptron]

Punch Drunk Love is technically a romantic comedy. Also, his role in Funny People was way different than his roles in The Waterboy and Happy Gilmore.

Haven't seen Funny People.

Most of his comedies are always the same. He plays a half goofy, half angry, soft spoken, hot chick nabbing average joe. Something major happens in his characters life and it usually ends with him going to court (or someplace that can decide whether he can or can't do something) with freaks always speaking out in the courtroom to try to make it funny and the movie always ends with them giving him whatever he's fighting for and his characters lives happily ever after, for example:

Big Daddy
Anger Management
Happy Gilmore (more of a competition thing)
Billy Madison
Mr. Deeds
I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry

 

[Heretic]

People who complain about this sort of thing are kind of silly.

Jennifer Aniston plays the same character in every movie?? That's great...because I've only seen her in Rock Star.

Michael Cera plays the same character in every movie? That's great, because I've only seen him in Scott Pilgrim.

If you don't like it...why do you keep watching??

I'm a Horror fan...I've seen HUNDREDS of movies that have a group of people taking a shortcut, only to get hacked up by the hillbilly killer. I will never complain about this plot because I keep freaking watching.

I will never know if Michael Cera or Jennifer Aniston are diverse actors...because I dont care enough about their movies to watch the vast majority of them.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Paul Rudd is entirely different in say I Love You, Man to Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

 

[Keyser Sushi]

John Wayne, as the ideal, clean cut American do-gooder.

Octoberist -- It's true that The Duke played similar roles for most of his career. But if you think he only played the ideal, clean-cut do-gooder -- you must not have seen "Red River," "The Searchers," or "The Shootist," to name a few.

Red River saw John Wayne cast as...well, the 1948 Western movie equivalent of Paul Teutels Sr., actually. Upon seeing this movie John Ford is reported to have said, "Who knew the big sonuvabitch could act?"

The Searchers has John Wayne as a racist US army cavalryman whose sister and brother-in-law are murdered by a Comanche raiding party, and his nieces are captured and raped. He shoots the eyes out of a dead Comanche. He tries to shoot an entire herd of buffalo so the Comanche can't use them, and at the end he almost kills Natalie Wood rather than accept her back into his family after she's been Chief Scar's regular punch and raised as a Comanche for all these years.

These are anything BUT the actions of an ideal, clean-cut do-gooder, and that's the point. He's playing against type as a miserable bastard. And he does it perfectly.

The Shootist was Wayne's last film - he was dying of cancer and he played an aging gunfighter in the early 1900's who was, surprise, dying of cancer.

Now before you say he was just playing himself again, let me stop you. Yes, he draws heavily on his own experiences as a cancer survivor, having at this point already lost a lung and as a victim knowing he's probably going to lose the second round... but the character he's playing is filled with regret for the life he's lived, and anger at the irony that he's lived through all those fights only to die this way. He wants to die with dignity and peace, but the town won't let him rest and he winds up trying to, essentially, commit suicide by gunfight.

I mention these films because they are the films that gave me an appreciation and respect for The Duke. Films that took him from being an actor my Dad likes, to being an actor that I like.

Not really. At least not anymore. The Will Smith of Men in Black definitely wasn't the Will Smith of I Am Legend.

Nor the Will Smith of Pursuit of Happyness. My God was that a good movie.

Smith is like Bill Murray. As he has aged and changed, so have the characters in his movies.

Will Smith was the same guy in movies like Men In Black, Hitch, Indepence Day, ect.

And he was the same guy in I am Legend, I Robot, and Pursuit Of Happyness. Same dude under extremely different circuimstances.

Well, if by "same dude" you mean he had the same face and voice and mannerisms, then yes.

Was he the same dude in Ali?

 

[Ipodman]

will smit seems to be very diverse. Fresh Prince is nothing like who he played in I-Robot or I am legend.

Agreed.

And on a side-note, I Am Legend is one of his best performances

 

[matrix_ghost]

The firs person i thought of when i saw this thread :

Michelle Rodriquez