My Actors

For this week's installment of Intro to Film, I am going to be looking at Actor's and Acting Styles. I have chosen to use the following

Barry Pepper 
Tom Hanks
Matt Damon

character actors Actors who specialize in playing a wide variety of characters, most often supporting or minor rolesrather than leading roles. (2013)

wild card A term applied to an actor, usually a star, who is difficult to classify as one certain type, an actor who canplay a wide variety of characters equally well without becoming typecast. (2013)

typecasting Casting actors based on their physical appearance or on the types of characters they've most often playedin the past, rather than on an audition that might reveal an unexpected acting range. Casting against type gives actorsthe chance to demonstrate whether they can successfully play more than one type of character. (2013)

I had a difficult time with Barry Pepper but decided to stick it out with him, just to see if I could correctly categorize him. Mr. Pepper most often plays supporting roles in the films he is in. At least the ones I have seen. I just watched him in Saving Private Ryan and thought "I have seen him in a few other shows." Turns out I was right; He has been in a number films I have watched: The Green Mile, Flags of Our Father, Saving Private Ryan etc. Interestingly enough, he also holds authoritative roles in the movies for example in The Green Mile he is a correctional officer and in Flags of our Father he is a Sargeant. I am giving him the classification of being a character actor. Though I think that he is typecasted a lot. Plays the same type of role in a lot of films.

Now onto Tom Hanks and Matt Damon! These two actors are both what I would call Wild Card Actors. They play a wide variety of roles, though, I would say that Matt Damon plays a lot more of the same type of action roles (Monuments Men, The Bourne movies, Green Zone)  while Tom Hanks is all over the map (Forrest Gump, Big, Apollo 13, Green Mile). 

Focusing on Matt Damon, I would say that he is placed into the same type of categories as I mentioned in the above paragraph. There is also a versitility to his acting. Good Will Hunting is a perfect example of this. Just watch the clip below. He is a phenomanal actor.

Reference

Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. (2013). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego: Bridgepoint

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GtkST5-ZFHw