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!!!”