Some actors become hostages of their comedic talent for life. For example, Alexander Demyanenko, known for his films Prisoner of the Caucasus, Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession, Operation Y and Other Adventures of Shurik, will forever remain in the memory of the audience as an intelligent, funny and charming student Shurik.
To break out of such a "comedic lasso" and try themselves in a different role, many famous actors starred in dramatic films. Here is a selection, after which you will take a different look at the famous film comedians.
10. Yuri Nikulin
The audience knows and loves Nikulin as a merry dummy Goon, a member of the famous comedy trinity "Coward, Goon and the Experienced", Semyon Semyonovich Gorbunkov, the main character of "The Diamond Hand" and investigator Myachikov from "Old Men-Robbers" But there are many serious roles in his acting piggy bank:
- militia lieutenant Nikolay Glazyev from "To me, Mukhtar",
- Private Nekrasov from "They Fought for the Motherland"
- front-line journalist Vasily Lopatin from "Twenty Days Without War",
- front-line locksmith Kuzma Iordanov from "When the trees were big",
- grandfathers of Lena Bessoltseva from the movie "Scarecrow" and others.
An interesting fact, Nikulin was approved for the role of Nekrasov without screen tests. He, who went through the entire Great Patriotic War, as no one could convey to the audience the emotions and experiences of a front-line soldier.
9. Anatoly Papanov
"Let's sit down with a mustache!" - Papanov shouted recklessly in the "Diamond Hand". And in the next picture, he was already an ex-engineer and a former political prisoner Kopalych from "Cold Summer of the Fifty-third ...". Or Nikolai Dubinsky in the drama about front-line friendship "Belorussky Railway Station". Or dad Angel from the TV series "Adjutant of His Excellency." It is curious that at the time of filming, Papanov was already 47 years old, while his character was only 22.
This is only a small part of his rich filmography, in which there are enough both tragic and funny roles. But shooting in "Cold summer of the fifty-third ..." was the last for Anatoly Dmitrievich. He died at the age of 65 due to a heart attack.
8. Robin Williams
While Good Will Hunting is the most famous film to star Robin Williams in a dramatic role, Photo in an Hour is his best major role as a lead actor.
Williams plays Cy Perrish, an elderly darkroom employee. Lonely, devoid of friends, and socially awkward, Sai becomes obsessed with his family, which he idolized as the perfect picture. Seen through the lens of today's social media filters, this topic bears an eerie resemblance to the alienation that people can experience as they scroll through their social media feed and observe other people's success.
7. Bill Murray
- We have four million dollars to shoot in Tokyo. Who should we invite to mostly walk around the hotel and create sexual chemistry with a young, relatively unknown actress?
- How about Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters?
- Okay, call his agent!
This is probably how the creators of Lost in Translation reasoned. And they were not mistaken. The film Lost in Translation was successful at the box office and became one of the best dramatic roles of Bill Murray. He played an American actor filming a commercial in Japan, and his partner Scarlett Johansson is a young woman who accompanies her famous photographer husband on a business trip.
Hiding in the same luxury hotel, they experience loneliness, insomnia, boredom and culture shock as they lose their native English-speaking friends. And the sexual tension between the two generations is the most exciting quality of the film. Murray's hero is unhappily married, Johansson's heroine questions her marriage vow.
The audience is left to wonder if the characters' attraction is rooted in the wrong choice of partners, their current circumstances, or in themselves. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Actor.
6. Jim Carrey
One of the most popular comedians in the world has always been risky. In 1994, he left the wildly successful TV show In Vivid Colors for Ace Ventura: Pet Tracking and made over $ 100 million.
In the 1998 film The Truman Show, Kerry brilliantly portrayed an ordinary person, watched by viewers around the world. Then came 1999's Man in the Moon, in which Kerry portrayed the controversial comedian Andy Kaufman. Both films had comedic elements that did not allow Kerry to dive headlong into the waters of the drama.
But that all changed with 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which Kerry plays the depressed introvert Joel Barish. Together with eccentric ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet), he undergoes a procedure that erases their memories of each other.
After the release of the film, critic Andrew Sarris said that this time Kerry played a role that would be more suitable for Winslet, perfectly coping with the role of touchy. Conversely, a jaunty personality like Clementine's is usually reserved for Kerry.
5. Will Ferrell
The first five dramatic roles of famous comedians of world cinema are opened by the film "All the Way!" starring Will Ferrell.
Given this actor's craving exclusively for comedies, it is even strange that he agreed to play the role of a loser alcoholic, exposed from the house by his wife, and trying to sell his property in four days.
The 20% gap between critical praise (73%) and the enthusiasm with which the movie was received by viewers (53%) reflects a well-made film that the average moviegoer found difficult to accept due to Ferrell's comedic reputation.
4. Steve Carell
In Game of Thrones, Steve Carell abruptly departed from his typical roles of the "affable idiot", brilliantly portraying an ambitious and intelligent person who managed to predict the 2008 global economic crisis in advance.
The Selling Game is a complex film with a complex theme, showing the convoluted and largely unregulated world of Wall Street. And he owes much of his success to the game of Carell, whose hero goes from an irritable and nervous skeptic to a melancholic winner. His stunned "deer in the headlights" look alone already demonstrates an actor's versatility not previously seen from this comedy guru.
3. Adam Sandler
Another famous comedian who could have two films on this list is the romantic 2002 Knockdown Love, for which Sandler received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, and the second for the 2019 thriller Uncut jewels ”, which has earned higher viewership ratings.
Given that Sandler has starred in a variety of hardcore comedies between 2002 and 2019, his serious resurgence is particularly surprising.
In Jewels Uncut, Sandler plays Howard Ratner, a jeweler and gambler who has a very expensive black opal at his disposal. Boston Celtics basketball player Kevin Garnett liked him so much that he persuades Howard to give him the gem, but only for a while. As a pledge, Garnett leaves his championship ring, which the enterprising Ratner immediately hands over to the pawnshop to make another bet.
The film stands out for its twisty plot, in which Ratner tries to repair a failed marriage and avoid the bookmakers' intentions to return their money, harm him, or do both.
2. Whoopi Goldberg
The black actress is one of the few stars to have won four prestigious American awards at once: Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Tony. She was mostly remembered by the audience for her comedic roles ("Sister Act", "Made in America", "Loaded Weapon", etc.)
Even the story of the emergence of the creative pseudonym Whoopi Goldberg (the real name of the actress Karyn Elaine Johnson) sounds funny.
“If you are puffy, you need to release gases. That is why people told me: “You are like a whoopee cushion”. This is how my name appeared "- said the actress.
And she took the name Goldberg because Johnson is "not Jewish enough to make her a star."
However, not everyone knows that Whoopi Goldberg began her journey to the cinema with a dramatic role in the film "Flowers of the Purple Fields", directed by Steven Spielberg. By that time, Goldberg had already successfully debuted in the theater, so the director took on the main role not "a pig in a poke". The role of housewife Celia Johnson brought the actress widespread fame, a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.
1. Steve Martin
"Father of the Bride", "Sergeant Bilko", "Parents" and other comedic roles brought Martin worldwide popularity and love of the audience. But there have been films and dramas such as The Prisoner of Spain in 1997.
This film from director David Mamet tells the story of inventor Joe Ross, one of whose inventions a large corporation wants to use. Corporate bosses will stop at nothing in their pursuit of the profit that Ross's brainchild brings.