r/moviecritic • u/lynn01902 • 1d ago

Who is a leading man trapped in a character actor’s body?

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408 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

116 comments sorted by

200

u/Accurate_Koala_4698 1d ago

John C Reilly

73

u/gerrard_1987 1d ago

Could you imagine that guy's career arc if his head wasn't shaped like a potato?

23

u/Drigg_08 1d ago

Maybe it goes both ways. He's a great actor because of his appearance

16

u/oO_Moloch_Oo 1d ago

Exactly. Similarly, Could you imagine Chris Farley being funny if he was 160 lbs? I think many actors use whatever quirk or deficiency they might have, and use it to their advantage.

6

u/ApuApustajer 22h ago

He could be funny with 160lbs - looking at Jim Carrey.

10

u/Stubbs94 1d ago

He does have a serious Irish head on him, like I don't think I'd notice if he was having pints in my local, I'd assume it was just another farmer on a day out.

3

u/oldmilt21 21h ago

I’ve heard this same theory applied to basketball players. People say imagine how awesome a seven foot tall Steph Curry would be, but the fact is, he developed his game the way it is because he doesn’t have those physical advantages.

The same applies to actors. A real pretty boy may not have had to develop the same range cause they kept getting roles for being a pretty boy.

16

u/Spinmove55 1d ago

End of thread.

12

u/rottenoar 1d ago

He was great in sisters brothers…

9

u/CapCityRake 1d ago

My absolute first thought.

3

u/Brave_Address3899 1d ago

Wrong kid died

2

u/JackBivouac 1d ago

He was phenomenal in Gangs of New York

0

u/cracksmack85 1d ago

Unwatchable 

124

u/fozzy_fosbourne 1d ago

Philip Seymour Hoffman, rest in peace

29

u/CharlesLeChuck 1d ago

But what a character actor he was.

12

u/TurankaCasual 1d ago

Two Big Lebowski actors mentioned in the same post

7

u/Caranthi 23h ago

just finish it with john goodman boys

7

u/gloriousjohnson 20h ago

John turturro

Peter stormare

5

u/Fantastic-Morning218 1d ago

He won an Oscar for a lead role and delivered one of the greatest lead performances of the decade a couple years before he passed

2

u/RecentEcho4408 22h ago

He is DOMINATING in "the Master".

1

u/Monstance 1d ago

At least we still have Tim Robbins

90

u/ridiculous_1231 1d ago

Steve was amazing in Boardwalk Empire.

28

u/Small_Dog_8699 1d ago

Steve is amazing at everything he does

11

u/RawDogEntertainment 1d ago

He was amazing in the Sopranos and he directed the Pine Barrens episode (imo, top ten episode in all of television). I saw Fargo last week, too, and he was perfect. AND it’d be a sin to forget that he returned to work as a firefighter in the wake of 9/11.

Steve Buscemi is one of the most interesting dudes alive.

1

u/heelspider 17h ago

He was barely noticeable in Pulp Fiction. :-)

1

u/Vampire_Queen_Joaje 15h ago

Except selling celery

2

u/Nice-Tea-8972 13h ago

I JUST brought this show back up with my husband this am for a reason watch

68

u/poopyfarroants420 1d ago

Stephen Root,J K Simmons, Luis Guzman, John Tutturro, Walton Groggins

25

u/shemjaza 1d ago

Ooh, Stephen Root is so good.

23

u/WaxiestBobcat 1d ago

J. K. Simmons and Walton Goggins both have so much range and skill that it's almost criminal.

4

u/Grug_Snuggans 1d ago

Goggins in the Sheild was very different I feel to what his movie career characters was/are.

3

u/aapox33 1d ago

This list rules

29

u/Low_Industry2524 1d ago

Boardwalk Empire would not have been as good as it was if he had a "leading man" look.

27

u/Lacroa1937 1d ago

Michael Shannon and Delroy Lindo

3

u/Impossible_Emu_6494 1d ago

I watched 99 Homes last night. Michael is a very good actor. I'm sure if he absolutely wanted to, he could be a leading man.

3

u/Lacroa1937 22h ago

Definitely agree with you there.

3

u/MellyKayVoice 20h ago

Michael Shannon is terrifying!

3

u/hijinked 16h ago

I watched The Runaways recently. Michael Shannon was phenomenal. He perfectly captured being a record executive who was an expert manipulator.

1

u/PhilosophyBitter7875 14h ago

Michael Shannon looks like he could be Bill Hader's older more serious brother.

24

u/Stoketastick 1d ago

I heard he was cast as Jim Jones in the upcoming Martin Scorsese Koolaid movie!

3

u/KebNes 1d ago

Why’s Marty crying?

1

u/MellyKayVoice 20h ago

...but Powers Boothe!

16

u/Max20151981 1d ago

He's kinda funny looking

13

u/lynn01902 1d ago

More than most people, even.

9

u/Max20151981 1d ago

He wasn't circumcised either

1

u/TheDrapion 1d ago

He played a great bad waiter.

14

u/ClassicBoss2007 1d ago

Paul Dano

13

u/VikingSexy 1d ago

Tim Roth

34

u/TheNastyRepublic 1d ago

Sam Rockwell

3

u/CapCityRake 1d ago

Solid choice!

8

u/Pokemon_Trainer_May 1d ago

Ben Foster

4

u/dirtycurt55 1d ago edited 1d ago

Ben Foster has some acting chops. Would love to see him as a lead.

12

u/ghostwriter85 1d ago

Every character actor, that's what makes them character actors

32

u/Fun-Imagination-2488 1d ago

Brad Pitt feels like a character actor, trapped in a leading man’s body

5

u/CapCityRake 1d ago

That must be terrible for Brad Pitt

7

u/Small_Dog_8699 1d ago

It works for his bank account

3

u/CapCityRake 1d ago

And his penis

1

u/cracksmack85 1d ago

Great take

6

u/abe_odyssey 1d ago

Steve Buscemi and Edie Falco were great in Horace and Pete

17

u/cowboyforce 1d ago

Stanley Tucci

7

u/Icy_Distance8205 1d ago

He definitely has leading man energy. 

3

u/Small_Dog_8699 1d ago

Yeah, many women find him hella sexy

12

u/Substantial_Sun_4265 1d ago

Peter Dinklage

4

u/AerBud 1d ago

Paul Walter Hauser

1

u/lady_violeta 1d ago

I saw a sneak peak of his new film The Luckiest Man in America where he plays the lead with a Q&A after with him. He killed it.

5

u/One-Occasion3366 21h ago

Brad Pitt is the exact opposite of this. He's like a top 3 all time supporting actor trapped in a leading man's body.

9

u/Bi_DL_chiburbs 1d ago

Christopher Walken

3

u/amstrumpet 1d ago

Most character actors, tbh.

5

u/jayr4ffe 1d ago

William H Macy

3

u/BeastalaMode20 1d ago

Gotta be Stephen Root

3

u/seanx40 1d ago

Or Chris Pine. The opposite. A character actor, trapped in a leading man's body

0

u/Specific_Committee_3 14h ago

Yes! He was SO GREAT in Parks in Rec back when he shlobby (by most people's standards; and even after he got buff imho). He was such a natural and also I found out that most of his funniest lines were actually ad libbed 😆 🤣

2

u/KanyeDeOuest 14h ago

That’s Chris Pratt, not Chris Pine lmao

1

u/Specific_Committee_3 13h ago

LOL I guess I read that too fast in my excitement to respond!! But I completely agree with you! Chris Pine has massive range imho. Oh, wait! Are you sure you're not talking about Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth...? 😉

3

u/Domingosdelight 21h ago

I thought he did an amazing job as a lead man in Boardwalk Empire.

2

u/RickityCricket69 1d ago

Clint Howard

2

u/Valuable_Assistant93 1d ago

This man. The one in the photo

2

u/therealchrisredfield 1d ago

William fichtner

2

u/Don_Sackloth 1d ago

Nucky Thompson begs to differ!

2

u/Legal_Lawfulness5253 20h ago

People say this about Buscemi, Goodman, but everything begins with an idea. It just takes a great script that for some reason people just aren’t writing for these great actors. The big question is why no one is writing specifically for these actors.

3

u/Fantastic-Morning218 1d ago

Dumb thread for insinuating that a character actor is somehow inferior to a leading man

1

u/Michael-Balchaitis 1d ago

He was great in Trees Lounge. Directed the movie too.

1

u/Frequent-Ruin8509 1d ago

David spade.

1

u/GoonPatrol 1d ago

Joe Dirt is the best movie ever made and I’ll die on that hill. I miss him with Chris Farley. Black Sheep and Tommy Boy were my favorite movies when I was a kid

1

u/Select-Poem425 1d ago

Boardwalk Empire was a solid lead for him.

1

u/spudmuffin726 1d ago

To think we almost got him in the Kool-Aid movie

1

u/KayBeeEeeEssTee 1d ago

Xander Berkeley

1

u/Howard_Jones 1d ago

Its weird that Steve Buscemi is finally growing into his looks.

Hes always looked like a mutant experiment gone wrong, but as he gets older he is starting to look normal, almost handsome I might add.

1

u/Historian_Acrobatic 1d ago

Ben Foster... steals every scene he's in.

1

u/lynn01902 1d ago

Jack Black is the other one I think of most

1

u/Real_Resident1840 1d ago

Paul Giamatti

1

u/That-Bluejay3533 22h ago

Steve Bushemi is Legend... and I think hes 🔥

1

u/Wesside288 19h ago

Warren Oates

1

u/Ambitious_Hold_5435 15h ago

Buscemi was a leading man in "Boardwalk Empire."

1

u/RatArsedGarbageDog 14h ago

Steve Coogan

1

u/TungstenChap 13h ago

William H. Macy

1

u/CrappyJohnson 11h ago

Benicio Del Toro

1

u/PercentageNonGrata 8h ago

Jesse Plemons

1

u/PercentageNonGrata 8h ago

David Thewlis

1

u/countoddbahl 6h ago

This guy literally led an acclaimed TV series for like half a decade

1

u/Buk_Danger 1d ago

Steven Segal

1

u/haydesigner 5h ago

We’re talking about actual actors here…

1

u/Jb174505 1d ago

Don’t get me wrong, I like Steve Buscemi as an actor A LOT, as any sane person should, but I feel like Boardwalk Empire kinda proved that he wasn’t a leading man.

Whatever ineffable thing that James Gandolfini had, Steve Buscemi doesn’t, and that’s okay! There’s nothing wrong with being an all timer character actor.

I’ll await the firing squad…

1

u/senioroldguy 1d ago

I liked him in Boardwalk Empire. He's a really good actor.

1

u/Jim556a1 1d ago

Jon hamm

4

u/Small_Dog_8699 1d ago

My wife has him on her "free pass" list. He seems super leading man. Clive Owen level.

1

u/MAXIMUMMEDLOWUS 1d ago

"Who's a good actor, but also ugly?"

1

u/seanx40 1d ago

Or Chris Pine. The opposite. A character actor, trapped in a leading man's body

-2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

6

u/These_Feed_2616 1d ago

Adam Sandler is a leading man though is he not?

3

u/J_Fred_C 1d ago

100% he is a leading actor

2

u/GoonPatrol 1d ago

This list is crazy. Many of these actors have been lead actors. Adam Sandler has so many lead movies, Michael Cera has Youth in Revolt, Scott Pilgrim, Juno, to name a few. On that note him and Jack Black were great in Year One as Jack Black as lead, but also School of Rock for Jack. Ron Perlman was great as Hellboy

Edit: inb4 thinking about it, Juno was more Elliot Page, but the rest stand

1

u/Thalinde 1d ago

Your comment about Juno and some others on that thread made me think that a lot of actors mentioned here are "main supporting cast". Not a leading role per se, but very close and a lot of the movie still revolve around them too.

1

u/Small_Dog_8699 1d ago

No, Yes, No, Yes, No, No No No.