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Actors Who Elevate Shows/Movies They Are In (Spoilers Possibly)

jdmc13

Member
Mar 14, 2019
2,949
Watching Luke Wilson in Stargirl actually working instead of slacking and selling lines and moments that lesser actors couldn't made me realize that I probably wouldn't enjoy the show half as much without him and Brec Bassinger getting to just bounce off each other. I've been noticing this as a trend in the DC shows: hire good actors to make up for mediocre writing.

To me this is exemplified by this man right here:

440px-Tom_Cavanagh_by_David_Shankbone.jpg


Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells/
Various Other Wells/Eobard Thawne (Reverse Flash)

This man took material and characters that should flatly not have worked and just sold it.

My other top pick might be controversial, but hear me out:

Gene_Wilder_as_Willy_Wonka.jpeg


Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka

Let me ask a question, remember Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Now, remove your memories that contain Gene Wilder. I'm going to guess what is left is probably only the musical numbers (and not even "Charlie's Song"), and maybe the child "deaths" if you want to just edit out the parts with Gene Wilder. This man made this movie. It was his idea for Wonka to come out limping with the cane into the somersault, because to paraphrase, "the audience wouldn't know what was real or a lie for the rest of the movie".

I feel like this is also one of the strengths of the MCU: the casting. Think about how many roles in the MCU are going to be forever associated with one actor: Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man, Chris Evans is Captain America, etc.

I just thought people could highlight the actors who elevate their works to another level.
 

Deleted member 18407

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
3,607
Clara Bow was in a bunch of middling films but her acting made them better than they had any right to be.
 
Bor Gullet

Bor Gullet

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,399
Tom Cavanagh and the various Wells he plays has been annoying since the second season of Flash.
 
Dice

Dice

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,794
Canada
Hugh Laurie in a lot of stuff. Definitely House is a big example, since it was like 8 years of him elevating the show.

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Dysun

Dysun

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,979
Miami
Kiefer Sutherland in 24 is the best example of this. With him the show is great, but without its full of cliches and terrible writing
 
MrCheezball

MrCheezball

Banned
Aug 3, 2018
1,376
69cedf473503049d2f555c068fbfd681503de8f3.jpg


I love him in just about everything he does, but without him, Man of Steel would have been much much worse.
 
Landford

Landford

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,678
Elisabeth Moss. Just watched Shirley and its an incredible performance, as always.
 
butalala

butalala

Member
Nov 24, 2017
5,395
Patrick Stewart keeps the first 2 seasons (and more, frankly) of TNG watchable through his sheer talent alone.
 
Zeus

Zeus

Corrupted by Vengeance and Powered by Friendship™
Member
Oct 27, 2017
241
Tom Hardy in/as Venom.

Literally nothing else of value in that entire film and yet I came out of it content.
 
OP
OP

jdmc13

Member
Mar 14, 2019
2,949
Bor Gullet said:
Tom Cavanagh and the various Wells he plays has been annoying since the second season of Flash.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
From the qualifiers, I take it you do not disagree with my opinion of the character he played in the first season.

CrankyJay said:
Should have been in the OP. Perfect first post though.
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Click to shrink...
I will admit to thinking about it, but my first thought was Justified and the Shield which were great shows in their own right.
 
Bear

Bear

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,968
I was just thinking about this last night. I don't think he's a great actor in it but it always makes me at least a little interested when James Marsden is in a show. I have no idea why - he's just a comforting presence.
 
CrichtonKicks

CrichtonKicks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,337
Totally agree with OP's example. I pretty much just read on my iPad these days while we watch The Flash but I almost always pay attention to Tom Cavanaugh's scenes. Actor looks like he's having a blast.
 
Desparadina

Desparadina

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
610
Rami Malek in Mr.Robot. Sam Esmail was right when he said that even though Elliot would say some of the most pretentious shit, Rami was able to make that feel a lot less so. Not to mention his performance in this show is really what ties everything together. I may not have liked Bohemian Rhapsody and the fact that he won an Oscar for it but Episode 7 in Season 4 more than proves that it's deserved imo.
 
Violence Jack

Violence Jack

Drive-in Mutant
Member
Oct 25, 2017
42,230
Kyle Mclachlan in Agents of Shield season 3.

Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight. Billy Zane deviated from the serious script, and ad-libbed to make his villain character more charming, silly, and ridiculous. Without him, that movie would've been a dud.

Innocent Blood: Robert Loggia gave a legendarily hammy performance as a mob boss that was turned into a vampire. Also ad-libbed many of his lines with John Landis' approval, and made that movie way better than it had any right to be.

Vincent D'Onofrio in Daredevil.
 
Aprikurt

Aprikurt

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 29, 2017
18,810
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I don't know how the hell ABC managed to get Robert Carlyle for Once Upon a Time, but I gladly sat through 5 seasons of utter garbage for him hamming it up.
 
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