An actor’s versatility is usually measured through the categories of characters he can play.
Actors like Daniel Day Lew are quite famous for being able to animate a wide variety of characters, which requires him to play the entire spectrum of soul in his acting films.
There are also actors who are lucky to be given the opportunity to play the main character and at the same time, are also given the responsibility of playing the main villain who has a very different character and appearance; all in one story.
Here are five actors who have played these characters. There are things we don’t even know they do.
1. Mike Myers – Siri Austin Powers
Semi-retired from the world of acting, Mike Myers’ legacy to comedy films is embedded in the animated film series ‘Shrek’ and also the popular film series featuring the character of Austin Powers.
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Quite fond of parodies of films with themes of investigation and government agents, Myers plays two different main characters – the ‘protagonist Austin Powers and the antagonist and arch-nemesis of Powers, ‘Dr. Evil.’
Myers played the two leading roles in all three released films, cementing his name as a popular comedy actor for several years. In addition to the two characters, Myers also played the role of ‘Fat Bastard’, assistant to Dr.Evil, and ‘Goldmember’, the main villain in the third movie of this movie trilogy.
2. Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool 2
In the movie ‘Deadpool 2‘, the entire character of the giant mutant Juggernaut shown is the result of the creation of computer graphics entirely. But the voice had to come from an individual – so Ryan Reynolds, who played the main character in the film, was chosen to do his voice.
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However, that was not the original plan. At the beginning, ‘Juggernaut’ was planned to be processed using graphics combined with facial expressions of the film’s director, David Leitch. His voice will be recorded later by a more suitable voice actor.
But due to the difficulty of filming taking place without any of the Juggernaut’s dialogue being spoken, Reynolds volunteered to help record the character’s dialogue temporarily – in order to get the production going.
However, in the end all of the dialogue recorded as a guide was used in the final film version – enabling Ryan Reynolds to play the anti-hero Deadpool as well as the giant Juggernaut in one film.
3. Jack Black – Goosebumps
The film ‘Goosebumps’ is adapted from a series of teenage horror novels written by RL Stine, featuring Jack Black who plays the role of the famous writer in a world of his own creation.
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In the horror fantasy film that combines various elements from the series of novels of the same title, a mistake made by Stine’s son causes all the fictional monsters his father created to escape into the real world – causing chaos in society.
One of the most feared monsters is a monster called Slappy the Dummy, an animate doll that causes more damage due to its determination to get revenge on its creator.
Black is responsible for playing the character, as well as also voicing another villain in the film, an invisible boy named Brent Green.
4. Eddie Murphy – The Nutty Professor
Once upon a time, Eddie Murphy was quite famous as a comedy actor and he was often given the opportunity to appear as the main character, with different character gimmicks.
One of his best films was The Nutty Professor – a remake of an old film of the same title in the modern (then) era. Murphy appeared as Professor Sherman Klump, a wise and good man but suffering from extreme weight problems.
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After an embarrassing incident, Klump decided to drink a serum that could speed up the process of weight change. In the blink of an eye he turned into a thin man with a high ego with a sasa body, nicknamed Buddy Love.
Buddy Love’s egotistical nature and lack of respect for others, eventually begins to take over Klump’s original loving nature – causing the two different identities to fight each other as only one can survive.
5. Benedict Cumberbatch – Dr. Strange
One of the movies in the Marvel cinematic world, ‘Doctor Strange’ keeps a secret that is not formally explained. The main character of the film ‘Dr. Stephen Strange’ as we already know is played by British actor, Benedict Cumberbatch.
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However, in the credits of the film, it is not stated that Cumberbatch actually plays the main villain of the film, a kind of intra-space creature called Dormammu.
During the making of the film, the film’s production team had already decided to use computer graphics technology completely to play the character of Dormammu, including in terms of his facial changes.
Cumberbatch himself suggested to the director of the film, Scott Derrickson, to allow himself to play the face of Dormammu with the help of motion capture technology.
Derrickson agreed with the proposal, feeling the need for parallels between the film’s protagonist and antagonist – so who else deserves to be cast as the giant but Cumberbatch?
Rumor had it that Cumberbatch was also voicing Dormammu, but that was denied by Derrickson – who said the villain was voiced by a British actor whose name he had forgotten.
That’s how Benedict Cumberbatch plays a big character in a movie, but isn’t given full credit in the movie itself.