Stereotyping, all too common in film and tv. It got me to thinking about some surprising casting decisions that featured actors not known for that type of role that really worked.

What are some of those roles that really surprised you/caught you off guard? For me it's Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love. I was not a huge fan of his, but I'll watch Waterboy anytime it's on, so when I saw him cast in a film by Paul Thomas Anderson I was intrigued. After watching it I came away so impressed. I couldn't believe this was the same guy who made Mr. Deeds that same year, lol.

So, what are some of your favorite against-type roles?

Truck Turner-Nichelle Nichols

There’s some classics like Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West but that was before my time so it didn’t have quite the same effect on me as it probably did when it first came out.

I’ll go with Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition. It’s not just a good performance but it’s in a great movie as well.

I liked Robin Williams as much as anyone else. But only in short doses because after a while he was just too much. However, when he started doing more Dramatic non-comedic stuff, and even a "villain" role or 2, I really enjoyed that part of his career. "The World According to Garp" "One Hour Photo"

And totally opposite of that...Robert DeNiro branching out into comedic roles was cool. "Analyze This" "Meet The Fockers".

Richard Pryor in Blue Collar
Jim Carrey in Doing Time on Maple Drive (TV movie)

(also TV, an episode of The Facts of Life where David Spade was a doctor who'd just lost his first patient)

Robbed of an Oscar nomination!

Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls". He was great in that.

I was going to mention Doing Time on Maple Drive, but I didn't think anyone would know what I was talking about. Having watched him on In Living Color, that was really a surprise. It was a loooong haul to his next serious role.

The one that threw me for a loop was the end of Twilight where James Garner is the bad guy.

Another iconic performance. He's so good in this that it's easy to forget that he'd never played any role remotely like it before.

Sylvester Stallone in Cop Land, it's not completely against type, since he started out as Rocky, who was a loser and a simple guy in the first one, but by the time Cop Land came out, he had a whole new image.

Michael Keaton - Bruce Wayne/Batman

These were the ones that I initially thought of, too.

I still need to see that. Having grown up watching Eddie Murphy (seriously, I was there when he was a "featured player", not even regular cast member of SNL, and immediately saw how good he was), I have zero doubt in my mind he's capable of any kind of role.

The way I see his performance in Punch Drunk Love is that it is like his typical Adam Sandler performance. The difference is, it's in a real world setting. Seriously, if you knew a guy who acted like the way most of Sandler's characters act, you'd be like "Stay the F away from that loony guy". You wouldn't be laughing at him. You'd hate him, and curse anyone who ever invited him to a party or any other gathering. And that's kind of the way he's treated in this movie. It works so well.

This is my take as well. I recall hearing so much about Sandler’s great performance in Punch Drunk Love but when I saw it I was just watching Adam Sandler do Adam Sandler things except in a drama.

Now, Sandler’s performance in Uncut Gems was masterful! I’ve never been a big Sandler fan. His juvenile humor bothered me even when I was young enough to (supposedly) find it funny. But I’ll give credit where credit is due and say Uncut Gems was a truly Oscar worthy performance and completely unexpected.

I had seen it in a theater and was kind of prepared ahead of time, plus I'd seen Fonda play a villain opposite Jimmy Stewart in the western, FIRECREEK a year earlier (1968).

But when OUATIW premiered on ABC's Sunday Night at the Movies in 1972 that was the first time most people saw it and there was lots of talk the next day in school and work. My boss at the time was astounded when the henchman asks what they do about the boy who's survived the massacre of the McBain family and there's a cut to a closeup of Fonda and he says, "Now that you've called me by name..." and BLAM! you hear the gunshot go off and you know he just shot the child!

Tom Cruise Collateral
Kevin Costner Mr. Brooks

Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers. Until 1994 we had only really seen him in light comedies and Cheers on TV but made an immediate impression as a convincing psychopath.

Tom Cruise in Interview With the Vampire. There was a lot of disdain for him being cast in this role (especially from Anne Rice herself) but most people think he pulled-off the role quite well.

Johnny Depp/Black Mass

Was that really against type? He was in the mafia in Donnie Brasco (as an undercover cop), he was as drug kingpin in Blow and a gangster boss in Public Enemies, all before he was in Black Mass.

^^ but he was never that ruthless.

Agreed. In Brasco he was still the good guy, and in Blow he was portrayed as one of those bad guys you root for in a way. In Black Mass he was just evil.

You left out Public Enemies and from there to Black Mass it's not that big of a leap and in Sweeney Todd he portrayed a serial killer. Looks more like slow progression into a darker character.