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By nature, character actors rarely ever take center stage and are more often relegated to supporting roles. On the flip side are the stars — the big names that put butts in seats. Plenty of big stars do great work, but there often comes a point where they’re cast more for their star power and their recognizable, cultivated screen persona than they are for their ability to disappear into a character. Mainstream audiences don’t really want to see their favorite movie stars disappear into a character and become unrecognizable; they want to see the star they’re a fan of front of center, playing a similar character in a similar way to what they’re best known for. Or at least, that’s what the studios think and push.
Take people like Idris Elba or Brad Pitt for example. These are stars who have proven themselves to be incredibly talented actors on numerous occasions but who often fall into roles that don’t demand or make use of their talent and instead find them on autopilot, coasting on the charisma of their screen personas rather than inhabiting complex characters. It often comes down to role selection, which is why I so greatly admire actors who have their pick of the litter when it comes to the roles available to them and consistently choose weird, interesting projects. These actors often eschew…
