A while ago, I watched one of those The Best Movies You Didn’t See This Year videos on YouTube. One of the recommendations was Hell or High Water starring Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges. It looked good, so I watched it. Just a couple weeks later it was nominated for Best Picture.
I really enjoyed the film. Jeff Bridges was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, and while I really enjoyed what he did in Hell or High Water, he was doing stuff similar to what I have seen him do before.
Chris Pine, on the other hand, was definitely far away from Captain Kirk, Jack Ryan, or whatever the hell his name was in that spy/romance/comedy thing with Tom Hardy. Granted, I haven’t seen every movie Pine has ever been in, but part of why I really enjoyed his performance in Hell or High Water was because of how different it was from any character I have ever seen him play.
I really enjoy seeing actors break out of their type. I enjoyed Arnold putting the Terminator aside for Twins and Kindergarten Cop. I liked watching Jim Carrey in Truman Show. And Heath Ledger as the Joker? I mean, come on, where the hell did that come from?
We all have distinct roles we play in our lives, and we are all painted a certain way by certain people. For some, those images of us will never change no matter what we say or do in the future. Deep down we know we are more than our jobs, our pasts, our mistakes. We all know that if Person X could just see the real us, then things would change.
So, when I see an actor break his or her mold, I cheer, because I want to believe I can break my mold, too.
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