The film industry is built on trends. The passing of time is separated by distinct cinematic eras, each of which is designed to cater to whichever specific thing audiences seem to be particularly drawn to at any given moment. It is a business, after all, and catering to popular demand is just common sense – when a winning formula is discovered, it’s wise to stick to it until it stops winning.
This phenomenon often leads to typecasting, though. Finding that an actor has a specific talent that allows them to meet a specific need can be a fast track to success, but it can also result in that actor doing the same thing in movie after movie. Typecasting also commonly prevents actors from landing roles outside of their particular niche, which can be especially frustrating for their creative tendencies. They’re artists, after all, and when business and art are opposed, it’s usually the latter that loses out.
Some typecasting means that actors can’t stop doing the same weird things again and again – like wearing hats or nodding their heads excessively – but mostly, it just means that they’re associated with specific types of roles forever. This always starts somewhere – usually with one movie that finds particular success – and then the actor in question finds themselves stuck in a strange creative loop. Here are seven examples of just that: films that managed to get their actors typecast in specific roles, for better or worse.
7. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Actor(s) that got typecast: Johnny Depp
There was once a time when Johnny Depp was a heartthrob and little else, but that was in the days before 1990 (also known as the ’80s). Edward Scissorhands changed all that, with Depp taking on the title role as a sort of Frankenstein’s monster with large blades for fingers. Primarily a strange suburban fantasy romantic drama, Edward Scissorhands cemented Depp’s place as a big-name actor, but it also marked his first collaboration with Tim Burton – a collaboration that has since come to define Depp’s acting career.
The typecasting that Depp experienced was partly voluntary and entirely subtle. After Edward Scissorhands, Depp went on to play a string of eccentric characters, most of which with some fantastical spin. Some of his highest-profile roles include Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood in Ed Wood, Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.
The other aspect of Depp’s typecasting is that all of the above roles other than Pirates were collaborations with Tim Burton. Edward Scissorhands seemed to spur a creative partnership between Depp and Burton that has persisted in the decades since, with it becoming something of a running joke that the two are always making strangely dark and gothic fantasy movies together (usually with Helen Bonham Carter, too). Depp’s typecasting has contributed significantly to his image, and it certainly hasn’t hurt his career, but he has been stuck playing decidedly eccentric roles ever since Edward Scissorhands.