Though Jonah Hill has already gone serious in Moneyball, and James Franco has previously played a straight face in everything from The Hours to Palo Alto, Rupert Goold's True Story puts the two goofballs of This Is the End (and also Knocked Up) in an intense prison interrogation room as a fallen journalist and an alleged murderer.
The Daily Show host took a summer off from his Comedy Central series to direct Rosewater — starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Halah Bilginer and Shohreh Aghdashloo — offering a fictional account of London-based Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari's memoir Then They Came for Me, which details his period in a Tehran prison in June of 2009 after being arrested while covering the 2009 elections. "I was unfamiliar with the filmmaking process, which can be very long," he told THR. "And I'm not built for that. Ultimately, I said to Maziar, 'I feel like I know a path through this. I think I have a sense of what the individual story is but also what the larger thrust is. Let me just go f—ing write this and let's be done.'"
Steve Carell unrecognizably portrays wealthy benefactor John du Pont in Foxcatcher, and is generating top reviews for his haunting performance: "From the beginning, you can't take your eyes off Carell; as if by some secret alchemy, the actor makes you believe that his character is an entirely uncharismatic man while delivering a completely charismatic performance. The combination of his thin, reedy voice with frequent heavy silences and odd vocal pacing is thoroughly unnerving." To facilitate the genre jump, Carell told THR some advice: "Try to work with someone like [director] Bennett Miller, because he knows what he's doing!"
Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte leaves behind outrageous characters like MacGruber, which was the subject of a poorly-performing 2010 film, to play Bruce Dern's character's son in Alexander Payne's critically-acclaimed Nebraska. In the movie, Forte's character accompanies his father from Montana to Nebraska to claim a purported sweepstakes prize. The film is far from the broad comedy work Forte did in the past. But he told The Hollywood Reporter that didn't stop him from wanting in. "It was such a beautiful script. I felt a connection to the character. I loved it and immediately wanted to be a part of it. The only question was whether they'd let me be a part of it," Forte said.
In a rare dramatic turn, Adam Sandler starred in this 2007 film as a man who lost his family in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and tries to recover from his grief by rekindling a friendship with his old college roommate, played by Don Cheadle. The movie only made $22 million worldwide but Sandler received praise from critics like USA Today's Claudia Puig, who wrote, "His performance as a sad and lost man is occasionally as poignant as one of the heart-wrenching songs on [Bob] Dylan's seminal 1975 album Blood on the Tracks."
Eddie Murphy was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar (and won a Golden Globe and SAG Award in the same category) for his role in DreamWorks' 2006 movie version of the Broadway musical about the rise and fall of a hit girl group in the 1960s. Murphy played drug-addicted R&B star James "Thunder" Early in the movie, which went on to earn $155 million worldwide at the box office.
Steve Martin wrote the screenplay and starred in this 2005 adaptation of his short novel about a love triangle between a salesgirl, a wealthy businessman (Martin) and a slacker. Martin received mixed reviews for his more serious role. New York magazine seemed to summarize the sentiment of critics who agreed that Martin's performance didn't quite work: "Like Woody Allen, Martin has gone the New Yorker route, writing amusing 'casuals' whose tamped-down quality is supposed to signal maturity, and he’s done the same thing with his acting, reducing it to witty minimal wariness."
Bill Murray left behind his Groundhog Day hijinks to play a faded movie star who forms a connection with Scarlett Johansson's young wife in Sofia Coppola's award-winning 2003 film. He was nominated for a lead actor Oscar and SAG award and won a BAFTA and Golden Globe for his role while the movie received a host of other honors. The Focus Features film, which was made for $4 million, went on to gross more than $100 million worldwide at the box office.
Ben Stiller played real-life TV comedy writer Jerry Stahl in the 1998 movie version of his memoir about his $6,000-a-week heroin habit and how it made his life increasingly desperate. The film received middling to positive reviews, but The Washington Post praised Stiller's performance, calling it "a breakthrough" and "what could easily be the finest performance of [his] career."
Mike Myers took on his first dramatic role in Miramax's 1998 movie about Studio 54, playing the club's real life co-founder Steve Rubell. The film made less than $17 million in the U.S. and was panned by most critics. Myers' performance received mixed reviews, with the New York Times calling it "a skin-deep caricature that is only a half-step away from a comic spoof." But The Washington Post said he's "both poignant and funny."
Jim Carrey ditched his rubber-face expressions and his over-the-top physical comedy from hits like Ace Ventura and The Mask to play a man who's unwittingly the subject of a 24/7 reality TV show. He received a Golden Globe award and a memorable Oscar snub for his role in the Paramount film, directed by Dead Poets Society helmer Peter Weir, which made $264 million worldwide.
Dan Aykroyd went from busting ghosts to owning a funeral parlor when he played Anna Chlumsky's character's dad in the 1991 drama My Girl. The film earned nearly $60 million in the U.S. on a $17 million budget and spawned a sequel. Although Aykroyd received a few pans for his lumpy, "hangdog" appearance, he did get a rave review from The Washington Post: "Aykroyd, whose stature as a comic star has fallen sharply, seems to have found his real niche as a dramatic actor. He's marvelous as the cloddish, out-of-it Harry, who in his hands becomes an almost irresistible lunk."
Robin Williams was nominated for a lead actor Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award for his role as English teacher John Keating in this 1989 classic. The film went on to earn $236 million worldwide at the box office.