It means he's not funny.

I'll give you Raging Bull, but that's about it. I think that Pacino could have played Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver with style and finesse to spare. However, Deniro at his best couldn't even approach the role of Tony Montana in Scarface. Why? Deniro can't do ethnic roles, unless of course it's Italian American.

Deniro plays the stoic Italian American tough guy. He is a stoic Italian American. Not a big stretch from his own personae. In comedies he plays the stoic tough guy. In gangster flicks he plays the stoic tough guy gangster. Robert Deniro plays Robert Deniro. Period


notice that many of these roles are non-British period pieces, showing his character diversity, and thus his skill as an actor. Unlike Deniro an Italian American who has, to my knowledge always only played Italian Americans, Hopkins is a British actor who has played characters from a diverse range of periods, cultures, and ethnicities:

Hannibal Lecter Silence of the Lambs Oscar winner - best actor
John Quincy Adams (Amistad) Oscar nomination
Pierre Bezukhov (War and Peace)
William Bligh (The Bounty)
Count Galeazzo Ciano (Mussolini and I)
Abraham Van Helsing (Bram Stoker's Dracula)
James Stevens (The Remains of the Day) Oscar nomination
Burt Munro (The World's Fastest Indian)
Richard Nixon (Nixon) Oscar Nomination
Iago (Othello)
Pablo Picasso (Surviving Picasso)
Ptolemy I Soter (Alexander)
Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Adolf Hitler (The Bunker)
Richard the Lionheart (The Lion in Winter)
Titus Andronicus (Titus)
Frederick Treves (The Elephant Man)

OK let's go for a few who aren't your usual names:

Michael Sheen:
http://jonotjoe.files.wordpress.com/...hael-sheen.jpg

It's all about the talent and not the looks. You want someone to play a real character without resorting to caricature- David Frost, Tony Blair, Brian Clough. All carried off with sheer aplomb and then you have his delicate, touching turn in Heartlands and even time for a throway role in the Underworld series of films. Top banana.

Daniel Auteuil
http://medias.lemonde.fr/mmpub/edt/i...tival-p-39.jpg
Consider him the French answer to De Niro but unlike the old masters decline into mediocrity, Auteuil get's better and better- Jean De Florette, Un cœur en hiver, Cache, The Lost Son, 36 Quai des Orfèvres all top films with memorable performances.

Toby Kebbell
http://images.starpulse.com/pictures...SGY-006882.jpg
A British star making it big without having to do the usual 'dashing Englishman' schtick to get notices. Dead Man's Shoes, Rocka Rolla, Control- 3 distinctly different performances and all utterly watchable. Still only 28 this guy is going places.

like i said satchmo, his entire careers built off the back of hannibal. Notice he's only ever won an award for that movie, the rest of the time he's been nominated but never gained anything. And that list compared to de niro's list of movies isn't much.

Have you actually watched hide & seek or godsend?

"After the sudden death of his wife, David Callaway takes his traumatized daughter, Emily, away to find peace and to start their life again in a new home. Emily fails to settle in well, with David becoming concerned as Emily identifies with Charlie. Someone who David has never met before, but who likes to play Hide and Seek."

no italian-american tough guys in that movie.

there's no italian-american tough guys in godsend either.

or meet the fockers. and just ebcause YOU didn't find him funny doesn't mean he wasn't funny. It's not your sense of humour that's all.

You keep bringing up Hide and Seek as though it's a good movie!

I don't think listing awards is relevant to establishing an actors ability.

Hide & Seek and Godsend are truly awful movies. De Niro WAS the shit in the 70's Godfather Part 2, Mean streets, Raging Bull etc but he has made only two truly great film in 20 years- Heat and Casino.

Hopkins is the epitome of understated grace- The Elephant Man, Shadowlands, Howard's End, The Remains Of The Day all truly superb performances.

Have you ever seen Kalifornia? That's one of his best performances ever, IMO.

Thought I'd add a couple more names to the thread.

Bill Murray - not for being a versatile actor, but just because he's brilliant in Wes Anderson films like Rushmore and Life Aquatic and others like Groundhog Day. I think he's funny.

And Jeff Bridges! He was brilliant in K-Pax, fantastic in the Fisher King and who could've made a better Dude?

Checkout a little known 80's crime drama called 8 million Way's To Die from the mid 80's where he plays a recovering alcoholic. Very good film but I can't find the damn thing anywhere. The Last Picture Show and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot are great too.

He really ties a movie together.

This guy peed on it. Am I wrong?