When good guys

By MILAN PAURICH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HERE MUST BE SOMETHING IN the bottled water they drink in Hollywood. After playing one variation on the cuddly man-child after another ("Hook," "Jack," "Toys," "Patch Adams," ad nauseam), Robin Williams reinvented himself last year by going psycho in "One Hour Photo" and "Death to Smoochy." Although only one of those films ("One Hour," in which the former Mork did a frightfully good job as a nerdy photo lab technician who becomes obsessed with the family whose pictures he develops) caught on with audiences, Williams proved to fans -- and casting directors -- that he's not a one-trick pony.
Probably the most famous instance of an actor known for good-guy roles turning nasty (and scoring an Oscar in the process) was Anthony Hopkins. Before "Silence of the Lambs," Sir Anthony had built a very nice career for himself out of starchy British authoritarian figures in movies such as "84 Charing Cross Road" and "The Elephant Man." Hannibal Lecter was Hopkins' first shot at pure evil since his schizophrenic ventriloquist in the 1978 flop "Magic," and he apparently liked it. Why else would Hopkins have returned, with diminishing results, to Lecter in both 2001's "Hannibal" and last year's "Red Dragon"?
Can't resist it
Even though the Academy rarely honors performers who play villains, the lure of reinventing their established image is irresistible to many stars. Some (John Travolta in "Face/Off") have simply done it more successfully than others (Travolta in "Battlefield Earth"). Many actors whose on-screen personas bespeak nobility and honor have tackled unsympathetic parts (Kevin Costner in "5000 Miles to Graceland;" Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original "Terminator") to help jump-start stalled careers.
In Costner's case it didn't work, but even Sylvester Stallone -- a k a Rocky Balboa and John Rambo -- is jumping into scoundrel territory for this summer's "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over." While Stallone's career won't necessarily be over if he fails to click with audiences at being bad, it will probably doom any further attempts to do an image "makeover."
Last month in the obituaries for screen legend Gregory Peck, many commented on Peck's inability to successfully portray nasty characters. As Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele in 1978's "The Boys from Brazil," Peck was almost hooted off the screen. Of course, the onetime Atticus Finch was probably inspired by co-star Laurence Olivier's Best Actor nomination for doing the very same thing two years earlier in "Marathon Man." ("Is it safe yet?" Indeed.)
What appeals to them
Apparently, playing characters who are terminally ill or disabled is just as appealing to actors as rascals, and a much safer bet in terms of collecting Oscar gold. Daniel Day-Lewis (cerebral palsy) in "My Left Foot;" Geoffrey Rush (mentally ill) in "Shine;" Jon Voight (paraplegic) in "Coming Home;" Dustin Hoffman (autistic) in "Rainman;" Cliff Robertson (mentally retarded) in "Charly;" Al Pacino (blind) in "Scent of a Woman;" and Patty Duke (blind and deaf) in "The Miracle Worker" are just some of the performers who've won statuettes playing these types of roles. Tom Hanks has actually garnered Best Actor nods for playing both a retarded man ( & quot;Forrest Gump") and a dying one (his AIDS martyr in "Philadelphia").
Some actors are just naturally quirky -- Nicolas Cage, for example -- which makes it easy for them to modulate degrees of wackiness depending on the part. There are Cage's "nice" eccentrics in "Moonstruck," "Raising Arizona," "Peggy Sue Got Married" and the upcoming "Matchstick Men" where he's an obsessive-compulsive con man bonding "Paper Moon"-style with his teenage daughter, and the dangerous Cage nut jobs from "Kiss of Death," "Wild at Heart," "Vampire's Kiss," and "Face/Off."
He-man Mel Gibson took a stab at playing afflicted (a burn victim in "The Man Without a Face") and kooky (a paranoid schizophrenic in "Conspiracy Theory") characters, although neither did much for his career. I guess they just seemed like more of a thespian challenge than another "Lethal Weapon" retread.
The equally eccentric Rush tapped into his Mephistophelian nature with a vengeance in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean." After playing misfits and loners for much of his career ("Back to the Future," "The River's Edge," "Wild at Heart," etc.), Crispin Glover has finally embraced the dark side in this year's "Willard" remake and his recurring Thin Man role in the "Charlie's Angels" franchise.
Women, too
And I haven't forgotten the ladies. Actresses aren't immune to the lure of tackling dastardly dames. Glenn Close switched from Earth moms in "The World According to Garp" and "The Big Chill" to castrating she-devils in "Fatal Attraction" and "Dangerous Liaisons," forging an entirely new career for herself in the process. (Although, with the live-action "101 Dalmatians," Close's Cruella De Vil may have taken things a little too far into the caricature department.)
Or Barbara Stanwyck's calculating femme fatale in "Double Indemnity;" Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson ("The Graduate"); Bette Davis in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"; Michelle Pfeiffer's succulent Catwoman in "Batman Returns"; and, who can forget Faye Dunaway as Joan ("No wire hangers -- ever!") Crawford in "Mommie Dearest"? Considering the career free fall she experienced after taking that role -- becoming typecast as raging eccentrics -- Dunaway would probably prefer that you did. But, that's a whole different story.