When you go to the movies to see films with actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Chuck Norris you expect an action film. The reason you expect this is based upon the actors previous success and the genres they've played. If the star was in a lot of horror films, you would expect the movie their in to be in that genre also. Hollywood calls this process of categorizing actors typecasting and uses it constantly when planning roles for actors.
When it was announced that Jim Carrey was playing the lead role in horror film "The Number 23," people were shocked! The actors name brought to mind comedies such as "Ace Ventura: Per Detective" and "Dumb and Dumber," not horror films. Although he had done a few more mellow roles such as "Eternal Sunshine in the Spotless Mind" and "The Truman Show," audiences were still skeptical of such a different role. This is because his image had been so overly typecasted that it was hurting his chances of expanding his career.
Typecasting is usually harmful to a star's success when they want to try different roles or genres. Although playing the same field has created major success for actors like Will Ferrel, because their movies are stereotyped as being good just because of the actors success in that genre. Actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Owen Wilson, and Mark Hamil have experienced little success though when trying to act in different areas. Typecasting has it's harmful effects, but without it fans wouldn't know what to expect from actors and would hurt the star's persona.In case you haven't seen it here's the trailer for the Number 23. It felt so weird to see Jim Carrie in this movie that he actually seemed out of place. He did a phenomenal job though.
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