Actor-Role Confusion: Difference between revisions

 

Not to be confused with [[I Am Not Shazam]], which refers to the confusion of a character with the ''title'' of a work or with the character's [[Catch Phrase]]. Also not to be confused with [[I Am Not Spock]], which refers to an actor who's unable to get any part other than the character for which he or she is known. See also [[But I Play One On TV]], which is when the same thing happens in [[Real Life]]. Contrast [[Your Costume Needs Work]]. Sometimes leads to [[Becoming the Mask]] in less cynical stories.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* The movie ''[[Bolt (Disney)|Bolt]]'' is about a canine television star who mistakes ''himself'' for the superhero he plays on TV. Not that [[Truman Show Plot|he was ever given reason to believe otherwise]].

** Rhino the Hamster suffers from the same confusion.

* In ''[[Galaxy Quest (Film)|Galaxy Quest]]'', the actors in a science fiction TV show are believed to be real heroes by fans from outer space. Of course, they eventually [[Becoming the Mask|rise to the challenge]].

** And it isn't just the fans ''from outer space'' who conflate the two; their die-hard human fans on Earth sometimes have the same problem:

* In the pilot of ''[[The Beverly Hillbillies]]'', Jed asks if Tom Mix is in Beverly Hills, only to be told that Mix is dead (the actor died in 1940). Jed then says "Oh, yeah! What's the matter with me? Remember ''Peril''? He got shot at the end of that picture."

* In ''[[Drake and Josh]]'', Josh was hired to play a criminal as part of a [[Crime Reconstruction]]. He was thereafter arrested several times by people confusing him for the actual criminal.

* ''[[Extras (TV)|Extras]]'' plays with this, in that an [[Adam Westing]] Shaun Williamson is so [[I Am Not Spock|typecast]] as Barry (a character he played for ten years on British soap ''[[Eastenders]]'') that even the ''credits'' identify him as "Barry".

* In the 1970's sitcom ''[[Alice]]'', when [[George Burns]] happens to drop by the diner, ditzy waitress Vera thinks he's [[God]] (from his film ''[[Oh God]]'') paying a visit.

** [[John Barrowman]] has recounted being accosted on the street by fans who insist that he ''is'' Captain Jack Harkness from ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' and ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]''. One time on the Paul O'Grady show, he told of an occasion in which he'd played along, telling a little boy he'd been sent by the Doctor to find a Cyberman...

* John Hinckley Jr, [[Loony Fan]] and probably the greatest example of a [[Misaimed Fandom]] in history, thought assassinating [[Ronald Reagan]] would impress 12-year-old child prostitute [[Jodie Foster]], through some sort of confused combination of the plot elements of ''[[Taxi Driver]]''. (Mentioning this to Ms. Foster, by the way, is [[Berserk Button|a supremely bad idea]].)

* [[Tim Curry]] spent a long time after [[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]] trying to distance himself from Dr, Frank-N-Furter. His "more rabid fans" is the reason Tim put on weight, tried to look more and refused to have anything to do with Rocky Horror until recently.

* Sir [[Ian McKellen]] has stated that, outside of his native British Isles, most fans recognize him as characters such as [[The Lord of the Rings (Film)|Gandalf]]. In fact, when he came to New York to lend support post-911, a policeman actually smiled at him and said, "Thanks for helping out, [[X Men (Film)|Magneto]]." Rather than be upset by it, he finds it an honor to be associated with such iconic characters.