Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks have arguably been the most versatile actors of the last decade. Their range of roles is incomparable to most actors today.

Tom Hanks has been a child-turned-adult in Big, a toy cowboy in Toy Story, a Karkhozian national in The Terminal, a hermit in Castaway, Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code and who can forget his amazing Oscar-winning performance as Forrest Gump.

Depp, meanwhile, has played Willy Wonka, Captain Jack Sparrow (which he will reprise later this year), Donnie Brasco, Edward Scissorhands and a balding oddball journalist in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to name a few.

Needless to say, diversity is a word that springs to mind with just a passing glance at their respective filmographies. It is the sign of a great actor.

Recently I have been fortunate enough to study the films of Howard Hawks and whilst doing so came across an actor by the name of Paul Muni. Muni appeared in a string of successful films including I’m a fugitive in a chain gang and the 1932 original of Scarface. He was an actor as adaptable as Hanks and varied as Depp and over his career was nominated for six Oscars, winning one. However, if I walked up to a person in the street and asked them who Paul Muni was, nine out of ten times they would not know. On the other hand, if I walked up to the same person and asked who John Wayne was, a man who had three Oscar nominations, everybody would know. It is understandable that John Wayne is a film legend but why is this so?

The iconic John Wayne played a different character in each film but the roles were all very similar. Simply put, Wayne was typecast as the all-American hero of the Western genre. Bar a few roles, there was no diversity in his acting and yet he is an actor remembered by millions. In fact, he is known by people who have never seen one of his films or even his face.

In the space of just over seventy years Paul Muni, a great versatile actor has been all but forgotten, whereas a man who never really moved away from the role he was given will always be remembered.

My fear is that, in seventy years time, great actors like Depp, who has never won an Oscar, and Hanks will be what Paul Muni has become now…forgotten. Yet they are the real stars, the true actors of film. They can play any role and flourish in it.

When questioned on the diversity of his roles Depp said "I think it's an actor's responsibility to change every time. Not only for himself and the people he's working with, but for the audience. If you just go out and deliver the same dish every time...it's meatloaf again...you'd get bored. I'd get bored."  I adhere to this sentiment whole-heartedly. However, probably to the dismay of the cinema-going public today, it will be true greats likes Hanks and Depp that will be forgotten, and who are the men that will stand the test of time?…Stallone and Scwarzenegger.

Hastalavista baby.

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