Being Typecast

There’s an episode of Entourage where Ari takes Vince and the crew to an LA Lakers basketball game. Courtside of course.

Ostensibly they’re there to see the game (or perhaps be seen), but the underlying reason is for Ari to persuade Vince to take the lead role in Aquaman, a big budget tentpole studio movie.

Vince’s dilemma is clear: take the gig and get rich, but risk being typecast and losing out on more creatively rewarding work.

Being LA, and being the Lakers, there are plenty of superhero celebrities in the house.

Batman behind the basket, Spiderman next to the home team bench, The Joker on halfway.

They’re all typecast. Or as Ari says ‘they’re all typecast… as rich guys’.

Here’s the other thing about being typecast. 

You’re trusted. Especially for that particular Job to be Done.

People know where to go, and if you’re particularly remarkable they’re going to go to you and you alone.

Few of us like to think we’re being typecast. It feels like a strait jacket.

But maybe being typecast isn’t so bad. 

The bigger question is how we balance being recognised for a specific role with our desire to spread our wings into other areas.

Perhaps the very best of the cinematic superheroes hold the answer.

[1] I’d had this post in a draft for a while but given the release of the real Aquaman movie it felt like time to publish this post and let it sink or swim