With the Polar Express you can’t really classify the actor’s into a particular acting style. For one reason being that the film is animated and done with technology and computers. They were able to use their facial expression to create the characters in the film. The three characters that I recognized were in films prior mostly comedies and were recognized by their voices.
Tom Hanks was the main character in the film and played many parts. I would consider him to be a Interpreter/Star actor. He is an actor who does films and characters that puts his own stamp on it even when playing characters that may have been done before. I felt that in this film he did well in that he was six different characters in the film. The conductor looked and sounded just like himself. When it came to the hero boy you could not tell that it was him at all other then the facial expressions that they picked up from Tom Hanks.
Eddie Deezen played the character called the Know-it-All-Kid. I would consider him to be a Typecast actor he has played a lot of nerd type roles in the past and I think that is why they picked him for the part of the Know-it-all-kid. He was into everyone’s business and knew everything about everything. He also played a nerd in other films such as War Games one of my favorite movies too.
Michael Jeter who played two characters Smokey and Steamer passed away before the release of the film the Polar Express. He played the two men that worked in the steam engine. I think that he would be considered a Wild card actor because in his life time he played a large and different genre of films or shows. I think that he showed this in the playing to very different character’s side by side and you could not have known.
Based on other films that Michael Jeter had done I came to this conclusion that he is a wild card actor. He has been in films such as The Green Mile, Jurassic Park III, The Polar Express, and even on Sesame Street as Mr. Noodles brother. All very different genre’s and characters, you would not be able to classify him. I had a hard time doing so and was very happy that there was a wild card category.
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.