Cariou's film credits include "One Man", "Flags of Our Fathers", "About Schmidt", "Thirteen Days", "The Four Seasons", the Harold Prince-directed screen adaptation of "A Little Night Music" with Elizabeth Taylor, and "Secret Window" in which he starred alongside Johnny Depp, who would later go on to play Sweeney Todd in "", the Tim Burton-directed musical based on the Broadway show in which Cariou starred. He played the father in the 2007 film "1408", and the nominal lead role in "The Onion Movie", based on the satirical newspaper. In 2018 he starred alongside Bruce Willis in "Death Wish" as Dr. Paul Kersey's father-in-law.