Films where they got exactly the right actor

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Sordel, Oct 27, 2020.

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  1. Alastair Sim in the 1951 A Christmas Carol. No one else has embodied the character of Scrooge so thoroughly, and it is the model by which all other performances - before and after - are compared.
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2020
  2. Hard to believe now that Harvey Keitel was originally cast in the role - I think he would’ve been OK, but nowhere near as good as Sheen.
     
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  3. MrCJF

    MrCJF Best served with coffee and cake.

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    And there's an awful lot of performances to compare him to!
     
  4. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    Now that's an extremely underappreciated film. :)
     
  5. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Extremely! It's not even available on blu-ray last time I checked. One of my favorite films.

    I should also add to the list of exactly the right actor:
    Dexter Gordon in Round Midnight. Rare to find a musician who can act so authentically on camera.
     
  6. Luvtemps

    Luvtemps Forum Resident

    Location:
    P.G.County,Md.
    Denzel[American Gangster]... Brad Pitt[Troy]... James Cagney[White Heat]... Boris Karloff[Frankenstein]... Christian Bale[Batman Begins]...Samuel L. Jackson[Nick Fury-The Avengers]...Ryan Reynolds[Deadpool]...Robert Downey Jr.[Sherlock Holmes].
     
  7. skisdlimit

    skisdlimit Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bellevue, WA
    Shelley Duvall in Popeye (1980). She was born to play Olive Oyl:

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Borgia

    Borgia Do not speak wisely of this night

    Location:
    Arkansas
    I would add Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurgh (sp)
    I had never heard of him as an actor, and when I read the book I sort of pictured the character as a more Hispanic looking male. Bardem owned the part.
     
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  9. nosticker

    nosticker Forum Guy

    Location:
    Ringwood, NJ
    I'll aim lower and say John Goodman in The Flintstones.




    Dan
     
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  10. Otlset

    Otlset I think I am I think

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun, using his long history of serious roles to effectively play the deadpan Drebin, this time for laughs.
     
  11. HoundsOBurkittsville

    HoundsOBurkittsville Deep Wine List Sonic Equivalency

    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio
    Wilson in Cast Away was a spot-on casting choice.
     
  12. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    He did a good job, no doubt, but I give all the credit for that to the Coen bros. Every other role of Bardem's has not been to my liking and the genius of the Coens is that they can cast such an actor in that role and have total magic on the screen. Everything from the choirboy haircut to the slightly manic grin, to the "don't put it in your pocket" delivery was just classic Coens.
     
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  13. Sordel

    Sordel Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Switzerland
    I think we can cover that with the old Grateful Dead epigram: it's not so much that Jackie is the best at what he does in Police Story ... more that he's the only one who could do it. Of course when his career began they wanted him to be the new Bruce Lee, which is ironic because Bruce was also an excellent (and underrated) clown.
     
  14. Baroque

    Baroque Forum Resident

    Anthony Perkins in Psycho. Nervous, likable, thin (couldn't hurt a fly)... not hamming it up like I would expect other actors might, but just possessing enough tics to make you tense. Can't imagine another actor, especially in 1960, that could have pulled this duplicity off.

    [​IMG]
     
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  15. vegafleet

    vegafleet Forum Resident

    No, No, No. Exactly the opposite. I am Cuban and he was so bad at playing a Cuban man that for us the movie is painful to watch. Not offensive, just wrong. Whatever you may think of the merits of the movie and of Pacino's talents in an obviously glorious career ( I thought he was great in The Irishman), he was not a convincing Cuban at all. Even the name was wrong. Montana is not a Cuban surname but a US state. Montano, Montaner, Montanez, yes. Montana, no. It sounded like a shout out to Johnny Utah from Point Break.
     
  16. Andy Smith

    Andy Smith .....Like a good pinch of snuff......

    Wife says “Hugh Grant in any film he’s ever been in...”.
     
  17. MrCJF

    MrCJF Best served with coffee and cake.

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Not watched Surface, just seen the clips. I thought he was great in Carlitos Way playing another Cuban character.
     
  18. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Impossible to imagine Harvey Keitel in that role.
    You mention the Willard character as being a " detached observer " and so he was in the original ' Apocalypse Now '. Detached and a little crazy.
    This characterization is ruined in ' Redux ' where he comes across almost as being just one'of-the -guys.
    " I told you not to stop. Now let's go."
     
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  19. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    How could anyone not like Jane in ' Cat Ballou '?
     
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  20. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Surely you meant ' Clambake '?
     
  21. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump.
     
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  22. bmasters9

    bmasters9 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fountain Inn, SC
    Now there's a thought-- don't recall ever seeing that one.
     
  23. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Well worth watching !
    Great western/ comedy with a good cast.
    Lee Marvin is terrific in a dual role and Jane never looked better.
     
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  24. rikki nadir

    rikki nadir Gentleman Thug

    Location:
    London, UK
    Harrison Ford in Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

    Even more amazing in light of the fact that it very nearly was not to be.
     
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  25. MilMascaras

    MilMascaras Musicologist

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    An old HBO Movie, Liev Schreiber as Orson Welles in “RKO 281” (1999). LS didn’t look too much like OW, and the history was a little ‘off’, but damn, working with what he had, Liev’s casting and acting blew me away.
     
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