Difficult to Impossible Acting Challenges

Cafe Society
1

This might go in The Game Room since it’s for laughs and kicks, but since the main idea is acting, I’ll start it here.

We’ve done things like this before, but this may be a new wrinkle.

Think of a role and an actor who would have The Most trouble bringing it off with anything close to the power of the original actor.

A few examples:

Matthew Broderick as Michael Corleone
David Letterman in the Ryan Oneal role in Love Story
Pauly Shore as any of the Hannibal Lecters
Lon Chaney in the Gene Kelly role in Singin’ in the Rain

Sandra Bernhard as Dorothy Gale
Phyllis Diller as Norma Desmond
Natalie Wood in Elizabeth Taylor’s role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Judi Dench in Annie Get Your Gun

2

Woody Allen as The Terminator.

3

Ah-nuld in *any * Woody Allen role.

4

Adam Sandler as Will Munny (Unforgiven)
Tom Arnold as Gandhi
Ben Kingsley as Tarzan
Salma Hayek as The Wicked Witch of the West
Grace Kelly as Gypsy Rose Lee
Peter O’Toole in a biopic on Ed Sullivan
Rodney Dangerfield as Hitler

5

Believe it or not, I can see it.

I can see it.

I can see it.

6

Haley Joel Osment as Walter Lee Younger (A Raisin in the Sun)

7

Not only can I see it, I have some wardrobe suggestions.

8

My eyes are opening a tad toward the garments she almost had on in Dusk to Dawn (whatever the actual title is)

9

How about Charlton Heston as a Mexican?

10

Well, of course, now: Charleton Heston in just about anything except Weekend at Bernie’s.

11

Or John Wayne as Genghis Khan.

12

Uhh, not an Orson Welles fan, are you?

13

Samuel L. Jackson as the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz

14

Do you think that casting choice was Welles’s idea?

15

I have no idea - why? I was just alluding to the fact the Charlton Heston has already played a Mexican.

On Edit: Knowing what I know about Welles, the smart money would be on ‘yes’. Everything was his choice when he was allowed a choice. Still curious why you ask.

16

The casting of Heston in Touch of Evil is a famous (but untrue) Hollywood story. Short reversion: it was not Welles’s idea; he was not happy about it. This story is the basis of jokes in Ed Wood and Get Shorty. In actuality, Heston was attached before Welles.

And at this point in his career, Welles had no control. Touch of Evil was re-cut and scenes were re-shot without the approval of Welles.

17

If you already knew all this then what was post #9 all about?

18

It was a joke - just like the response in post 11.

19

Heston was also the one who got the producers and the studio to have Welles direct the movie. Welles had been originally hired only as an actor.