Inspired by this thread:
What actor’s lack of physical resemblance is not an impediment to a great portrayal of a real person? I’m thinking of Anthony Hopkins as Nixon, where five minutes into the movie, you just stop worrying about the fact that the actor doesn’t look like the person, because the emotional truth of the portrayal is so complete.
And to match my Toby Jones as Capote in the other thread, I’d give Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote in this thread.
Tom Hanks in Apollo 13.
Also Josh Brolin in W, he is too well built to be the older W, spitting image of the younger man.
Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles.
Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, and for that matter, Reese Witherspoon as June Cash.
Helen Mirren as HRM Queen Elizabeth II
I don’t really care, ever. I mean, it’s a little disconcerting when it’s a Japanese fellow playing Colonel Mustard, but I wouldn’t complain if a Greek was playing a Englishmen, or a Japanese guy playing a Chinese General. Also, male and female aren’t interchangeable (without a lot of makeup – Mrs. Doubtfire-esque).
I think its funny that some of the same examples are being used in both threads (Helen Mirren, Jamie Foxx).
George C. Scott as George S. Patton. Scott’s performance is so defining that actual footage of the real Patton seems wrong.
Frank Langella as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon.
Michael Sheen in pretty much any of his biopics, including David Frost in Frost/Nixon, Brian Clough in The Damned United, and Tony Blair in several things.
I think Kiefer Sutherland did an astonishing job as William Burroughs in Beat, despite being just about as unlike him physically as it is possible to be.
Yeah, no joke. Patton actually sounded more like Strother Martin from “Cool Hand Luke.”
If you happen to click on the link, be forewarned: Some foul language from the movie speech, and hardly any words are spelled correctly.
You know, one of my favorite things about W. is they didn’t spend to much time trying to get everyone looking and sounding just like the Bush gang. I’d rather see good actors play the characters than crappy actors impersonate the characters. The only one who seemed out of place was Thandie Newton, who acted like she was doing an SNL impression of Condolezza Rice.
I don’t see any mention of Jamie Foxx in that thread, Skammer; and it was a discussion of Mirren there (how her performance succeeded in distracting attention from her lack of physical resemblance to QEII) that inspired this thread.
More Patton than Patton. I was going to mention the same thing.
Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter.
After the first few minutes, I forgot completely that she and Loretta Lynn don’t look much alike.
Christian Bale as Batman. That guy looks nothing like me.
Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator. Leo wasn’t as successful, but I bought Blanchett almost immediately.
Jessica Lange convinced me that she was Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams and that she was Frances Farmer in Frances. Lange doesn’t look very much like either woman.
