While I mostly agree, have you forgotten about G.I. Joe?
Tom Hanks used to be the poor man’s Bill Murray, but I think it’s the other way around now.
I think Ian Shaw is at least a backup Robert Shaw. He just needs to get a little more craggy.
My family and I used to do this when watching old movies. We’d always mention X, the guy they called when they couldn’t get Y.
Having trouble remembering too many; I know Ralph Morgan was X to his brother Frank’s Y.
Yeah, me and my wife do that. I’m sure one of us said that line in the OP at some point or another, which is why it was floating around in my subconscious.
And some people are someone else’s stunt double. Like Jesse Eisenberg is the low-budget project’s Michael Cera (well, maybe not after Zombieland, but they clearly wanted Cera for Adventureland), but Skeet Ulrich is actually more like Johnny Depp’s stunt double than someone they’d replace him with if they were low on funds.
Disappointments?
Having seen 10 things I hate about you where they were standing right next to each other, I definitely don’t agree.
I didn’t forget, I purposefully didn’t watch what I knew was going to be a steaming pile of shit. That said, having checked IMDB:
:eek:
:dubious:
That film pretty much destroys my argument, unless of course he really REALLY wanted to do that movie so much he was willing to sacrifice his principles of only playing in good films.
I always thought Mark Harmon was the cheap Kevin Costner.
Elijah Wood and Tobey Maguire seem pretty interchangeable. But which is the poor man’s version of the other?
Anthony Hopkins was the younger/cheaper Richard Burton.
Actually, it doesn’t destroy your argument at all. People have asked Levitt about his choice to do that movie and he said that he thought it would be fun to do a blockbustery kind of thing and he knows he will probably never, ever have the chance again. It’s not something that was ever really in his plans otherwise.
I only brought it up because so many people think Ledger and Gordon-Levitt look alike. Meh, they’ve got almond eyes and kid of the same mouth, but Levitt is one super scrawny dude. (Granted, a reviewer of A Knight’s Tale recommended Ledger always keep his shirt on because when he was younger he was scrawny too, and looked “like a plucked chicken”.)
Oh, phew, vindication! 
Yes Levitt is one scrawny little puppy. You look at films of his from years ago thinking “I wonder what he’ll look like when he’s filled out a bit” and years later he still hasn’t. Maybe he’ll be like Cary Elwes and turn into a pudgy schlub in his 40s.
I was almost on the “they look nothing alike” train (here’s a pic from 10 Things), but now that Levitt has gotten a little older, I can see some resemblance from certain angles. That’s a far cry from saying their interchangeable. They’re completely different acting types, too. As much as I love Levitt, he just doesn’t have that screen-filling charisma that Ledger had.
Hard to have screen presence when you disappear every time you turn sideways because you’re so skinny. Just sayin’.
I actually really like Levitt, but yeah, he’s got a totally different feel to his performances. Very different performers those two.
Acting-wise, Dennis Leary is the poor man’s James Woods.
And then there’s Emile “I Guess Leonardo DiCaprio Was Busy” Hirsch.
Personally I rate Levitt higher - anyone who can go from Brick to Mysterious Skin and then into 500 days of summer so effortlessly should be rated highly, in my book.
I don’t get that at all. They’re ten years apart, at ages where those ten years matter. I *might *buy him as a 'young Leo" type, but no way as a substitute Leo.
Okay. Emile “I Guess Leonardo Got Too Old” Hirsch.
Kenneth Branagh is the cheaper / less dead Olivier.