# How would you cast this Dickens classic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469 "2010-02-10T21:04:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/1 "2010-02-10T21:04:21Z")
I was just thinking that it’s been years since there has been a cinemagraphic treatment of A Tale of Two Cities. The last one was 21 years ago and made for TV, and I didn’t recognize any of the actors. So let’s come up with an A-list cast for the 2010 blockbuster version of this great story. Who would you pick? I’m thinking Susan Sarandon as Madame DuFarge. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/2 "2010-02-10T21:22:08Z")
Maybe Jeff Bridges and Kurt Russell as Carton/Darnay. Johnny Depp and Skeet Ulrich? Not many actors who closely resemble each other occur to me. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/3 "2010-02-10T21:39:21Z")
That’s the hardest part, finding lookalike actors. Solve that, and the rest is easy. Like Ian McKellan as Dr. Manette. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/4 "2010-02-10T23:00:15Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Maybe Jeff Bridges and Kurt Russell as Carton/Darnay. Johnny Depp and Skeet Ulrich? Not many actors who closely resemble each other occur to me. Have the same actor play both. Just use some of that new-fangled movie trickery I’ve heard tell of to pull off the illusion. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/5 "2010-02-10T23:09:54Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Maybe Jeff Bridges and Kurt Russell as Carton/Darnay. Johnny Depp and Skeet Ulrich? Not many actors who closely resemble each other occur to me. Darnay can be an unknown, because he doesn’t have much to do. Also, in the Ronald Colman version, there wasn’t any resemblance, they handled the two places where Carton was supposed to look like Darnay with other plot devices. I think Johnny Depp could be good as Carton, he has the right broodiness and sense of a wasted life, and he’s about the right age. I think Sir Patrick Stewart would be good (although somewhat wasted) as the banker Jarvis Lorry, or else a good alternative for Dr. Manette. The other juicy female part is Miss Pross (played by Edna May Oliver in 1935). I think Emma Thompson might enjoy a character turn like that, and be very good at it. Or for someone completely different, how about Dame Judy Dench? She has to be big enough to fight Madame DeFarge, though, so I think Thompson is a better choice. Lucie Manette can be played by pretty much any pretty young thing, I think, and I don’t know any of those any more to suggest anyone. All the other parts are pretty much character parts, so it’s hard to put blockbuster names in there. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/6 "2010-02-11T13:47:57Z")
I think that Evremonde is a pretty important part. But Gérard Depardieu just seems wrong wrong wrong for it. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/7 "2010-02-11T15:26:26Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Like Ian McKellan as Dr. Manette. Awesome idea. As this is my favorite book – and movie! of all time, I’m prepared to spend some time thinking about this. Hmmm. No one can ever compare to Ronald Colman, but Sydney Carton: Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr. Lucie Manette: Keira Knightley Miss Pross: Frances McDormand Stryver: Philip Seymour Hoffman Evremonde: Hugh Laurie Madame De Farge: Imelda Staunton, Dr. Manette: Ian McKellan Charles Darnay: Brendan Fraser Barsad: Ben Kingsley Jarvis Lorry: Peter O’Toole Jerry Cruncher: Paul Giamatti Seamstress: Emily Blunt Still thinking about Lucie. I really don’t like Keira Knightley. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/8 "2010-02-11T17:54:09Z")
I like her a lot. But in the alternative, I might suggest Natalie Portman, Emily Blunt (if she doesn’t get the Seamstress part), Ellen Page, or even mebbe Anne Hathaway. I think your proposed cast is terrific. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![smaje1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@smaje1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaje1)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/9 "2010-02-11T23:53:47Z")
I can only picture as Cloris Leachman as Madame Defarge in History of the World Part 1. \*Madame DeFarge: We are so poor, we do not even have a language! Just this stupid accent! Fellow Revolutionist: She’s right, she’s right! We all talk like Maurice Chevalier! [impersonates the Chevalier laugh] Fellow Revolutionist: Au-haw-haw. Crowd: Au-haw-haw. \* ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/10 "2010-02-12T09:51:46Z")
Carton/Darnay possibilities- Robert Downey Jr./Jeffrey Dean Morgan or Jake Gyllenhal/Toby Maguire. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/11 "2010-02-12T15:38:50Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Carton/Darnay possibilities- Robert Downey Jr./Jeffrey Dean Morgan or Jake Gyllenhal/Toby Maguire. Those are great ideas. I’d never heard of Morgan before, but after seeing his picture, the resemblance to Downey is striking. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/12 "2010-02-12T16:38:02Z")
Yes, they do look alike. I still like Fraser, as he seems to me to be the Noble Idealist rather than Morgan’s Man of Action, but maybe that’s just because I’ve seen Morgan without his shirt on and I think he could take the guard in the Bastille. Fraser’s a little doughy lately. Maguire is a good idea. I’m warming to Knightley. I don’t have to like her personally to see that she would be a good casting choice. Ang Lee to direct. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/13 "2010-02-13T01:23:51Z")
Lucie Manette has so little to do in the story that acting chops don’t matter much. Any pretty face would do. That’s if it’s a substantially unaltered adaptation, free of such unforgivable abominations as making a _Lord of the Rings_ movie and giving action and lines to Arwen. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-cast-this-dickens-classic/528469/14 "2010-02-13T01:26:40Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > That’s the hardest part, finding lookalike actors. Solve that, and the rest is easy. There’s no technical reason not to cast the same actor as both Carton and Darnay. Dual roles have been done since the B&W days.