# Ideal Roles For Actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2012, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649 "2012-12-31T08:10:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/41 "2013-01-02T05:06:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Sean Connery as James Bond. Connery was a director’s choice which, I suppose, is what counts. But Ian Fleming’s ideal James Bond was David Niven. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/42 "2013-01-02T05:33:40Z")
James Garner as Jim Rockford ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/43 "2013-01-02T06:04:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock. Zachary Quinto as Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/44 "2013-01-02T06:06:45Z")
Adam Baldwin will never have a better role than Jayne, and Nathan Fillion will never have a better role than Malcolm Reynolds. They had great characters that gave them a lot of room to work: dark & ruthless, one seemingly by nature(or perhaps because of an unfortunate upbringing), the other due to surviving a savage war, both struggling with their nature, wanting to be more, to be better. They made the most of the opportunity. Of course the whole show was cast to perfection, but I don’t want to give, “Everyone in the cast of Firefly” as an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/45 "2013-01-02T06:33:38Z")
Maybe I’m missing the point of this thread, but it seems to me that most of the posters here are missing the point (unless I am, if you take my meaning). I don’t think the point is, what casting choices _turned out to be ideal_. That’s a matter of the actor taking the role and making it their own. It’s perfect in hindsight, in other words. That’s a good thing, of course, but not terribly interesting. A more interesting concept, and what I thought the OP was getting at, was to come up with new, unused casting choices that totally utilize an actors potential. Much like \*\*the\_diego \*\*did in his post. I’d find that much more fascinating of a conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/46 "2013-01-02T06:54:46Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Maybe I’m missing the point of this thread, but it seems to me that most of the posters here are missing the point (unless I am, if you take my meaning). > > I don’t think the point is, what casting choices _turned out to be ideal_. That’s a matter of the actor taking the role and making it their own. It’s perfect in hindsight, in other words. That’s a good thing, of course, but not terribly interesting. > > A more interesting concept, and what I thought the OP was getting at, was to come up with new, unused casting choices that totally utilize an actors potential. Much like \*\*the\_diego \*\*did in his post. I’d find that much more fascinating of a conversation. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/47 "2013-01-02T07:35:14Z")
Tim Curry as The Darkness in _Legend_ acts through about forty pounds of makeup and is by far the most memorable and intense performance in the movie, and one of the greatest bad guys in movie history. They go SO LUCKY finding Curry for this part. The way he talks (and I don’t just mean the artificial lowering of his voice) is so grandiose and threatening, but at the same time Curry has this pathos that is irresistible. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/48 "2013-01-02T11:48:28Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > A more interesting concept, and what I thought the OP was getting at, was to come up with new, unused casting choices that totally utilize an actors potential. Much like \*\*the\_diego \*\*did in his post. I’d find that much more fascinating of a conversation. OK, here’s one for you, though it’s purely hypothetical (the time when it _might_ have been filmed is long past): _Going after Cacciato_ with Michael J Pollard in the title role, Richard Widmark as the burned-out overage Lieutenant, and Sam Bottoms (the squid with the mustache in _Apocalypse Now_) as Stink. _That_ would have been a great movie! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/49 "2013-01-02T12:07:22Z")
James Cagney said that he was met a drunken John Barrymore (was Drew’s grandfather ever not drunk?) who insisted that Cagney was tailor-made for “Playboy of the Western World”. Marshall Crenshaw was cast as Buddy Holly in “La Bamba”. William Talman as District Attorney Hamilton Burger in “Perry Mason”. As Erle Stanley Gardner noted, even though you know he is going to lose (well,almost always), Talman just had this barely contained glee that he thought he was going to win. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/50 "2013-01-02T12:52:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > the time when it _might_ have been filmed is long past Dennis Quaid as Hal Jordan. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/51 "2013-01-02T13:47:47Z")
Will Smith turned down the ‘Neo’ role in The Matrix, and Keanu Reeves got it. I cannot imagine anyone else playing Neo and the movie wouldn’t have been such a big hit without him. IMO. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/52 "2013-01-02T14:20:29Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Will Smith turned down the ‘Neo’ role in The Matrix, and Keanu Reeves got it. I cannot imagine anyone else playing Neo I can imagine Brandon Lee playing Neo. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/53 "2013-01-02T15:04:22Z")
I know that this thread is for actors who haven’t been cast in their perfect roles yet, but nobody did George W Bush better than [Timothy Bottoms](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1512478720/nm0000961). ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/54 "2013-01-02T15:37:32Z")
[Euguene Levy](http://www.mcmaster.ca/ua/alumni/gallery/images/Dr.-Eugene-Levy.jpg) would make a great [Vince Lombardi](http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/0927/espn_a_lombardiv2_600.jpg). If they ever make a movie based on Asimov’s _Foundation_ novels, Adrian Brody should play The Mule. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/55 "2013-01-02T15:43:39Z")
[Brian Dennehy as Martin Luther.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=677281) Just because of the physical resemblance. Of course, he’s too old now to play anything but very-old Luther. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/56 "2013-01-02T16:06:16Z")
Back in the day (the 80s or so), I thought that a filming of Keith Laumer’s \*Retief \*stories would have been perfect with Tom Selleck as Retief and John Hillerman as Magnan. Of course they are both far too old by now. I also thought Pat Hingle and Nick Nolte would make a good father & son pair, if a movie needed a scraggly-looking, gravely-voiced father and son. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/57 "2013-01-02T17:08:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **The Other Waldo Pepper** > Everyone in The Princess Bride. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **The Second Stone** > Everyone in The Godfather. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Everyone in _Casablanca_. Everyone in Lord of the Rings. Now, much of the dialogue and scenes that deviated from the book I didn’t like, but everyone was perfectly cast IMO. Also Jim Carrey WAS Andy Kaufman in _Man in the Moon_ ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/58 "2013-01-02T18:20:35Z")
Bruce Campbell as the gym coach at a high school for young superheroes in [Sky High](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405325/). Especially since his superpower was shouting really loud. ---
**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/59 "2013-01-03T20:21:36Z")
Meryl Streep was BORN to portray Julia Child…Oh wait. She made a better Julia Child than Julia herself. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649/60 "2013-01-03T20:34:26Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > Everyone in Lord of the Rings. Now, much of the dialogue and scenes that deviated from the book I didn’t like, but everyone was perfectly cast IMO. With the exception of Denethor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideal-roles-for-actors/645649.md?page=4)