# Interchangeable actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218 "2012-08-21T21:37:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/21 "2012-08-22T12:56:10Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Morgan and JB look like brothers. Brothers nothing, you could cast them as twins…identical twins, at that. The small differences between them are really no different than a lot of identical twins…this one got a little more sun, this one had a small DNA mutation giving him a mole, etc… Freaky… I always thought Ed Harris and Peter Weller were pretty damn interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/22 "2012-08-22T13:30:21Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Loads of people think [Javier Bardem and Jeffrey Dean Morgan](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=javier+bardem+jeffrey+dean+morgan&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1600&bih=732&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=bmo0ULmEHsSfqwGdkoCwAQ) are each other. I’m sure someone reading this thought so. Nope, not at all for me. OTOH, Robert Downey, Jr. and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are near twins in terms of looks. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/23 "2012-08-22T13:38:16Z")
Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera. I’m not the only one: Eisenberg has [complained about it](http://www.okmagazine.com/news/jesse-eisenberg-says-its-annoying-be-mistaken-michael-cera). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/24 "2012-08-22T13:54:08Z")
Harry Dean Stanton and Billy Bob Thornton. ---
**Author:** ![csupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@csupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/csupp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/25 "2012-08-22T13:57:32Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Loads of people think [Javier Bardem and Jeffrey Dean Morgan](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=javier+bardem+jeffrey+dean+morgan&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1600&bih=732&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=bmo0ULmEHsSfqwGdkoCwAQ) are each other. I’m sure someone reading this thought so. When I first saw previews for “Magic City”, I was genuinely surprised to discover Javier Bardem was doing a television series for a pay cable network. And then I was genuinely surprised to discover that wasn’t Javier Bardem. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/26 "2012-08-22T13:59:25Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Brothers nothing, you could cast them as twins…identical twins, at that. The small differences between them are really no different than a lot of identical twins…this one got a little more sun, this one had a small DNA mutation giving him a mole, etc… A few weeks back there was a guy at the restaurant who was either Javier Bardem or the double of Javier Bardem. Having googled his brother and found that there’s no way anybody would mistake them, I’m now thinking it was either Javier Bardem or Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Does anybody know whether Morgan speaks Spanish? One of my brothers has five non-brothers like that (at least three of them happen to be brothers to each other), three of them his same age; apparently he’s a very common model in Spain - but JB and JDM have very unusual looks. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/27 "2012-08-22T15:11:37Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I used to have a hard time remembering which actor was Tobey Maguire and which one was Jake Gyllenhaal, and was not at all surprised when 1) Gyllenhaal was chosen to replace Maguire as Spiderman when it looked like Maguire’s health would not allow him to continue with the series and 2) they were eventually cast as brothers in _Brothers_: [Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal Talk Spider-Man, Mistaken Identities](http://www.eonline.com/news/155112/tobey-maguire-jake-gyllenhaal-talk-spider-man-mistaken-identities) > > In a pinch Wes Bentley could probably sub for either of them. I don’t feel that Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal are quite the same (to me), but for some reason Tobey Maguire and Elijah Wood share a single neuron in my brain. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/28 "2012-08-22T15:35:57Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Those two have to be the lookiest likeys there ever has been. > > For me I think Ed Harris and Tommy Lee Jones could swap easily enough. They don’t look alike, but in terms of character acting they are at an equal quality level, and a similar intensity, accents excepted. Harris has never really done comedy like Jones has (in his indomitable deadpan style, natch). Harris would have never worked out well in the Men in Black movies, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/29 "2012-08-22T15:52:24Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I always though that Glenn Close and Meryl Streep were completely redundant. Two middle-aged, homely, great actresses. Why do we need both? For years, Glenn Close was the “I’ll play light comedy and TV” edition of Meryl Streep. However, now that Streep allows herself to play comedy it’s pretty much down to TV or not TV. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/30 "2012-08-22T16:08:03Z")
I would have sworn that Kathleen Freeman playe “The Concierge” in “The Producers” (1968. Much to my surprise some years ago when I saw it, I thought, “That’s not Kathleen Freeman,” and the credit indicates it was a Madelyn Cates, who has a modest credit list of bit roles. Similarly, I had thought that the role of Potiphar in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” was played by Glenn Shadix, but no. It’s Ian McNeice. In either of those cases, I thing the substitution would have been seamless. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/31 "2012-08-22T16:32:26Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I always though that Glenn Close and Meryl Streep were completely redundant. Two middle-aged, homely, great actresses. Why do we need both? Meryl Streep homely? Maybe by Hollywood standards but she is an attractive woman. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/32 "2012-08-22T16:35:35Z")
I’m constantly forgetting which movies had Lee Marvin and which had James Coburn- to me, they were always interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![csupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@csupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/csupp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/33 "2012-08-22T16:58:32Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’m constantly forgetting which movies had Lee Marvin and which had James Coburn- to me, they were always interchangeable. I can see how, in just their appearance, you could possibly get the two mixed up. But if you honestly think Lee Marvin and James Coburn were interchangeable, you haven’t seen the right Lee Marvin movies.. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/34 "2012-08-22T17:06:49Z")
Melanie Griffith and Meg Ryan (OK…back in the 80’s) Russel Crowe and Hugh Jackman Paul Gleason (when he was alive) and Jeffrey Jones ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/35 "2012-08-22T17:21:30Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Another one would be Anthony Hopkins and Michael Caine, though they’re different enough in that you want Hopkins for the edgiest roles, and Caine for when a comedic touch is needed-but they’d still be interchangeable for most of their roles. Caine’s turn in Quills is worthy of Hopkins. Bills Paxton and Pullman are the classic ones. I always confuse Steve Buscemi and John Leguizamo after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/36 "2012-08-22T17:33:54Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Mark Strong (Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Green Lantern) and Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter series of films, The Patriot). If your film calls for “sinister, lipless, English douche with receeding hairline” I think either will do. They’re not identical by any means, but Mark Strong, Elias Koteas, and someone else… Jeremy Piven maybe, have enough overlap and a similar hair line and are often shaved, which confuses me. Some say Andy Garcia, but I don’t see it. > [@AK84](#): > > Actors. Kevin Bacon and Jon Bon Jovi to an extent. Kevin Bacon and Christian Slater. No idea what their degrees of separation are. Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson didn’t look identical, but if I were to meet “a famous director,” I wouldn’t know how to meet him. Recent weight loss has made this easier. Ms. Sagdiyev Isla Fisher and Amy Adams. ---
**Author:** ![csupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@csupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/csupp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/37 "2012-08-22T17:38:03Z")
Kevin Bacon and Christain Slater were in Murder In The First together. Hardly any separation at all. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/38 "2012-08-22T17:59:30Z")
There’s a lot of pictures where [Benicio del Toro looks like an ethnic Brad Pitt](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&cp=19&gs_id=aw&xhr=t&q=benicio+del+toro+brad+pitt&safe=off&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1600&bih=705&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=oR01UKqmI4q1ygGsooHQBQ). Odd that one is thought an Adonis and the other often thought fugly. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/39 "2012-08-22T18:20:21Z")
They obviously don’t look anything alike, but I always have trouble remembering which one is Keith David and which one is David Keith. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218/40 "2012-08-22T18:21:51Z")
> [@csupp](#): > > I can see how, in just their appearance, you could possibly get the two mixed up. But if you honestly think Lee Marvin and James Coburn were interchangeable, you haven’t seen the right Lee Marvin movies.. Well, if you mean that Cassavetes would’ve kicked Coburn’s ass in \*\*\*The Dirty Dozen, \*\*\*I agree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interchangeable-actors/632218.md?page=3)