This thread discussing the appropriate casting of Lynn Collins as the incomparable Dejah Thoris made me think, what film got it right?
In my opinion:
Wrong - Diane Kruger as Helen in Troy (she’s pretty, but “the face that launched a thousand ships” is a high standard)
Right - Uma Thurman as Venus in the Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Right - Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, whenever they talk about casting the big Wonder Woman movie, I always think - who could be more perfect than Lynda Carter?
There’s just no way to please everyone. I’m paraphrasing but I think someone on these boards once said something to the effect of “it could be Venus herself venturing nude from the sea and someone on the internet would say she wasn’t all that hot.” We’re never going to find someone that we can universally agree on has the face that could launch a thousand ships.
Actually, what they’d probably say is that she has sharp knees.
They couldn’t have done a better job casting Number Six (Tricia Helfer) on BSG.
Kruger was about as good as any.
I always thought Carter looked like she had a hair lip repaired.
Since you mentioned Helen of Troy, I invite you to look at a few moments of the Katharine Hepburn vehicle of 1971, The Trojan Women, and a brief scene of the Greek actress Irene Papas as Helen. This is a woman past her prime (because the 10 years of war have ended, and in fact the actress was 45 or so when this was filmed) but still lush and beautiful. The scene I remember is her bathing, and you see her torso from the back. Inspired casting, alongside all the anglo-looking other leading women, she really stood out as a Mediterranean beauty.
I looked for a clip of the scene on youtube, but I did not find one. There are however, several clips of other parts of her performance in that film.
Roddy
Liv Tyler as Arwen.
Cate Blanchett as Galadriel.
Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara.
Totally, utterly, dead dead wrong: Liv Tyler as Tatyana in ‘Onegin’
Perfect: Linda Fiorentino as Bridget, ‘The Last Seduction’
Perfect: Mena Suvari as Angela, ‘American Beauty’
Perfect: Katharine Ross as Etta, ‘Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid’
Perfect: Marilyn Monroe as The Girl, ‘The Seven Year Itch’
Perfect: Scarlett Johansson as Charlotte, ‘Lost In Translation’
Perfect: Barbara Stanwyck as Phyliss, ‘Double Indemnity’ and as Eugenia, ‘The Lady Eve’
Famously hopelessly wrong: Nanette Newman as Carol, ‘The Stepford Wives’ (1975)
I’ve never read the book, but I seem to remember reading that Scarlett was not being very conventionally attractive.
Audrey Hepburn as Natasha Rostova in King Vidor’s War and Peace
There was an episode of Bones where Brennan (Emily Deschanel) dressed up as Wonder Woman for Halloween, and she looked pretty good.
Even aside from that being such a high standard, she doesn’t really look Mediterranean. And she’s also wearing way too much makeup: The standard for perfect makeup is that you shouldn’t be able to tell that she’s wearing makeup. That much eyeshadow makes her look like a bimbo, not a beauty.
In the “good” category, I’ll name Robin Wright in The Princess Bride, and Mila Jovavich in The Fifth Element.
I’ll second **ianzin’s **mention of Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction (as perfect casting).
And I’ll add Charlotte Rampling as Lucia in The Night Porter. And Lena Olin in The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
I think this post may say too much about me.
Nobody, though I disagree with you regarding the adorable, even hot, but ultimately plain-faced Uma Thurman, which shows the fault with comparing the Grecian ideal with the really hot girl from Geometry Class.
ETA, but too late: Lynda Carter isn’t the “really hot…” woman described above. Instead, she is a woman my age who is still smoking despite being a Republican. The former describes many women. The latter seems to be limited to Lynda Carter and Heather Locklear. Why? You’ve all heard of women who are convinced that all that is needed to turn a gay guy straight is the love of a perfect woman, usually her, right? It’s a lot like that, but with less self-delusion.
I was underwhelmed by Kruger in Troy as well; Saffron Burrows as Andromache and Rose Byrne as Briseis were both, IMHO, more striking than her. She’s too blonde and Nordic for Helen, and not even the most beautiful blonde Nordic woman to play Helen. That honor would go to Sienna Guillory, who played Helen in the TV miniseries Helen of Troy. There’s an opening shot where Helen is galloping along on a horse where Guillory is just stunning. The mini, btw, is marginally more accurate than the movie Troy, and keeps elements such as Cassandra’s prophecy, Iphigenia’s sacrifice, and Paris’ death.
I would personally love to see an actual Greek actress such as Maria Nafpliotou(seen here at the Athens olympics) play Helen.
Zoë Saldana as Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek reimaging. When I saw that film, I thought “yep. she’s got the same beauty that Nichelle Nichols had.”
Be still, my heart… Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice: http://rplib.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/pride-and-prejudice-dvdcover-2005.jpg
Jada Pinkett-Smith as Niobe in The Matrix Reloaded: http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Reviews/Matrix/Images/Niobe.jpg
Miranda Otto as Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: http://becandcall.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/27/eowyn.jpg
Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Mask of Zorro: http://m.blog.hu/ko/kobli/image/maskofzorro.jpg
Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca: http://modazkrakowa.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/casablanca3.jpg
Monica Bellucci in whichever Matrix sequel she was in.
Kate Winslet in Titanic.
