# Perfectly cast beauties **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692 "2010-02-27T22:03:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/61 "2010-02-28T23:24:20Z")
I know that a lot of people prefer Julie Newmar, but I think that Lee Meriwether brought an amazing amount of feline appeal to the horrid **Batman** movie. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/62 "2010-02-28T23:36:47Z")
Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark Perfect combination of Ivory Girl and Gutsy Dame. How could you not fall in love with her (or, in my case, want to be her)? ---
**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:** [March 1, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/63 "2010-03-01T06:12:36Z")
Darryl Hannah in _Splash_: [http://jamieatlas.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/darryl-hannaho.jpg](http://jamieatlas.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/darryl-hannaho.jpg) Kathleen Turner in _Body Heat_: [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews25/a%20body%20heat%20kathleen%20turner/old%20body%20heat%20kathleen%20turner%202034.jpg](http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews25/a%20body%20heat%20kathleen%20turner/old%20body%20heat%20kathleen%20turner%202034.jpg) Donna Reed in _It’s a Wonderful Life_: [http://buttondown.mattalgren.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/donna-reed-jimmy-stewart.jpg](http://buttondown.mattalgren.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/donna-reed-jimmy-stewart.jpg) Embeth Davidtz in _Matilda_: [http://www.kinoweb.de/film97/Matilda/pix/honey.jpg](http://www.kinoweb.de/film97/Matilda/pix/honey.jpg) Jennifer Connelly in _Dark City_: [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/\_C\_8M2WVWfgM/STQoLjfsRMI/AAAAAAAAAf4/JiiN\_sQjEjs/s320/jennifer-connelly-dark-city.jpg](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_C_8M2WVWfgM/STQoLjfsRMI/AAAAAAAAAf4/JiiN_sQjEjs/s320/jennifer-connelly-dark-city.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/64 "2010-03-01T11:04:05Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > Absolutely. And Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole in _ **How to Steal a Million** _. Quite possibly the best looking couple ever captured on film. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had nothing on them. Great film. It has such a relaxed demeanour; one that seems to be almost impossible to replicate nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/65 "2010-03-01T11:12:29Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > **Jennifer Garner** as Electra in _Daredevil_. She was so perfect in the part they had another movie just about Electra, which would’ve been all right if the script to Electra hadn’t been incomprehensible when it wasn’t stupid. I totally disagree. Elektra is Greek, with an obviously Mediterranean, exotic look. Jennifer Garner got the attitude about right, but the look was all wrong. She looks entirely too Anglo-Saxon and boring. I see Elektra more like [this](http://dienekes.50webs.com/blog/archives/bellucci.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/66 "2010-03-01T11:25:16Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I’ve alway thought this was just so-so casting. Buttercup was supposed to be the \* most beautiful woman in the world \*. Robin Wright was (is?) very attractive but you could put her in a number of Hollywood rooms where she won’t even make the podium. At the time they were doing the movie, Darryl Hannah was at the top of her ethereal otherworldly beauty fame from Splash. Physically, I think she would have been the perfect Buttercup. Oh God, no. I’d take Robin Wright over Darryl Hannah any day of the week. I think it’s hard to do much better as Buttercup than they did. Is she without a doubt the most beautiful woman in the world? No, but that’s pretty hard to find, and cast, and have someone with good dramatic and comedic timing (even though she plays it straight most of the film). I also love that Buttercup wasn’t a stringy stick figure with sunken eyes that seems to pass for beauty too often nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/67 "2010-03-01T11:47:48Z")
**Wintertime** beat me to mentioning Rita Hayworth in **Gilda**. It is certainly memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/68 "2010-03-01T12:13:02Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > WTF were they thinking? - Shelley Duvall “The Shining” I liked her in _The Shining_ but you gotta admit the woman was born to play Olive Oyl (her casting being one of the very few justifications for the _Popeye_ movie). ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/69 "2010-03-01T12:35:10Z")
Julie Christie in Dr Zhivago Grace Kelly in Rear Window ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/70 "2010-03-01T13:12:44Z")
[Sharmila Tagore in Satyajit Ray’s _Devi_.](http://auteurs_production.s3.amazonaws.com/stills/19931/devi-1960.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/71 "2010-03-01T13:45:07Z")
> [@torie](#): > > I totally disagree. Elektra is Greek, with an obviously Mediterranean, exotic look. Jennifer Garner got the attitude about right, but the look was all wrong. She looks entirely too Anglo-Saxon and boring. > > I see Elektra more like [this](http://dienekes.50webs.com/blog/archives/bellucci.jpg). I can assure you that she looks even more gorgeous in life, but she is not at all athletic, so I can’t see Monica as Electra. But I consider her the perfect choice in Giuseppe Tornatores _Malèna_. I agree with Grace Kelly in _Rear Window_; Hitchcock also chose well, when he opted for **Kim Novak** in _Vertigo_; no other of Hitchcock’s blondes would have fit. And since it was an iconic role: **Jane Fonda** as/in _Barbarella_. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/72 "2010-03-01T14:19:17Z")
Hedy Lamarr _was_ Delilah ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/73 "2010-03-01T14:34:23Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I liked her in _The Shining_ but you gotta admit the woman was born to play Olive Oyl (her casting being one of the very few justifications for the _Popeye_ movie). She’s not as detrimental to the film as “Tony, the talking finger”, but I do find her an irritating distraction. Aside from Nicholson & certain select scenes, I find _The Shining_ to be a big disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/74 "2010-03-01T16:39:34Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > **Jennifer Garner** as Electra in _Daredevil_. She was so perfect in the part they had another movie just about Electra, which would’ve been all right if the script to Electra hadn’t been incomprehensible when it wasn’t stupid. Though I always enjoy watching Jennifer Garner, especially when she’s encased in red leather, I have to agree with one reviewer who said that she was supposed to be some super-badass but looked like she was thinking of kittens most of the time. Because Wonder Woman got mentioned earlier in the thread so I’m thinking of super-heroine movies, I really think that Charisma Carpenter needs to play WW. She’s got the look, she’s definitely got the body, she’s got the action chops from Buffy and Angel. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/75 "2010-03-01T16:49:07Z")
Matilda May in Lifeforce pretty much drop-kicked me through puberty in about 5 minutes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/76 "2010-03-01T16:49:27Z")
I thought that Catherine McCormack did well in Dangerous Beauty. I don’t know what the actual courtesan (Veronica Franco) was supposed to look like, but she was believable as a courtesan to me - > **[Dangerous Beauty (1998) ⭐ 7.1 | Biography, Drama, Romance](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118892/)** > > 1h 51m | R ---
**Author:** ![joemama24\_98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@joemama24\_98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joemama24_98)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/77 "2010-03-01T16:52:39Z")
Beyonce in Austin Power’s “GoldMember”. She was the perfect Foxy Cleopatra. Even though she disowns the role now, Michele Pfeiffer in Grease 2 was my first childhood crush. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/78 "2010-03-01T17:46:04Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > WTF were they thinking? - Shelley Duvall “The Shining” That role wasn’t supposed to have a beauty filling it. She was supposed to be a harried wife, coming out to this hotel in the middle of nowhere, hoping for a second chance with her recovering (?) alcoholic husband who’d broken their son’s arm previously, and who lost his job. Plus if you’re matching attractiveness in partners, Nicholson has never been (well, perhaps when he was young) an absolute stunner in looks. (Agreed on the Olive Oyl resemblance mentioned by another poster, though.) ---
**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:** [March 1, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/79 "2010-03-01T17:50:17Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Kathleen Turner in _Body Heat_: [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews25/a%20body%20heat%20kathleen%20turner/old%20body%20heat%20kathleen%20turner%202034.jpg](http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews25/a%20body%20heat%20kathleen%20turner/old%20body%20heat%20kathleen%20turner%202034.jpg)… That link has shifted to the opening page of a DVD seller. Instead, try: [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/\_LP\_YP0I7zZY/SddW4OhEiWI/AAAAAAAAB28/4sLwOdBMYQ8/s400/Kathleen-Turner-Body\_l.jpg](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_LP_YP0I7zZY/SddW4OhEiWI/AAAAAAAAB28/4sLwOdBMYQ8/s400/Kathleen-Turner-Body_l.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692/80 "2010-03-01T18:38:37Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > Though I always enjoy watching Jennifer Garner, especially when she’s encased in red leather, I have to agree with one reviewer who said that she was supposed to be some super-badass but looked like she was thinking of kittens most of the time. Coincidentally, “Elektra” was on TV yesterday and we watched it during braks in the game. Jennifer Garner was just fricking awful. There were scenes where, to be perfectly honest, she looked like a high school kid acting for the third time in her life. It was a bad script, and she’s acted well in other stuff, so I’d have to conclude that she just was not suitable to carry the role in a full length movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfectly-cast-beauties/530692.md?page=5)