When they filmed Doctor No, Ian Fleming wanted them to cast David Niven or Roger Moore. He though Sean Connery was completely wrong for the role. But in later books, his descriptions of Bond are a good match for Connery, and he added a Scottish element to Bond’s backstory.
The Pink Panther was intended to be a vehicle for David Niven, and Inspector Clouseau was to be a minor supporting character. But Peter Sellers kept stealing the show, so they re-wrote it to give him a bigger role.
Not…entirely. Conan Doyle’s Holmes has a certain quiet snarkiness.
As a kid when those came out I had always been confused about why the title was so unrelated to the emphasis of the content. Thank you.
Which is why I said “pretty true”. Doyle’s Holmes was snarky, but not bluntly rude in the way Downey played him.
An interesting question about Doyle / Holmes / Downey is how the decorum of the times affects things?
Doyle was writing Holmes in the 1890s through 1927, and they were originally set contemporaneous to Doyle and the real world, but eventually Holmes lagged the passage of real time and kinda got stuck in the 1900s-1910s timeframe while the world continued moving on.
Back then, at least amongst the educated “civilized” people, conversation was more courtly and reserved than we are used to. Doyle writing Holmes as snarky / smart-alecky by our standards today might have been very much outré behavior at the time. Which the audience then would have found quite shocking.
So Downey playing Holmes as bluntly rude / contemptuous of any lesser lights may well be a legit attempt to capture that same degree of outré restated for our modern courser and less civilized discourse.
Niven played an excellent Bond.
Well-put, yes. The canonical Holmes never punched down, but could be a dick to those who didn’t measure up to his standards - like Watson. Whom he clearly cherishes, but whom he equally clearly enjoys subtly insulting. In Silver Blaze, he solves the mystery and finds the missing racehorse, but then pulls a trick on the horse’s owner (that would land him, and the owner in hot water in real life), just because the Colonel had offended Holmes’s amour propre.
All this is why I rank Benedict Cumberbatch’s reimagined Holmes as on of the best versions of the character.
In It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dee Reynolds was originally supposed to be a normal character to serve as a contrast with Charlie, Dennis, and Mac. But the writers decided to make her as dysfunctional as the others. That said, I don’t know if Kaitlin Olson was a factor in this change.
Rebecca Howe on Cheers was originally supposed to be a hard-ass martinet, but Kirstie Alley played a whiney and insecure loser so well it was decided to let the character evolve that way.
Likewise, Frasier Crane was intended to be Diane’s new love interest for only a few episodes, but it didn’t take long for Kelsey Grammer to turn him into a pompous-but-lovable buffoon.
John Ratzenberger pretty much invented the character of Cliff Cleven, who was never intended to become a member of the main cast. He played the motor-mouth know-it-all so well, the writers just kept adding him to the script.
Jake Harper in Two and a Half Men didn’t start out dumb, but Angus T Jones did “dumb” so well they just ran with it. As Alan Harper (Jon Cryer) explained to the police detective (Arnold Schwartzenegger) in one of the last episodes of the series, “It was funnier that way.”
In the early episodes of Star Trek, Captain Kirk is downright puritanical and has zero sense of humor. It took quite a while for William Shatner strike a balance between dedicated Starfleet captain and swavey-and-deboner ladies’ man who can look on the bright side of life.
As good as the first two seasons of Sherlock are, overall, I think Jonny Lee Miller’s version in Elementary is a much better portrayal of Holmes, from his vices to how they portrayed the police and Watson. Watson as the bumbling assistant never learning anything makes no sense to me, much less the police.
Each of the actors who played the Doctor got to bring something of themselves into it. From Davison’s love of cricket, McCoy’s spoon playing, or Capaldi’s guitar playing.
The character Callisto on Xena: Warrior Princess was supposed to have a single appearance, but the audience response to the character was overwhelming, so she was brought back. She was also written as a one-dimensional, evil character who initially just moved the plot forward, but she was so popular, that the character was fleshed out, given a backstory that explained her mindset, and eventually turned around through supernatural means, then even resolved by the happiest ending possible.
In other words, she changed the course of the show.
It was due mainly to the charisma, and powerful acting, of the aptronymic (her last name is pronounced “like”) actress, Hudson Leick, who played her.
The presence of the character directed the story arc of the whole series a couple of times, but also gave the writers “outs” twice when Lucy Lawless’ personal life needed to be written in.
Leick almost wasn’t cast because her audition was apparently so over-the-top crazy, that some of the people present were worried she wasn’t just acting. But the show’s producer happened to be there, thought she absolutely nailed it, whether it was 100% acting or not, and they had to hire her-- after all, it was just one episode.
Now, Leick is in demand at “Xenacons” and such; after Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor, she is the most highly sought performer.
That is good, no doubt, and I give you it as the best series.
But many of the complaints about Downey were just fans who thought they knew stuff about Holmes but didnt. He apparently wore that deerstalker hat once. He smoked- A LOT and often a pipe, but iirc it never stated the classic “Holmes” pipe- the gourd calabash. The heights of the two characters are never compared in the canon.
Here is an odd thing- They are supposedly close friends, but never call each other by their First names.
As a long time Iron Man fan, I don’t. RDJ is mostly playing the Tony Stark of the late 70s/early 80s done by Bob Layton and Dave Michilinie. Stark was your typical patriarchal white dude who was a superhero as a hobby thru the 60s and most of the 70s. He became the billionaire/playboy/philanthropist/genius under those two (who also made him an alcoholic), who mostly ramped up the tension by having Stark attacked before he could put on the armor (kept in a brief case back then). They’re also the ones that introduced all the specialized armor: stealth, Hulk-buster, space, deep-sea exploration, etc. (And that team also introduced the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man.)
Pre-RDJ Tony Stark after being tutored in hand-to-hand combat by Capt. America, leaving him in a tangle on the floor: “Thanks, Cap. If I could reach my hands I’d applaud.”
Using said training on a henchman: “Do you know what a clavicle is?” “Er, no?” “Surprise, it’s what I just broke!”
Abandoning a female friend during a shopping spree: “I have to take the limo, here’s money for a taxi home.” “Tony, I could buy a cab with this much.” “All right, but drive safely.”
It was 40-some years ago, so I’m not surprised people don’t remember the character had more personality at one point (fans joked the series was really “Adventures of Rich Man” under Layton and Michilinie), but RDJ’s vibe is very familiar.
Talking with an employee: “Care for a drink?” “But it’s only 9:30, sir. Isn’t that a bit early?” “It’s half-past-midnight in Somalia, Pithins. Use your imagination.”
I reckon he’s long since forgotten his real inspiration, which was Spike from the Quireboys. It’s just nobody knows who he was. It is incredibly self evident when he speaks too.
Mark Hamil provide a marvelous voice-acting rendition of the Joker, & I often regret he never got the part, live-action.
Is it really that odd, for that time and place?
Hadley: They’ve been liquidated, I’m afraid, sir. Our Finland, stabbed to death in a ladies sauna bath, sir. Our Madrid, burned in a blazing bordello, sir. And, Tokyo, sir, garroted in a geisha house.
Sir James: It’s depressing that the words “secret agent” have become synonymous with “sex maniac.”