I’m sure you know this, but no actor could replace R. Lee Ermey as GySgt. Hartman because R. Lee Ermey wasn’t an actor. IIRC, he was a real-life Marine drill sergeant who was hired to be an on-site consultant. He found the actor playing Hartman to be so way off-base that he ran onto the set and said, “No, son, this is how you do it…” Stanley Kubrick liked him so much he asked him to play Hartman outright.
Again, though, you probably know all this already. Someone let me know if I have any facts wrong.
Hey, you stole mine! I came in here to post exactly this. He inhabited that character so fully that whenever I see him in something else, I’m momentarily jarred.
My new one is Brad Dourif playing Grima Wormtongue. When I originally read that there was to be a film version of the Lord of the Rings, I hoped to myself that he would be casted for the role.
Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, just absolutely perfect. Cruise could’ve been played by any of the over-the top intense young actors, but Hoffman nailed Raymond Babbitt.
I also think Ed Norton was perfectly cast as “Worm” in Rounders.
Not to mention that Temple of Doom and Last Crusade probably wouldn’t have happened had Lucas and Spielberg been able to go with their original casting.
I just want to agree with those that said Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. And both David Burke and Edward Hardwicke did better jobs playing Watson than Nigel Bruce ever could.
That’s who I was going to say. He forever owns this part. Notice that in all these years, no one has tried to re-make this? That’s cuz it can’t be done.
…or is that stretching it?