# When actors in historical films/biopics convinced you they were the real thing (or not) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713 "2011-02-26T17:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [February 26, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/1 "2011-02-26T17:31:42Z")
Someone mentioned a new John Lennon bio, which made me think of another from a few years ago, where the actor completely failed to convince me he was John (completely lacked the original’s charm or wit), which made me think of other examples. In _Control_, a film about Joy Division, Sam Riley was Ian Curtis-no two ways about it. Likewise Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in _The Doors_, even if that movie as a whole didn’t quite work. On the other hand, neither Leelee Sobieski or Milla Jovovich convinced me, at all, that I was seeing Joan of Arc on the screen-the former was a lightweight lacking the necessary charisma, while the director (and squeeze!) of the latter made her play the role as a near-psychotic. I doubt that either actress, if dropped/replaced via time machine into the position of the real thing would be able to lead a platoon of latrine cleaners, much less an entire country. Perhaps it’s an impossible role, given our expectations of the genuine article. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/2 "2011-02-26T17:35:44Z")
Meryl Steep did Julia Child so well that I honestly forgot who she was. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/3 "2011-02-26T17:39:08Z")
Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/4 "2011-02-26T18:40:11Z")
Denzel Washington as Malcolm X. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/5 "2011-02-26T19:00:13Z")
Toby Jones was 100% convincing as Truman Capote in _Infamous_. I was never overwhelmed by Philip Seymour Hoffmann in _Capote_ and didn’t understand his Oscar win. Keith Mitchell’s Henry VIII in the BBC miniseries of the 1970s and Glenda Jackson’s Elizabeth I remain to this day, in my opinion of course, the most definitive and convincing portrayals of either monarch. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/6 "2011-02-26T19:41:20Z")
When I hear a tape of the real Patton speaking, I’m surprised he doesn’t sound like George C. Scott. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/7 "2011-02-27T11:05:52Z")
Judy Davis as Judy Garland (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows) Prunella Scales as QE II ( A Question of Attribution) Helen Mirren as QE II (The Queen) Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers (The Life & Death of Peter Sellers) ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/8 "2011-02-27T11:08:29Z")
I don’t think there’s anybody who doesn’t picture Charleton Heston as Moses. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/9 "2011-02-27T11:32:51Z")
Kenneth Branagh in Conspiracy, a movie about the Wahnsee Conference. He was playing Reinhard Heydrich, a man I would personally nominate for most evil individual of the 20th century, if you define evil as (evil intent \* inherent ability to carry out said evil intent). I’ve listened to Heydrich’s voice in speeches, and yet I still hear Branagh’s voice when I read stuff Heydrich wrote. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/10 "2011-02-27T11:48:45Z")
Jamie Foxx _nailed_ Ray Charles in _Ray_. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/11 "2011-02-27T12:20:13Z")
The guy who plays Hitler in those youtube videos is pretty damned impressive. Bruno Ganz in _Downfall_. And perhaps Michael Sheen’s multiple portrayals of Tony Blair should be mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/12 "2011-02-27T13:56:18Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Toby Jones was 100% convincing as Truman Capote in _Infamous_. I was never overwhelmed by Philip Seymour Hoffmann in _Capote_ and didn’t understand his Oscar win. Toby Jones was more physically like Capote, of course, being a much smaller man – what impressed me about Hoffmann was that he got past the physical differences and inhabited the role so thoroughly that I completely accepted him as Capote. I think he deserved the win. Another person who made you forget the relatively slim physical likeness: Anthony Hopkins as Nixon. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/13 "2011-02-27T15:25:02Z")
A Night to Remember: The movie seems to be an actual filmed record of the Titanic sinking. Amazing piece of cinema magic. Sorry, Mr. Cameron, but your version wasn’t even close. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/14 "2011-02-27T15:31:50Z")
Hal Holbrook seems to morph into Mark Twain. How close he is to tawin is hard to say-the last person who knew Mark Twain died years ago. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/15 "2011-02-27T15:50:20Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The guy who plays Hitler in those youtube videos is pretty damned impressive. Bruno Ganz in _Downfall_. That was mine, too. When I see other movies with Hitler in them, I think “Hey, that’s not Hitler! Bruno Ganz is Hitler!” ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/16 "2011-02-27T16:18:49Z")
A day or two after seeing _Coal Miner’s Daughter_, I wandered into a remote part of my office where a radio was playing country music. The vocalist sounded exactly like Sissy Spacek (who had done her own singing in the film). I asked, “Is there a _Coal Miner’s Daughter_ soundtrack album?” No one knew. Then the song ended, and the DJ said it was Loretta Lynn who’d been singing. Bravo Ms. Spacek! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/17 "2011-02-27T17:25:40Z")
Edward G. Robinson in The Ten Commandments. Brought the film to a complete stop with this ludicrous miscasting (though I loves me some EGR in more appropriate films). ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/18 "2011-02-27T17:29:21Z")
Joaquin Phoenix in _Walk the Line_ and Will Smith in _Ali_ both seemed perfect. > [@Lemur866](#): > > Meryl Steep did Julia Child so well Man, that’s like a weird nightmare I had once. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/19 "2011-02-27T19:12:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > When I hear a tape of the real Patton speaking, I’m surprised he doesn’t sound like George C. Scott. Ditto when I see a tape of the real Patton. James Whitmore was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for his portrayal of Truman in “Give 'Em Hell Harry.” ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/20 "2011-02-27T20:18:32Z")
I generally loathe Jim Carry, at least as far as the few talk show appearances (Jay Leno, Conan, etc.) I have seen him on over the years, as he seems to be constantly “on”, always mugging for the camera, and trying much too hard to be outrageous. He sickens me as a person, someone who seems to think he is actually entertaining, when in reality he is an overgrown class-clown, someone who would pull down his pants, spread his cheeks and show his asshole to a famine-ravaged African village. That said, he seemed to actually be channeling the spirit of Andy Kaufman, so incredibly impressive was his work on the Kaufman bio-pic “Man On The Moon”. He actually BECAME Andy Kaufman, and apparently Kaufman’s real-life friends, (Danny DeVito, Judd Hirsch, etc.) seemed to feel the same way about his excellent dramatic portrayal. One of the most impressive performances that I have ever seen. To this day, it’s the only Jim Carry movie I have ever watched. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713.md?page=2)