# Which movie role is your dream performance? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964 "2014-08-20T01:43:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/1 "2014-08-20T01:43:53Z")
C’mon. We all know you daydream about it - that one role you really wanted, which some famous schmuck in Hollywood took. Maybe he (or she) was good, maybe not - but that role was yours, dammit! So fill us in - The Doctor has shown up on your doorstep and has the Tardis warm and ready to go. You’re going back to any movie ever made, you’re already chosen for the part, and you get a 20 mill 2014 dollar paycheck. It’s inflation adjusted backwards if you want to experience the Roaring Twenties, but no putting it in the bank in 1920 to enjoy the interst. This is about your dreams, not your wallet. And yeah, you can be Extra #6 in the background of one scene filmed on the first take in 1956 if you really want to, but don’t be so boorish! This is your chance to shine - to be! A STAR! So come on down and tell all of us about the role of _your_ lifetime! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/2 "2014-08-20T01:56:57Z")
I’d love to play Sherlock Holmes… Any Holmes movie. G.A. Custer in a remake of “They Died with Their Boots On.” (Absurd movie, a complete puff-piece, makes Custer look noble and almost saintly. But it would be fun to star in!) The lead – Humphrey Bogart’s role – in a remake of “Sahara.” (There was a remake of Sahara some years ago. They reprised the dialogue, word-for-word from the original. Very odd! Remakes rarely are that exact.) The lead – Joseph Cotten’s role – in The Third Man. It would be fun to work opposite Orson Welles! Willie Wang – Richard Narita’s role – in Murder By Death, just to hang around with that astonishing cast! James Coco, Estelle Winwood, Peter Falk, Elsa Lanchester, Peter Sellers, David Niven, Alec Guinness… I’d sell 20% shares in my soul! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/3 "2014-08-20T04:11:23Z")
I’d like to do drag for the first time in my life, in order to play Lady Bracknell in the 1952 version of The Importance of Being Earnest. “To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness!” “Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound.” “You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter - a girl brought up with the utmost care - to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel?” (This is one of those you-had-to-be-there moments to fully appreciate.) As Jack Worthing says of this character: “She’s a perfect gorgon. At any rate, she’s a monster without being a myth, which isn’t fair.” I think I could be a pretty good gorgon. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/4 "2014-08-20T06:24:28Z")
Roger O. Thornhill in _North By Northwest_. That’s a really nice suit. Plus, Eva Marie Saint! Although from a physical standpoint, I’d be a much better fit for the Penguin in _Batman Returns_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/5 "2014-08-20T06:35:55Z")
Vargas in Touch of Evil. No way I couldn’t be better than Heston, even though I am quite pale, there are very white Mexicans and a DA would be fine as such. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/6 "2014-08-20T10:51:48Z")
Never had any desire to act. I think I’d be too self-aware and not believable. But if I did have a shred of acting talent… Bond. James Bond. Any era, but especially the current one with Daniel Craig. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/7 "2014-08-20T15:04:18Z")
Catharine Holly in Suddenly, Last Summer Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire I was born to portray crazy Southern female 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/8 "2014-08-20T15:08:58Z")
I want the Mr. Miyagi role. Or Master Kan. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/9 "2014-08-20T15:23:10Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Roger O. Thornhill in _North By Northwest_. That’s a really nice suit. Plus, Eva Marie Saint! I’d prefer John Robie in _To Catch a Thief_. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/10 "2014-08-20T16:12:57Z")
Captain Steve Hiller, F-18 fighter pilot from _Independence Day._ ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/11 "2014-08-20T16:20:08Z")
Princess Leia. Sarah Connor in **The Terminator** movies. Frances “Baby” Houseman in **Dirty Dancing**. Nobody puts Baby in a corner! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/12 "2014-08-20T20:46:58Z")
Stanley Kowalski in \*A Streetcar Named Desire. “Stellllllaaaaaaaaaa!”\* ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/13 "2014-08-20T21:29:35Z")
Carl Anderson was outstanding, but _ **I** _ want to be Judas in Norman Jewison’s “Jesus Christ Superstar.” (I need to drop 75 lbs., first) ---
**Author:** ![Star\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Star\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_T)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/14 "2014-08-21T01:59:33Z")
That guy who only gets one line in a movie and dies in the next scene ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/15 "2014-08-21T03:43:56Z")
Can we choose a role that is not originally our gender? I mean, as a woman could I pick a man’s role? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/16 "2014-08-21T05:12:49Z")
Landfill in _Beerfest._ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/17 "2014-08-21T06:22:03Z")
I would wipe out a whole battalion of SS troopers if I could play Major Reisman in _ **The Dirty Dozen** _. When I saw that movie in 1967, I marveled at the selection of uniforms they gave Lee Marvin to wear. My own collection of militaria paled in comparison! If they ever make a feature film based on _ **Combat!** _, I want to play Sgt Saunders, just so I can wear a camouflaged helmet and carry a Thompson. :o ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/18 "2014-08-21T08:55:42Z")
They’d need to get a body double to handle the guitar pickin’, but I wouldn’t mind being Lonesome Rhodes in _A Face In The Crowd_. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/19 "2014-08-21T12:59:13Z")
Phil Davis in _White Christmas,_ mostly because I’d get to sing, dance and just hang around with Vera Ellen. Or Hubert Hawkins in _The Court Jester,_ because Glynis Johns. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964/20 "2014-08-21T14:25:58Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Can we choose a role that is not originally our gender? I mean, as a woman could I pick a man’s role? Whatever blows your hair back. It’s a wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey thing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movie-role-is-your-dream-performance/695964.md?page=2)