# Who would you cast as Rebecca? (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799 "2006-11-01T23:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/1 "2006-11-01T23:11:41Z")
I just watched the Masterpiece Theater version of [_Rebecca_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119991/) and was quite annoyed that they had an actress playing the title role – well, parts of her, anyway. You could see her eyes, heavily lipsticked mouth (with crooked teeth!), garishly painted fingernails and long shots of her with her backed turned. She was just plain wrong. She looked more like Joan Collins than “the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.” So, which actress _could_ play Rebecca? I really can’t think of anyone who is both startlingly beautiful and has an angelic quality she can turn on and off. Can you? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/2 "2006-11-01T23:20:59Z")
Too bad Annette Bening is getting a bit long in the tooth. She masterfully played a beautiful, manipulative liar in _Dangerous Liaisons_, opposite Colin Firth. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/3 "2006-11-01T23:36:39Z")
Dakota Fanning. Wait. You did mean Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, didn’t you? Well, then, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/4 "2006-11-02T01:44:23Z")
Oooh, good question! She’s also got to be tall and dark-haired, and embody '40s glamour. I…I have no idea. _sigh_ My mind’s eye keeps flashing on Jennifer Connolly in “Dark City,” but she’s not nearly aristocratic enough. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/5 "2006-11-02T16:57:21Z")
Catherine Zeta-Jones would be my first choice, I think. She’s a tad too young, but I think she could pull it off. ---
**Author:** ![Rebecca\_DiMwitter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a87d85/32.png) [@Rebecca\_DiMwitter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebecca_DiMwitter)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/6 "2006-11-02T17:30:34Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] Too bad Annette Bening is getting a bit long in the tooth. She masterfully played a beautiful, manipulative liar in _Dangerous Liaisons_, opposite Colin Firth. [/QUOTE] The Annette/Colin version was **Valmont** , & she was delightfully wicked, but I hated the Tilly girl in the De Tourvel role in this version! They couldn’t have found someone more stunning to play Firth’s “love” than squinty-eyed Meg? Darn near ruined the film for me, even given Annette’s deliciously wicked performance. Man, she had a chilling laugh in this movie, didn’t she? Sorry to be off-topic–but as much as I clearly love **Rebecca** , I can’t think of a person I’d have to have play her. I do like Jennifer Connelly—maybe Kate Beckinsale? –Beck ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/7 "2006-11-02T17:45:39Z")
In one of his essays on writing, Stephen King discusses the problem of moving the written word to screen – he speculates that no matter how scary the thing you show, it won’t ever match what people had built in their imaginations. The same objection applies here. As long as Rebecca is the unseen and perfect First Mrs. DeWinter, both we in the audience and the struggling Second Mrs. DeWinter are competing against the apparent epitome of perfection. The moment you cast her and show her, you lose that. For all that 100 people will find Jennifer Connelly stunningly perfect, there will be one or two that don’t. Keep her unseen, and everyone constructs their own internal image of Rebecca, which is excatly what’s required. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/8 "2006-11-02T18:34:08Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] The same objection applies here. As long as Rebecca is the unseen and perfect First Mrs. DeWinter, both we in the audience and the struggling Second Mrs. DeWinter are competing against the apparent epitome of perfection. The moment you cast her and show her, you lose that. For all that 100 people will find Jennifer Connelly stunningly perfect, there will be one or two that don’t. Keep her unseen, and everyone constructs their own internal image of Rebecca, which is excatly what’s required. [/QUOTE] I may be mis-remembering, but didn’t Hitchcock keep her unseen? ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/9 "2006-11-02T18:50:19Z")
I think characters such as this are better played by unknown actors/actresses. ---
**Author:** ![Rebecca\_DiMwitter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a87d85/32.png) [@Rebecca\_DiMwitter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebecca_DiMwitter)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/10 "2006-11-02T19:06:54Z")
The only scene in the book where I truly would love to “see” Rebecca on-screen would be during her death-scene, when Max has her somewhat cornered in her house by the sea, and she is laughing at him while he confronts her. The book is so descriptive of the way she was standing, the expression on her face, her ridicule of Max and her cruel laughter (as Max recalls it) that I’d love this one moment to be represented in someplace other than my imagination. At this point, Rebecca is about to become something more substantial for the 2nd Mrs., an evil persona & not just a tragic spirit of ghostly beauty and perfection haunting Manderly…it might make a nice transition to see R. in person as the 2nd Mrs. realizes that. But that’s just me. –Beck ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/11 "2006-11-02T22:18:34Z")
Yes, she never appears in the Hitchcock version. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/12 "2006-11-02T23:40:25Z")
Angelina Jolie ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/13 "2006-11-03T02:26:57Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] Keep her unseen, and everyone constructs their own internal image of Rebecca, which is excatly what’s required. [/QUOTE] I think that’s exactly right. The actresses mentioned, lovely as they are, just aren’t _her_, somehow. [QUOTE=Rebecca DiMwitter] The only scene in the book where I truly would love to “see” Rebecca on-screen would be during her death-scene, when Max has her somewhat cornered in her house by the sea, and she is laughing at him while he confronts her. The book is so descriptive of the way she was standing, the expression on her face, her ridicule of Max and her cruel laughter (as Max recalls it) that I’d love this one moment to be represented in someplace other than my imagination. [/QUOTE] I know what you mean. Still, she was never more present than in that scene in the Hitchcock film. Having her _actually_ there in the mini-series version was jarring. I guess the answer, for me, is still no one. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-as-rebecca-spoilers/378799/14 "2006-11-03T12:58:30Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] Yes, she never appears in the Hitchcock version. [/QUOTE] Woo-hoo! I actually remembered something correctly! Go Maus. Go Maus. It’s your birthday. It’s your birthday.