Actors who were born to play a certain role

eldest200

Hugh Jackman in X - Men

Matthew McConnaughey in True Detective

flazio

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson /Deadpool

yermanoffthetv

I'm gonna cheat and say an actor who should have been cast instead.

Hugh Jackman as Max Rockatansky.

tricky D

Toby Jones often plays the supporting back room, pathetic, tragic, frustrated, etc. types of characters.

Chain Smoker

Hard to imagine anyone other than Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quell.

Diane Keaton as Annie Hall, she's great in tons of stuff but this is a role that entirely hinges on her performance and relationship with Woody Allen, it's an unusually solid film from Allen in just about every respect but she adds so ****ing much.

Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence

bodhrandude

Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken in that short but impressive role in True Romance, The Sicilian Scene.

Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry series of films, but especially Sudden Impact from 1983.

dogbert27

Patrick Stewart - Jean Luc Picard

Dermot Morgan as Fr. Ted Crilly. Just imagine somebody else like. Actually wasn't the guy who played Dick Byrne considered for the part? Just wouldn't have been the same show at all!

MfMan

Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle

S'funny, I started a thread a bit like this before and was told I couldn't create one with lists...

Theboinkmaster

eldest200 wrote: »

Alan Rickman in Harry Potter

How about Alan Rickman in every role he's done

eldest200

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

How about Alan Rickman in every role he's done

I do agree with that. I just thought that him in Harry Potter was my favourite from him.

check_six

Julian Beck in Poltergeist II as Preacher Kane
"Let me in!"


Max Schreck as Graf Orlok in Nosferatu
"Your wife has such a beautiful neck..."

Beck was ill when he played Preacher Kane, which explains his skeletal appearance, but his performance was seriously unnerving too.

As for Schreck, have a look at the wonderful Shadow of the Vampire for an out there explanation as to how he was so convincing as the evil vampire. The jist is that director FW Murnau (John Malkovich) finds a real vampire to play Orlok (Willem Dafoe) who proceeds to leech his way through the cast and crew as they try to finish the movie.
After devouring the camera man:
Murnau: "Why him you monster? Why not the... script girl?"
Schreck/Orlok: "Oh. The script girl. I'll eat her later."

Nervous Wreck

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark - game-changing in the superhero genre.

Oscar Isaacs as Llewyn Davis - he's in a lot of things but I think that one will last

Jason Alexander as a George Costanza.

MfMan wrote: »

S'funny, I started a thread a bit like this before and was told I couldn't create one with lists...

Good to see you back on your feet.

Wedwood

Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws. (Original first choice was Lee Marvin)

Christopher Reeve as Superman.

Alastair Sim as Scrooge (seasonal one there !)

Exeggcute

R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman

He was a technical advisor on the set. He wanted the part so he filmed a scene with the extras himself and showed it to Kubrick.

Kubrick liked it so much he tore up the script and let him do his own lines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-arEOeS9Ac

Sonics2k

irish_goat wrote: »

This thread is just people naming their favourite actors. The vast majority of actors mentioned are replaceable. Another actor may not play the roles the exact same way but could have made it their own in their own particular way.

I don't know, there are certainly some actors who define a role and make the character their own.

I mentioned Andy Whitfield in Spartacus who totally captured the character, and his replacement actor simply wasn't as good and lacked the charisma.
The same could be said for Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, De Niro in Taxi or even Bruce Willis in Die Hard.
None of those three I'd consider my favourite actors, but they certainly captured the essence of a role and it's hard to believe anyone else could play it better.

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in the original Charlie and the Chocoloate Factory. Watched it yesterday and realised what a iconic casting he was.

darkdubh

Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde. Because he looked very like him at the time and I reckon they would very similar personality wise.

chicorytip

Martin Sheen - Badlands.

Gwynplaine

Larry David in Curb your Enthusiasm.

quintana76

Kenneth Williams as the KhasI of Kalabar in Carry On Up the Khyber.

bnt

Cortina_MK_IV wrote: »

I must be the only person on the planet that like Timothy Dalton as Bond.

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't worry you're not. The Living Daylights is one of my top bond films. Not quite as gritty as the newest incarnation but not nearly as camp and silly as the Roger Moore ones, or the unbelieavableness of the later Brosnan ones.

It was a real shame he didnt get another outing as Bond.

The funny thing about Dalton is that he only got the job because Pierce Brosnan was stuck playing a Bond-type character in Remington Steele. Brosnan was offered the Bond role at a time when it looked like Remington Steele was cancelled, but then it was un-cancelled, and the Bond offer was withdrawn. It wouldn't have made sense for him to be connected to both at the same time.

Brosnan was basically born to play James Bond, he was being suggested for the role practically as soon as he became known as an actor. :cool: