Most fitting actors for historical characters [Archive]

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Jakub

11-25-2002, 01:06 AM

I have to go with George C. Scott as Patton. I haven't seen anything of the real Patton except on silent documentaries, but of those tidbits and from what i've read, Scott got him down perfectly.

DrCrypt

11-25-2002, 01:38 AM

http://w1.660.telia.com/~u66002771/napoleon.jpg
Groucho Marx as Napoleon.

Tyjenks

11-25-2002, 06:33 AM

As you said fitting and not the most historically accurate, I am going with Denzel Washington as Malcolm X. That was the quickest 3 or 3 1/2 hours in a theater I have ever been through. Riveting.

Reeko

11-25-2002, 07:45 AM

Derek Jacobi in the I, Claudius miniseries from PBS. The guy who played Calligula wasn't bad, either.

Anonymous

11-25-2002, 10:04 AM

Peter Sellers as Werner von Braun in "Dr. Strangelove"

Bub, Andrew

11-25-2002, 10:05 AM

That was Mr. John Hurt (who played Caligula)

I'm going to go with Chaplin as Hitler (or was Hitler riffing on Chaplin?)
or maybe Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford.

Note to Dr. Crypt: North of Milwaukee is a small unincorporated township called Fredonia. Someone was a Marx Brothers fan up there....

Jim Preston

11-25-2002, 10:53 AM

Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilot. "I gives ya Barabas, baby."

Desslock

11-25-2002, 01:13 PM

John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conquerer.

DrCrypt

11-25-2002, 02:20 PM

http://www.residents.com/images/shows/wormwood/wormwood-cover.jpg
The Residents as the entire cast of the Old Testament in the Wormwood Tour. That's Mr. Skull as Moses, I think, right before he smears his son's foreskin across God's back to escape an ass-kicking. I saw this in concert, and it was probably the dramaturgical highlight of my theatre-going career.

Tyjenks

11-25-2002, 02:28 PM

Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilot. "I gives ya Barabas, baby."

No way. Michael Palin was 10 times better as Pilate.

Bub, Andrew

11-25-2002, 03:11 PM

Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot? He even nailed Judas's Brooklyn accept perfectly!

Tom Chick

11-25-2002, 03:15 PM

Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot? He even nailed Judas's Brooklyn accept perfectly!

I know you're funnin', but Scorcese's intent for The Last Temptation of Christ was for the Jews to have Brooklyn accents while the Roman's had English accents. I thought it worked pretty well to deliniate cultural differences for the modern ear.p;

Tyjenks

11-25-2002, 04:22 PM

Glengarry Glenross is finally out on DVD. :o

Did not think this deserved a whole topic and this was the last movie topic posted to. So :P .

GMicek

11-25-2002, 06:50 PM

It hasn't been done yet but I think that Rob Zombie would make a perfect Blackbeard.

Anyway, Val Kilmer did a great Morrison.

DennyA

11-25-2002, 07:40 PM

Dom Deluise as Paul Prudhomme.

voltaic

11-25-2002, 11:12 PM

Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro in "Casino". It was based on real-life events in Vegas so I figure that's historical.

Jason McCullough

11-26-2002, 01:23 AM

DrCrypt, that's.....what the fuck?

Reeko

11-26-2002, 05:40 AM

No way. Michael Palin was 10 times better as Pilate.

"I have a vewy influwential fwiend in Wome named Biggus Dickus."

Bub, Andrew

11-26-2002, 07:35 AM

I know you're funnin', but Scorcese's intent for The Last Temptation of Christ was for the Jews to have Brooklyn accents while the Roman's had English accents. I thought it worked pretty well to deliniate cultural differences for the modern ear.p;

Ok, sorry, are you "funnin'" now? If this is true, and it sounds just crazy enough to be true (or more likely Scorcese belatedly explaining Keitel's sore thumb accent), well, how interesting. I hadn't noticed anyone but Judas with a Brooklyn accent though. Maybe he should have given the rest of the Jews voice coaches to further "de-lin-i-ate" those cultural differences. Brooklyn vs England (slaps forehead) GENIUS!

Supertanker

11-26-2002, 11:46 AM

What if we need someone to play Allan Pinkerton's nephew? :twisted:

Jason Levine

11-27-2002, 01:27 PM

A couple of odd historical casting choices that were better than I expected:

1) Anthony Hopkins as Nixon
2) Jeff Daniels as George Washington in the TV movie about the Delaware crossing.

And a few that didn't:

1) Alec Baldwin as Jimmy Doolittle in Pearl Harbor;
2) Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee in Gettysburg;
3) Tom Berrenger as Longstreet in the same movie (because of that incredible phony beard, not the acting).

Bub, Andrew

11-27-2002, 01:59 PM

Tyjenks

11-27-2002, 06:47 PM

Jeff Goldblum as Satan in Mr. Frost.

"He was devilishly good."
-says some hack movie reviewer getting paid big bucks for watching films

Aszurom

11-28-2002, 04:52 AM

Jason Scott Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.

Also, I think honors for "best presidential role" goes to Brian Keith for such an excellent Teddy Roosevelt in 1975's "The Wind and the Lion".

Jason Levine

11-29-2002, 07:38 PM

I liked Sheen in Gettysburg actually, what's the problem? Tsk... I'm going to have to assume you're one of those crackpot Southerners deeply and comically offended by "that dirty commie Martin Sheen" playing Saint Robert E. Lee.

Yeah, I'm the crackpot Southerner who was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. However, I did live among Virginians for a year, and it was Sheen's attempt at a Virginia accent that put me off more than anything else. Well, that and little Martine Sheen playing tall (for his day) R.E. Lee.

Tyjenks

11-30-2002, 04:16 AM

However, I did live among Virginians for a year, and it was Sheen's attempt at a Virginia accent that put me off more than anything else.

There are so many bad attempts at southern accents in films. Either no one in Hollywood knows what folks sound like in the South or the actors think they are to good for a dialect coach.

DennyA

11-30-2002, 06:49 AM

There's this "high-class" female southern accent that only exists in Hollywood products, and has been around for years. God only knows where it started, but it's been around so much that apparently TV producers think it's real.

Most recently manifested in JAG (yeah, I know the show sucks, but it's a guilty pleasure because it occasionally has some cool jet footage) in the new asian lawyer played by Tamalyn Tomita. Her accent is SO horrid it's almost enough to make me stop wasting my time watching the show. Which wouldn't be a bad thing.

Back on topic... Will Ferrell as GWBush.

Troy S Goodfellow

12-16-2002, 01:56 PM

Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia
Laurence Olivier as Marcus Crassus (in Spartacus)
Kenneth Branagh as Henry V

Troy