Indeed! A tough entry into the game here! And it all falls upon me! Let me get to brainstorming something...
Am I the only one who thinks that this is borderline bad taste, casting Natalie Wood anywhere near a large body of water? Nonetheless, great pick...
My first choice for Norman Bates, too... Vince Vaughn, it is. He can do charming and creepy all at once. And for the role of Mary Poppins, I nominate Cameron Diaz -- just based on her charm and personality alone.
Some thoughts before I make my pick: Sir Manchester Both great picks. Cox would have Beale down perfectly (and he even has a resemblance to Finch, a plus), and Deloin is a great choice for Bond (but there's always that pesky British accent thing). Solid work. DoctorJones24 Daneil Day Lewis as Harry Lime? Hmm...I don't see it. As you mentioned, he has very few scenes and it's a character that's larger than life (as Welles was). Lewis is not a slouch, and for modern day actors he's got lots of charisma and screen presence. However, he just doesn't fit right. Wood, on the other hand, is a great choice for Rose. The Slippery One I take it you haven't heard Cary Grants French "accent" in I Was a Male War Bride[/b]. I'd just love to hear what he'd do with German. Actually, Grant could pull off Mandrake and the President pretty well and pretty easily, but Strangelove? I don't know. Downey Jr. though is an inspired choice as Bickle. Ghost Clooney seemed to talk pretty fast in O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Can he match Grant's impeccable comic timing, facial expressions, and gravitas? I don't know, but it'd be interesting to watch that's for sure. The Lloyd pick is pretty standard. The good thing about silent film is that your replacement doesn't need to talk. The bad thing about silent film is that your replacement doesn't need to talk. Lloyd certainly was a great physical comedian, but he lacks the pathos that Chaplin could bring to his roles. babytiger2001 Are you for real with the Vaughn pick? If so, that's almost as bad as Claymore basically passing on Sigourney Weaver, in fact I'll say it, it's worse. Diaz as Poppins? Maybe if she could dance and sing. Maybe. My picks: Bette Davis as Scarlett O'Hara - This was a tough one. Vivien Leigh as O'Hara is one of the most iconic of all female film performances. She was the perfect choice, and in fact, the studio had already picked Leigh as early as 1937. All the actresses that supposedly tried out were the unwitting victims of the film's publicity campaign. However, one of those try-outs was the great Bette Davis. She was the first actress that popped into my head but I kept having my doubts. Davis always looked older than she was, how could she pull off a sixteen year-old Scarlett? But everytime I had my doubts I always thought of William Wyler's Jezebel (1938). It's essentially Gone With the Wind lite, and it's Davis that carries the movie. She could play a snappy Southern Belle as well as Leigh, and in 1938 was just as sexy. Robert Mitchum as Jake Gittes - Gittes isn't your average film noir private eye, and Jack Nicholson isn't your average actor. In fact, Gittes may be the only private eye in the history of noir to never carry a gun. He gets his nose slit by a short Pole (Polanski himself) and has sex with Faye Dunaway. Who could pull this off as well as Jack? Why, Robert Mitchum of course! Mitchum is the only actor of the noir era who had a personality off-screen and on as large and eccentric as Nicholson. Other famous actors of the noir era could have pulled off Gittes, but not as well as Mitchum.
Ebeneezer Scrooge..... CHRISTOPHER WALKEN. He can get grumpy, chew scenery and look like he's seen a ghost. Barbara Stanwyck's double-dealing wife from Double Indemnity...hmmm... Stanwyck was 37 when she played the role. I need somebody not TOO good looking, a little older, who can be mean and desperately needy, and cold as ice. An actress who knows how to hold back a little. I'm gonna say JOAN ALLEN, maybe ten years ago. http://imdb.com/name/nm0000260/
OK. I am sooo far in over my head right now. I have no idea who these actors are that you guys are naming. Now I know how GringoTex felt when folks were trotting out obscure indie bands in the album draft. I'm going with Willem Dafoe. The guy plays a good villain. It's as simple as that. Steve McQueen. It's tough to come up with any actor that can match Eastwood's macho personality onscreen but McQueen does. Plus, McQueen's characters were often men of few words so he spent a lot of time telling the audience about his character with his body language rather than his dialouge which is necessary for those old Eastwood roles.
First Round Group 1 (DrJones24) Harry Lime –Daniel Day Lewis Rose DeWitt – Natalie Wood Group 2 (Via) Scarlett O'Hara – Bette Davis Jake Gittes – Robert Mitchum Group 3 (BlueDaddy) Luke Skywalker –Ryan Gosling Dorothy – Mandy Moore Group 4 (GringoTex) Indiana Jones George Bailey Group 5 (Claymore) Rick Blaine –Jack Nicholson Lt. Ripley -- pass Group 6(Michael K.) Alex de Large Harry Powell Group 7(The SlipperyOne) Dr. Strangelove –CaryGrant Travis Bickle –- Robert Downey Jr. Group 8 (SirManchester) Howard Beale—Brian Cox James Bond -- Alain Delon. Group 9 (Ghost) The Little Tramp – Harold Lloyd Walter Burns – George Clooney Group 10 (Obie) Norma Desmond – Faye Dunaway Margo Channing – Tallulah Bankhead Group 11 (Iceblink) Don Vito Corleone -- T.S. Lawrence – Group 12 (Bojendyk) Don Lockwood – Dick Van Dyke Holly Golightly – Judy Garland Group 13 (BabyTiger2001) Norman Bates – Vince Vaughn Mary Poppins – Cameron Diaz Group 14 (bmurphyfl) Hans Gruber – Willem Dafoe The Man with No Name – Steve McQueen Group 15 (Autogolazo) Ebeneezer Scrooge – Christopher Walken Phyllis Dietrichson –Joan Allen Iceblink, Michael K., and Gringo did not show.Michael will mosey in on his own schedule and can make his picks then.. Ieblink and Gringo,I don't know. We shall move on, and ythey can rejoin us.
Second Round 1)DoctorJones24 Group 2 Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) from Gone with the Wind Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) from Chinatown 2) Via_Chicago Group 3 Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) from Star Wars Dorothy (Judy Garland) from The Wizard of Oz 3) BlueDaddy19 Group 4 Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) from Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc. George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) from It's a Wonderful Life 4) GringoTex Group 5 Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) from Casablanca Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) from Alien 5) Claymore Group 6 Alex de Large (Malcolm McDowell) from A Clockwork Orange Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) from Night of the Hunter 6) Michael K. Group 7 Dr. Strangelove/President Merton Muffley/that English major guy (Peter Sellers) in Dr. Strangelove Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) from Taxi Driver 7) TheSlipperyOne Group 8 Howard Beale (Peter Finch) from Network James Bond (Sean Connery, etc.) from Goldfinger, etc 8) SirManchester Group 9 The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) from Modern Times, etc. Walter Burns (Cary Grant) from His Girl Friday 9) Ghost Group 10 Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) from Sunset Boulevard Margo Channing (Bette Davis) from All About Eve 10) Obie Group 11 Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) from The Godfather T.S. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) from Lawrence of Arabia 11) Iceblink Group 12 Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) from Singin' in the Rain Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) from Breakfast at Tiffany's 12) Bojendyk Group 13 Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) from Psycho Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) from Mary Poppins 13) BabyTiger2001 Group 14 Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) from Die Hard The Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood) from various spaghetti westerns 14) bmurphyfl - Group 15 Ebeneezer Scrooge (various actors) from A Christmas Carol Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) from Double Indemnity 15) Autogolazo Group 1 Harry Lime (Orson Welles) from The Third Man Rose DeWitt (Kate Winslet) from Titanic
I'm here! Sorry for being tardy. For T.E. Lawrence... the first person I thought of was Alec Guinness... but that wouldn't have worked, as he was in the film... and I would have picked him then probably... not later in his life... though, as you'll see, I'm not above having a single actor from two time periods in the samefilm. I read that O'Toole was crazy tall for the part, so I chose another British actor who I think could have pulled off the role... and is shorter. Anthony Hopkins... younger of course. I was having an extremely hard time with Vito Corleone. No matter whom I choose, it's sure to be a completely different film. I thought about going with another mafia paternal figure from tv... but I thought he was too young. Instead, for Vito... I choose to ship an actor back in time to play his own father... James Caan. I think that would bring an interesting dynamic between the characters.... and who could question the family resemblence?
ummmm why did someone edit the pictures out of my first round post? indiana jones - get ready for some fun! how about james dean?! i know he was a little young when he died, but hey! this is hollywood! he could easily handle the scruffy, the scholarly, the physicality and even the comedy of the role george bailey -i think i have the winner for this one: john cusack, no explanation should be necessary
Indiana Jones: Jean-Paul Belomondo- Has all the vicious smart-assness and faux humility the character requires, plus out-chics Harrison Ford. George Bailey: Paul Giamatti: Admission- I don't like James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life. I prefer him in the Mann westerns and Hitchcock thrillers where his "everyniceguy" persona is used against him. I think Giamatti would add the perfect edge.
Harry Lime.... Tough to think of a good American actor nowadays in this role, and for the story, the role really should be American, yet cultured and sinister. I think in his heyday, ROD STEIGER could've played this role very well. Rose DeWitt.... I would take this part in a direction completely away from Kate Winslett. When the movie came out, if you'll recall, the most common complaint heard from the peanut gallery was that she didn't have the wattage to compete with her leading man, that it wasn't a balanced casting. For the type of movie it is, I agree completely. Give me ANN MARGRET in her nubile youth.
For Mary Poppins, I would go with one of Hitchcock's steely beauties. Several of them would work, I think, but let's pick one: Kim Novak. And for Norman Bates, I'd go with Ralph Fiennes, who has a physique similar to Anthony Perkins (unlike Vince Vaughn) and that same blend of boyish handsomeness and fragile naivte. Can you not imagine him stuttering out the words "a boy's best friend is his mother"?
Don Vito Corleone: There’s likely no other role on this list where a physical resemblance to the original is as important – a new Godfather has to be big, he has to slouch a bit, and he has to be able to be intimidating without resorting to volume. Other than maybe Bogie / Rick from Casablanca, no other actor / role combination is tougher to overcome. Oh, and no Nicholson. That’s a personal goal for me. 30 roles, no Jack in any of them. So, after much thought, I’ve decided that one guy who could have possibly done a better Don is Lee J. Cobb. He lacks some heft but he more than makes up for it by just looking mean and in control. Nobody screwed with Brando, and nobody’d screw with Cobb, either. T. S. Lawrence – Hmmm… The problem with re-casting Lawrence is that he was a real person -- British, noble, literate, a taste for epics, and can ride a horse and wear a big white scarf without feeling self-aware of it. How about Rupert Everett? Everett has the added advantage of being outwardly gay, a claim frequently heard about Lawrence, and as a result Everett could play the part with a bit more, shall we say, flamboyance.
Alex De Large (A Clockwork Orange) - Robert Carlyle. Sociopaths are this guy's speciality Harry Powell (Night Of The Hunter) - Clive Owen.
Second Round 1)DoctorJones24 Group 2 Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) from Gone with the Wind Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) from Chinatown For Chinatown, I'm going with Sean Penn. That seems so perfect to me I'm not sure it needs any justification. For Scarlett O'Hara, I'm still thinking...I'll get back to that one later today.
Unlike some of the other games I've participated in on this board, I couldn't even wait till round 3 or 4 to start falling behind. Shameful. Time to catch up. Alex Delarge - Needing to portray a sadistic cinematic sociopath, who better for the job than a borderline real-life sociopath? Come on down, (an appropriately young) Klaus Kinski. Harry Powell - I confess I haven't seen this movie, but based on what I've read, I'll go straight back to the Sean Penn well after DoctorJones here. Dr. Strangelove, et al - There's a few comic actors with the versatility and black gravitas necessary here, I think. I'll take, err.....Robin Williams (dialed down off "irritatingly manic mode"). Gimme another minute to come up with Travis Bickle....
You gotta be kidding me. The children would hate her, Dick Van Dyke would be terrified of her, and she can't sing or dance.