(no subject)

[coyotegoth]

Random thought, occasioned by a digression in a post earlier today: for all that Hollywood is All About the Biopics at times, there are certain figures who are so distinct in their talents and personalities, it's almost impossible to imagine another human being portraying them (for all that we're just fine with, say, the fact that T. E. Lawrence was played by an actor who was a full foot taller.) Orson Welles is one obvious candidate: it took two people (Vincent D'Inofrio and the voice of Maurice LaMarche) to do a reasonably convincing impression of the man with Ed Wood; Angus McFayden had some of the young Welles' roguish style in The Cradle Will Rock, but was unable to simulate Welles' outsize physical presence- and, of course, That Voice. (I have no plans to see Me and Orson Welles, but based on the trailer I've seen, Christian McKay faces much the same issue.) Erich von Stroheim is another example; yet another, Cary Grant. It might be possible to say, force George Clooney to get rid of the goofy mannerisms he tends to affect for the Coen brothers, and demonstrate the control of the screen he shows at times- but even then, he'd be only an afterimage of the real thing. (The living actor most able to simulate Grant's sheer suavity would probably be Denzel Washington.)

Who are some others who spring to mind for you, and why?

Comments

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Katharine Hepburn, for similar reasons to Grant - she stood out in her time, and still does, from the Hollywood studio tendencies for women actresses.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Very true (although Cate Blanchett made a noble stab of it in The Aviator.)

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

I just saw this, and thought she did a good job, though I was always aware that I was watching an actress imitate Hepburn, rather than channel her.

[rm.livejournal.com]

What did you think of Liev Schreiber as Welles?

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Gaah, forgot (and still need to see) RKO 281. If nothing else, he'd certainly have an interesting sense of menace.

[shipchan.livejournal.com]

Jack Kerouac. Everyone plays him too cool. He was a pretty self conscious guy and people don't really get that. Though recently I've been wondering if Michael Cera could play a young him.