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An actor who nailed a role so HARD that nobody else will ever be able to live up to it

Colonel Sanders said:
The first Godfather cast.

Al Pacino
Marlon Brando
James Caan
John Cazale
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Allegedly (according to someone I know who spent a lot of time in Hollywood), Robert De Niro auditioned for the role of Sonny in The Godfather. He didn't get it, but not because he wasn't good.

He was too good. They rejected him because he was too charismatic, and they were looking for someone that wouldn't take away from Pacino (since the movie was about Michael's rise to power) and felt that audiences would have been too sympathetic to him as Sonny, so they went with Caan instead.

Someone has already mentioned my first choice. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote was a revelation. He disappeared into that role so completely you forgot you were watching a performance.

Very close runner up? Charlize Theron in Monster. I can't imagine any studio would be willing to try and remake that film.
 
laughing dog said:
Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver
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They did try it in a not so subtle absolute ripoff by casting Joaquin Phoenex in The Joker. Unfortunately, those who haven't seen Taxi Driver don't realize how badly it pales in comparison.

Someone mentioned D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket. He was good, but it could be duplicated. R. Lee Ermey stole the spotlight so hard that the rest of the movie was ho-hum by comparison.

The remaking of any Kubrick flick would be pathetic, and casting anyone in the role of Sergeant Hartman would only take the movie into even deeper shitdom.
 
Alicia Silverstone - Clueless.

I think much like Witherspoon and Legally Blonde, Silverstone hits the character of Cher so believably, it'd be hard for another actor to replicate the performance. Obviously Emma has been done many many times, but this modern adaptation really hit the marks. Maybe this speaks more to the underlying story concept and screenplay adaptation, but I think Silverstone hit this one of the park.
 
Indeed. In fact, I've seen Ben Kingsley perform later in such dreck I wondered if he'd been switched for a body double.
 
George C. Scott as Patton was the first time I had seen an actor utterly dominate a film. As soon as he walked onto the stage in front of that massive flag, it was his.
 
Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. Just rewatched it and he's still absolutely chilling.
 
I'm a sci-fi and comix fan, so the first that come to mind are:

When I heard Samual Jackson was going to play Nick Fury, I thought "WTF? Nick Fury was very much a white redneck."
But after seeing the movie I can't imanage anyone else but Sam Jackson in the role.

Robert Downey as Tony Stark.

James Earl Jones in any role he plays (Even if just his voice).
 
John Travolta: Saturday Night Live
Tim Allen: Galaxy Quest
John Bulshi: Blues Brothers
Dan Aykoyd: Blues Brothers
 
Bryan Cranston as Walter White/Heisenberg

Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson in almost any role they play

Colonel Sanders said:
The first Godfather cast.

Al Pacino
Marlon Brando
James Caan
John Cazale
Click to expand...

Just yesterday I watched an interesting YouTube titled "Ten movies that changed Hollywood." They mentioned that Paramount, hoping for a routine low-budget crime drama, thought Brando and Pacino were both very badly miscast and wanted them replaced. However Francis F. Coppola insisted on his choices. The rest is history.
 
Milla Jovovich as Leelu in the Fifth Element. Also Gary Oldman as Zorg. Plus Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod of course.

And I dunno if anyone else has seen it, but Tim Roth was pretty great in The Legend of 1900. Plays a great evil guy in Rob Roy too.
 
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Swammerdami said:
Bryan Cranston as Walter White/Heisenberg

Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson in almost any role they play

Colonel Sanders said:
The first Godfather cast.

Al Pacino
Marlon Brando
James Caan
John Cazale
Click to expand...

Just yesterday I watched an interesting YouTube titled "Ten movies that changed Hollywood." They mentioned that Paramount, hoping for a routine low-budget crime drama, thought Brando and Pacino were both very badly miscast and wanted them replaced. However Francis F. Coppola insisted on his choices. The rest is history.
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And Paramount’s judgment hasn’t improved.
 
ideologyhunter said:
Geoffrey Rush is another actor whose work I find to be miraculous. He's only fitfully active these days (there were sexual harassment allegations in the late teens, and he withdrew from film projects.) I haven't been able to see all of his most celebrated titles, but what I've seen ranks him with the best American talents. I wish he'd been able to work with Philip Seymour Hoffman, and I wish he would still find a project to do with Meryl Streep. Among the indelible Rush performances: The King's Speech, where he is subdued, civilized, sympathetic; Quill, the opposite end, where he plays DeSade; The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (simply incredible, he becomes Sellers.) He's the only reason I would rewatch Intolerable Cruelty.
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Watch Shine and The Best Offer when you get a minute.
 
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