Actors Who Have OWNED Their Roles

[IrishCanadian25]

Ok, movie time. Take a seat and grab some popcorn kiddies.

Perhaps the most interesting dynamic in film is the relationship actors have to their characters. Some of them really nail the role, some leave you wanting more. Occassionally, an actor comes along who absolutely OWNS a role, to the point where 1) you think of the character everytime you see the actor, 2) you couldn't even imagine that character played by anybody else, and 3) you instantly despite any remake of the film if it does not star that character. I have a list, but I want your reactions as well.

1. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. If any of you have seen him on "Inside the Actors Studio," Hopkins is among the most gentle, soft-spoken men I have ever seen. Yet, throughout the entire thing, you are wondering (even hoping) if he will rip the hosts face off and eat his nose. That's what Hopkins's performance in the Thomas Harris trilogy brought us. From Silence of the Lambs to Hannibal and finally to Red Dragon you felt totally enthralled by the Lecter character, and found yourself cheering the classy antagonist. Anybody else as Lecter? No chance. Even "Hannibal Rising" left me feeling empty inside.

2. Al Pacino as Michael Corleone. Cold and calculating, the fact that Pacino was able to NOT be typecast after this role is a testament to his ability to read and select a script and bring his "A" game. You enjoyed his clean cut portrayl as a young army hero, salivated as he ascended to power and took his revenge, and cringed when he had his brother shot. You went on the FULL roller-coaster ride his character did, because Pacino got you ENGAGED in the picture. While Pacino was a great Cuban gangster in Scarface and Satan in Devils Advocate, nobody owned a mob role like he owned Michael.

3. Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis. I put this on the list mainly because of the crappy remake Rob Zombie put out. Many hardcore fans of "Halloween" agree that when Donald Pleasence died after filming Halloween 6, the role of Dr. Loomis should die with him, with dignity. Pleasance was truly creepy as the paranoid, yet altruistic and single-minded psychiatrist of one of cinema's dealiest killers. He played his character with a deliberate nature, yet an unyielding intensity that kept him coming back for 6 movies. Aside from Escape from New York, Pleasance never got out of this role.

4. Robert Englund as Freddy Kreuger. Staying in the slasher genre, Englund is, without a single doubt, the most iconic horror face, voice, and attitude in history. He owned the Kreuger character the way nobody could own Jason Voorhees (and no, Kane Hodder can't compete as much as I loved his work), Michael Myers, or any other villain. Part of the reason is the fact that, unlike his two slasher counterparts, Englund had to deliver speaking roles, which he did with a diabolical excitement - like he TRULY enjoyed what he was doing. I know Englund has done other flicks - but come on, who cares?

5. Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard. I don't presume to be able to talk about Sci-Fi like an expert. I'm hardly proficient. But the ONE TIME I was remotely invested in the Star Trek series and films was when Stewart played the cold, focused, professional Captain Picard. I don't discuss this often because I don't want the geek convention giving me their 103 points on why Kirk was better than Picard or whatever, but any idiot could have played Kirk. Stewart OWNED the Picard role. One thing that damages him on this list is how well he's gone on to also own the role of Professor Xavier in the X-Men films.

6. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump. Oddly, this is the only name on this list to have played a character in only one movie. All the rest owned their roles after returning for sequels, but Hank's role as the Slow Alabaman (redundant?) is a role I can see no other man, not even Dustin Hoffman, playing. The calm demeanor and sweet sincerity with which he played Gump made us root for him more than maybe any other character in movie history.

7. Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa. Sick fact - when Sly went to sell the Rocky script to Hollywood, they wanted to cast Burt Reynolds (?) as Rocky. Sly said nobody else plays Rocky but him, and if they did not cast Sly as the title character he would sell the script to a competitor. The rest is history. 6 films later, Rocky is an American Icon like few others, and nobody but Stallone could touch it.

8. Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Three films, all classics. The way Ford effortlessly switched from intellectual university professor to adventurist rescuer to James Bond-esque love machine will forever ring in history as one of the greatest overall protagonist roles. He trademarked everything in that film - see a dusty brown hat or a whip and often times you wither think of Indy or a crazy ex-girlfriend. He owned this role as well as he owned Han Solo, only with Raiders, Temple, and Crusade he took center stage and owned the film as well.

9. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as Riggs and Murtaugh. I know I will catch flack for this, but what Nolte and Murphy did in 48 Hours Gibson and Glover did 10-times better with the Lethal Weapon series. In the formulaic Police Dichotimy movies (one black, one white; one rebelious, one straight-edged; one family man, one loner; etc.) these two had an on-screen chemisty not even touched until Chan and Tucker in Rush Hour. You believed the tension, but more importantly, you believed the friendship that developed as a result because it wasn't overdone.

What I will not accept- Anything James Bond (played by 4 men, too much debate), TV Sitcoms (Yes, Jerry Seinfeld owned the Seinfeld character), or ANY of the Batman Villains with the exception of Burgess Meredith as The Penguin. Jack Nicholson DID NOT own The Joker - Caesar Romero did. Also see: Julie Newmar, Frank Gorshin.

Please vote, debate, and have some fun with this list!!!

 

[BooCocky]

I will have to disagree with a lot of your choices, i chose other. I believe Jack Nicholson nailed the character Randle Patrick Mcmurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest and Louise Fletcher played her role as the villain to perfection". Every time i hear or see Jack Nicholson i think of this movie. Jack Nicholson nailed that role of the guy that was convicted of statutory rape. When he was transferred from the Jail to a mental institution he nailed that role of that crazy defiant person who is believed to be insane. His act of defiance against the staff is very created and interesting. You were able to see a different side of Nicholson, the calm person while playing his card games with Charlie Cheswick or sitting down with the Chief, then him turning into a psycho on the basketball court or even when he stole the boat, or the when he exploded into some type of rage because the nurse was the reason why Billy committed suicide.

Jack Nicholson did this character to perfection. Nicholson was able to own the role of a psychotic person by seeing a regular person in the mental institution to a psycho trying to escape or where he fakes being in a catatonic state.

I will have to disagree with a lot of your choices, i chose other. I believe Jack Nicholson nailed the character Randle Patrick Mcmurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest and Louise Fletcher played her role as the villain to perfection". Every time i hear or see Jack Nicholson i think of this movie. Jack Nicholson nailed that role of the guy that was convicted of statutory rape. When he was transferred from the Jail to a mental institution he nailed that role of that crazy psychotic person who is believed to be insane. His act of defiance against the staff is very created and interesting. You were able to see a different side of Nicholson, the calm person while playing his card games with Charlie Cheswick or sitting down with the Chief, then him turning into a psycho on the basketball court or even when he stole the boat, or the when he exploded into some type of rage because the nurse was the reason why Billy committed suicide.

Jack Nicholson did this character to perfection. Nicholson was able to own the role of a psychotic person by seeing a regular person in the mental institution to a psycho trying to escape or where he fakes being in a catatonic state.

Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher played there role as a mental patient to perfection because he believe he will be able to live out the rest of his jail term in luxury because he rules himself insane. Fletcher played Nurse Ratchet who was basically the whole stereotypes of nurses, she had absolutely every thing, she was the head nurse the person who didnt play well to Mcmurphy's defiance to try to maintain order in the institution.

Those two had such great chemistry because they were able to live there characters and make them feel so alive and real. This was a movie that was done for many stage versions but no one could play the role as the evil villain nurse and the defiant patient as Mcmurphy as well Nicholson and Fletcher and they were flawless in the delivery of the film, and i could not imagine another two people playing these roles not even a Robert Deniro who i believe is the greatest actor to ever live. Fletcher owned that role imo because she played her into one of the top five villains in movie history and was a very believable antagonist, and Nicholson won so many awards.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Brian, great choice! What hurt me there was, before I even saw the film with Nicholson, I saw the Broadway show with Gary Sinice (aka Leiutenant Dan from Forrest Gump) as MacMurphy and he was amazing as well. But I totally respect that choice and you can make a great arguement for it.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The problem with owning a role is that there's the possibility that you'll forever be remembered for just that one role.

Anthony Hopkins is very famous. But ask anybody to name one character he's played. They'll say Hannibal Lecter. Only problem there is that Brian Cox got there first and did it better.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

In Manhunter? Please tell me you're kidding.

It depends on weather or not you've read the books. Cox makes a better book version of Hannibal. He's more jokey than Hopkins version, which is how it was in the books. He's more physically imposing. Cox doesn't use much menace in his short screen time, but you can tell it's there.And in my opinion Hopkins' Hannibal has been sullied by a poor sequel and a prequel.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I read Red Dragon and half of Silence of the Lambs. I tried to read Hannibal but to no avail. I thought Red Dragon was a fantastic book.

OF COURSE I read he book after the movie, though, so the dialouge I read and the images they gave me were of Anthony Hopkins, Ed Norton, and Ralph Fiennes, who in my opinion is among the most underrated actors in the biz.

I loved the Lecter menace. Cox's portrayl didn't take the story away from Will Graham and Francis Dollarhyde whereas Hopkins did a bit. Some may say that is to detriment, but like with pro wrestling, Hopkins was that classic "tweener" character to Fiennes's Dollarhyde and Norton's Graham.

I disagree about the prequel and sequel. At times I prefer Red Dragon over Silence. Not always. I enjoyed Hannibal, partially because of the Dante allegory (sinners punished based on their sins - phenominal), partially because it was a breakout role for Ray Liotta to get away from the Henry Hill typecast, and mostly because I have a dirty stalker crush on Julianne Moore.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Also when I see Brad Pitt now I think of Tyler Durden. Although I really couldn't say weather that's to do with Brad Pitt or the way the role was written. I read the book and I still imagine Eric Bana like I did the first time I read it. But brilliant performance. It makes you realise that he's not just a pretty face, with the right role he's very good. Same could be said for him in Se7en.

 

[Colamania]

Actors who owned their roles? I'm sorry, but the glaring choice is not on this list, even though it was only one film, not a series:

Robert De Niro as Max Cady

Cape Fear is an amazing film, for one reason. Max Cady. A truly great character in that you can't wuite figure him out. He's cold and calculating, yet at the same time sick and twisted. He's a nutjob, and one of the smartest guys ever. What the hell is he exactly? Who knows, but that "Counsellor? Come out, come out, wherever you are" is one of the most chilling moments in any film.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Cola, if you want DeNiro in Cape Fear on the list, then you'd hae to put Billy Bob Thornton up there from Sling Blade.

Remember, I am not looking for just memorable performances. I want ownership of the roles, which is hard to do in just one film, no?

 

[Shadowmancer]

Not really as there are some characters where they guy owns the Role in a singular movie and people either don't care or sequals aren't made such as Dustin Hoffman in his role in The Graduate as well as his Role in Midnight Cowboy. Both of these roles are owned by Dustin but I have no clue if a sequel was made for either but I do know that he owned the role in Both of them. I can't remember the names as it is late night in NZ right now, so bear with me in being general here.

 

[Bentallica]

I voted other, because I think Hugh Jackman completely owns the role of Wolverine. I remember reading news during the making of X2 (or X3, can't remember) saying that if Jackman didn't come back, the movie might not happen. I think this helps my case.

I'm very excited that their will be a Wolverine spin-off (maybe even two). And its not just because I love the character, its because I love Jackman's take on the character and how involved he is with the film (being a producer as well as the star). He is currently heavily training for the film's upcoming start. I think its great that he takes the role seriously, and he's not just in it for the money (even though he's probably being paid a lot).

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard: I picked him, simply because yes.. I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation several times as a young-'en.

My only thing with this discussion is.. its hard to imagine anyone else playing these roles. I mean, who else could've pulled off "Jean-Luc Picard?"

Could you imagine Mel Gibson playing Indiana Jones, or Harrison Ford playing Riggs? No.. you simply can not. Not in my opinion, anyways. So this discussion is hard to choose, other than to say who completely MADE you believe they were that person.. & that, coming full circle, is why I picked Patrick Stewart.

I'd also like to place a vote for him as Charles Xavier from the X-Men movies, noone & I literally mean NO ONE could have played that role.. but him. Even before he ever said the first line from the first movie, he was made, built & dammit, looked every bit of the part.. didn't even require make-up, just place him in a wheel chair & you have thousands of comic book lovers believing Xavier is a real guy.

 

[Kasey]

Being that I'm a biased comic book dweeb, it's an easy, VERY EASY choice for me...

Christopher Reeve as Superman. I don't think in my lifetime they'll find another person so born to play a specific role. A role that is insanely hard to cast for because the required amount of physical prowess and the ability to convincingly play two separate but intertwined characters believably is just amazing. No one of his generation in those days could've done it, and they've come close in my opinion with the latest Superman, but I don't think it'll ever be done this well and this accurate ever again. Reeve made it so Superman basically stepped from out of the comic book page and onto celluloid as if he'd been manufactured note-for-note as some laboratory conversion. For some of the other roles listed, I could definitely see others fitting the bill, and in some of the cases, those people have had other play the role as well (Lecter, for instance). However, out of the myriad of different actors to sport the red cape, Reeve IS the benchmark that ALL of them are compared to. Not George Reeves, not Kirk Allyn, nor John Haymes Newton, Gerard Christopher or even Dean Cain. The entire pantheon of Superman portrayers are almost always graded on the Reeve Scale.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Kasey, thanks for posting here!

A few of my friends with whom I have had this debate have brought up Christopher Reeves, and I always counteracted with George Reeves. I watched the OLD Superman TV show on Nick at Nite in the 80's and early
90's (I was 7-10 at the time for those keeping score) and loved George. George Reees was as good a Superman as Christopher Reeves.

But Christopher Reeves was a FAR BETTER Clark Kent, so I will tip my hat to your post, Kasey.

 

[Pet Shop Boy]

I don't know if this is really born to play a role or not, but I know Will Ferrel in ANY comedy role, but specifically in Old School and to a lesser extent Anchorman is perfect.

The guy is a comedy acting genius, I don't know if it is true that he writes a lot of the material in his films or not but I know he had a lot of input in Anchorman. The guys facial expressions when he tells a joke the fact that he is totaly fearless of making a fool of himself in whatever role he plays. And as for Old school he totaly owned that film! The way he sells the part by been so ridicolous with his expressions, movements, and the way he acted to totaly like be intollerent of anything anyone else was saying is hilarious.

 

[ThatEmoDork]

By no means am I trying to take anything away from Hopkin's performance in Silence Of The Lambs, but I had to vote "Other". From a more recent perspective, I'm going to have to say Tobin Bell as Jigsaw/John Kramer. Jesus Christ this man was brilliant! While the concept for SAW is great, I don't think the 2nd and 3rd films would have done as good if it hadn't been for Bell.

 

[NYSandman]

Hopkins IS Hannibal Lectar. I've read all the books, and he owned, OWNED that character. The kid from Hannibal Rising was good, but Hopkins is a genius in everyway.

That shit he does where he doesn't blink, and seems to stare at you through the TV, getting in your head. If they EVER remake Lambs, I will protest and possibly land in prison for streaking the set naked.

Believe me, after THAT there will be NO remake.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Hopkins was my 2nd choice. I went with Corleone.

There was something about the way Al Pacino subtlely changed his character from the fairly light-hearted romantic war hero, to the burdened victim of hiw environment, to the diabolical murderer of his own brother. He grabbed you in early by making you like him, and because of how polarizing his performance was, you could not let go of the character until the spiral had completed and you HATED HIM, but you actually felt GUILTY for hating him!

The common thread between Pacino's Corleone and Hopkins' Lecter (this is also a credit to Mario Puzo and Thomas Harris, as well as the directors) was their ability to play the cinematic equivalent of the "Tweener."

Think about it - Hopkins was a murderer, a cannibal, and a master manipulator. And yet Hopkins made you sympathise with him!!! You hated Chilton for deriding him more than Lecter for eating people!

Same thing with Pacino and Corleone. As he moved deeper and deeper into murder, extortion, gambling, prostitution, etc, one would figure his protagonistic sympathy would wane. Quite the opposite! We all found villains in Hyman Roth, Sergeant McClusky, Don Barzini, etc that gave us excuses for rooting for "The Bad Guy." Until he had Fredo shot. Bastard.

 

[Father_Nelson]

The Damon: The Bourne Trilogy My favorite movies to date, i didnt watch them at first because i saw that matt damon was doing espionage and i didnt think i could take him seriously from his previous roles, example the legendary kevin smith's dogma. However he really does pull of the mysterious Jason Bourne character off with flying colors and it has catipulted him to a-list status

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I had the pleasure of going back and watching "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" the other day with Jack Nicholson. Here's a man who's owned many of the roles he's ever touched, including "A Few Good Men" and "The Shining." But his play of MacMurphy in the nut house really took that story and made it into a classic, which was eventually put on Broadway (and aptly played by Gary Sinise, aka Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump.)

It's hard to see anyone besides Nicholson in that role.

 

[KyleCobra]

hmmm ill throw a dark horse out there..

Kathy Baites in Misery

Im a huge King fan. But i have had to suffer through many a King story ruined through bad filmaking. There have been only a handful of King movie adaptations that have been good and even fewer that have been great.

Misery was always one of my favorites of his and i had read it early on as a kid. I had the chance to see the movie years after i had read it and it still haunts me. And i dont think it would have been as great as it was if not for Kathy Baites.

The feeling of solitude and despair made an extremly uncomfortable atmosphere in the movie. Her sanity or i guess lack there of wasnt overplayed or campy but as true to life as possible.

GREAT MOVIE..GREAT PERFORMANCE

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

I voted Anthony Hopkins, but I would revoke my vote, choose other, and state the real answer:

Mark Hammil - Luke Skywalker


Mark Hammil will forever be Luke Skywalker and nothing else. And he did a superb job in the role (far better than Hayden Christiensen these days).

 

[Bentallica]

I voted Anthony Hopkins, but I would revoke my vote, choose other, and state the real answer:

Mark Hammil - Luke Skywalker


Mark Hammil will forever be Luke Skywalker and nothing else. And he did a superb job in the role (far better than Hayden Christiensen these days).

I assume you mean that Hammil portrayed his character better than Christiensen. And with that I would have to agree with you. Hammil is the far better actor of the two, but in all honesty, I really did enjoy Hayden's Anakin/Vader character in RotS. Sure, it can't match up to Mark's Luke in RotJ, but it was a pretty good job. In a way, it sort of reminded me of James Franco's performance in Spider-Man 3. It was his best of the series, and the best of the entire movie if you ask me, because he got to play The New Goblin and have plenty of action scenes. Just like Christiensen in Ep. III.

 

[nomonksinmyband]

I have two options to add to this thread the first.

Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard- Orton owned the role as Vinyard in American History X, it's extremely hard to imagine anyone else in that role and them being able to even get the slightest bit of sympathy that he got for his character as his brother get dragged into the world he left.

Sean William Scott as Steve Stifler - In my opinion Sean William Scott helped define and keep afloat the genre of teen comedies with his role in the movies in fact when people went to see the American Pie movies they wanted to know what Stifler was going to do next. Further proof that he owned the role and carried the franchise lies in the fact that all of the direct to dvd release of the series have been focused around a 'stifler' as they try to re-create a similar character.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard- Orton owned the role as Vinyard in American History X, it's extremely hard to imagine anyone else in that role and them being able to even get the slightest bit of sympathy that he got for his character as his brother get dragged into the world he left.

Now that was a great performance. Only problem is that he's nothing like a real neo-nazi. Not to take away from his performance but Russel Crowe was more real . I used to watch punk bands and about half the audience were Nazi's. All of them stupid, all of them unsure about what they believe.

I know it's a performance, but if you base it of a sterotype you really should get it right.