People Are Sharing Actors Who Are So Iconic In A Role That They Can’t Imagine Anyone Else Playing Them, And I Agree With Every One Of These
Brian Galindo
6 min read
People Are Sharing Actors Who Are So Iconic In A Role That They Can’t Imagine Anyone Else Playing Them, And I Agree With Every One Of These
There are few more cinematic/TV joys than having an actor be perfectly cast in a role. Whether you love them or love to hate them, they can make something already really great into something iconic — and you’re unable to think of anybody else playing that part.
Well recently, Reddit user JasonXP2000 was interested in just that when they asked this question: “Which actor did such a kick-ass job in a certain role that you could never imagine anyone else playing it?”
The thread quickly went viral with thousands of responses. Here are some of the top-voted and best comments:
1. “Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson in Stranger Things Season 4.”
—arty-Bid-5214
“He was amazing. The casting director said everyone else who auditioned made Eddie seem like an asshole in that cafeteria scene, but somehow, Joseph pulled it off.”
—frycrunch96
2. “The actor who plays Steve (Joe Keery) is so great that they kept him after Season 1 and gave him a redemption arc.”
—Wishart2016
“I agree; Joe Keery was probably a huge part of that! Not saying they would have killed him off if Steve had been played by a different actor, but Joe’s acting brings a ton of dimension to his character that is way too valuable to just be thrown aside. Stranger Things is perfectly cast in general. Imagine anyone else as Steve, Hopper, Joyce, etc. Just very well cast.”
—Voiceless_Siren
3. “Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf in The Lord of the Ring films.”
Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection—SimonFerocious76
“The final scene where Gandalf tells the hobbits goodbye and sails off to Valinor makes me tear up. Every time.”
—Im_a_seaturtle
“Honestly, the entire cast of LOTR is spot-on.”
—flacocaradeperro
4. “Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard in the various Star Trek franchises.”
Paramount / ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection—ericallenjett
“Hands down the best Star Trek captain ever.”
—obiwanjacobyx7x
5. “Say what you want about the character. Imelda Staunton, who plays that massively nasty Dolores Umbridge, did a fantastic job at making me hate her.”
—MenstruatingMuffin
“Imelda Staunton and Alan Rickman delivered by far the best performances in that series. It takes serious talent to play such a reprehensible embodiment of lawful evil so well.”
—fireinthesky7
“In an August 2009 interview, author Stephen King called: ‘The gently smiling Dolores Umbridge, with her girlish voice, toad-like face, and clutching, stubby fingers, the greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter.’ Imelda Staunton nailed that role.”
—counterslave
6. “Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean.”
Tiger Aspect Productions / Courtesy: Everett Collection—GullibleAbalone
“Rowan IS Mr. Bean, no doubt about it!”
—WeAreLivinTheLife
“I know! I can’t imagine him out of the role either. He played the role of a British spy in a movie once, and even though his hair was graying and his physical complexion had changed, I kept imagining the serious spy as the goofy Mr. Bean.”
—z57333
7. “J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. So good that he played the same character across multiple Spider-Verses.”
Columbia Pictures / ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection—The_Mouse_That_Jumps
“Across all comic book movies, I have never seen anyone who clearly just is the character he’s portraying like Simmons is in that role. It’s a 1:1 translation to live-action. When the MCU revealed Tom Holland as Spider-Man, I remember thinking, They will never find a JJJ as good as J.K. Simmons. And apparently, they agreed with me.”
—AsaTJ
8. “Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute on The Office.”
—RealQuickNope
“FALSE: Rainn Wilson is Dwight Schrute.”
—steppek
9. “Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds.”
Weinstein Company / ©Weinstein Company/Courtesy Everett Collection—SpectreOperator
“If you watch the behind-the-scenes, Tarantino at one point worried they had written a character that was so complex nobody could play him. And when he saw Christoph, he was of the opinion that he was the only person that could pull it off.
“Do you know what degree of gem you need to be for QUENTIN FUCKING TARANTINO to say you’re the only person in the world that could do the role?”
—ProbablyGayingOnYou
“I often just watch the opening of Inglourious Basterds just for his performance. How his face changes during the conversation just sends chills down my spine.”
—Lukebekz
10. “James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano.”
Anthony Neste / Getty Images—MyBestDisguise
“One of the greatest acting performances ever — and it had to be. The character of Tony is so complex, so idiosyncratic…his true nature is often hidden even from himself. Gandolfini had to pull it all together. You have to believe the charisma in one scene and the oafishness in the next. The tender father, the murderer. Fat, balding, and insecure in one scene, suave and seductive in the next. He cries about ducks, and he’s a badass. More than anything, you recognize he is deeply evil to his core — probably beyond redemption even as he occasionally reaches for the light — and you love him anyways. What an incredible talent.”
—bjankles
11. “Jeff Bridges IS The Dude from The Big Lebowski.”
—hlerdnerp
“He came into a place I worked at once (about seven or eight years ago) wearing some jeans, some flip-flops, a T-shirt, and a robe for a sweater. He asked for the 10% senior discount. He IS The Dude.”
—Misterbellyboy
12. “Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.”
—the_vish_23
“Marvel was hesitant to have him in the role, too, considering his past. I dare to say that if it wasn’t for RDJ, the MCU might not have ever taken off.”
—MooKids
13. “Bryan Cranston as Walter White on Breaking Bad.”
Amc / ©AMC / courtesy Everett Collection—GR3TSCH
“I feel like you can apply this to basically every Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul character, honestly. Every actor knocks their role out of the fucking park.”
—peixcellent
14. “Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. Nobody else could have perfectly embodied the essence of that character, in my opinion.”
—TerranHunter
15. “Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman. In an alternate universe, it would’ve been Leonardo DiCaprio that was cast. I cannot imagine that.”
Lions Gate / ©Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection—E_-_R_-_I_-_C
“I often think about the fact that he said he based his interpretation of Bateman on Tom Cruise after seeing him on Letterman. Something about how he was all cheerful and jovial, but completely dead behind the eyes. He nailed it.”
—Even-Tomatillo-4197
16. “Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. I mean…he was MEANT for that role.”
20thcentfox / ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection—xolivas22
“Ryan in an interview said he wanted to get into acting so he could be Deadpool.”
—BearJewSally
17. “Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in the Alien franchise.”
20thcentfox / ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection—insert_name_here925
“I love how you can ask who is one of the best sci-fi protagonists of all time, and you can say her without having to ask, ‘Best female sci-fi protagonist?’ Just so good.”
—thedreaminggoose
18. “Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men.”
AMC—Njtotx3
“Agreed! I love the elevator scene exchange: ‘I feel bad for you’ and Don replies ‘I don’t think about you at all,’ sooooo cold!”
—ittasteslikepurple
19. “Cary Elwes as Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride.”
—Shadowfaxx71
“He played Westley so well that it kind of ruined Saw for me because I couldn’t see him in anything else even years later, LOL.”
—pharmacon
20. “Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight…still the best to do it, IMO.”
Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection—icanbeurangle
“Came here to say this. I know it isn’t the most popular opinion round these parts, but none of the cinematic Jokers have come even close to Ledger’s yet. I find it hard to enjoy the movies that came out after because I can’t see The Joker in any other way. That said, I agree with other comments that the animated Joker voiced by Mark Hamill is hands down the best.”
—Pixelmixer
21. “James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader.”
—Darth_Revan-66
“That man is 91 years old, and still voicing Vader. It’s amazing.”
—twcsata
22. “Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada.“
—Ninjas4cool
“As someone who doesn’t really like Meryl Streep, I will always acknowledge that she owned this role!”
—NumbHag
You can read the full thread of responses on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Alright, is there an actor not on this list that you think did such an iconic job playing the part that you can’t imagine anyone else playing it? Let me know in the comments below!!!
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