Who do you think is the best actor to play a character? I’ll start with two easy ones.
The Joker. Heath Ledger. There were/are several Jokers. Nicholson, Romero, Hamill. But Ledger is by far the best.
Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds. No other.
Discuss.
I thought Robert Redford was a better Gatsby than Di Caprio, for what it’s worth…
Schwarzenegger as Conan.
Lou Ferrigno as the hulk ;-)
Daniel Day-Lewis.
As, Lincoln, I guess? Or any character?
Jim Carrey is Ace Ventura
A lot of you are going with best character for a given actor, but I think the more interesting question is the best actor for characters who have been portrayed by multiple, and why.
For example, I’d say that the best Hannibal Lecter was Mads Mikkelsen. He didn’t introduce me to the character, and it took a long time for him to get out of Anthony Hopkins’ shadow. Over the course of that TV show, he proved every bit as intelligent, as shrewd, as monstrous, and urbane as that character needed to be. Hopkins’ version doesn’t actually work as a Lecter before being outed as a killer.
Hugh Jackman is Wolverine.
If we’re going with comic books, Robert Downey Jr. is pretty perfect as Ironman.
Gilbert Gottfried as Gilbert Gottfried. Obligatory:
Ah, but which Deadpool? He was a pretty terrible Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
(By the way, I love the hubris of the idea that they were going to do multiple X-Men Origins movies, each for a different character. Blech.)
I think this case is like Heath Ledger. They both play their own (great) versions of the characters that have become iconic, but neither feels particularly close to the source material that predated them.
It depends on the intent of the original question, I suppose.
Well go on then … nobody mentioned James Bond? ;)
I am going to say David Suchet as Hercule Poroit and add that he owns the character.
How about Voice Actors?
Townsend Coleman as the Tick (1994 - 1996) SPOON!!
I wish you all would have let that title meme die with the old forum software.
Your displeasure has been noted.
Yeah I agree with this, I never thoght anyone would do a better Hannibal than Hopkins but Mads was awesome. Saying that Brian Cox was very good as Hannibal in Manhunter as well.
Christopher Reeves is the best Superman, so fits the role even down to the look etc, really really good.
Also IT, both are great as Pennywise in their own way, Tim Curry was excellent but Bill Skarsgård was also really really good.
Ok, let me stake out a probably controversial selection. I think Benedict Cumberbatch is the best Sherlock Holmes so far. I’m sure a lot of folks would say Basil Rathbone. Now, I’ve only seen a few of Mr Rathbone’s presentations, but I never got the sense of imperious, alienating brilliance that I do from Cumberbatch’s performance, and I think it’s vital to the character. He’s not just a witty upperclassman. He’s so dialed into his world of crystalizing tiny details that it necessarily isolates him from the rest of humanity.
That said, I don’t think Cumberbatch has a lock on this character. Someone, down the road, will probably do it better. Because so far, no one has convinced me that he was a closet cocaine addict. Robert Downey Jr has come closest, but there’s far too much other baggage coming with that performance.
Wait what? Sure, Ledger’s Joker was good, but no one manages to capture the combination of funny and sinister the way Hamill does. No one. Nicholson’s Joker catered more to the “funny” part, Ledger’s was mostly sinister/psychopath. Hamill unites both sides in a way that’s nearly perfect - and it comes across at its best in the Batman: Arkham games, most notably Arkham Knight. It’s brilliant.
I’m picking the best Spider-Man. For me that is Tom Holland. The Tobey McGuire films were seminal films for me, and came out in high school. So I have a lot of nostalgia for them. But Tom played the most teenager like of all of them. His actions, and reactions, felt most true to how a teenager would respond to having powers.
And it wasn’t mopey. The scene where he tells his best friend just rang much more true than anything Spider-Man before it had.
And @rhamorim it’s tough for me. I never watched TAS, but find Hamill superlative in the role. I don’t know that I would call him the best at the role, but am not sure I couldn’t either.
Ledger’s joker was far, far better than Nicholson’s.
The only joker better than ledger, and I don’t know if it really counts since it’s only the voice, is Mark Hamill.