Perfectly Cast

[backstept]

Some actors were meant to play a certain character. I can think of a few examples of cases where a certain actor is the only obvious choice for a character.

Aragorn - Viggo Mortensen - sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain, twenty-sixth King of Arnor, thirty-fifth King of Gondor and the first High King of the Reunited Kingdom, Heir of Isildur, Heir to the Throne of Gondor, the Dunadan, Longshanks, Strider, Wingfoot, Elessar Telcontar, Envinyatar, Estel, Thorongil

okay enough with the names and titles

Tolkien gives a brief but detailed description of Strider in The Fellowship of the Ring: lean, dark and tall, with shaggy dark hair "flecked with grey", grey eyes, and a stern pale face. In "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" in the Appendices, he was said to be often grim and sad, with unexpected moments of levity. Some time after the publication of the books, Tolkien wrote that he was at least 6 ft 6 in (198cm) tall.

Viggo Mortensen absolutely brought Aragorn to life. Viggo is really the only actor who could have played Aragorn . . . His devotion to the role really shows on screen, and I think is one of the reasons why the trilogy was so excellent. I recall a story where he hiked to a remote filming location in full costume including the sword, also camping out on location, again in full costume for a dawn shoot, broke his toe and stayed in character etc.
so when you watch The Two Towers where he kicks the orc head after thinking that Merry and Pippin are dead . . . that's when he broke his toe. He turned his own scream of agony, into Aragorn's scream of sorrow without so much as a blink out of character.
Stuart Townsend who was originally going to play the role was totally wrong for the part.


Name a role and actor who are perfectly matched and explain

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Two other things about Viggo:
1. He carried his sword with him wherever he went during the filming of the trilogy.
2. Jackson once, while discussing a scene, was calling him Aragorn for over a half hour, not Viggo. Viggo didn't notice it at the time!

 

[thestrangequark]

I've never seen the movie "The Virgin Suicides," but the novel describes one of the characters as very pretty, but overly thin and with a crowded smile. When I saw that Kirsten Dunst was cast for the role, I thought they couldn't have done better, at least based on the visual description.

Edit: And I just realized this thread is in SF and Fantasy, and that is not a SF or fantasy movie. Woops!

 

[Jack Bauer]

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. He really can do the intense brooding quality that the role requires. He's good looking and athletic enough to be a playboy billionaire and a human fighting machine like Batman.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Mark Hamill as The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.

Heath Ledger owned the role in The Dark Knight (and I loved his performance, it was no less than perfect for a live-action movie). However, the animated format allowed Hamill's Joker to be a little more bombastic, and he excelled at that style for the character.

Also, I grew up with Hamill's Joker. His voice (and laugh) are still want I think of when I think of the Joker.

 

[Servo]

Keanu Reeves - Neo (The Matrix Trilogy)
Robert Englund - Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street Series)
Christian Bale - Batman/Bruce Wayne (Nolan's Batman Films)
Christian Bale - Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)
Tobey Maguire - Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Spider-Man Trilogy)
Ron Perlman - Hellboy (The Hellboy Films)
Patrick Stewart - Charles Xavier (The X-Men Trilogy)
Jeffrey Combs - Herbert West (The Re-Animator Trilogy)
Michael J. Fox - Marty McFly (The Back to the Future Trilogy)

And I'd go as far as to say that pretty much everyone in The Lord of the Rings was perfectly cast.

 

[Silvercrest]

Some actors were meant to play a certain character. I can think of a few examples of cases where a certain actor is the only obvious choice for a character.

Aragorn - Viggo Mortensen - sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain, twenty-sixth King of Arnor, thirty-fifth King of Gondor and the first High King of the Reunited Kingdom, Heir of Isildur, Heir to the Throne of Gondor, the Dunadan, Longshanks, Strider, Wingfoot, Elessar Telcontar, Envinyatar, Estel, Thorongil

okay enough with the names and titles

You forgot "the Elfstone".

 

[Starbreaker]

Ian McNeice in the Dune miniseries. He owned that role.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Patrick Stewart for Professor Xavier

Christopher Reeve for Superman

Antonio Banderas for Zorro

Christian Bale for Batman

Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury (kind of an obvious one, given that Ultimate Fury was based on the great man)

Willem Dafoe as The Green Goblin

There are many other examples of great casting (McKellen as Gandalf/ Magneto, Ledger as the Joker, RDJ as Iron Man) but the above are ones where the casting of actor and character just screams to be made.

Incidentally, as regards Viggo/ Aragorn, IIRC, not only was Stuart Townsend originally cast in the role, but apparently Daniel Day-Lewis was their first choice.

 

[RoJoHen]

The entire cast of LOST.

 

[Captain Craig]

I could be wrong but it seems like the OP is talking about existing characters being translated from print to film.

So talking about Neo or Marty McFly isn't the same given the OP's drawn out descriptions of Aragorn and how Tolkien described him.

My inclusion would be: Robert Downey Jr = Tony Stark

 

[Worfmonger]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark. Edit: D'OH! ^^ Somebody mentioned it!!

Chris Evans as Johnny Storm.

Peace

Worfmonger

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
Guess I typed just a bit faster than you posted.

 

[Joeman]

The first one that came to mind for me was pretty obvious, but it's Brent Spiner as Data. Not many people could pull off playing an android with the precision that he did. There might be a handful of people that could do it, but I'm betting that no one could have done it better.

I agree with Shran about Heath Ledger. The movie was out for a long time before I actually got to see it, and I was very skeptical about all the praise he was getting. Once I finally got to see the movie, I totally understood. I kind of assumed he was getting extra recognition because he had died, but it turned out the accolades were completely justified. I doubt there have been many actors with a final swan song better than his performance in that film (I know he had filmed some other stuff before he passed, but I pretty much consider that role to be his most impressive final work).

Jeffrey Combs is a favorite of mine, so I think he was perfect in most everything he did, including his not-as-often mentioned roles in Frighteners and Love and a .45.

While I'm mentioning Combs, I have to mention Bruce Campbell, a true one of a kind who has brought an amazing uniqueness to almost everything he's done, regardless of how ""B" level the movies or TV shows were.

Lots of good examples given by others already. I agree with most of them.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Jim Carrey, The Truman Show

 

[Joeman]

Jim Carrey, The Truman Show

A lot of "cool' people seem to really dislike Jim Carrey, but I'm a big fan myself, and I agree with you. That role reminds me very much of Will Ferrells' role in Stranger than Fiction. He really showed that he could do a lot more than just be "wacky".

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Perfectly matchedL

Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck

Tobey Maguire as Spidey

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark

Ryan McPartlin as Captain America

Christian Bale as Batman, eh, he was okay for the role but not perfectly matched.

Patrick Stewart was wrong for Xavier. I never saw anyone but Picard in that role.

 

[Servo]

I could be wrong but it seems like the OP is talking about existing characters being translated from print to film.

So talking about Neo or Marty McFly isn't the same given the OP's drawn out descriptions of Aragorn and how Tolkien described him.

I don't get the impression that the OP was setting out any such provision at all. He said "actors that were born to play a certain role". Keanu Reeves was pitch perfect as Neo - certainly better than the producers original choice probably would have been (Will Smith) - and Michael J. Fox was perfect for Marty McFly, so as far as I'm concerned, they qualify as "Perfectly Cast". Just because the OP used Aragorn as an example, doesn't mean that the rest of us are limited to literary adaptations.

Patrick Stewart was wrong for Xavier. I never saw anyone but Picard in that role.

In fairness, that's kinda your hang-up. I never had that problem watching him as Xavier.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Two other things about Viggo:
1. He carried his sword with him wherever he went during the filming of the trilogy.
2. Jackson once, while discussing a scene, was calling him Aragorn for over a half hour, not Viggo. Viggo didn't notice it at the time!

Just rewatched the entire LotR Trilogy and Viggo is indeed perfectly cast. Not to mention smokin' hot.

But... in theater one is often referred to and refers to oneself by a character's name, particularly when discussing things with a director. It's not really at all unusual for an actor not to notice that.

Perfect casting:

Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley
Malcolm McDowell as Alex
Tim Curry as Dr. Frank N Furter
Kirstie Alley as Saavik (pretty much the only successful addition to the original cast ever)
Lucy Lawless as Xena
Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonnio and Ed Harris as Lindsay and Bud (flawed as the film was - they were fantastic)
Wallace Shawn as Fezzini
Pretty much the entire cast of Firefly

 

[Skywalker]

Some actors were meant to play a certain character. I can think of a few examples of cases where a certain actor is the only obvious choice for a character.

Aragorn - Viggo Mortensen - sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain, twenty-sixth King of Arnor, thirty-fifth King of Gondor and the first High King of the Reunited Kingdom, Heir of Isildur, Heir to the Throne of Gondor, the Dunadan, Longshanks, Strider, Wingfoot, Elessar Telcontar, Envinyatar, Estel, Thorongil

okay enough with the names and titles

You forgot "the Elfstone".

Elessar means "elfstone," so technically he didn't.

Completely agreed about Viggo Mortensen, though. He was fantastic as Aragorn. Though I am kinda interested to see how Daniel Day-Lewis would have handled the character.

Speaking of perfectly-cast actors in LOTR...Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf.