The inevitable Obama movie.

[Sci]

If he wore a tuxedo, would that be Benedict's cummerbund?

As for Obama: How about Denzel Washington?

I think Denzel Washington brings a certain fire to most of his performances. He often plays characters who are fundamentally angry in some way. You always get the impression watching his performances that he's hiding a caged tiger just waiting to get out.

President Obama is not that kind of guy. If anything, that's one of his biggest political liabilities -- he's so cool and aloof that sometimes he has trouble connecting emotionally with the electorate. He's a very Keep Calm and Carry On, Stiff Upper Lip sort of guy. So Denzel Washington wouldn't be my first choice for playing President Obama.

 

[Gaith]

^ Which, again, makes me thing that "Obama Begins" is the way Hollywood'll go; once he really gets his life going, he's a pretty cool cucumber, and remains so.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Studio-wise though, Will Smith will be the choice, no question. However ideal Lennix may be, he has nowhere near the box-office draw Will Smith has. Right or wrong, that's going to be what trumps everything when it comes to casting the film.

At the same time, I feel that if there are too many well-known actors in a historical drama, that it can take away from it because they're so recognizable. There was hollywood production of Pope JPII's life that I felt had many familiar faces in it that I felt like I couldn't focus on the story because I felt it was too distracting. At the same time, there was another lower key production with an unknown actor playing the lead role which I felt ended up being better. Recognizeability isn't always better. Once in awhile, studios do take a chance on the unknown and it can pay off in a big way.

On the other hand, I do love it when actors who are foreign to a specific genre end up taking it on. Often by doing this, they prove that they have versatility and aren't always doing the same old thing. For instance, I never really was a fan of Jamie Foxx until he did Ray, and boy did he ever totally transform himself in that one. I saw Will Smith in Pursuit of Happyness, and he was really good in that, so who knows. Maybe he can be like Robin Williams where after a string of comedies, started doing some dramatic movies and serious roles. Sometimes the best actors for a role aren't always the most obvious ones.


But I do think that Lennix should be given a chance at the role if it ever comes up, even if he's not currently an A-list. When I first saw him in Commander-in-Chief, I was quite impressed, and then when Obama was elected, I remembered him and thought he'd be perfect in the role. With a little recognition, he could be on his way to becoming an A-lister himself. It's chances like that help propel careers. Though chances are, it may not even be Will Smith or even Lennix, but a total unknown who ends up getting the role

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Forget Lennix, forget Smith... Obama's actor-doppelganger already exists, and his name is Scott Lawrence.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0493013/

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Not a bad likeness, but he's like a less-good-looking version of Obama.

 

[gblews]

Forget Lennix, forget Smith... Obama's actor-doppelganger already exists, and his name is Scott Lawrence.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0493013/

He looks nothing like Barack.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Closer match than Denzel.

 

[Trekker4747]

Forget Lennix, forget Smith... Obama's actor-doppelganger already exists, and his name is Scott Lawrence.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0493013/

He looks nothing like Barack.

I dunno, he's pretty close to me.

 

[gblews]

Closer match than Denzel.

But no one called Denzel, Barack's "doppleganger".

Forget Lennix, forget Smith... Obama's actor-doppelganger already exists, and his name is Scott Lawrence.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0493013/

He looks nothing like Barack.

I dunno, he's pretty close to me.

The only similarities are that they're both African American and fair complexioned.

 

[Trekker4747]

To me they have somewhat similar looking faces.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Closer match than Denzel.

But no one called Denzel, Barack's "doppleganger".

Looks more like him than any other actors mentioned.

He looks nothing like Barack.

I dunno, he's pretty close to me.

The only similarities are that they're both African American and fair complexioned.

He's got the ears and similar facial structure.

 

[Nerys Myk]

 

[Skywalker]

Scott Lawrence is similar only in that he and Obama are both light-skinned African American men with prominent ears. I don't see much facial resemblance at all.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Lawrence has a triangle shaped head, like Obama. The others do not. That plus the ears makes him a closer match.

 

[doubleohfive]

First of all, I think it's pretty silly to be assigning likelihood for casting based solely on looks. Hair and makeup artists can do a lot to transform an actor and make them look like just about anyone else. Josh Brolin did George W. Bush a few years ago, and he looks nothing like Dubya.

2) Physical appearance alone does not necessarily insure or equate a good performance. You guys are forgetting the acting part of it. Denzel, Will Smith - they are versatile actors who can pretty much do whatever is put in front of them and still fill seats in a theater. Can Lennix? Can Lawrence?

Hell maybe we should just say fuck it and cast Robert Downey Jr.? (and no, that's not a reference to Tropic Thunder but a reference to how he's been both Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes and would probably be great)

 

[Trekker4747]

Scott Lawrence is similar only in that he and Obama are both light-skinned African American men with prominent ears. I don't see much facial resemblance at all.

More "oval shaped" head, prominent "laugh lines" and lips. There's a strong resemblance there. Not in a "play as decoy so Obama can go fuck an intern like in the movie "Dave" sort of way but in a "can reasonably pass for him in a movie" sort of way.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

And just to throw more fuel onto the fire, Harry Lennix has already played Obama:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt_8vGgD1Nk[/yt]

 

[Captaindemotion]

Lawrence has a triangle shaped head, like Obama. The others do not. That plus the ears makes him a closer match.

First of all, I think it's pretty silly to be assigning likelihood for casting based solely on looks. Hair and makeup artists can do a lot to transform an actor and make them look like just about anyone else. Josh Brolin did George W. Bush a few years ago, and he looks nothing like Dubya.

2) Physical appearance alone does not necessarily insure or equate a good performance. You guys are forgetting the acting part of it. Denzel, Will Smith - they are versatile actors who can pretty much do whatever is put in front of them and still fill seats in a theater. Can Lennix? Can Lawrence?

More "oval shaped" head, prominent "laugh lines" and lips. There's a strong resemblance there. Not in a "play as decoy so Obama can go fuck an intern like in the movie "Dave" sort of way but in a "can reasonably pass for him in a movie" sort of way.

I'd agree with the comments about the Obama-Lawrence resemblance (thanks for the pic Nerys Myk) and I'd also agree with the comments about resemblance not being all that important. When it was announced that Dennis Quaid was to play Bill Clinton in The Special Relationship, I thought that it was a bit of a stretch; Quaid seemed a better fit for Dubya than Bubba. But, oh my, Quaid captured Clinton's voice, mannerisms, posture and persona so well and the make-up people did such a great job, that in the long shots you would have thought it was the real thing.

Julianne Moore wouldn't have necessarily been my top choice to play Sarah Palin in a movie but in Game Change, she was uncannily like her (even more so than Tina Fey, who until then had been 'the' onscreen Palin). And you have Ed Harris as John McCain, Frank Langella and Anthony Hopkins as Nixon - none of them are the spitting image of the person they play, but they convince you with the power of their performance.

 

[gblews]

First of all, I think it's pretty silly to be assigning likelihood for casting based solely on looks. Hair and makeup artists can do a lot to transform an actor and make them look like just about anyone else. Josh Brolin did George W. Bush a few years ago, and he looks nothing like Dubya.

2) Physical appearance alone does not necessarily insure or equate a good performance. You guys are forgetting the acting part of it. Denzel, Will Smith - they are versatile actors who can pretty much do whatever is put in front of them and still fill seats in a theater. Can Lennix? Can Lawrence?

Hell maybe we should just say fuck it and cast Robert Downey Jr.? (and no, that's not a reference to Tropic Thunder but a reference to how he's been both Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes and would probably be great)

No one has said that the actor HAS to look like Obama in order to play him. The reason Harry Lennix is the perfect choice is because of the obvious resemblance AND the acting chops.

Everyone then came in with actors who they believed had what Lennix had: the acting chops AND the resemblance. The recent debate has been strictly about the resemblance part of the eqation. No one was saying that these actors should play the role simply because they look like Barack.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Actually the first thing that struck me about Lennix playing Obama was the voice. Lennix does look like Obama, yes, but perhaps more importantly, he SOUNDS like him. Even if, say, Will Smith has the acting talent to play Obama - and I'm sure he does - I just don't see him doing the voice as well as Lennix would.