Name a movie role where the character eclipses the actor.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Basically, where the character achieves a level of recognition where people think of him or her as a real person, as opposed to the actor playing him or her.

While many find the movie "Forrest Gump" to be overrated--and to some extent I might agree--you still have to admit that the title character took on a life of his own and that you don't really think about Tom Hanks playing Forrest Gump, you just think about Forrest Gump.

Any other examples?

[mitchum]

1. Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, Creature from the Black Lagoon

and many other monsters

[HopeHoops]

2. Pretty much anything with George Clooney.

Although even the characters aren't that good, but they still eclipse him as a person.

[Call Me Wesley]

3. Showgirls.

I really believed all of them being this, errmm, whatever they played.

[Chan790]

6. ...

:rofl:

I think the word you're looking for is prostitutes...they all clearly were whoring themselves out for the money. I can't even keep a straight face at the notion that anybody associated with that film was in it for the art. Even the ads for it were basically "Come see the girl from "Saved by the Bell" naked and having badly-cinematographed staged-sex." (In that sense, I like to think of it as the intellectual parent of the rash of obviously-intentional career-boosting sex tapes. "Miley Cyrus in 5, 4, 3, 2, ...")

It's been 11 years and I'm still embarrassed for Elizabeth Berkley.

[kwassa]

35. A friend of mine was in it ....

one of the few that didn't remove her clothes.

[redqueen]

4. Travis Bickle

[Chan790]

5. Heath Ledger's Joker...

is the only role I ever saw him in where I never found myself thinking "Heath Ledger playing X does Y." instead of "the character of X does Y."

That is, it was the only role where I saw the character instead of the actor. Honestly, I don't think he was a very good actor though...I have the same criticism of Robert DiNiro, Al Pacino, Ewan MacGregor, Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman: they all frequently overshadow the role they're playing and you find you can't stop seeing the actor foremost.

[XemaSab]

28. Jack Nicholson always plays himself

:(

[mitchum]

36. +1

[joeybee12]

7. Vivien Liegh as Scarlet O'Hara and in anything...same with Kate Hepburn...n/t

[Broken_Hero]

8. Christopher Reeve

as Superman.

Whenever I'd see him in a non-superman film, I'd be "Hey, Superman's in this movie!"

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

9. Hannibal Lecter

With some fava beans and a nice Chianti, of course!

ffffffffffffffffffffff

[Mad_Dem_X]

27. My first thought, too. Him and

Verbal Kint/Keyser Soze.

[XemaSab]

29. Way to spoil the film there

:eyes:

[Mad_Dem_X]

42. Hey, if you haven't seen this film yet

you deserve to have the ending spoiled. It was released in 1995, for Christ's sake. :eyes:

[JCMach1]

10. Freaking Idi Amin in Last King of Scotland

Fishburn must have channeled him, seriously.

[Rosie1223]

13. I believe he was played by Forest Whitaker.

But I agree it was a great movie.

[qnr]

14. I guess that kind of proves the point :) n/t

[JCMach1]

16. Sorry my bad...

Senior moment... and he did get the Oscar for the role.

[pitohui]

47. def forest whitaker

wonderful under-rated actor and a great movie too!!!

i loved him even in the twilight zone

[qnr]

11. Do Flipper and Lassie & others of that ilk count? n/t

[kentauros]

12. Alan Swan - My Favorite Year.

"Damn you. I'm not an actor. I'm a movie star!" :rofl:

[skypilot]

15. The mom in "Ordinary People"

It was hard to believe that that was Mary Tyler Moore, even though I was looking right at her. Was never able to see her the same way after that.

[Kat45]

17. Kaiser Soze (sp) nt`

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

39. He doesn't exist (nt)

[AllenVanAllen]

18. Here's one, I think.

[BuelahWitch]

52. Yep! And...

[sarge43]

19. Easy one -- Mark Hamill n/t

[soleiri]

20. That was my thought, too. nt.

[sarge43]

21. In a minor way he kind of spoiled The Big Red One.

He did a credible job with the part, but I couldn't help thinking "Use the force, Luke." any time he got anal about killing a German.

[soleiri]

23. Luke?

Who's Luke?

I thought we were talking about his role as Kenneth W. Dantley Jr. in Corvette Summer.


:shrug:

[sarge43]

24. Luke's a walk on part in a flick I saw a long time ago in a galaxy .... n/t

[Capn Sunshine]

32. gave Corvettes a bad name for months

so it was cool if you were in the market for one.
Check out what passed for "cool" in this movie

[baldguy]

56. yep

[Capn Sunshine]

22. anything Alan Rickman is in

because he's actually a pansy ass milquetoast Brit IRL

[Twillig]

30. By Grabthar's Hammer, you will be

SMACKED DOWN!!

[flying rabbit]

25. Jack Nicholson

in the Shining. He inhabited that role perfectly, and I cannot see him in anything else without thinking about it. Jack Nicholson is Jack Torrance.

[Brother Buzz]

26. When I see Jack Nicholson and I still think of George in Easy Rider

Wyatt: "You got a helmet?" George: "Oh, oh I've got a helmet! (Laughs) I got a beauty!"

[Lionel Mandrake]

31. Norman Bates

played by Anthony Perkins in Psycho (1960)

[jobycom]

33. Twofer one: The Dude and Walter in "The Big Lebowski."

I even forget sometimes that Bridges played the Dude, especially when watching him in another role.

[tainted_chimp]

34. Harold

:loveya:

[PassingFair]

37. Gladiator.

[Schema Thing]

38. Sling Blade

a friend of mine was the Camera Operator on Bandits. He'd been working on set filming Thorton for two weeks, hearing him do Sling Blade impressions for other crew members, but did not know that Thorton was actually IN the movie Sling Blade; just that he'd written and directed. So, my friend decides to rent the movie and see what all the fuss is about - it wasn't till the credits rolled that he realized that Thorton was the Karl Childers character.

[Orrex]

46. That role and his portrayal are frequently lampooned

but the performance is really quite excellent, and a lot more subtle than would probably be expected by anyone who's only seen the spoofs.


Great acting by the whole cast, from start to finish.

[ScreamingMeemie]

40. Norman Bates in "Psycho" and "The Exorcist's" Regan.

[alphafemale]

48. Yeah. Neither one of them saw very much "work" again.

You can't see their faces withount thinking of those roles.

"Your Mother Sucks ____ in ______!"

And breaking the neck of a preist by throwing him down a cold hard set of concrete stairs.

Yep. People are going to remember these things. Kinda hard to imagine you in a romantic comedy after.

[Homer Wells]

41. One that really got to me!

Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in the movie "The Doors"

:smoke:

[AwakeAtLast]

43. Charlize Theron in "Monster" and Hillary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry"

Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain"

[NNadir]

44. Jake Giddes or Noah Cross in "Chinatown."

[valerief]

45. Captain Kirk. I mean, William Shatner. nt

[Steely_Dan]

49. Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"

I don't think I have ever seen a better acting effort than his role in "There Will Be Blood." For me, he took acting to whole other level.

-P

[LastNaturalist]

55. I second that. "Blood" is the ultimate movie about America.

[dysfunctional press]

50. elizabeth taylor as cleopatra.

:sarcasm:

[cynatnite]

51. Spock is far more popular than the actor himself. n/t

[baldguy]

53. Sarah Palin as The Governor of Alaska

[LastNaturalist]

54. Heath Ledger's Joker.