Best Portrayal of a Real Person

[criterionmaster]

Who do you feel gives the best performances playing a real person?

[PTAhole]

I'm a fool for not remembering his name, but the guy who played Mozart in Amadeus.

[ie]

If we exclude documentaries , here's a couple of my favorites:


John Hurt as Joseph Merrick in the Elephant Man

Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy and Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - probably not the most accurate, but it's a fun movie, and it makes the Sundance Kid look like a badass, which is always important

Everyone in Fargo

Jia Hongshen as himself in Quitting

Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull

And those are some of my favorites.

[criterionmaster]

Well Fargo isn't based on truth at all. It is all out of the minds of the Coens. So none of the characters are real.

[ie]

When I use a , I usually mean it in jest. Besides, in the beginning, it says it's based off of true events. So I was really just fucking around.


Oh yeah, and here's one you never would have expected: Grave of the Fireflies, which even though it is animated counts because it is based off of a semi-autobiographical novel.

[clintonw202]

what about johnny depp as hunter s. thompson in fear & loathing?.his turn as hunter must have impressed the man himself,they became firm friends till the end of thompsons life.

[captainofbeef]

I'd probably have to say Ben Kingsley in Gandhi.

[sacrilegend]

I'm with ie on The Elephant Man.

One I liked as well was Judi Dench as Iris Murdoch in Iris (Richard Eyre; 2001).

[Clark Nova]

Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood.

[criterionmaster]

Oh that was such an amazing performance. You might as well throw Depp in there as well; I think his role as Ed Wood is one of his best. I really want to learn more about the real Ed Wood, since most of my knowledge of the man comes from that film.

[Clark Nova]

hells yeah i'll throw in depp's performance of Ed Wood. It's actually my favorite performance of his...such a happy-go-lucky and blissfully ignorant man. and if you wanna know more about the man and the myth, Edward D. Wood Jr., start with the granddaddy of 'em all, Plan 9...you will literally marvel at how awful it is.

[eatawiiner]

I loved 'Walk the Line' and thought Phoenix was great as Cash. Who thinks another actor could have done better?

[misterbalco]

Leonardo Dicaprio...he could pull off anything.

[Clark Nova]

misterbalco said:

Leonardo Dicaprio...he could pull off anything.

thought he was a little over-the-top as Howard Hughes.

...but then again, Howard Hughes pretty much defined over-the-top.

[criterionmaster]

Yeah, I actually kill myself for not having seen Plan 9, me calling myself a fan of "so-bad-it's-good" too. I am going to see that as soon as I can.

SPOILER: Click to show

In Ed Wood at the end when he is like "this will be the film I am remembered for" I still got a little tear in my eye even without having seen Plan 9.

I think he might have been being sarcastic (?), but either way, I do think he pulled off Hughes very well. Knowing a good amount about him, mostly because my dad loves him, I really enjoyed the ending, and knowing what would happen next. I thought he was fantastic for the role, I can't imagine too many people in the role. In fact, I think Dicaprio gets a lot of unwarranted hate. I really think he is a good actor.

[Evan]

Criteroenmaster, if you want to find out more about Ed Wood check out his biography or see the documentary entitled: The Haunted World of Ed Wood Jr. But since Ive read and seen those, the movie isnt like the real Ed Wood. No disrespect, but Ed Wood was a drunk, who never got any sucsess in his lifetime. But The movie version is excellent as well.

[ryans87]

I'm also going to say Ben Kingsley in Gandhi, followed closely by Enrique Irazoqui in Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo, Cate Blanchett in The Aviator, and Ghassan Massoud in Kingdom of Heaven. But those might change when I see de Niro in Raging Bull and Maria Falconetti in La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc. I'd give more points for Leo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in The Aviator if I were able to forget his performance as King Louis XIV in The Man in the Iron Mask.

[criterionmaster]

evan said:

Criteroenmaster, if you want to find out more about Ed Wood check out his biography or see the documentary entitled: The Haunted World of Ed Wood Jr. But since Ive read and seen those, the movie isnt like the real Ed Wood. No disrespect, but Ed Wood was a drunk, who never got any sucsess in his lifetime. But The movie version is excellent as well.

will do. yeah, i figured ed wood was either exaggerated or stylized. i will check that documentary out, probably after i watch like one or two of wood's actual films.

ryans87 said:

I'm also going to say Ben Kingsley in Gandhi, followed closely by Enrique Irazoqui in Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo, Cate Blanchett in The Aviator, and Ghassan Massoud in Kingdom of Heaven. But those might change when I see de Niro in Raging Bull and Maria Falconetti in La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc. I'd give more points for Leo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in The Aviator if I were able to forget his performance as King Louis XIV in The Man in the Iron Mask.

man, you have a lot to look forward to with those performances you haven't seen. falconetti gives top 5 best female performance i have ever seen, and deniro gives top 5 performance ever. i had to forget his performance in romeo + juliet, which was nearly impossible, but i still love the guy.

[jelizarose]

chris cooper in adaptation. i thought he was actually the guy which is weird, because usually i am able to discern reality from screen.

[criterionmaster]

who did he play in that movie, i forget?