There are no doubts when an actor fits a character like a glove. The secret lies in how an actor approaches a written a character and begins to weave in their own idiosyncrasies to make a character more authentic. One of the most popular examples would behow Jack Black weaves himself into his characters, like the one he plays in the iconicSchool of Rock. However, some actors take a more intense route in grasping the essence of a character, to the point where method acting goes haywire.
Here are 10 instanceswhere the actors fit the characters so wellthat it almost felt like they were playing a version of themselves.
10Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr.’s interpretation ofIron Manwill go down in history as one of the best actor-to-character fits in film history. It is almost difficult to determine whereTony ends and Robert Downey Jr. start,as both the character and the actor share a similar sense of humor and persona. The character is based on the character of the same name popularized in the Marvel Comics. The actor plays a womanizing inventor and industrialist who creates a futuristic iron suit, which he uses to fight bad guys. The actor stayed away from the do-gooder image of a superhero and kept the imperfections of a billionaire intact in the character. In no way is Tony Stark a regular Joe. The character loves his wealth and makes the most out of it to save humanity, even when it means self-sacrifice.
Related:10 Actors Who Experiment A Lot With Their Characters
9Anne Hathaway as Princess Mia in The Princess Diaries
Anne Hathaway got her break in her acting careerfor portraying the socially awkward Mia Thermopolis who finds out she is actually Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, the Princess of Genovia. The character is based on the book of the same name written by Meg Cabot, which profiles Mia as a shy, self-deprecating teenager, which Hathaway embodies perfectly.
InThe Princess Diaries, the character is shown to be clumsy and undergoes a training program to be more lady-like to fit the role of a princess. Hathaway was famously anxious for the audition, so much so that she fell out of her chair, which only added to the character. The actor also added that she identified a lot with the character, as she was unpopular in high school. The smooth transition of the character from a regular school girl to a down-to-earth princess while remaining the same person at heart was the essence of the character, and Hathaway definitely understood her assignment.
8Heath Ledger as Joker in The Dark Knight
The challenging character of the Joker, portrayed by Heath Ledger, made the character one of the most poignant of all time.The Dark Knightdoes not give a background story to its horrifying villain, but the Joker has his own stories to tell about what turned him into a megalomaniac.
Initially, the casting choice ofLedger to play the Jokerwas frowned upon post his critically acclaimed performance as a homosexual man in theBrokeback Mountains. However, right after the first look of the film’s trailer, the audience and critics were onboard with the character. The actor gave the performance of a lifetime, borrowing the character’s chaotic state of mind from Francis Bacon’s paintings. The appearance of the Joker was similar to that of the comic books, but Ledger used face make up instead of bleaching his face. Unfortunately, the actor passed away before the film’s release and was awarded the Academy Award for his performance posthumously.
7Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada
The character of Miranda Priestly fromThe Devil Wears Pradais rumored to be inspired by Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour, with several of Wintour’s personality quirks portrayed by Streep. The actress is known for the details she adds to her characters, and with Miranda, Streep accentuates the character’s narcissism and coldheartedness.
Interestingly, contrary to popular opinion, the actress stresses that her inspiration for Miranda was borrowed from her male colleagues like Clint Eastwood and Mike Nichols. However, the character shares compositional qualities with the Disney villain Cruella, Martha Stewart, Joan Crawform fromMommy Dearest,Carmen Dell’Orefice and Christian Lagarde. Her portrayal of the character wonStreep a nomination for an Academy Awardfor Best Actress, and Priestly has become an iconic character in pop culture.
6Jeff Bridges as The Dude in The Big Lebowski
The Dude fromThe Big Lebowskiis not only a character, but a philosophy, and Jeff Bridges brings forth the laid back attitude of Jeffery Lebowski with a casualness worth bragging about. Lebowski is a pot-smoking slacker from Los Angeles who finds himself at the center of a brutal interrogation. The character is borrowed from several real life personalities close to theCoen Brothers, who directed the film.
The most obvious inspiration is the director and political activist Jeff Dowd who was also known as the Dude and drank White Russians just like the character. The character was also inspired by Peter Exline who was a Vietnam War veteran and lived in a dumpster-like apartment and was also obsessed with his carpet like Lebowski. Bridges also identified a lot with the character’s drug habits from his lived experiences in the 1960s and ’70s. The character has garnered a cult following and even has a religion inspired by his philosophy.
5Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins’s chilling portrayal of Hannibal Lector is the perfect blend of intellect and apathy inSilence of the Lambs. Lector is a psychiatrist turned cannibal who is behind bars and assists FBI trainee Clarice Sterling in capturing another serial killer in exchange for Sterling’s traumatic stories from her childhood. Lector feeds on human weakness but respects Sterling’s straight forwardness.
Hopkins’s interpretation of Lectoris not from a villain’s point of view, but the actor focused on his meditative qualities: his calmness, measured words and soft demeanor that made him seem harmless, which he also attributed to be his personal qualities. However, it is Lector’s cold blue eyes that are nightmarish and awake at all times that remain central to his lack of empathy for others. The character was created by Thomas Harris for his novel franchise featuring Lector, but Hopkins took inspiration from the AI computer HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick’s2001: A Space Odyssey,which contributed to the stillness to the cannibal.
4Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly in The Office
Pam Beesly fromThe Officeis the typical girl next door. Jenna Fischer embodied Pam as a young woman who is stuck in her work as a receptionist, in her relationship, and her life. On paper, no one would want Pam’s life, but on screen, Fischer tempts the audience as she learns to love life’s simplicities.
Pam’s life revolves around her and her eventual husband, Jim. Fischer was asked to be as normal and boring as possible on her audition for Pam. Fischer had been a receptionist prior to her acting career and had done several odd gigs to pay her bills, which is why she tried her luck at show business. The actor was inspired by her own hustles and struggles to characterize Pam, who kept her expectations too low for herself so as not get disappointed in life. In most cases, that worked for Pam and the other characters on the show, which was howThe Officeredefined the feel-good genreon screen.
3Elliot Page as Juno in Juno
Elliot Page inJunoshines as an eccentric teenager who becomes an expecting mother impregnated by Paulie Bleeker, played by Michael Cera. The memorable character is known for her sense of humor and the support she enjoys from her parents for her individualism. Juno is clearly different from her peers in high school and shows no interest in fitting in. However, her poor judgement ensures she might not be the best parent. Juno is determined to find the perfect parent for her unborn baby and has to face that it might not be the best world to bring a child into, but boldly takes the chance.Page sensitively portrays the vulnerability of a young motherand aptly expresses the anxieties involving childbirth, abortion, and parenthood from a young millennial’s perspective.
2Christopher Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds
Colonel Hans Landa has the poise of a swan, the ruthlessness of a Jackal and preferred to drink milk with the charm of an innocent schoolboy inInglourious Basterds.Christopher Waltz gave life to the multi-layered Jew hunter, which directorQuentin Tarantinoconsiders his best characterever written. The director was determined to cast a German actor for the role but chose the Austrian actor who spoke German and was impressed by the dialogue and the depth of the character.
According to Waltz, there was not an ideological bone in Landa. The character was simply realistically inhuman and understood his role in the wider scope of Nazism. This is proven true when Landa switches side in the film and offers to assassinate Adolf Hitler in exchange for immunity from prosecution for the crimes committed by him. There is a Sherlockian tint to Landa as he shares the intellect of both Moriarty and Holmes and smokes the pipe like the latter.
Related:10 Most Quotable Movie Villains of All Time
1James Gandolfini as Anthony Soprano in The Sopranos
It is simultaneously endearing and heartbreaking to traceThe Sopranos’ legacy and how James Gandolfini shaped the character of Tony Soprano. Thecreator of the show David Chasemostly included Italian American actors in the show, which gave the audience an insider’s look at the crumbling empire of the Mafia post 9/11 in America. Gandolfini was invited to audition for the role after his small role inTrue Romance,and he was a perfect fit for Tony’s physique and dramatic personality. The actor’s characterization of the antihero mostly focused on the mob boss’s anxieties, failed parenthood and his unfortunate job of murdering peoplen. Gandolfini was sometimes known to go full methond to bring out the ruthlessness in Tony, in ways which included hitting himself on the head, self-induced insomnia and walking around with a rock in his shoe.
