With the release of My Week with Marilyn (reviews, times, all that good stuff, click right here), it got us thinking about other actor portrayals that have been pretty darn good. It also got us thinking about this proposition:
“Impersonating is not acting.”
Some would claim this statement to be undeniably true. While we don’t wish to yarn on about the stringent definitions of ‘impersonation’ and ‘acting’, we want to point out ten excellent portrayals of legendary actors and actresses that seriously challenge that premise.
10. Bruce Campbell as Elvis – Bubba Ho-Tep
Though he doesn’t play the Elvis, Bruce Campbell still expresses the spirit of The King, and that’swhat matters. There’s a long list of Elvis impersonations out there. We went for the senile one that fights mummies.
9. Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford – Mommie Dearest
Dunaway’s performance in Mommie Dearest is full of ham and exaggeration. Considering Joan Crawford lived her life full of ham and exaggeration, we think Faye nailed it pretty well.
8. Jason Scott Lee as Bruce Lee – Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
You were never going to find someone of equal physicality to Bruce Lee. However, that was never going to matter. The person needed was someone who could keep up with the fighting legend while pulling off his mannerisms effortlessly. Jason Scott Lee was that person.
7. James Franco as James Dean – James Dean
With those dorky glasses, he looks more like the lost member of The Proclaimers than the rebel without a cause. Regardless, Franco manages to channel James Dean admirably in this straight-to-TV film.
6. Robert Downy Jr. as Charlie Chaplin – Chaplin
Before RoDoJr. got smacked with drug charges, he donned the bowler hat and twirled the cane asthe influential physical comic Charlie Chaplin. It’s a fantastic performance, one that earned himan Oscar nod for Best Male Lead, but not a win. Al Pacino took that award from him for Scent of a Woman.
5. Christian McKay as Orson Welles – Me and Orson Welles
“I am the only actor who ever had to lose weight to play Orson Welles.”
Making one hell of a film debut, Christian McKay’s portrayal of a pre-bloated Orson Welles is darnright freakish, sometimes calling on his inner John Lithgow.
4. Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe – My Week with Marilyn
Williams isn’t a dead ringer for Monroe, but she embodies her. That’s what has you convinced. She
nails all the subtleties: the suggestive glare, the finger to the lip, the promiscuous lean. It was enough to get her a Golden Globe. Marilyn also won herself one for Some Like It Hot, funnily enough.
3. Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers – The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
A performer who DID nab a Globe for their actor portrayal was Geoffrey Rush for his downrightoutstanding impersonation of flawed comical genius Peter Sellers. The role almost went toRobin Williams, which still has us undecided as to whether this was a dodged bullet or a missed opportunity.
2. Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn – The Aviator
Look, we all know Cate Blanchett’s an extraordinary actress, but it still boggles the mind how flawlessly she portrayed Hepburn in Scorsese’s excellent biopic of Howard Hughes. How awesome would it be to have Blanchett read the 6 o’clock news in that voice?
1. Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi – Ed Wood
From Oscar-winning actress to Oscar-winning actor, Martin Landau could not be faulted as Bela Lugosi, the screen acting legend (for all the right and wrong reasons) in Tim Burton’s biopic Ed Wood. His all-encompassing emotive range, unblemished imitation of Lugosi’s passion for acting and giggle-inducing mastery of the F-bomb made Landau’s performance.
