Concur 100% on LOA. And I highly second your praise of the Stunt Man. It is a wonderful and too little seen film. While we are on O'Toole don't forget My Favorite Year -- yet another singular performance.
Agreed. I think in most of Damon's roles he could easily be replaced by Wahlberg, Jason Statham, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc. This might be a bigger statement about action stars in general, but the point remains.
ALT. FOCUS: I'll take you back now to 1971/72 when Roger Moore is casted as James Bond. I think George Lazenby would have been MUCH better as the 1970's Bond - his one movie (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) was better than anything else Moore did with the role of Bond. Moore is a decent actor, just not that good a Bond as Lazenby could've become if he'd been allowed to continue with the role. I also think the film in between Lazenby and Moore (Connery's 6th Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever) was where Connery started to show his age. Lazenby should've had this one, too. FOCUS: Roger Moore as Simon Templar. Brilliant. Val Kilmer only played the role in the 1990's movie, but Moore IS Templar.
Ian McShane as Al Swearengen. I cannot imagine anyone even coming close. It's hard to think that the same guy played Lovejoy.
Sacrilege. Focus- Connery is a better overall actor and closer to what Ian Fleming envisioned in his original novels, but Roger Moore as James Bond is just the perfect movie Bond for the style of films he appeared in. That wry, deadpan sense of humor, that bemused look, the deliberate, calm way of speaking...it's absolutely perfect. He does so beautifully as 007 that even when I watch a Connery Bond film (who was excellent himself), I still imagine how it would have been better with Moore. Very, very true. Damon just doesn't work for me as an action star. Fails to make a significant impression.
I liked Lazenby (although he was helped by the fact that OHMSS was one of the better Bond stories). Moore lacked the menace required to play Bond. I think Pierce Brosnon could have made an excellent Bond if he had not be roadblocked by the TV series and taken on the Bond role earlier in his career. Watch the end of the Long Good Friday where he is holding the gun on Bob Hoskins. He possessed the edge required to play Bond, an edge that dissapated as his career moved along. On a more general level, if you polled most people they would, I think, claim Connery as the defininitive Bond (I agree). However, others have done well enough, especially Craig, that I don't think we can say there is only one actor that can play Bond under the rubric of this topic.
Has no one mentioned Michael C. Hall as Dexter? I'd be interested to know if it was offered to other actors. I imagine if it was, and he came in to read his turn, the producers all went, "holy fuck, are we sure this guy isn't a serial killer?" Same goes for Bryan Cranston in 'Breaking Bad'. As for movies, I'm not a big Dicaprio fan, and maybe this is my inner high school stoner talking, but I think he nailed his character in 'The Beach' enough to say no one could have done better. Not the most challenging role, I know. Open to suggestions. Also, Paul Newman in 'Slapshot', Clint Eastwood in 'Dirty Harry' and Daniel Day Lewis as Bill the Butcher, although they're all so good they probably couldn't be replaced in any of their movies. Oh, and some suggestions from co-workers: Jeremy Piven as Ari in 'Entourage', and Charlie Sheen in 2.5 Men, since he was basically playing a toned-down version of himself. Was trying to think of voice actors for animated shows/films. No one could exemplify Cartman's sociopath-ness better than the voice Trey Parker uses, and Robin Williams basically was the genie in 'Aladdin'. Thoughts?
R Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket. No one on the planet could've delivered in those boot camp scenes like he did. Even now, when a straight guy tells me they're from Texas I get confused because they're neither a steer nor a queer.
I'm a late comer to this thread, but there are definitely a couple we've missed. Even though I didn't like the movie all that much, Philip Seymour Hoffman fucking nailed Truman Capote. Of course he was also in The Big Lebowski, and we all know that Jeff Bridges was The Dude, no one else could nail that. Sam Elliot was also in The Big Lebowski (loved his roll in that), But he especially nailed his rolled in Tombstone and no one else could have played Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley in We Were Soldiers. Of course he was in Thank You For Smoking, which makes me thing of Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, he was perfect in that one. Of course Kim Dickens played a forgettable role in that movie as Naylor's ex wife, but she was also in a crappy movie in 2000 called Hollow man, and that leads us right to Kevin Bacon. See what I did there? Also in response to the discussion of Heath Ledger as being the best Joker, who wouldn't want to see the joker played by Daniel Day-Lewis? Not only would that be interesting to see on screen, but you know there would be some great, fucked up stories about him on the set of that movie.