Actors who 100% embodied character from book

[NEtoN10]

I was just thinking today about book to film adaptations and actors who I thought 100% embodied the character as I imagined them.

For me Helena BC as Bellatrix Lestrange, Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, the whole cast of Matilda!

Who does it for you? Interested to hear !

Alun Armstrong as Inspector Bucket in Bleak House.

But even more extraordinarily like, Burn Gorman as Mr Guppy. With implausibly many elbows.

In fact, wonderful casting throughout that Bleak House.

Out of Pride and Prejudice, Julia Sawalha nailed Lydia for me - that was how I imagined her. Jennifer Ehle is too pretty to play Elizabeth Bennet.

With all the Harry Potter talk, I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid. Perfect, utterly perfect.

I was appalled at the casting prior to the movie, but Tom Cruise absolutely nailed Lestat.

It's Vivien (not Vivienne) Leigh!

I though she was near perfect, given she was English playing a Southern belle.

Clark Gable for me - given how much he really did not want the role, he nailed it, and no-one else would've done.

I liked Renee Z as Bridget well enough, but I definitely imagined someone with more of a (north?) London accent - rather than uber-posh Home Counties. Agree that she played it much more drippy than I read her in the book.

And Bruce as Jaws?? No way, he was rubbish.

Not from a book, but Dominic West played the part of Fred West in "Appropriate Adult". The mannerisms, the voice, the way he stood. My God, he WAS Fred West. Anyone who's seen it will understand what I mean. Anyone who hasn't, definitely watch it.

He said afterwards that he got so into it during the filming that he had nightmares about Fred West.

He was absolutely amazing though.

I always thought Rachel Weiss would have made a really good Bridget Jones, I think she was described as having dark hair in the books (happy to be corrected on this, it's been years since I read them!) and the bit in the second book where she's high on magic mushrooms and can't stop looking in the mirror because she thinks she looks like Yasmin le Bon.

David Jason as Pa Larkin
And Pam Ferris as Ma Larkin from The Darling Buds of May.

Just how I imagined them in the book. I think Ma is described as having obviously been a handsome women once 🙈

Interestingly, although Sean Bean is nothing like Sharpe was originally described in the novels, Cornwell has said that once Bean was cast, he began to picture Sharpe in that light as he wrote subsequent novels.

I seem to remember one of the McGann brothers was cast but dropped out at the last minute and was replaced by Sean Bean, so a dark haired londoner became a fair haired Yorkshireman.

The Larkin's were very good, but a bit old for their roles. I think Ma is only about 32 or 34 years old, as she met Pa at the same age Marietta is (at the start)...about 16 yo.

The man who plays Raj in all the TV adaptations of David Walliam’s books is spot on.

A very long time ago, but Christopher Timothy and Robert Hardy in the 1980s tv adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small.

Slightly different, but Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking, in *The Theory of Everything” was fantastic (I think he won an Oscar).

Also, again slightly different, but David Jason playing Ronnie Barker’s old part in the revamp of Open All Hours.

Hugh Grant in About a Boy

Tom Cruise as Lestat, Brad Pitt as Louis. Both total shockers.

Oliver Reed should have played Heathcliff.

He was perfect for the role and had that wildness to him handsome but something edgy about him

A very long time ago, but Christopher Timothy and Robert Hardy in the 1980s tv adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small.
I always though Robert Hardy looked wrong for this part although he is a good actor of course.

David Jason and Pam Ferris, as Pop and Ma Larkin

Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October was perfect for me. Loved all the books, did not like Harrison Ford and other replacements only Alec. Still have a bit of a crush now but I have a sneaking suspicion he is a dick so off to Google!

Megan Follows - AoGG
David Suchet/Joan Hickson

I came on to say Alan Rickman as Snape but others have beaten me to it.

Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Viggo Mortensen as Aragon also spot on.

Not a film but David Tennant as Crowley from good omens while not precisely as I imagined him, is perfect.

The girl who played Tracy Beaker on tv

Eddie Redmayne IS Newt Scamander. No one else could have done it better.

In the BBC shows of the Chronicles of Narnia:
Barbara Kellerman as the White Witch.
Tom Baker as Puddleglum.
Patsy Byrne as the giant nurse (who was also "Nursie" in Blackadder).

Most of the children were very well acted, much better than in the modern Narnia films, or most of the Harry Potter cast, although sweet little Lucy (Sophie Wilcox) had the most awful haircut. And the girl who played Jill Pole was far too adult.

Jeremy Bret as Sherlock Holmes. Edward Hardwick as Watson. David Suchet as Poirot. Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter whimsey. The bloke who plays Bunter in the same series is exactly how he should be for me.
Mark String as Mr Knightly in the late Beckinsale Emma.

And not forgetting Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle In P&P