Reality Casting

One of the biggest complaints I see while writing this blog is "But __________ is BLOND!!!!! Are you stupid?!?!?!?!" or the other equivalent "She's too short. That would never work." or something similar.


In all of my research for this little blog, I have looked through literally thousands of photos, character descriptions and actual cast listings. Let me show you a couple of "surprising" casting choices.


This is easier with real people, because there are photos of them showing how they actually look.


Exhibit A: Erin Brockovich, in a photo lifted from her own website:

Tall, blond and rather busty, yes? (Oh please, you can see them too, I'm not the only one to notice, geez)


Absolutely the first person to come to mind when I say "busty blond gal" is...

Julia Roberts? If by "blond busty gal" you mean "auburn haired beauty with really big teeth". Even when Julia Roberts is in costume, there's still a significant difference:

Exhibit B: Susanna Kaysen, the woman who wrote Girl, Interrupted. I don't know about you, but when I see this photo:

the very, very first person I thought of was definitely Winona Ryder.

Yeaaaaaahhhhhh... OK. That was definitely some generous self-casting.


Exhibit C: Harvey Milk. This guy:

was played by Sean Penn:

Exhibit D: Howard Hughes. This one is a little bit better, because Howard Hughes was a fairly handsome man, so it's a little less of a stretch to see this guy:

 be played by Leonardo DiCaprio:

Still zero resemblance, unless you count the fact that they each have two eyes, two ears, a mouth, a nose and some hair. And they are both male. But, at least Howard Hughes was a good looking man in his time, so having a good looking man play him isn't quite so surprising.


Now, don't get me wrong, these are all brilliant actors who turned in some brilliant performances (I didn't see Milk, but Sean Penn won an Oscar for that performance, so I'm going to go ahead and believe that it was brilliant.) I'm just saying that when you see the real John Nash:

your mind probably didn't jump automatically to Russell Crowe.

Just saying.


And now for the two most extreme examples I can think of.


From The Blind Side, Sandra Bullock and her real life counterpart, Leigh Anne Tuoghy:

Yes, yes, I see it. Same face. Same hair. Same complexion, same eyes. Why, they are even the same height and build. *cough, cough*


OK, last example. Before scrolling all the way down, look at this woman's face and think of an actress that resembles her:

Are you ready? Some of you may already know who this is, but, I'll give you a hint, she was played by:

That's right. That's June Carter Cash, played by Reese Witherspoon.


Here's a little comparison, side by side, of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon as Johnny and June Carter Cash in Walk the Line: 

Again, even once they're in costume, not so much, eh?


My point is this: superficial appearances are often a very, very small piece of the puzzle. Hair color can change. Weight can change. Camera tricks can make someone short look tall, and vice versa. Heck, we can even make a young man look old. What, I think, is the most important facet of casting is the actor's ability to capture a persona, not necessarily look exactly the part.


Apparently, Hollywood and audiences agree: in this post I have listed 8 casting comparisons (if you count Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash). Of those eight actors, seven of them were nominated for an Oscar for this performance, four of them won.


Joaquin Phoenix- Nominated for Oscar
Reese Witherspoon- Won Oscar
Sandra Bullock- Won Oscar
Russell Crowe- Nominated for Oscar
Leonardo DiCaprio- Nominated for Oscar
Sean Penn- Won Oscar
Julia Roberts- Won Oscar


Agree? Disagree? Post your thoughts in the comments.


Images: Google Images