2014 LU Oscars - FAVOURITE ACTOR - Countdown thread

[madunit]

Brendan Gleeson - I've seen Braveheart but this guy left zero impression. Looks like a cross between Fatty Vautin and Gus Gould.

watch him in "The Guard"

 

[madunit]

Russell Crowe.

f**k you all.

One dimensional boring shithouse actor. Peaked at Romper Stomper and has been diabolically shithouse ever since. His acting and singing certainly delivered the Miserable in Les Miseables.

 

[veggiepatch1959]

watch him in "The Guard"

Brendan Gleeson is also in "Safe House" and "28 Days Later" - both I have but haven't watched yet.

 

[afinalsin666]

Leslie Nielsen is so low

 

[Parra]

It's brilliance is in the foretelling of the reality tv craze, which came not long after.

I thought that was Sylvania Waters

 

[nöyd]

=30.

Bill Murray

Known for: Stripes, Ghostbusters

Notes: broke De Niro's nose while filming Mad Dog & Glory, starred in Scrooge with all 3 of his brothers, and his role as Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters was originally intended for John Belushi.

=30.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Known for: Capote, The Big Lebowski

Notes: was suffering from the flu the entire time spent filming Almost Famous, won a total of 23 awards for his role in Capote, and appeared in both The Talented Mr. Ripley and Red Dragon, each time in the role of a character named Freddie, who gets killed by the villain in both films.

=30.

Peter Sellers

Known for: The Pink Panther, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Notes: his Goon Show recordings were produced by George Martin before Martin worked with The Beatles, served in the Air Force during World War II, and apparently used to send his wife requests for coffee, whilst in the same house, by telegram.

=30.

Michael Fassbender

Known for: X-Men: First Class/Days of Future Past, 12 Days A Slave

Notes: is a big fan of Formula 1, tried out for the role of Colonel Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds, but lost out to Oscar winner Christoph Waltz, and the role he did play in Inglorious Basterds, Lt. Archie Hicox, was meant for Simon Pegg, who had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts.

=30.

Mickey Rourke

Known for: 9 1/2 Weeks, The Wrestler

Notes: filmed a role for The Thin Red Line which was cut out, but he is thanked in the credits, was offered the role of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, which then went to Sylvester Stallone, and eventually to Eddie Murphy, and looking at a full page of images of him post-plastic surgery will make you feel queasy (trust me I know).​

 

[Parra]

Barfly

 

[afinalsin666]

That's a lot of 30's.

 

[Tommy Smith]

Bill Murray is another I completely forgot.

Shameful considering that his role as Bob Harris in Lost in Translation is perhaps my favourite character of all-time.

It's also probably my favourite performance by any actor, and a classic case of there being no other actor who could have played the role as well as Bill Murray.

Groundhog Day is another great movie which was tailor made for Bill Murray.

 

[nöyd]

25.

Daniel Day-Lewis

Known for: Lincoln, There Will Be Blood

Notes: was offered and turned down the role of Aragorn several times in the LOTR trilogy, had actively tried to land the part of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, and stays in character for the entire duration of filming - on set and off, to the point of adverse effects to his health.

24.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Known for: The Terminator, Conan the Barbarian/Destroyer

Notes: he was the second actor to be elected Governor of California, the first being Ronald Reagan, was asked to reprise his character for the Predator sequel, but chose to go with Terminator 2: Judgment Day instead, and also turned down the role of Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket to do The Running Man.

23.

Joaquin Phoenix

Known for: Walk The Line, Gladiator

Notes: did his own singing as Johnny Cash in Walk The Line, the costumes worn by him in Gladiator were all synthetic as he is a strict vegan, and he and his brother were the first brothers to be nominated for Oscars for acting.

22.

Alan Rickman

Known for: Die Hard, the Harry Potter films

Notes: was second choice for Snape in the Harry Potter films behind Tim Roth, twice turned down the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves until he was told he could interpret the character in any way he chose, and was dropped 20 feet onto an airbag for his death scene in Die Hard. The stuntman gave him a 3 count before dropping him, but in order to achieve a surprised expression, he dropped him on the count of 2.

=21.

Hugh Jackman

Known for: The X-Men films, Les Miserables

Notes: went to college/uni with Rove McManus, was offered but unable to take the role of Frank Castle in The Punisher due to being obligated to do Van Helsing, and was considered for the role of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight.​

 

[veggiepatch1959]

Amazing!! Still got 8 of my actors in the Top 20.

 

[Misanthrope]

Bill Murray is another I completely forgot.

Shameful considering that his role as Bob Harris in Lost in Translation is perhaps my favourite character of all-time.

It's also probably my favourite performance by any actor, and a classic case of there being no other actor who could have played the role as well as Bill Murray.

Groundhog Day is another great movie which was tailor made for Bill Murray.

Well said. Fantastic actor both in a strictly comedic sense and in the more nuanced way that was needed for Lost in Translation.

That movie and Groundhog Day are both favourites of mine.

 

[Apey]

The stuntman gave him a 3 count before dropping him, but in order to achieve a surprised expression, he dropped him on the count of 2.

Reminds me of the first time onSpace Probe/Giant drop. 3, 2, ... ah what the f**k!

 

[nöyd]

=21.

James Stewart

Known for: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, It's a Wonderful Life

Notes: was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, retired as a Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserve, named Best Actor of the 20th Century.

19.

Gary Oldman

Known for: Sid & Nancy, The Dark Knight Trilogy

Notes: played Lee Harvey Oswald in both "JFK" and "Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?", was briefly married to Uma Thurman, and was hospitalised due to complications from excessive weight loss for his role in "Sid & Nancy".

18.

Heath Ledger

Known for: The Dark Knight, Two Hands

Notes: almost signed to star in "Australia", but dropped out to film "The Dark Knight" instead, was offered the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man but turned it down, and scared the shit out of Sir Michael Caine the first time that Caine saw him on the set of "The Dark Knight".

17.

Harrison Ford

Known for: Original Star Wars Trilogy, Indiana Jones films

Notes: was only feeding auditioning actors their lines for Star Wars before being cast as Han Solo, replaced Kevin Costner as the choice to play the President in Air Force One, and at the time of writing, has the largest box office gross of any actor worldwide.

16.

Clint Eastwood

Known for: Dirty Harry films, the "Man with No Name" westerns

Notes: was the only nominated best actor at the 2004 Oscars to portray a fictional character, as a director has always refused to test screen films before they're released, and turned down the role of Superman, which went to Christopher Reeve.​

 

[madunit]

Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock films = win

 

[Someone]

now that's a classy couple of actors.

 

[nöyd]

15.

Paul Newman

Known for: Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

Notes: at the time of writing, his "Paul Newman's Own" range of salad dressings and condiments had made over $100 million profit, all of which he donated to various causes and charities, was the visual inspiration for the Green Lantern, and finished 2nd in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1979.

14.

Dustin Hoffman

Known for: Rain Man, The Graduate

Notes: he and Anne Bancroft are less than 6 years apart in real life, even though she was supposed to be more than twice his age in "The Graduate", was Warner Brothers' first consideration for "The Penguin" in "Batman Returns", and as of 2008, he and Philip Seymour Hoffman are the only two winners of best actor in a leading role at the Oscars to share a last name. Philip won for "Capote" and Dustin won for "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Rain Man".

13.

Sir Ian McKellen

Known for: the Lord Of The Rings films, the X-Men films

Notes: he says the same line, "The war has begun", in the trailers of both the major, unrelated blockbusters "X2" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", has played both a Holocaust victim ("X-Men") and a Nazi ("Apt Pupil"), both in movies directed by Bryan Singer, and at 74 years old, he was the oldest actor to be cast in the role of Sherlock Holmes.

12.

Samuel L. Jackson

Known for: Pulp Fiction, Snakes On A Motherf**kin' Plane

Notes: was a motherf**king usher at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s f**king funeral, was an admitted f**king drug user until he completed motherf**king drug rehab two weeks before playing a drug f**king addict in "Jungle Fever", and one of his first motherf**king film roles was as a robber in Coming To America - "Anybody move I blow your f**king head off..."

11.

Brad Pitt

Known for: Fight Club, Se7en

Notes: turned down a role as an astronaut in "Apollo 13" to accept his role in "Se7en", he was the third choice for the role of J.D. in "Thelma & Louise", William Baldwin, the first choice, left to star in "Backdraft", and was considered for the lead in "The Matrix".​

 

[nöyd]

=10.

Mel Gibson

Known for: Lethal Weapon films, Mad Max films

Notes: born in New York, turned down the role of Harvey Dent/Two Face in Batman Forever as it conflicted with the filming of Braveheart, and also turned down James Cameron's request to be the Terminator.



=10.

Robert Downey Jr.

Known for: Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes

Notes: before starring as "Iron Man", he had done films with three actors who have played Batman: George Clooney, Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton, appeared as the same character in 2 separate films in the same year, and so far is the only actor to win a Golden Globe for portraying Sherlock Holmes.​

 

[Evil_Mush]

I've only got three from my list left for the top 8, one of whom will most definitely be top 2 (and I think we all know who those two actors are!!!!)

 

[nöyd]

(and I think we all know who those two actors are!!!!)

i doubt it - i believe there's at least one surprise left.

Suffice it to say that every single person who voted had a unique number 1 to everyone else, the actor who got #1 led from the very start, only positions 2 & 3 swapped over with the last votes received.