I think we can all agree that Hollywood actors who portray fictional characters, as well as real-life people, are acting. Seems pretty obvious right?
I don’t want to keep dissecting and praising the work of Margot Robbie, but while I was doing the research and watching videos for my own movie review on I,Tonya I noticed that there were a lot of comments posted. Now, most of the comments were positive, but I did find quite a few comments saying that Rachel McAdams would have been a much better fit for the role of Tonya Harding.
Now, I’m not saying that I don’t think McAdams is a great actress because I do; but listening to the reasoning behind why they thought she was a better fit for the part made absolutely no sense to me.
“Margot Robbie is just too pretty to play this role,” several comments on Youtube said. “Rachel McAdams would have been a much better fit.” Are you kidding me? Margot Robbie is too pretty? I’m not sure if McAdams would even take that as a compliment.
Correct me if I’m wrong but McAdams is also beautiful. Or maybe you haven’t seen her in Wedding Crashers, The Notebook, Mean Girls or Southpaw. If you have, I think you know what I’m talking about.
Jordan Belfort and Leonardo Dicaprio
When Leonardo Dicaprio portrayed Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street no one mentioned the fact that Dicaprio looked nothing like Belfort. They ignored it either because they had no idea what Belfort actually looked like or because of the extraordinary job that Dicaprio did for the role.
Oliver Hudson, Zac Efron and Ted Bundy
It’s safe to say, Oliver Hudson resembles Ted Bundy a bit more than Zac Efron, no? Does this deny the fact that Zac Efron does a killer job in the thriller series Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile? I would argue no. Zac Efron is just as, if not more, capable of doing this role over Oliver Hudson – despite physical appearance.
Billy Beane and Brad Pitt
Another example would be Brad Pitt’s portrayal of Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane in Moneyball. Again, I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the film or Pitt’s portrayal of Beane, but he certainly doesn’t look like Beane.
I can’t imagine the negative feedback that’s going to pour in once people realize that Oliver Hudson and Glenn Howerton look much more like the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy than Zac Efron. However, it’s Zac Efron so most people will probably just keep their mouths shut and drool while they watch him on the big screen. A bit ironic considering he is set to portray arguably the most notorious serial killer in American history.
This is ultimately the point I’m trying to make. There may be several actors in Hollywood that may look more like certain characters being portrayed in films, but I’d like to believe that it isn’t just physical appearance that lands these actors the role.
Take into account that Robbie also had to do five months of training to learn how to figure skate. She also learned and performed most of Harding’s actual choreography. Lastly, Robbie and the rest of the team for I, Tonya completed shooting in just over 30 days for this film. Unreal!
A lot of people had the same feeling for Steve Carell when he portrayed John Dupont in Foxcatcher. I heard things like “Carell is too short,” “he could never pull off the voice” and my favorite response, “that’s the funny guy from The Office, he can’t play that role.”
What does that even mean? “Too funny to play that role.” Why because he’s famous for playing a funny idiotic boss? So who could possibly imagine him playing a crazy person who shoots an innocent man in the chest?
That’s why they call it acting. More importantly, That’s what separates great actors from predictable actors.
Just like Carell, Robbie decided to take a chance and in my opinion, she hit a home run with her version of Harding.
