The first trailer for the Jimi Hendrix biopic All Is By My Side was recently released and featured a first look at Andre 3000 as Jimi Hendrix. The Outcast member is a dead ringer for the 60s guitar legend but he isn’t the only actor who has stepped seamlessly into the shows of his character.
Below are 10 actors and the real life people they have played.
Andre 3000 and Jimi Hendrix
Andre 3000 had been talking about playing Jimi Hendrix since 2004. When All Is By My Side finally got the green light, the actor lost weight, took speech lessons and learned to play the guitar in order to get the look right. Judging by the photo above, Andre 3000 is going to be a pretty convincing Hendrix.
Of course, audiences might be thrown by some of his character choices. Outcast said that while the legendary guitarist was “wild onstage” he was really calm when he was out of the spotlight. OK, I can deal with a toned down Jimi. At least we’ll still have the music…
Due to the reluctance of the Hendrix estate, All Is By My Side won’t feature any of Hendrix’s music. Instead, it will feature several songs written by the Beatles, Muddy Waters, and other related artists.
Tom Hanks and Captain Richard Phillips
According to Phillips, Tom Hanks didn’t want to hear the story of what happened when the Somali pirates hijacked his ship because he had already read the book and the script. Hanks was interested, however, in some of the more specific details about Phillips life. The actor visited Captain Phillips in Vermont before he started filming in order to get a sense of who the captain was and to see his “routines of going from family life to work life.”
After the visit, Hanks concluded that Phillips was “an incredibly pragmatic guy who went through something quite extraordinary and barely survived.”
Judi Dench and Philomena Lee
Judi Dench said that playing Philomena Lee was a great responsibility. That’s probably why she was surprised when she met the real Philomena and found that she was “terribly funny.”
Philomena focuses on Lee’s 50-year search for her son after he was adopted without warning from a convent in Ireland. Dench said that it was a “great responsibility” because she didn’t want to sell Lee short. Dench also said that Philomena’s 50-year struggle was not an isolated case.
Idris Elba and Nelson Mandela
Idris Elba moved to South Africa for three months before filming for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom began in order to understand what it was like. He said that the challenges the cast and crew faced were “massive,” but they embraced them. He also said Mandela had a difficult life, so no one was expecting to make an easy film. Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, complimented Elba’s effort saying that the actor brought “so much depth to the role.”
Nelson Mandela died on December 5 after suffering from a prolonged respiratory illness.
Ashton Kutcher and Steve Jobs
Ashton Kutcher said that he not only tried to understand Steve Jobs as most people knew him, but that he also tried to figure out how he became that guy. In preparing for the role, Kutcher read everything he could about Jobs and watched hundreds of hours of video footage. Some — including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak — felt that Jobs failed to portray the man accurately, but Kutcher said that it was an honor to play someone whom he really admired.
Amanda Seyfried and Linda Lovelace
Amanda Seyfried said she read Linda Lovelace’s books and studied videos of her speaking to prepare for the role. She also watched Deep Throat and underwent New York accent training. Seyfried said last August that the film was the “riskiest thing that’s happening in Hollywood right now,” and that the role could ruin her career.
Linda Lovelace denounced her porn past — and said that every time someone watches Deep Throat, they are watching her being raped. Lovelace became a spokeswoman for the anti-pornography movement. She died in 2002 after a car accident.
Chadwick Boseman and Jackie Robinson
The first African-American to play in the MLB in the modern era, Jackie Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. But things weren’t easy for Robinson, as opposing teams threatened to strike if he played. Commissioner Happy Chandler said any striking players would be suspended, but that didn’t stop players from other teams from targeting Robinson on the field. Robinson died of a heart attack at his home in Connecticut on October 24, 1972.
Chadwick Boseman said he felt a tremendous amount of pressure playing the role in 42, but had fun doing it. He also said that when he met Robinson’s widow, Rachel, because he “just wanted to do well by her.”
Matthew McConaughey and Ron Woodroof
Matthew McConaughey lost 50 pounds to play Ron Woodroof, a drug-addicted straight man diagnosed with HIV, in Dallas Buyers Club. Woodroof’s sister, Sharon Woodroof Braden, said it was hard to look at McConaughey because he looked so much like her brother as the disease progressed.
McConaughey himself was shocked by his appearance when he first saw himself on the screen, saying he “looked like a reptile” because of the weight loss. McConaughey won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.
Zoe Saldana and Nina Simone
Zoe Saldana’s casting as Nina Simone was controversial, to say the least. The Dominican actress donned a prosthetic nose, afro wig, and had her skinned darkened for the role. Some thought that this was a little extreme and insisted that an actress with dark skin be cast in her place. A petition on Change.org was even started to get the role recast.
But Saldana dismissed the criticism, saying, “I guess what kept me from being hurt by the negative comments was that I’m doing it for my sistas and my brothas and I don’t care who tells me I’m not this or I’m not that, I know who I am and I know what Nina Simone means to me.”
Michael Douglas and Liberace
Michael Douglas realized that he was an unconventional choice to play Liberace, but it paid off. Douglas won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film, and a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his role in Behind the Candelabra.
Douglas had met Liberace once in Palm Springs, and said he was “attracted to his sheer likability.” Liberace died in 1987 from complications due to AIDS, although when and how he became HIV positive was never made public.
[Photo credit: Promotional materials / Creative Commons]
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