What Gandhi, Alfred Hitchcock Have In Common

Sometimes the thin line between existing and imagined transcends to become one.

Playing real-life personalities fascinates Hollywood no end. From historical characters to sportsmen, onscreen adaptations of fascinating icons has led to critically-acclaimed fare and a clean sweep at award functions. But what's truly astonishing is when an artist resembles the actual deal so much; it's hard to tell them apart.

Here's a look at some of the most memorable mirror images on screen.

Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
Two-time Oscar winner employs his famously perfectionist ways to embody the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's biopic.

Not just relying on the uncanny resemblance to the President enhanced by cosmetic procedure, DDL worked on the part/Kentucky accent for more than a year and kept himself in isolation (and in character) throughout the filming to convey the body language of a man bearing the burden of running an entire nation on his own.

Anthony Hopkins, Hitchcock

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Speaking of Oscar winners (who's played former US President Richard Nixon), Anthony Hopkins slips into the shoes of the one and only master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.

The fitness conscious veteran refused to pile on weight to play the chubby director who redefined the genre of suspense.

Instead he wore a specially designed padded bodysuit and carefully positioned latex to become Hitchcock.

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

After playing a very believable celebrity chef Julia Child in Julie & Julia, the reliably fabulous Meryl Streep shifts her focus to play British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with award-winning conviction in The Iron Lady. 

Her voice, gestures and physicality, with controlled use of prosthetics, successfully capture the essence and core of one of the most significant women in British history even when the script cannot.

Helen Mirren, The Queen

Last updated on: February 7, 2013 14:34 IST

Helen Mirren got it so right playing Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears drama, she almost couldn't believe it herself.

Needless to say, it won her a much-deserved Academy Award for Best Actress. 

Opting for as little make-up intervention as possible, the stunning Dame watched a lot of footage around Her Majesty and picked up her minutest mannerisms for authenticity.  

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Playing the greatest sex symbol of the world is a massive responsibility but Michelle Williams takes the challenge and delivers with pizzazz. 

Apart from watching movies and reading about the Gentleman Prefer Blondes star, the slim-framed Williams tried to put on some weight to look the buxom babe.

Eventually though, she had to pad her hips to get that curvy Monroe figure.  

Forest Whitaker, The Last King Of Scotland

Last updated on: February 7, 2013 14:34 IST

Apart from his strong physical resemblance to the fierce Ugandan President and brutal dictator Idi Amin, the mild-mannered Forest Whitaker shares nothing in common with the man he played to award-winning results on celluloid.

The actor picked up some Swahili to acquire a genuine accent and mingled with the locals for around a month in Uganda as part of his preparation for the role.

Ben Kingsley, Gandhi

A lot of eyebrows were raised when a foreigner (well partly so, he's half Gujarati) was picked over an Indian to play the symbol of pacifism, Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's biopic.

Kingsley, however, managed to win over everyone including skeptics and Oscar jury with his faultless performance -- be it in appearance, emotion or nuances -- as possibly the best ever on-screen portrayal of Bapu.

Jamie Foxx, Ray

Yet another instance of Oscar-winning real-on-reel, this time from Jamie Foxx for his inspiring turn as as the young American musician Ray Charles. 

Apparently the Django Unchained star spent a lot of time with the man himself to understand the fine notes of playing the piano without sheet music.

He also applied silicone to keep his eyelids shut all day during filming to achieve a complete sense of his blind character.

All that hard work was suitably rewarded around the awards season.

Robert Downey Jr, Chaplin

Before rocking that rugged, cocky attitude in and as Iron Man or Sherlock Holmes, a 20-something Robert Downey Jr played it adorable with passion in Richard Attenborough's Chaplin. 

The actor took great pains to learn pantomime for the part. 

Still, it's not just his exterior but the incredible instinct with which he captures the spirit of the Tramp that makes it memorable.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote

No role is out of bounds for an actor of Philip Seymour Hoffman's magnitude.

And further bolstering that reputation, Hoffman delivers a superlative performance as the complex American writer Truman Capote and his questionable ethics while working on the novel Cold Blood. 

But, more importantly, how well does he look the part?

Hoffman insists otherwise, 'If you can get them to be more invested in the story they're watching than in the character, then you've succeeded.'

Johnny Depp, Ed Wood

Johnny Depp has transformed himself with extreme enthusiasm to play all sorts of quirky characters in a Tim Burton film.

But for the latter's Ed Wood, which chronicles the ups and downs of a terrible filmmaker and madcap personality, Depp (who already looks a great deal like the man) gets under his skin with admirable gusto. 

But it's Martin Landau's prosthetics-aided transformation into Bela Lugosi that earns Ed Wood a justified Oscar for Best Make-Up.

Salma Hayek, Frida

To play the legendary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Salma Hayek immerses herself with single-minded commitment to feel the individualism, intensity and anguish of a headstrong character. 

Hayek comes close to being Frida with the trademark unibrow and flamboyant styling.

Val Kilmer, The Doors

In Oliver Stone's retelling of the Jim Morrison story, Val Kilmer plays the sensual frontman of influential band The Doors to the hilt. 

Not only does he capture the damaged, destructive soul of a deep mess but his tousled locks and mind-boggling likeness to Morrison's countenance doubles the credibility of Stone's feature.

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth

Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur knew he had found a perfect candidate to essay Queen Elizabeth I in the enormous talents of Australian powerhouse Cate Blanchett. 

Blanchett garnered a lot of recognition and accolades for her robust performance, resembling the monarchial figure both on the surface as well as inside.

The sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, despite rave responses for Blanchett, failed to recreate the magic of its predecessor. 

Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose

The gifted French actress pays a befitting tribute to French songstress Edith Piaf in a biopic that covers her epic life story in La Vie En Rose.

Incredible detail to make-up and costume along with Marion Cottilard's profound understanding of her character and her changing graph makes this one a triumph of artistry.

In the works

Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman is giving her best to embody Hollywood actress turned royalty Grace Kelly in Grace of Monaco, which was recently in news after Monaco's royal family accused director Olivier Dahan of taking liberties and dismissed his film as 'pure fiction.' 

Also, Sherlock Holmes star Benedict Cumberbatch is slated to play WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Bill Condon's eagerly awaited, The Fifth Estate.

And it's truly stunning how both these actors look so close to the reality they portray.

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The Intelligent Side of Hollywood

Excitement, tension, tact and thrills are the most vital elements of Hollywood's action dramas and thriller. No wonder most of its scripts involve dashing representatives belonging to the US Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation or Central Intelligence Agency.  The CIA of course, promises a lot more complexities and magnitude.

Its key role is to extract crucial information regarding potential threats to the nation and convey it to the governing body. And if the real events aren't substantial enough for big screen documentation or scrutiny, there are plenty of grey areas that offer enough scope to squeeze in an exciting fictional plot.  

With both the Oscar-nominated Best Picture contenders -- Argo and Zero Dark Thirty based on true events features the CIA rather significantly (and at times unflatteringly).  

While Ben Affleck's third directorial venture is about how a CIA operative leading the rescue mission of half a dozen American diplomats out of Iran around 1979's hostage crisis, Academy-award winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow offers a no-holds barred recount of a CIA official (played by a hugely impressive Jessica Chastain) from starter to seasoned through the arduous course of her single-minded pursuit of Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts following the 9/11 attacks.

On that note, here's a look at the other memorable portrayals of CIA in Hollywood.

The Good Shepherd

In this lengthy Robert De Niro-directed drama about CIA origins, Matt Damon plays a grim-faced officer in charge of a covert operation.

The Good Shepherd examines his interior while the story flips back and forth through strategic chapters of his life -- both personal and professional.

Despite some rave reviews, The Good Shepherd co-starring De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci and Alec Baldwin was a box office flop.

Charlie Wilson's War

Last updated on: February 13, 2013 14:47 IST

Based on actual events, Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War stars Tom Hanks as a philandering Congressman from Texas whereas a superlative Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays his temperamental CIA friend.

How they labour to free Afghani troops from Soviet domination but ultimately fail to provide assistance post-occupancy producing dire consequences forms the crux of this lesson-learning drama.

The Bourne franchise

Be it The Bourne Identity/ Supremacy/Ultimatum, the franchise about a CIA assassin with potent amnesia and propensity for brisk adventures has long flourished and turned Matt Damon into a international star.  

Its stylish but gritty contents are largely believed to have influenced the James Bond brand to look beyond the superficial and provide edge in characterisation.

Taken

Last updated on: February 13, 2013 14:47 IST

Even though this successful Luc Besson production doesn't really mull over the activities within CIA, it builds a racy thriller around the heroics of its retired official who will go to any lengths to rescue his kidnapped daughter in some unspecified location in Paris.

It all sounds very trite but Liam Neeson makes it work and how. If only the sequel was half as good.

Body of Lies

Stylish and meaty, Ridley Scott's Body of Lies stars the skilful duo Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe as CIA men with poles-apart personality and priority collaborating with Jordanian intelligence to nail a terrorist outfit in the Middle East.

Their internal conflicts and workings to get the job done via a series of deftly picturised set pieces makes Body of Lies more blockbuster than believable.

Spy Games

His younger brother, the late Tony Scott concentrates on the espionage angle of the CIA unit through the absorbing equation and interactions between Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.

Sleekly shot, Spy Game unfolds the tricky, self-seeking workings of CIA but most of its charm comes from its leading men who make it look like the really big deal it's not.

JFK

In the masterful medley of fact, fiction and footage complimented by strong hypothesis and unflinching judgment, Kevin Costner plays a New Orleans District Attorney, who reopens a investigation around the assassination of US President John F Kennedy.

Oliver Stone's acclaimed JFK suggests a conspiracy theory that implicates a lot of significant government outfits -- including the CIA -- in order to retain their influential position.

Syriana

Everything -- governments, industries, individuals -- boils down to oil in Stephen Gaghan's politically loaded Syriana.

Apart from its extensive take on American capitalism against Middle-East ideals and fundamentalism, Syriana, which earned George Clooney a Best Supporting Oscar, features the usually suave star in one of his most unrecognisable, haggard appearances as a worn-out CIA official.

The Quiet American

In Philip Noyce's faithful adaptation of Graham Greene's novel set in Vietnam around the time of French colonialism and US interference.

Essentially a love triangle around a British journalist, Vietnamese local and an undercover CIA agent, The Quiet American is an engaging study of contrasts further lifted by compelling performances from Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser. 

The Hunt for Red October

Before Tom Clancy's epic creation Jack Ryan went on to become one of Harrison Ford's many famous identities, he was essayed by a very young Alec Baldwin in the cold war saga, The Hunt for Red October. 

As the inexperienced CIA analyst who seems exceptionally adept to crack the inner workings of a striking Soviet submarine captain's (Sean Connery) mind, this nail-biting John McTiernan thriller continues to bear tremendous repeat value even after 23 years. 

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