The man of good abilities and good emotions

IMDb tells us that no fewer than fourteen men have played Sydney Carton onscreen, including both film and television. Occasionally these performances were in films with different names, including something from 1922 titled Dicky Monteith. (???) Of those portrayals, I've seen three, or possibly four. 

I remember liking both Ronald Colman and Dirk Bogarde very much. The former brought perhaps a smidgen too much of the old Colman charm to the part, but did a marvelous job nonetheless, and he's probably my favorite so far. Bogarde was excellent as well, but unfortunately I can't find any online clips of him to share. James Wilby I can hardly remember at all -- I should probably watch that one again. Actually, it's been so long since I've seen any of these films that I should probably get them all out again and have myself a marathon. 

I have a very dim memory of seeing the Chris Sarandon version and not liking it much; I don't even remember if I watched the whole thing. (Currently I'm listening to an old BBC Radio dramatization in which Charles Dance plays Carton, which I will review here one of these days, but I haven't yet got to his part, so I can't report on him yet. I'm very much looking forward to hearing him, though!) 

So anyway, here's a question: If another film version of A Tale of Two Cities were to be made in the near future -- no, I haven't heard anything, I'm just being hypothetical -- who would be your pick for the role of Sydney Carton?

I remember hearing back in the '90s that Mel Gibson was going to take on the role. Since this never came to pass, after a while I started wondering if I'd really heard it at all, but a quick check of Wikipedia confirms that I didn't just get the idea out of my own head. Call me crazy, but I think that could have worked. Poor old Mel is a mess and no mistake, God forgive him . . . but then, Sydney was a mess too, in his own way. And besides, back then we didn't know just how much of a mess Mel was. I could see him pulling it off.

But his age, if nothing else, has taken him out of the running. And the same holds true for Anthony Andrews, whom I also would have liked to see in the part. No one loathes Hollywood ageism more than I do -- I'm still not over Michael Crawford's being brushed aside for the Phantom film -- but one has to be realistic, and a Carton in his 60s just isn't going to cut it.

The name Russell Crowe comes to mind, but I don't know -- I get kind of a creepy vibe from him nowadays. Colin Firth -- hmm, again, I'm not so sure. I like him, but I can't quite see him hitting the right reckless note; I think he'd be more of a darkly brooding presence . . . probably too darkly brooding.

How about Hugh Jackman? The age seems about right, he's good at period drama -- having been the only watchable element in Kate and Leopold -- and I think he's got the range for it. And having a friend who adores him, I'd never want for company no matter how many times I went to see it! Ioan Gruffudd might be another possibility, having got both the period thing and the heroic thing down pat.

Well, those are just a few brief off-the-cuff suggestions. There are probably tons of great actors out there of whom I haven't even thought. (I'll wager there are scores of good candidates from Jane Austen adaptations alone, whose names aren't coming to mind because, as I think I've established by now, I have a really lousy memory.) Anyone else have any ideas?

Oh, and by the way, if you love Sydney as much as I do but you haven't yet joined Resurrectionist, the Sydney Carton fanlisting, I can't think of a better day to do it!

Comments

[DaizyDavenport]

Largely inspired by Austen films, but how about James McAvoy?

[Marian]

I'm a big Sydney Carton fan, too; so far I've only seen the version with James Wilby, and he's great in the role.

The hard thing about casting A Tale of Two Cities is finding two actors that resemble each other. Orlando Bloom and Rupert Friend came to mind recently (people have remarked on their resemblance), and upon re-watching P&P, I thought that even their voices are very alike! Not sure if Bloom would be right for the role, but it could be a big screen film, which would be amazing.

Ioan Gruffudd is also a great idea (big fan of him) and he's done quite a bit of costume drama. Or maybe Richard Armitage, of North & South fame? I picture Carton being blond, though.

[Nibs]

I think Ioan Gruffudd would be great! He was wonderful in Amazing Grace and he seems the right age, younger than Russell Crowe and Colin Firth; the only thing is I imagine him being more polished than Carton (he'd definitely be a good Darnay). I could also see Hugh Jackman but then he's almost TOO rugged: from illustrations I think of Sydney as dark-haired and thinner. But not Orlando Bloom, he's too effiminate in my opinion!

[Gina]

Isn't it funny how we all get different impressions from the same book? I've always thought of Sydney as having light brown hair! :-)

[Nibs]

Hey, thought of another one, what about Gerard Butler? He seems to be pretty popular these days.
I could also see how they would get someone like Johnny Depp or Robert Downey Jr. Wouldn't actually LIKE those choices but I can see how they'd weasel their way into the role. ;)

[Christy]

Oh, Anthony Andrews would have been lovely, twenty years ago. Sigh.
The Hugh Jackman suggestion took me aback, since he's not physically what I would have thought, but he's such a good actor he could do lovely things with it. Ibid Ioan Gruffudd, who I think is a little too handsome for it.
What I like best is when they have Sydney and Charles played by the same person. I think that was my one problem with the James Wilby version (which I love--he was a splendid Sydney): the two actors looked nothing at all alike.

[Alexandra]

You had to mention the Anthony Andrews/Sydney thing. Now I'm tearing my hair out wishing someone had thought of that. :-P Scream!

And Mel would have been awesome.

(And as you know, I completely agree on the Michael/Phantom issue! Just saying. :-))

I have the Chris Sarandon version and the one thing I do like about it is that Charles and Sydney were played by the same actor. I mean, it's difficult to find two people that look so incredibly alike that people would mistake them for each other.

Ioan Gruffudd is an incredible actor who could do it well. As much as I have a grudge against Gerard Butler for the Phantom role, he'd play a good Sydney, too, I think.

I think I'm going to have to ponder this and make my own TOTC dream cast. :-)