Which non-dancing celebrities do you think would make good ballet dancers? How would you cast them?

Ex: Marilyn Manson as Carabosse, Lucille Ball as Swanilda...

Greta Garbo as Odette

Not really the same thing, but does anyone else think Julie Kent is the Julia Roberts of ballet?

Great topic BalletNut

Reese Witherspoon as Kitri

Daniel Day Lewis as Alain (based on his role in A Room with a View)

Cate Blanchett as Berthe

Barbara Stanwyck as Odile

Simon Keenlyside as James

Isabel Adjani as Giselle

Jean Marais as Albrecht in "Giselle"

Merle Oberon as Nikiya with Maria Montez as Gamzatti, Maria Ouspenskaya as the Aya, Turhan Bey as Solor and Victor Jory as the High Brahmin

Yvonne de Carlo or Maria Montez as Aspicia in "La Fille du Pharaon"

Ingrid Bergman as Odette/Odile

Charles Chaplin as Petrouchka

James Dean as the Prodigal Son

Jennifer Lopez as the Firebird

Hans, I'm curious. Just how do you look at Julia Roberts?

Richard

Jeanne Moreau, alternating the roles of Sleepwalker and Coquette in Sonnambula.

These are just wonderful. though when I first saw Makarova's full length "La Bayadere" I imagined Maria Montez doing both roles and Jon Hall as Solor. Your choices are better.

(actually now that I think of it, I imagined Maria Montez, Jon Hall and Turhan Bey in Bizet's opera "Pearl Fishers"

Jardin Aus Lilas

Please forgive me as I only remember the name of one character:

Caroline: Julie Harris
The Boy She Loves: Farley Granger
The Man She Must Marry: David Brian
The Woman from His Past: Joan Crawford

Isabella Rossellini/Audrey Hepburn: Juliet

Sarah Jessica Parker: Swanhilda in Coppelia

Charlize Theron: Theme and Variations (I always see a gorgeous tall woman in this)

Angelina Jolie: Odile, with Oliver Martinez as Von Rothbart

Jennifer Connelly: any of Four Temperaments (I have no idea why, I can just see it)

Penelope Cruz: Roland Petit's Carmen

Nicole Kidman: the Siren in Prodigal Son

Scarlett Johanssen: The Sleeping Beauty

Gwyneth Paltrow as Odette, with Jude Law as Prince Siegfried

Natalie Portman as Giselle with Mark Ruffalo as Albrecht

Angelina Jolie as the Siren

Uma Thurman as Myrtha

Natalie Portman as Lise

Jean Marais as Apollo

Laurence Olivier as Prince Siegfried

Robert Taylor as Albrecht

I see her as pretty but bland, although very good in the right role.

Danny Kaye in just about anything...He's one of the most natural dancers I've ever seen! P.S...And, those fabulous legs...

I actually saw Richard Thomas dance Hilarion! When his parents still ran their school on the former site of SAB, they staged Giselle as a vehicle (mainly) for their talented daughter, Bronwyn. He was quite credible in some regards, but a vivid illustration that acting in plays or on the screen is very different from acting in ballet.

For some reason, the image of Renee Zellweger as Giselle has been haunting me since BalletNut started this thread. Maybe Meryl Streep as her Myrtha? And for Albrecht, Brad Pitt, although I'm not sure he could carry Act II.

klingsor wrote:


Just a tip of the hat to klingsor for bringing in David Brian.

Zellweger would be...interesting, I guess. If Pitt is Albrecht, then perhaps Bathilde ought to be Angelina Jolie? Or maybe Jennifer Aniston is a more appropriate choice. Or would she be Giselle? I'm not sure she could carry it dramatically, though. Not that I follow such things, of course.

You'd have to be on an isolated island in the middle of the vast Pacific -- no phone, no radio, no tv or internet -- to escape knowledge of "such things," I'm afraid.

Tom Cruise as Albrecht -- with a bevy of Giselles from which to choose. Now, I know he'd never carry off the bereaved, repentant part.

Or Buster Keaton. A local theater has been screening a Keaton series, and I saw a couple -- an amazing physical actor!

La Sylphide:

Sylph: Vivian Leigh
James: Leslie Howard
Gurn: Richard Todd
Effie: Jeanne Crain
Madge: Alec Guinness

I think Giulietta Masina would make a great Sylph, but I don't know enough about Italian Cinema to fill the other roles.

Actually, Tudor's "Pillar of Fire" calls out for Hollywood casting. Here is my shot at it:

Hagar: Agnes Moorehead/young Bette Davis/Geraldine Page or ???

Older Sister: Gale Sondergaard

Younger Sister: Ann Blyth

Man from the House Opposite: Jeff Chandler

Her Friend: George Brent

You guys can do better - correct my casting.

Now "Fall River Legend"

Lizzie Borden: Judy Davis

You fill in the rest...

Ah.... Thanks. I get the Julie Kent connection!

Richard

Vivien Leigh as Giselle
Laurence Olivier as Albrecht
Joan Crawford as Myrtha

Katie Holmes as Aurora
Tom Cruise as Florimund
Cate Blanchett as the Lilac Fairy

I'd go with Bette Davis as Hagar and Agnes Moorehead as Lizzie Borden's stepmother.

Jeff Chandler was great looking in a rugged way, but what a stiff.

Man from the House Opposite: Steve Cochran.

The rest of your casting for "Pillar" is great, FauxPas.

How about John Malkovitch in Grigorovich's Ivan the Terrible?

Serenade: Natalie Portman-Heroine
Thandie Newton-Dark Angel

La Sonnambula- Rachel Weisz- The Sleepwalker
Ralph Fiennes- The Poet
I just saw The Constant Gardener and am completely besotted with these two!