Favourite Film Characters

The lovely and very talented Dulwich Mum has tagged me for my favourite film characters.

I had to think long and hard about this tag - to separate film characters from book characters. For example some of my favourite all time ‘characters’ are Tess (of the D’Urbervilles,) Atticus Finch (To kill a Mockingbird) and Chiyo Sakamoto (Memoirs of a Geisha.) These, are favourite book as well as film characters. However, had it not been for the book, I would not have watched the film. So I’ve tried to consider my favourite film characters as stand alone, not adapted from books or not from books that I had previously read.

Number 5 on my list is Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, not my usual type of film at all if I didn’t have the two boys. However, it has become a firm favourite not only because the divine Johnny Depp plays Captain Jack, but also because Depp has created a real classic in this role. Known for his ridiculously silly walks and slurred speech, Captain Jack is completely bonkers and gloriously over the top. And we could be kindred spirits – we both love rum!
And if, like me you're glad of any excuse to oggle Johnny...



Number 4- Bridget Jones. Of course,Helen Fielding started Bridget Jones’s Diary in the Independent, chronicling the life of the thirtysomething single woman in London and the inevitable publishing deal soon followed. However, it is the film, and Renee Zellweger’s portrayal in the film adaptation that I love. Bridget is such an endearing and funny character – I laughed throughout the film (and still do) at her attempts to make sense of life and find love with the help of her fabulous friends. I laugh at her bad habits and her obsession with self-help books. Most of all I laugh at the honesty and vulnerability of the character – the diary is the device to say what the rest of us often think.
Best quote:

“Resolution number one: obviously, will lose twenty pounds. Number two: will find nice sensible boyfriend and not continue to form romantic attachments to alcoholics, workaholics, peeping-toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits or perverts.”

Number 3 - Forrest Gump. "Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite his sub-normal IQ, Forrest leads a truly charmed life, and relates the parade of memorable events that befall him such as becoming a football star, meeting JFK, serving in Vietnam, defeating the Chinese national team in table tennis, opening a profitable shrimping business and becoming an original investor in Apple Computers. I love Tom Hanks as an actor and his portrayal of Forrest is truly enchanting. Forrest is one of the most moving and beautifully wholesome of characters, with an ability to touch everyone he meets – I adore this film and so does my son.
Best quote:

“My Momma always said; life is like a box of chocolates... You never know what you're gonna get."”

Number 2 - Sandy from Grease. I was eleven when I first went to the cinema to see Grease. The whole film blew my mind – the music, the script, the characters. After seeing it, posters of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John adorned my bedroom walls. I still remember listening to the radio chart show in our kitchen every Sunday night for eleven weeks when ‘You’re the one that I want’ was number one. I used to sing the songs with my friends in the playground and in my bedroom at night, until my Nan shouted up the stairs, “Will you shut that ruddy noise up!” I wanted to be Sandy and only have one unfulfilled dream - to go on Stars in Their Eyes and sing ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You!’

Number 1
MY FAVOURITE film character is from the film Gladiator.
Maximus Decidimus Meridius is favourite commander to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius but the Emperors unhinged son, Commodus betrays and murders his father and attempts to kill Maximus. Maximus escapes and heads home to find his wife and son murdered. Captured and enslaved along the outer fringes of the Roman Empire, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family and his Emperor.

Not since Spartacus, has there been such an epic film with such a leading Alpha Male.
Favourite quote:

“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

It gets me every time.




Ok, I'd love to know who the following blog friends favourite film characters are:-
Snailbeachshepherdess
Elizabethm
Being Miss
Reasons to be cheerful 1,2 3
Debs-daydreams in the shed.

Consider yourselves TAGGED!
Until another day