The Queen actress Helen Mirren and Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney have proved to be popular choices when we asked over 1000 of our panellists who they would want to play themselves in the film of their lives. And despite having a potentially infinite array of names to choose from, certain names come up again and again.
- Romantic comedy stars Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Renée Zellweger, who have been frequently feted for their ‘girl next door’ likeability, were very popular choices
- While Angelina Jolie, who was voted the most beautiful woman in the world by Vanity Fair magazine, was almost as popular, although whether that was due to wishful thinking or because our panellists are impressed by Jolie’s acting talent, we wouldn’t like to say.
- There seems to be nothing like a Dame for some, though, as the inimitable Helen Mirren was the dominant choice for many a panellist.
- For the men, George Clooney seemed to be the favourite choice, no doubt due to his (some might say) timeless good looks and famous charm.
- Action stars Bruce Willis, Robert de Niro and Mission:Impossible’s Tom Cruise were the subject of many a mention, emerging as much more popular than the much younger stars one may have expected.
- A few people shunned the idea of being played by a famous actor altogether, and elected to play themselves in the title role.
- One person even wanted their son to do the honours. Like a fine wine…So while the biggest names on the list are some of the biggest players in Hollywood today, it’s interesting to note that many of the more popular choices are of ‘veteran’ actors of middle age and over. Perhaps for some panellists, it’s a case of actors improving like a good wine, getting better with age. Either that, or there are more George Clooney and Helen Mirren lookalikes in the UK than we’d realised…