If They Were Made: Actors in Lead Gaming Roles
By David on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 1:50 AM PST In Gamer Life
The translation from video game to film is an undeniably shaky one. With gaming in general becoming more and more mainstream, it seems that film studios are buying up the rights to every popular title. Hopefully, a faithful adaptation of a gaming franchise will make to the big screen. Until then, we are left with just speculation. So the obvious question is, who would we pick to act as our beloved game heroes? Here’s what I came up with:
What game? Assassin’s Creed
Lead role? James Caviezel as Altair
Where do I know him from? Passion of the Christ, The Count of Monte Cristo
Check the full list after the jump. Updated the list with a few suggestions, so check them out.
What game? Resident Evil Series
Lead role? Brad Pitt as Leon Scott Kennedy
Where do I know him from? Fight Club, Troy
What game? Splinter Cell series
Lead role? George Clooney as Sam Fisher
Where do I know him from? Oceans 11, Syriana
What game? Half-life series
Lead role? Edward Norton as Gordon Freeman
Where do I know him from? Fight Club, The Illusionist
What game? Metroid series
Lead role? Kristanna Loken as Samus Aran
Where do I know her from? Terminator 3, BloodRayne
What game? Gears of War
Lead role? Batista as Marcus Fenix
Where do I know him from? WWE Wrestling
What game? God of War series
Lead role? Dominic Purcell as Kratos
Where do I know him from? Blade: Trinity, Prison Break
What game? Crackdown
Lead role? Djimon Hounsou as Special Agent
Where do I know him from? Blood Diamond, The Island
What game? Metal Gear Solid series
Lead role? Sam Elliott as Solid Snake
Where do I know him from? The Big Lebowski, Ghost Rider
Nice List….
The Gordon Freeman = Edward Norton point is spot on.
What about Jason Statham from the Transporter as Agent 47?
Don’t mess with 47!
nice job on Davids part
they look really similar…
but the thing is, using popular and well-known actors to play these parts makes the movie tank. the reason being that these actors already have a reputation. people either love them or hate them. more often hate them and if a person does love them they become disappointed when they see them in the movie.
case in point, for video game movies, USE RELATIVELY UNKNOWN but GREAT ACTORS. the movie will do Waaaaaayyyyyy better.
I love movies and i love games put both together and thats great
I disaggree with Entisp. Milla J. did an EXCELLENT job in the first couple Resident Evil movies. Even those who do not like HER liked her in those movies…
I don’t know all of them but they do look like them,
You might however want to look for someone else than brad pitt for residentevil his face has a totally different shape.
Also, unfamous actors are are always better as you associate them with their previous roles.
Hugh Laurie (from the TV series House) as Gordon Freeman, hands-down.
Some of the examples are pretty good.
But I get the feeling your decisions were mainly based on hairstyle and facial hair. And on wether you could find a pic with a matching facial expression.
Still a nice list.
agree about hugh laurie as gordon freeman, but i reckon its got to be josh holloway (lost) or hugh jackman (x-men) as Solid Snake
I think all of these are poor comparisons.
I have seen similar posts with metal gear to the likeness of Snake from Escape from LA, etc.
Those posts were all interesting, this is a very disappointing post.
Leon Scott Kennedy looks like brad? Nope – more like an early 80s david bowie or glass spider tour david bowie.
wha bou Sean Bean as Martin in Oblivion???
whoops, nevermind, misunderstood it
true about the agent 47 thing but..
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Vin Diesel is bringing Agent 47 to life. He has signed on to star in 20th Century Fox’s upcoming adaptation of Hitman, the best-selling video game franchise from Eidos and developer IO Interactive.
Uh, Mike, dunno what you’ve been watching lately…
The Hitman trailers have been going out over Hollywood, and according to IMDB, the movie is in post-production. Timothy Olyphant (Live Free or Die Hard) plays 47.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465494/
I couldn’t care less what Kristanna Loken stars in just so long as she gets her kit off.
GOLDBERG FOR KRATOS!
great list… sooo about the new hitman movie: why isn’t Vin Diesel playing 47? he would have been perfect…
jason statham is perfect for agent 47
how about verne troyer as sonic the hedgehog? that’ll be a laugh!
or how about scott bakula as frank west in a dead rising movie.
or a need for speed game, that might be good.
Ed Norton as Gordon Freeman is genius. But I agree with your choice of Brad Pitt as Leon… if you build a time-machine and go back and hire the young Brad Pitt you have in the photo.
George Clooney as Sam Fisher is rediculous. No way. But Edward Norton as Gordan Freeman is perfect.
jejej sta chistoso
la vdd es q si c parecn un chingo ademas q uno se ve q tiene una personalidad totalmente diferente 
Why Kristanna Loken as “Samus”?
how about Christopher Walken / G-man?
Oliver – *awesome* idea. Even with the “use unknown actors” bit, I think Walken could pull off the G-man like no one else, ever.
Hell, if we’re restricted to recognizable celebs, I’d say:
Morgan Freeman as Eli Vance
Hugh Laurie as Gordon Freeman
Christopher Walken as the G-Man
Brent Spiner (”Data” from ST:TNG) as Kleiner*
Not sure who to cast as Barney (Christian Bale?) or Alyx though
*remember ID4? He’d be *awesome*!
gorge cloony as sam fisher for sure! thats great! i wish more awesome movies would be set on games i watched the resident evil movie the first one the other night and it was rubbish
Ghostofsparta:
I TOTALLY agree with you on that. When I saw the trailer for Hitman I seriously thought for one tiny moment Jason was in it- Had that been the case I would have paid to see it… But they used some weird actor and it tanked.
GREAT LIST!
Edward Norton is a good pick for Gordon Freeman, mainly because Freeman doesn’t speak and I despise whenever Norton opens his mouth.
Wolfenstein:
Thomas Jane
Know him from – The Punisher
Agree exactly with every one of those! What an awesome list! The Edward Norton one is the best. Make a half life movie!
Visit me for more of the same game / movie goodness! Cheers.
Terrible casting for the most part. George Clooney as Sam Fisher and Edward Norton as Gordon Freeman are the only ones I like. You can’t just cast a role based on which actor looks the most like the character they will be playing. That’s what makeup and CG are for. Brad Pitt in a Resident Evil movie? You cannot be serious. And let’s cast Sam Elliot as Solid Snake just because there is an uncanny resemblance between those two pictures. Get real.
I can’t name all of the right actors for all of these roles, but I can tell you that most of these are wrong.
the guy for fenix is perfect but that guy for kratos is gay kratos is like tall and BA and that one guys is an idiot he’s some short douche who thinks he’s the sweetest guy ever like in that aligator movie he always wore those stupid low v-cut shirts what a homo
Batista as Marcus Fenix is genius!!! I thought that myself when I was playin the game….I think George Clooney is a good call for Sam Fisher!!!
You can add Ethan Hawke as the Prince from Prince of Persia.
Dominique Purcell for God of War???
Not a good choice to act the part of a beast like Kratos!
Nevertheless it seems that Universal Pictures chose him for that role.
I think that it would be a better choice Batista (also for his physique and his height).
I think that Keanu Reeves could be a great choice for the Prince of Persia…
Jason statham would be a way better sam fisher then george clooney
they look the same here… but a lot of the time, most of what you went off of was hair and facial hair, not facial structure and acting style. so there’s my gripe with this.
There’s even more videogame look-alike here on this website : http://www.pause-button.com/category/video-game-look-alike/
dude, some of them look so much alike! Batista does have the goatee for Marcus and holy ****! Norton look like Gordon but without glasses.
I think Wentworth Miller would make a really good Altair, he’s got the look and he’s good at the whole mysterious stranger thing.
Kidding ofcourse, but yes good list
kratos=bill golberg
Sam Elliotte would totally do better as Ocelot. Old Ocelot.
Jason Statham would make a perfect 47.Goldberg would be a better Kratos hes a beast!
Patrick Stewart as Agent 47, spitting image
George Clooney is a bad choice. It doesn’t matter how much he looks like Sam Fisher he isn’t cut out for those kind of movies. If you don’t believe me look at Batman Returns.
Did you know that the face of snake was based from sean connery, the first time i saw snake i taught it looks kinnda like sean, and then i read in an article, that they in fact based on him, cheers to everyone.
George Clooney?!??!? WTF! How about Michael Ironside or Ron Perlman
Yeah I’m just going to put it out there but Samus would need to have bigger breasts than Kristanna Loken has.