One of the main reasons we avid readers dislike film adaptations is because the casting director can never quite find the perfect fit for how we imagine our favourite characters look.
With this in mind Imgur user AmbitiousFall approached a Police Sketch Artist and asked them to render a true to novel likeness of several famous book characters with the details being taken directly from descriptions found within the novels themselves, and then comparing them to the characters as portrayed in the film versions of the books.
Katniss Everdeen.
This one is almost perfect, the drawing could have been of Jennifer Lawrence herself.
Frankenstein’s Monster.
Hmmm that’s a rather handsome mishmash of dead bits there Mary Shelley!
Christian Grey.
Oh dear, I’m not overly enamoured of that jaw line Mr Grey, and those are the eyes of a psychopath.
Javert
Oh I think this is a close match too; Russell and the literary Javert even share the same frown lines.
Tom Ripley.
The very definitely talented Mr Matt Damon bears a surprisingly close resemblance to the author’s original creation.
Marla Singer.
Helena Bonham Carter isn’t far off at all is she; the eyes and the general face shape match up, she just needs to run a comb through her hair.
Count Dracula.
No, this one doesn’t fit any version of the count that I’ve ever imagined, and just think of the mess that moustache would be in once he’d had a nibble on someone.
Lux Lisbon.
Kirsten Dunst works really well as Lux from The Virgin Suicides, all she needed to be perfect was a haircut.
Daisy Buchanan.
The eyes have it in this one; not a bad match at all, I think I’d have identified Carey Mulligan from the sketch.
Jack Torrance.
Jack Nicholson looks just like a scruffier version of King’s The Shining protagonist.
Lisbeth Salander.
Hmmm other than the tattoo and piercings I don’t think Rooney Mara bears much more than passing resemblance to her literary original.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo US
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo UK
I am amazed at how closely most of the actors resemble their literary counterparts. It must be me who is interpreting the character’s physical appearance incorrectly either way the pictures are brilliant and I for one am really thankful that AmbitiousFall went to all the effort of finding a Police Sketch Artist to draw all of these characters for us to see.
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Although I feel Matt Damon was outstanding as Tom Ripley, I am seeing Edward Norton in the sketch.