7. Toby Jones As David Thomson
He's been called "the greatest living writer on film" by novelist John Banville and "the greatest film critic... who writes the most enthralling prose about movies since Pauline Kael" by Benjamin Shwarz of The Atlantic. As film critic slash film historian, UK-born David Thomson has made San Francisco his home and written over 20 books about movies. Next to his books, including the excellent 2008's "Have You Seen...? A Personal Introduction to 1000 Movies", Thomson's brilliant prose has also been translated into various guest lectures across the United States and the UK, and contributions to The New York Times, Film Comment and The Guardian. As one of the film industry's most ardent believers that movies can change the world, Thomson has made a major mark on film writing and who better than Toby Jones to realize it on film? It was Thomson himself who wrote about Jones after seeing him in Oliver Stone's W and said "Toby Jones has proved he can master any roles thrown at him". In what would be a delightfully serendipitous coincidence, throwing the role of Thomson himself at Jones would be a perfect fusion of talent. Jones is small in stature, and would need to put on a bit of weight for Thomson, but talent supersedes appearance any day of the week. In films like Capote and Berberian Sound Studio, Jones showed that his small stature takes nothing away from a commanding lead presence. With "the threat that one day Toby Jones could be an encyclopedia of characters" as Thomson himself puts it, it would be pretty sweet if Jones added a chapter on Thomson to that very same encyclopedia.