10 Actors Who "Stole" Their Performances Off Real People

4. Pierce Brosnan - The Ghost

Who He Plays: Adam Lang, former British Prime Minister Who He Really Plays: Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister As former PM Adam Lang in Roman Polanski's political thriller The Ghost, Brosnan gives the performance of his life. It's a small part, but one full of implied menace, arrogance, smarm, charm, false bonhomie and a touch of insecurity - quite similar, then, to once-upon-a-time UK PM-for-real Tony Blair. Adam Lang's term as PM already bears similarities to Blair's in Robert Harris' source novel - like Blair, Lang is a controversial former leader connected to a war in the Middle East and labelled a "war criminal" by critics. "All roads lead to Tony Blair in the book, in the screenplay and in the movie", said Brosnan, who made clear that he effectively took Blair's personality to play the part. "I began to play tapes of Blair as PM", he elaborated. "Roman sent me six photographs of Blair from which I did my imitations. You know, the chipmunk smile, with the lips tightly drawn, and that quizzical look of: "How do I dodge this bullet?""