6. Idris Elba - As Nelson Mandela (Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom)
Idris Elba is a fantastic actor, though I can't help but feel that he is absurdly miscast as Nelson Mandela in the upcoming biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Elba neither looks nor sounds like Mandela, though he does his best to mimic the man in the trailer that dropped recently. Elba himself admits the lack of a likeness, stating, "Everyone knows who he is and what he sounds like, and I look nothing like him. If I get judged, which I will, about my performance or how I sound or how I look, I think people miss the point. The point is that this is called Long Walk to Freedom, this is the book about his life and its his own words." While Elba has a point that the thematic heft of the piece is ultimately more important than the performance, it's not exactly encouraging if even Elba doesn't seem all that confident that he's nailed down the mannerisms of the man. Still, fingers crossed he can prove us wrong.