Actors in Character (2) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Val Kilmer

The link between the three characters is American actor Val Kilmer, with the three films being "Top Gun" (1986), "Tombstone" (1993), and "The Saint" (1997).

In the 1986 action drama, Kilmer plays Lt. Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky, a rival pilot to Tom Cruise's 'Maverick' at the US Navy's flight training school. The two actors reprised their roles 36 years later in the 2022 action drama film "Top Gun: Maverick", Kilmer's final film.

The 1993 American Western film is loosely based on events in the 1880s including the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which took place at Tombstone, Arizona Territory, in 1881, and the Earp Vendetta Ride the following year.

The 1997 action thriller is based on the character created by Leslie Charteris in 1928. He wrote a series of stories over 35 years with another 20 years of collaborative works about Simon Templar (nicknamed 'The Saint'). The 1997 film is not based on any of these stories, although the film script was novelised by Burl Barer.

Answer: Julianne Moore

The three films involved are "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997), "Hannibal" (2001), and "Still Alice" (2014), with the link being the American actress Julianne Moore.

Moore's role in the 1997 sci-fi adventure film is as behavioural paleontologist Dr. Sarah Harding and girlfriend to Jeff Goldblum's character. Aggressive dinosaurs feature in this sequel to the film "Jurassic Park" (1993), with a plot loosely based on Michael Crichton's 1995 book "The Lost World".

In another sequel, Moore replaces Jodie Foster as the now-disgraced FBI agent, and Anthony Hopkins reprises his role as the now-escaped serial killer Hannibal Lector in this 2001 film based on the 1999 novel "Hannibal" by Thomas Harris.

Moore won an Oscar for her performance in the 2014 American drama "Still Alice", which is based on the 2007 novel by Lisa Genova. The film charts Moore's character as her Alzheimer's disease progresses.

Answer: John Hurt

Multi-award winning British actor Sir John Hurt is the link between these characters. The films involved are "The Elephant Man" (1980), "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (2001), and "Alien" (1979).

In the 1979 science fiction horror film, Hurt had the role of Kane, executive officer on the commercial space tug Nostromo. He is probably best remembered as being the involuntary host for the alien and first to lose his life.

The biographical drama "The Elephant Man" (1980) received eight Oscar nominations, but won none. Hurt had the lead role of John Merrick, the 'Elephant Man'. The make-up took at least seven hours per day to apply and a further two to remove. Hurt ended up working alternate days to lessen the strain.

The "Harry Potter" series saw Hurt appear in three of the films. His scenes from a fourth, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire " (2005), were cut. Garrick Ollivander's role revolved around supplying the wands used by the wizards and witches in their spells.

Answer: Natalie Portman

The characters listed appear in the three 'Star Wars' space opera prequels starting with "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" (1999), the superhero film "Thor: Love and Thunder" (2022), and the psychological horror film "Black Swan" (2010).

In the 1999 film she is the teenage queen of the planet Naboo whose planet is invaded. She crosses paths with a young slave and gifted pilot, who is to play a significant role in her future.

Jumping to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Portman is in her third appearance as Jane Foster in the 2022 film, if you exclude the archive footage in "Avengers: Endgame" (2019), although this time she morphs into the Mighty Thor.

Finally, in the 2010 film, she is the White Swan ballerina also competing for the role of the Black Swan for a performance of Tchaikovsky's ballet 'Swan Lake' with serious consequences for her mental health.

Answer: Jack Nicholson

The films here in order are the 1980 psychological horror film "The Shining", the 1989 superhero film "Batman", and the 1987 dark fantasy, "The Witches of Eastwick". Jack Nicholson is the actor common to all three films.

In Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation of Stephen King's book, Nicholson, as recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance, takes his family with him for a winter caretaker job in a haunted resort hotel with some mayhem resulting.

In the 1989 film, Nicholson takes on another 'Jack' role. Playing Jack Napier, he is a gangster who is driven insane following an accident, and becomes the Joker in the process. Batman goes up against the Joker to prevent mayhem.

The 1987 film is another adaptation, this time of John Updike's 1984 novel of the same name with Nicholson, in the role of Daryl Van Horne, causing mayhem in the lives of three women who are unaware they are witches.

Answer: Viola Davis

Multi award-winning American actress Viola Davis played the three characters mentioned. These characters appeared respectively in the 2020 American drama "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", the 2011 period drama "The Help", and the 2018 neo-noir heist film "Widows".

The 2020 film was inspired by the blues singer Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey, and is an adaptation of a 1982 August Wilson play of the same name. It dramatises a recording session of her blues standard "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (1927).

In the 2011 film, an aspiring white journalist attempts to write an exposé from the viewpoint of two black maids working for white families in Mississippi during the 1960s civil rights movement. Davis plays one of the maids. The film is based on Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel.

The 2018 film is based on a 1983 British TV series and sees three of the four widows attempting a heist to repay money stolen by the deceased husbands. Davis, as Veronica Rawlings, is the organiser, using a plan left by her late husband.

Answer: Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman is the actor linking the characters. In the 1976 political thriller "All the President's Men", Dustin Hoffman as journalist Carl Bernstein works with Robert Redford's character Bob Woodward to investigate the Watergate Scandal for their newspaper.

Paired with Tom Cruise, who plays his brother Charlie Babbitt, Hoffman plays an autistic savant in the 1988 road movie "Rain Man". Their father dies and leaves the bulk of his estate to Raymond and Charlie sets out to get control of the money.

Hoffman plays Peter Pan's arch enemy Captain Hook in the 1991 fantasy film "Hook". The film is a sequel of sorts to JM Barrie's 1911 novel "Peter and Wendy". In this story, Peter Pan (played by Robin Williams) has forgotten his childhood and is a workaholic lawyer called Peter Banning. Hook kidnaps his two children, forcing Peter to return to Neverland.

Answer: Hilary Swank

Hilary Swank is the actress linking the three films. In the 2004 sports drama "Million Dollar Baby", directed by Clint Eastwood, Eastwood's character is the cantankerous coach for Swank's character Maggie Fitzgerald, an amateur boxer aspiring to professional status. The film follows her journey.

Swank takes on the role of Erin Gruwell in the 2007 biographical drama "Freedom Writers". It is based on the 1999 book "The Freedom Writers Diary" by Gruwell and her students, which was compiled from diary entries written in class at her request and gives insight into some of their struggles.

In the 2007 rom com "P.S. I Love You" Hilary Swank plays Holly Kennedy, part of a married couple in love. She becomes a young widow after her husband dies of cancer. The films follows her journey as she rediscovers life with his assistance.

Answer: Daniel Day-Lewis

British actor Daniel Day-Lewis links these films. He received Oscars for Best Actor for two of them and was nominated for the third, namely the 2003 epic historical drama "Gangs of New York". Set in the 19th century, he plays leader of one gang, killing another gang leader to take control of the territory. The film follows the dead gang leader's son as he quests for vengeance years later.

In the 2007 epic drama Day-Lewis plays Daniel Plainview on his ruthless quest for wealth at the turn of the 20th century during the Californian oil boom. The film is loosely based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel "Oil!".

In the 2012 biographical drama "Lincoln", Daniel Day-Lewis takes on the role of US President Abraham Lincoln during the final four months of his life. The film is loosely based on the 2005 biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin, namely "Teams of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln".

Answer: Nicole Kidman

Australian actress Nicole Kidman is the connection between the three films. In the 2007 fantasy "The Golden Compass", Kidman plays one of the main antagonists Marissa Coulter, mother of the heroine Lyra although opposed to her. On this alternative Earth, everybody's soul or guiding spirit is in the form of an animal companion or dæmon. The film is based on the first novel of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" fantasy trilogy, namely the 1995 novel "Northern Lights".

Next is the 2001 jukebox musical drama "Moulin Rouge!" in which Kidman plays Satine, the star performer and a courtesan at the Moulin Rouge. She is drawn into theatrical politics with a tug-of-war between a young writer and the wealthy and unscrupulous Duke of Monroth with lots of singing and dancing in between.

In 2002 period drama "The Hours", Kidman plays British writer Virginia Woolf with Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep playing the other two women whose lives are connected to Woolf's 1925 novel "Mrs Dalloway". We see Woolf as she writes the book in 1923, a suicidal 1950s housewife (played by Moore) and Streep's character preparing for a party in 2001, with the film moving between them. Kidman won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role. The film was based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Michael Cunningham.