There have been movies about Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, so we know that audiences do love a good billionaire entrepreneur. A film about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos can’t be far behind. Bezos grew up in Houston, Texas, the child of a teenage mom and an absentee father. Bezos watched his stepfather and adoptive dad, Cuban immigrant Miguel Bezos, work his way through college. After graduating from Princeton, Bezos’ star was seemingly perpetually on the rise, but according to many his morals were not. Called cutthroat and cold, Bezos has been criticized for exploiting his lowest-level employees and ruthlessly controlling his narrative.
Along with Google, Apple, and Facebook, Amazon is one of the Big Four–the companies that have slowly come to rule the internet. It changed the landscape of online commerce, and is constantly expanding. There’s precious little you can buy that Amazon doesn’t sell, and it’s frequently the easiest and cheapest source for whatever you’re looking for. There’s a dark side to that, though, and Amazon’s business practices have been coming under more scrutiny in the past few years, particularly its treatment of workers and lack of oversight of its independent sellers.
Almost unfathomably wealthy,the richest person in the world according to Forbes, Bezo’s ascent to power and his drama-filled personal life is just begging for a biopic. A movie seems downright inevitable. Hopefully, it will rise to the level of 2010’s The Social Network rather than echo the limp 2013 Jobs. The Ashton Kutcher movie serves as a reminder that resemblance isn’t everything when casting a biopic–the fact that Kutcher looked amazingly similar to a young Steve Jobs wasn’t enough to carry the film. So despite a strong resemblance, it would not be a good idea to cast actor Kevin Spacey. The past few years have seen a number of credible sexual misconduct allegations against the once-respected actor–but it has to be acknowledged that the man could honestly be Jeff Bezos’ twin.
Here are five actors who could play the role of Jeff Bezos in a film:
5. Stanley Tucci
This actor is down to earth and charming. Bezos wouldn’t be the success he is without a healthy amount of pure charisma–there’s a reason 2012 motivational speech has 2.6 million views on YouTube. Tucci, 59, is one of the sweetest, most compelling actors out there. He’s also an absolute master of the sideways-sinister, and made an amazing, complex villain in 2018’s Patient Zero. And after all, Amazon is taking over the world, and if you’re not just a little bit scared of that, you aren’t paying attention. Tucci has the backbone to be genuinely scary while convincing the audience he has the utmost faith in his own righteousness. You’ve seen him everywhere, and he’s a 3-time Emmy Winner and an Academy Award nominee, but Tucci is still mostly known for supporting roles. Playing Bezos would be the star vehicle we’ve all been crossing our fingers for. (And maybe everyone could finally–finally–tell him apart from Mark Strong).
4. Paul Bettany
Despite appearing in half a dozen blockbuster Marvel movies, first as the voice of Tony Stark’s AI/butler J.A.R.V.I.S., and then as the mysterious hero Vision, Bettany (48) isn’t really the blockbuster type. A veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company in England, Bettany would play Jeff Bezos with nuance and charmisa. And, like Tucci, he would be able to walk the scary-genius line easily. Bettany is also married to actress Jennifer Connelly, who we wouldn’t mind seeing cast as Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie. Their highly public and deeply expensive divorce is practically begging to be dramatized on film. Yes, he would need an American accent, and, yes, he would definitely need some eyebrows, but it could happen.
3. Timothée Chalamet
Someone has to play the billionaire as a young man, and Timothée Chalamet has both the eyebrows and the acting chops to make the role his own. At 21, this actor is one of the biggest rising stars of Hollywood. Chalamet is the third-youngest person in history to be nominated at the Oscars in the Best Actor category for the 2017 indie film Call Me by Your Name. And although his fans haven’t peak intensity yet, there’s no doubt at all that he would be a major draw for younger audiences. After all, Bezos was only 30 when he founded an experimental little online bookstore. And speaking of 30…
2. Daniel Radcliffe
It’s hard to believe that Harry Potter is in his third decade. If you haven’t seen him since playing the savior of Wizarding Britain, you might not realize what a competent, compelling actor Radcliffe has become. Despite being a former child star, Radcliffe is neither disastrously difficult or only attracted to vanity projects. He’s surprisingly humble, and has shown a fondness for taking bizarre roles, peaking as a sentient corpse (complete with corpse-like bodily functions) in the 2016 film Swiss Army Man. In 2015, the former child actor shaved his head for a role in Imperium and a repeat buzz cut could make him a fantastic Bezos. He also showed off a flawless American accent in the 2013 film Horns. Radcliffe is the only actor on the list who could truly do justice to Jeff Bezos’ signature lopsided squint and modest height.
1. John Cusack
At 53, Cusack has had a long career and an impressive resume (at least 76 credited roles). One of his most famous roles was playing a puppeteer in Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich. Even if he wasn’t such an applauded and versatile actor, we might cast him just for the irony of seeing him play another kind of puppetmaster. He has a similar facial structure to Bezos, particularly in terms of expression, and with a shaved head would probably have a decent resemblance to the billionaire. Liberal and extremely politically outspoken, Cusack’s take on the biopic would probably be highly critical of Bezos’ kind of über-wealth. Cusack is not known for censoring himself, so his promotional interviews would probably go down in the history books. Cusack’s performance as one of the .001% would be brilliant and biting.
Five actors who should play Jeff Bezos in a movie. Who would you cast?
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