I wish that the movie had taken after Quantum Leap in the sense that we see Warren Beatty playing the character and then Leo's reflection in the mirror. One thing I always wanted to know, is what Leo Farnsworth looked like. There are no pictures, portraits, etc up in the house anywhere during the movie. I think it would have made certain scenes like the Super Bowl tryout funnier if we got to know what Leo looked like in real life.
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I used to think the same thing as the Original Poster. But then I saw the Chris Rock movie "Down to Earth," which was nominally a remake of "Heaven Can Wait."
In "Down to Earth," they try to incorporate Farnsworth's actual appearance for laughs as a sight gag....being Chris Rock is a youthful African American and the Farnsworth character - as we see him - is an old, fat white guy bopping out to rap music.. Only problem was, it was so not funny.
In "Heaven Can Wait," obviously Farnsworth was not in that bad a shape. He was part of group of potential bodies that all had to be pretty good physical specimens since Joe wanted to get to the Super Bowl. Joe even says Farnsworth isn't in that bad a shape and that he can get the body into football shape in time for the big game.
That said, it was cool they did not show what Farnsworth actually looked like because it helped remind us, or at least me, that Joe/Warren Beatty is always Joe, even when in Farnsworth's body. As someone else pointed out somewhere, seeing the actual Farnsworth would destroy the spell that makes the movie work.
Down to Earth wasn't anywhere near as good of a movie to begin with, so maybe if the makers of HCW tried to pull off showing us what Farnsworth really looked like, it would've worked better. You never know. You never, never know.
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I think we should have been able to see Leo Farnsworth. Even in the mirror or a picture. I don't think he was an ugly guy, but of course, he was no Warren Beatty. Dyan Cannon did marry him, but it probably was because of his money. Julie Christie seemed to like him very much, and I don't think she would if he was awful looking. Although, she did say that it doesn't matter what people look like when you see something in their eyes. I believe they had her say that, so we would think that Leo wasn't all that good-looking. I think it should have been Jeff Bridges. He is handsome, and I think he would have worked. If it was him, I would have wanted him in the movie before Joe stepped into his body. Maybe, we could have got to know him a little and then we could understand Joe as Leo better. Just a thought.
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