My three-year-old is going through a bit of a pirate phase; that is, he's interested in flailing his big foam pirate sword around and yelling "Yarrr!", not downloading the current season of "Dexter" on BitTorrent like "Well, he's a pirate," I said. "A sexually ambiguous, lustfully slurring pirate with strangely attractive fey mannerisms and the sort of hair you know must be filthy and matted and yet you want it dragged across your naked, prone body, while he whispers show me that horizon in your ear and the smell of rum fills the air and ... "
Ahem. Actually, we just turned off the movie and played with Legos.
So fine, my son doesn't share my fondness for a piratized Johnny Depp. That's fine, kid, more for me.
Click here to read more about Linda's unique taste in men.
Re-visiting Captain Jack, albeit briefly, got me thinking about the movie-star crushes I've had. Oddly, they are almost always tied to a character, rather than the actor himself. Keanu Reeves, but only in "Speed." Nicolas Cage, but only in "Wild at Heart." Ed Harris in "The Abyss"; Christian Slater in "True Romance"; Brad Pitt in "Fight Club"; George Clooney in "Out of Sight" (specifically, the bathtub scene); and Clive Owen in ...
Well, Clive Owen might be the exception to the rule, because he's hot in pretty much anything, but "Sin City" in particular. Or "Shoot 'Em Up." Yeah, that scene where he's hooking up with Monica Bellucci and firing both guns, if you know what I mean. Mrrrrrrrow.
My most humiliating crush of all time has to be on Aragorn in "Lord of the Rings," which got so bad I was actually dreaming about him and I ... well, I may have read some Lord of the Rings slashfic. Don't judge me!
My friend -- who understood my lust all too well, as she was enduring the exact same crush (I wept a little when she e-mailed me that she couldn't stand to watch the movie anymore, because it was just TOO MUCH -- I was so grateful someone else understood my pain) -- sent me a life-sized cardboard figure of Aragorn, which I displayed for months in the corner of my office, much to my co-workers' amusement.
Then I saw some footage of Viggo Mortensen at some movie premiere, and -- Poof! -- my crush was largely deflated. Viggo, it must be said, is nowhere near as hot as Aragorn.
How about you? What are your all-time top movie-star crushes? Do you tend to crush on the character, or the actual actor?

















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Wednesday 15 October
By JennyW
Viggo is definitely only hot as Aragorn, but I will say that most of my hollywood crushes are on the actors. Christian Bale and Orlando Bloom are drool-worthy no matter what! But I will say that Kiefer Sutherland is only attractive to me as Jack Bauer. I never really liked him until that character.
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Wednesday 15 October
By Emma
Most truly fanatical crushes at the time: Ewan McGregor, James Marsters
Most peculiar crushes: Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons, Stellan Skarsgård
but...
Ultimate crush: Johnnyjohnnyjohnnyjohnny *ahem* Mr Depp.
Oh yes, I will fight you for Johnny... You'd better believe it ;-)
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Wednesday 15 October
By Lauren
For weird crushes, how bout Steve Guttenberg and Richard Dreyfus ...when I was like 5, lol. I'd say my longer lasting crushes have included John Stamos and Brad Pitt. I also currently like Daniel Radcliffe--and I actually think he's hotter as a person than as Harry Potter.
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Wednesday 15 October
By Sleepynita
OK, This may gross some people out. But I have such a mad hot crush on Jeremy Piven BUT only when he is Ari Gold on Entourage. Good gawd, I just want to throw his cocky ass on my bed slap him around a little bit and make him behave (ya know what I mean).
Maybe it is the pregnant hormones.
Also Mad crush on Tommy Lee (and no I have NOT seen the video, I prefer my fantasy penis thanks). mmmmmmmm.....
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Wednesday 15 October
By RyanB
I always had weird, slightly pervy crushes. Like Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickel.
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Thursday 16 October
By Jenny
Gerard Butler, the King from 300. Oh yes. I loved the character so much that I ended up loving the actor.
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Thursday 16 October
By Amanda
Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music.
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Thursday 16 October
By jackie
OMG -- ditto on Christopher Plummer,aka "The Captain." In fact, I'm off in a couple of weeks to see him perform in Canada. The last time we crossed the border to see him the Canadian border agent looked at us, two 30-something women giggling over at trip to Stratford and said, "aren't you a bit young to have a crush on him?" But, but, he's The Captain!
(But, Aragorn is the King.)
Thursday 16 October
By Violet
Oh, this will sound bad, but Edward Norton in American History X. Not that the giant swastika was a turnon, but he was SO amazingly hot and sexy in that movie I could watch it over and over. And he's rarely been sexy before or after. A great actor, yes. Sexy, not really. But no man in a tight shirt has ever made me drool like he did in that!
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Thursday 16 October
By bessie.viola
Ben Affleck. Yummy in most anything, but particularly the agonizingly-bad Armageddon. Saving the world and looking sexy all the while!
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Thursday 16 October
By Anonymous New York
I had a serious crush on Michael Vartan's character from Alias (it could never really develop into a crush on Vartan himself since he has no career ouside that show it seems). I also really like the Sarsgaard from Generation Kill, but seeing him as the vampire in TrueBlood kind of ruins him for me. Not that I have anything against vampires. Vampire Bill Compton is pretty hot for a dead guy.
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Thursday 16 October
By Joy
Clive Owen. Yum. Orlando Bloom. Yum. Christian Bale. Yum. Pretty much any actor with a British accent. Yum.
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Thursday 16 October
By Jhianna
I totally crush on the character (except for Clive Owen and then I'm crushing on the man in spite of the roles I've seen him play - must try Shoot Em Up though, missed that one).
Mine are Riddick, Aragorn (just a little), Eomer (purely on looks, cause he was a bit of a jackass, wasn't he?), Captain Jack - oh, you nailed that one perfectly above, Dean from Supernatural (whew, he's getting close to my age limit there), and Bradley Cooper because I saw him in person in Vegas and he is omigod delicious in the flesh (I'm just sayin that it's good there was security at the movie shoot).
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Thursday 16 October
By Jennie C.
Usually the character - definitely Aragorn - definitely NOT Viggo. Someone mentioned Riddick - I'd forgotten about Riddick. I love "The Abyss" - but Ed did nothing for me.
Oh yeah, the exception - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - as the Scorpion King, Beck, Sarge, Sean, Agent 23... he's just delightful to behold in any role.
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Thursday 16 October
By Jen
Usually the character - definitely Aragorn - definitely NOT Viggo.
Someone mentioned Riddick - I'd forgotten about Riddick. Lovely. Vin. Kinda not.
Oh yeah, the exception - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - as the Scorpion
King, Beck, Sarge, Sean, Agent 23... he's just delightful to behold
in any role.
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Thursday 16 October
By Caitlin
Russell Crowe in LA Confidential. And yes, The Rock in any/everything.
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Thursday 16 October
By boredmama
OMG YES to Aragorn
Johnny Depp in almost anything (for some reason not a fan of him in Pirates), but for sure in Chocolat
Keanu in Speed
Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall
Mel Gibson ONLY in Braveheart
Sawyer in Lost
Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites
Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans
Jason in General Hospital
And my current favorite, the character Nick Stokes on CSI. I watch it only for him.
I like 'em manly!
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Thursday 16 October
By Maria
Aragorn = lust filled dreams (yep, me too); Viggo = cold shower
My hollywood crushes have been more towards the actor than the characters. Pretty much anything Hugh Jackman does is hot. Can I please include TV Sci Fi? Michael Shanks as Dr Daniel Jackson on Stargate SG1 (most definitey not James Spader from the movie) makes my knees weak. Can't help myself. I also have a weird thing for Hugh Grant, but only in Four Wedding and a Funeral, Love Actually, and Music and Lyrics. Oh, and two weeks notice. OK, I guess I just have a thing for Hugh Grant.
I also believe the worlds women can be parsed into one category...Ben or Matt. I'm most defininatey a Matt. Anything film he's in, with the exception of Courage Under Fire when he lost all that weight to look like a barely there heroin addict.
I also have a thing for Collin Firth,and I loved Tom Cruise until he went all weird. Just can't see him the same way anymore, unless it's the train scene from Risky Business. Yum.
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Thursday 16 October
By Tamara
I think mine tops you for embarrassment levels - Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War - I totally had a sex dream about him...
And on the more random side - Karl Urban who played Eomer in The Lord of the Rings. And then I saw him at a concert and my fake love affair was over.
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Sunday 19 October
By Amy
OMG - I just laughed out loud about the Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War comment. I love PSH, but in that movie? Whoa. He was not a looker. But I so get how you could have a crush on him still. He's so intriguing!
But for me, it's Ewan McGreggor (the accent...swoon!), John Cusack (the nervous talking...swoon!), Robert Downey, Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (OK, and Iron Man, too), and Johnny. Always Johnny (especially in Chocolat, god help me.)
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