Worst casting of all-time

[S-Des]

I was watching Ghandi again today, and was struck by what a magnificent movie it was. The writing, the acting, the scenery, the score . . . Perfect in every way I could imagine. Most of all, Ben Kingsley played the role of a lifetime with one of the finest performances imagineable. I was basking in the brilliance of it when the credits rolled and the AMC movie guy came on and listed a few little-known facts from the movie. The one that floored me . . . that Kingsley was not the first choice for the role. A short list was run down that featured Dustin Hoffman (ick) and . . . wait for it . . . Sir Alec Guiness! Could you imagine something more offensive than the man most responsible for freeing India from English oppression being played by a white, British actor? I was utterly speechless (and ever so grateful that someone who wasn't brain-dead made the decision).

That aside, anyone have any horrible casting decisions that killed (or came close to ruining) your enjoyment of an otherwise good film? My favorite bad casting would be the kid who couldn't act, followed by Hayden Christiansen tag-teaming the destruction of Anakin Skywalker (who knew he turned to the Dark Side of the Force because he was utterly unable to act or show emotion?).

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I was just mentioning the other day, how I liked A History of Violence until we met William Hurt. There is no way that I buy him as Vigo Mortenson's brother for onje second, and it ripped me right out of the mood. I can't watch the movie with a straight face knowing that he is at the end of the movie waiting to spoil everything with his poor accent and unfitting appearance.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

My all-time worst casting involved one of the the all-time great actors.

Natalie Wood and Robert Wood worked up a production of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" with them in the lead roles made famous by Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. Cast in the Burl Ives role of Big Daddy was Laurence Olivier.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[rgraham666]

Tony Curtis as a knight or something in The Black Shield of Falworth. "Yonda lies de castle of my faddah."

John Wayne as Genghis Khan.

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[starrkers]

Rob Lowe as Nick Andros
Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg
Molly Ringwald as Frannie Goldsmith
Gary Sinise as Stu Redman

OK — basically the entire cast for The Stand (TV miniseries) with a few exceptions. I was very disappointed that my favorite novel had been cast with such opposites of what I had in mind. Jamey Sheridan was a terrible R.F.

When I read the castlist I was expecting a similar reaction. But I was pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed the miniseries.

 

[gagginforit]

Yeah those two dorks who played Anakin... sheesh.

My favorites though are Brad Pitt in Troy... ruined it, and Collin Farrel in Alexander. It makes you wonder why it didn't occur to them how bad he was when they were making it. He spoke with and Irish accent, so they had everyone else speak with Irish accents in an effort to make us think that maybe that's what ancient Macedonians sounded like.

Neither of those guys are terrible actors, is just a case of the wrong actor for the roll.

 

[raphy]

When I read the castlist I was expecting a similar reaction. But I was pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed the miniseries.

Me too. First time I'd ever seen Gary Sinise and I was very pleasantly impressed.

My (And whisp's) worst casting choice has to be Chris Sarandon's Prince Humperdink in The Princess Bride. Not that he isn't a fantastic actor.. Not that he doesn't try his best with the material provided....

He's just too good looking.. Completely the wrong size and shape. They were dead on to Goldman's books with everyone else, especially Mandy who, as the book describes Inigo "looks fast even standing still", but Saradon was too tall, too slim, too good looking.. Too much like a fairytale prince.

 

[FallingToFly]

Has anyone heard who they cast as Gambit for the next X Men movie?

*gags*

They started off talking to stuart Townsend- who I personally think is the best choice for the job (admittedly, I just want to see him in more tight black leather and if he pulls off the accent, I whad better take a kiddie-pool to the theater to sit in- I'll need it) but then they veered WAAAAAAAY off course and got some sort of Marlboro Man kid to take it.

Fie! I say, Fie!

 

[jomar]

Tom Hanks in Bonfire of the Vanities

Ryan O'Neal as a hard-nosed general in A Bridge Too Far

I didn't buy Brad Pitt in Troy either.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Tom Cruise as the Vampire Lestat.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

I agree, Tom Cruise shoulda never been cast as Lestat. Stuart Townsend was way better in Queen Of The Damned. I don't care how much you want a role, that doesn't mean you should get it.
If people start casting themselves right and left, you end up with Travolta in Battlefield Earth. *eep*

Daryl Hannah as Ayla in The Clan Of The Cave Bear. I'm sure it didn't matter much who it was, cause the movie sucked, but the readers probably never pictured her when they read the book.

I have to say, that every time I hear that Ed Norton is playing someone from a book I've read, I roll my eyes, but he always seems to pull it off. He was good as Will Graham in Red Dragon and as Walter Fane in The Painted Veil.

 

[Guest]

Tom Hanks in the Divinci Code

 

[tickledkitty]

Richard Chamberlain in the old miniseries 'The Thornbirds.' I'd read the book and loved it, and he was NOT Father Ralph. It ruined the whole series for me.

 

[CeriseNoire]

Tom Cruise as the Vampire Lestat.

OMG, the whole time I kept thinking of how the book keeps emphasizing how tall he is.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

OMG, the whole time I kept thinking of how the book keeps emphasizing how tall he is.

there's nothing intimidating about a vampire who has to stand on a chair to bite you.

 

[3113]

Keanu Reeves as "Constantine."

Hmmm. Come to think of it...Keanu as Neo, Keanu as Johnathan Harker in "Dracula"....Keanu in "Much Ado About Nothing," Keanu as Siddhartha in "Little Buddha," Keanu in "Johnny Mneumonic" (terrible movie anyway), Keanu in "A Scanner Darkly" and...God help us, he's "rumored" to be in the upcoming "Watchman."

I honesty do not understand it. I'm not saying he shouldn't be in any movie, just that he has a really, really limited range and should be cast with great care.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Evidently my tastes are less discriminating than most! I was fine with Sarandon as Humperdink - but then perhaps it's that I'm pickier, as I didn't find him handsome. He seemed to me more ... groomed, slick, but ultimately too much like the profile of himself on a coin to make me like him. In fact I found him perfect for the part because he combined what should have been appealing elements into someone I immediately disliked.

As for Cruise, perhaps it was the blond hair - at any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed "Interview with the Vampire" the first time I saw it, and I strongly dislike Tom Cruise most of the time. But then, I didn't recognize him at all, and as the film ended I remarked to a friend that I thought I'd read that Tom Cruise was meant to be in it. *laugh* But how was I meant to recognize the man? He was acting, of all things. [But mind you, having read Ms. Scarlett's comments, I'm keen to see "Queen of the Damned" now. Stuart Townsend can hold my attention in nearly anything. I'm hoping he'll next try it in nearly nothing. ]

I really thought that Hallmark's "Gulliver's Travels" series was going to be wretched - Sam from "Cheers" as Gulliver, for heaven's sake! But honestly, that man was good. It's nice to see someone reach well beyond his usual mark.

I suppose I must come up with an example of poor casting to fit the theme of the thread. There's the obvious - Keanu Reeves in any speaking part, whoever played Raoul in "Phantom of the Opera" (awfully drippy), David Spade in anything whatsoever. But for individual ruinously bad casting, I have to go with the Skywalker moving fiasco. Between them they took what could have been a stirring tragedy about the fall of a noble soul and turned it into a sulky, whining adolescent you wanted to smack. Of course, with clinching lines like "I hate sand. It gets everywhere" (cue romantic moment), a better actor by far would have been hard put to make sense of the thing.

Shanglan

 

[CeriseNoire]

there's nothing intimidating about a vampire who has to stand on a chair to bite you.

LOL. It almost seemed like a mean joke. It's not like the book left his stature to the imagination. It comes up so many times that he was pretty much freakishly tall for his time, and still pretty tall for ours

Another odd choice (when thinking of the book) was Armand. He's described as having boyish looks, and a somewhat cherubic face. So they chose Antonio Banderas?!

ETA: Mind you, I was quite young and didn't mind ogling either of them. I just didn't feel they fit. Might not have bothered me if I hadn't read the book.

 

[3113]

But for individual ruinously bad casting, I have to go with the Skywalker moving fiasco. Between them they touch what could have been a stirring tragedy about the fall of a noble soul and turned it into a sulky, whining adolescent you wanted to smack. Of course, with clinching lines like "I hate sand. It gets everywhere" (cue romantic moment), a better actor by far would have been hard put to make sense of the thing.

My Husband likes to call the last Star Wars movie: "The worst high school play ever."

 

[3113]

whoever played Raoul in "Phantom of the Opera" (awfully drippy)

The guy they got for the Phantom wasn't any great shakes either. Talk about a lack of screen presence. He wasn't awful...he just wasn't in the movie. You'd think the guy who's playing the title character should be a little more charismatic.

 

[BlackShanglan]

My Husband likes to call the last Star Wars movie: "The worst high school play ever."

*cackles* That's brilliant. It almost, but not quite, tempts me to watch it. After the first two of that triology, I'd had it with the lot.

The guy they got for the Phantom wasn't any great shakes either. Talk about a lack of screen presence. He wasn't awful...he just wasn't in the movie. You'd think the guy who's playing the title character should be a little more charismatic.

Amen. I very nearly wrote "all three leads" for that movie. The female lead wasn't flatly wretched, but none of them had much feeling. It's as if they were constantly in the process of posing for movie posters, admittedly rather well, but not acting characters with real emotions. The last bit of "Past the Point of No Return," with Raoul and the Phantom at the grating, was flatly embarassing.

But Minnie Driver made it all worth watching.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

LOL. It almost seemed like a mean joke. It's not like the book left his stature to the imagination. It comes up so many times that he was pretty much freakishly tall for his time, and still pretty tall for ours

Another odd choice (when thinking of the book) was Armand. He's described as having boyish looks, and a somewhat cherubic face. So they chose Antonio Banderas?!

ETA: Mind you, I was quite young and didn't mind ogling either of them. I just didn't feel they fit. Might not have bothered me if I hadn't read the book.

I didn't read the books, and I didn't mind either actor in their perspective roles.

 

[NoJo]

Arnold Schwartzennegger as anything except a grotesque freak

 

[3113]

Arnold Schwartzennegger as anything except a grotesque freak

Does that include his starring role as Governor of California?