# Actors who were totally miscast, all wrong for the role, and yet did a wonderful job with it.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 13, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600 "2010-09-13T13:37:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/21 "2010-09-14T00:12:19Z")
> [@MTCicero](#):
>
> By all rights, the casting of Tom Cruise as Lestat in **Interview with the Vampire** should not have worked. But damned if he didn’t perfectly embody the wicked, bisexual vamp.
Yes, he does, but what about his acting?
I wouldn’t have thought Humphrey Bogart, quntessentially cool and cynical, could play a pathetic paranoid nutcase, [but here you go.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zgeQmzV9kk)
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### Author:  [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/22 "2010-09-14T01:57:34Z")
If I told you during the hay-day of **Friends** that David Schwimmer would be cast as a hard ass Lt/Cpt of one of the most venerated companies of the 101st Airbore Division you would have laughed in my face. He’s too nervous, neurotic, and nebbish, you would have said. But in **Band of Brothers** his portrayal of Sobel was brilliant because of all those things.
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### Author:  [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/23 "2010-09-14T02:18:23Z")
**Lord of War** is one of my favorite movies over the past ten years, but casting Nicholas Cage as the title character has always bothered me just a bit.
The main character, Yuri Orlov, supposedly escaped from the Ukraine with his family. His parents look, sound, and act like Ukrainians. They are swarthy with Slavic accents and even if Yuri could escape from the neighborhood often enough to develop an American accent of his own, it would have been a New York accent, because, well, they live in fucking Brighton Beach.
He should not look and act like a guy from the Valley complete with a SoCal accent. They could have dug up John Belushi’s corpse and just parade it around in front of the cameras, and _that_ would have been a better casting decision than hiring Nicholas Cage.
And yet, Nick stole the show. He was fantastic in that role. Nick does “haunted” very well, and he really has turned into a good actor over the years. I didn’t even think to question the casting until an hour after the credits rolled.
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### Author:  [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/24 "2010-09-14T02:44:29Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Everyone thought Michael Keaton was miscast as Batman – too lightweight and hard to believe as the Dark Knight. But he was probably the best of all the Batmans.
Oh, thank you! For years I’ve felt all alone in this belief…convinced that I must be wrong about what I felt because “experts” told me I was wrong. But I really, really liked Keaton’s interpretation the best.
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### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/25 "2010-09-14T03:30:45Z")
My sister and I were just talking about Michael Keaton as Batman the other day while watching the Machinist. We both love Christian Bale and agree he’s a wonderful actor. BUT, he’s not Batman and we don’t care what anyone says. I’m not even going to talk about the others.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/26 "2010-09-14T06:21:00Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#):
>
> > [@Lobohan](#):
> >
> > Yeah, it’s weird. I love Constantine the film but hate the liberties they took with the characters. It totally stands on its own, but is a pretty faithless translation of the comic book John Constantine.
> >
> > Like you said, they nailed the feel of the film.
>
> In my head, I always pictured John Constantine to be a lot more like Gregory House, but my mental image would not fit that film.
You are correct.
The film is not. Keanu played Some Guy Who Happened To Be Named John Constantine, not _THE_ John Constantine.
John Constantine was originally patterned after Sting (true story) with uncombed hair and a cigarette jones… on a bad day.
So, since Mr. Reeves had neither a Brit accent, blonde hair, wrinkles, or depth, he’s just _A_ John Constantine.
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### Author:  [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/27 "2010-09-14T07:17:34Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#):
>
> Randle Patrick McMurphy is one of my favorite fictional characters, and my personal image of him was so strong, when Jack Nicholson portrayed him in the movie version of _One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_, I was disappointed by his portrayal. Eventually, I came to accept that there was no one right way to play the role, and that it was a spectacular performance, but it had a lot of prior imagery to overcome before I could admit that.
How about the original _Broadway_ McMurphy, in 1963? Kirk Douglas!
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/28 "2010-09-14T08:49:17Z")
Viggo Mortensen does not look like a Dunedain at all. They’re supposed to have long faces, not square ones. I’m not complaining either about the eye candy or about his performance, mind you, nor about having noticed him as an actor and gone looking for other movies of his, but he does not fit the description.
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### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/29 "2010-09-14T11:56:50Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> Anne Hathaway did a topless scene a the movie Havoc before she did Rachel Getting married. Havoc was really bad but it was nice to see her hooters.
She also did a topless scene, and played a cynical, bitter woman, in Brokeback Mountain before playing Rachel.
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### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/30 "2010-09-14T12:09:13Z")
Speaking of Brokeback Mountain, who would have thought Heath Ledger could pull off the Joker?
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/31 "2010-09-14T13:15:22Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Eli Wallach usually strikes me as cultured and well-spoken. He was totally wrong for Tuco in _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_ and he absolutely stole it.
>
> > [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#):
> >
> > In my head, I always pictured John Constantine to be a lot more like Gregory House, but my mental image would not fit that film.
>
> Speaking of which, who thought a foppish, English, comic actor could play an acerbic, drug-addicted, American doctor?
Hugh Laurie’s audition tape for House is one of my favorites. One minute he’s the proper Engilshman apologizing for his scruffy appearance; then he starts reading the script and just becomes House.
The casting people must have fallen off their chairs.
Jerry Orcbach was a song-and-dance manbefoefore being cast as a tough deetective in Prince of the City, which led to his Law & Order gig.
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### Author:  [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/32 "2010-09-14T13:43:57Z")
For me, Summer Glau as the terminator in _Terminator: the John Connor Chronicles_. She has a massive amount of emotional depth and I thought it was a big disservice to give her a character who had no emotions, but by the end of the show I thought she’d done a phenomenal job at eliciting sympathy and compassion for an emotionless character.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/33 "2010-09-14T13:53:25Z")
Charlie Sheen in **Platoon.** The guy is basically a comedic actor, but did an excellent job as the naive n00b.
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### Author:  [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/34 "2010-09-14T14:18:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Charlie Sheen in **Platoon.** The guy is basically a comedic actor, but did an excellent job as the naive n00b.
I swear on all that is holy, Sheen stopped “acting” around 1990. Ever since then, he has done nothing but play a bad caricature of himself.
I also loved Micheal Keaton as Batman. Kilmer wasn’t bad, Clooney was ok, Bale was crappy, but Keaton nailed it.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/35 "2010-09-14T14:30:25Z")
Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg in pretty much everything. If you’d told me twenty years ago that the musclehead rapper who intentionally pantsed himself onstage would someday be one of my favorite actors, I would have found it difficult to believe.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/36 "2010-09-14T14:43:08Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#):
>
> > [@Chefguy](#):
> >
> > Charlie Sheen in **Platoon.** The guy is basically a comedic actor, but did an excellent job as the naive n00b.
>
> I swear on all that is holy, Sheen stopped “acting” around 1990. Ever since then, he has done nothing but play a bad caricature of himself.
>
> I also loved Micheal Keaton as Batman. Kilmer wasn’t bad, Clooney was ok, Bale was crappy, but Keaton nailed it.
Keaton was also very good in **Pacific Heights** as a Very Bad Man.
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### Author:  [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/37 "2010-09-14T14:46:54Z")
> [@Grumman](#):
>
> Speaking of Brokeback Mountain, who would have thought Heath Ledger could pull off the Joker?
“Pull off” is understating things a bit. Ledger took an iconic role and absolutely owned it to such a degree that his portrayal is now the icon.
And yes, hardly anybody thought he was the right choice. How many people on here complained about him getting the role? Dozens, at least.
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### Author:  [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/38 "2010-09-14T14:48:22Z")
When Alec Baldwin got cast on “30 Rock” I remember thinking, “Well, he’s been pretty funny on SNL… but I don’t see him as being a very successful comedic actor.” Boy was I wrong.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/39 "2010-09-14T14:49:09Z")
Ok, they’re dumb movies based on silly comics, but–
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Wolverine is supposed to be short, burly, Canadian, & arguably a bit smelly. They went for a tall, lanky, Aussie dancer. But the dancer can act.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-were-totally-miscast-all-wrong-for-the-role-and-yet-did-a-wonderful-job-with-it/553600/40 "2010-09-14T14:56:00Z")
> [@pravnik](#):
>
> Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg in pretty much everything. If you’d told me twenty years ago that the musclehead rapper who intentionally pantsed himself onstage would someday be one of my favorite actors, I would have found it difficult to believe.
Nitpick: If he’s proved his mettle once, he’s hardly “miscasted” in subsequent roles.
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