# Another Film Thread—Play "Casting Director!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500 "2000-04-24T18:28:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/1 "2000-04-24T18:28:00Z")
I mentioned in another thread that—as good as Bette Davis was in “All About Eve”—Tallulah Bankhead would have been even more brilliant as Margo Channing. Can you think of any other films you’ve watched where you thought, “Ooooh, why didn’t they cast . . . ?” • Marilyn Monroe in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” OK, Audrey was chic and stylish; but even Truman Capote said that Marilyn would have been more on-target as the self-destructive bubblehead Holly Golightly. • Divine as Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family.” He died too soon—he would have brought a sweetness and genuine wackiness to the role that Christopher Lloyd lacked. • Carole Lombard as Scarlett O’Hara. OK, call me nuts. I think she would have rocked in this. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/2 "2000-04-24T21:45:00Z")
I always thought Daryll Hannah should have been cast as Buttercup in The Princess Bride. Robin Wright is, yes, pretty, but she doesn’t have the ethereal yet gormless sort of beauty that D.H. has, and that worked so well in Splash. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/3 "2000-04-24T22:57:00Z")
The Magnificent Seven minus (Brad Dexter + Rovert Vaughn + Horst Bucholz) plus (Lee Marvin + Paul Newman + Dennis Hopper) equals a Magnificenter Seven * * * Your deep sea diving suit is ready, me brave lad. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/4 "2000-04-24T23:08:00Z")
_Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves._ Delete: Kevin Costner. Replace with: Mel Gibson. Result: Much better movie. * * * **Movie Geek Central** – Reviews, news, analysis, and more! [http://moviegeek.homestead.com](http://moviegeek.homestead.com) ---
**Author:** ![beakerxf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@beakerxf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beakerxf)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/5 "2000-04-24T23:19:00Z")
Oh, I love these. Definitely needed someone other than Leslie Howard in Gone With the Wind. The man refused to adopt a Southern accent for the role. How unprofessional. I would have like to have seen someone like Gary Cooper in the role. Not sure if he would have been the right age for the part though. I was not iompressed with Huimphrey Bogart in Sabrina. He was playing it too wooden. If I recall correctly, he worried about coming across as a dirty old man. They should have had William Holden in that role, rather than as the irresponsible brother. Not sure who should have played the brother. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/6 "2000-04-25T04:58:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Cervaise: > _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves._ > > Delete: Kevin Costner. > > Replace with: Mel Gibson. > > Result: Much better movie. Strangely enough, I made the exact same casting decision at the time the movie came out. Before I even saw it, in fact. You and I weren’t separated at birth or anything like that, were we? * * * Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99. _I just washed my cat. It’ll take me hours to get the hairs off my tongue._                                         --100% certified genuine **WallyM7™** sig ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/7 "2000-04-25T05:09:00Z")
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator 2. He wouldn’t even have to fight Predator, he could have just been some sort of consultant to Gary Busey’s team. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/8 "2000-04-25T12:10:00Z")
Oh, I _so_ agree about Ashley in GWTW. Horrible casting. I thought “Disclosure” (reverse sexual harrassment, with Michael Douglas and Demi Moore) would have been far more effective with an older, bitchy, non-beautiful woman playing the Demi Moore character. I’m picturing Janet Reno. Along the same lines, another Demi Moore flick, “Indecent Proposal”, would have also been far more effective should someone slimy (e.g. Jack Nicholson) have played the Robert Redford character. Or even better. I’ll give you a million bucks to sleep with Gary Busey… Now _there’s_ a dilemma. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/9 "2000-04-25T14:08:00Z")
It was a TV movie, but… The miniseries of The Stand was totally miscast. Molly Ringworm as Fran? Noooo! Should have been Helen Hunt. Gary Sinise as Stu? Nooooo! Should have been…someone taller. Whovever that guy was who played Randall Flagg? Arrrgh. Should have been Lance Henriksen. Harumph! ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/10 "2000-04-25T14:13:00Z")
Green Bean - I have to admit you are 100% right. Although in the stand, the Flagg character was ok with me, but the Stu and Fran characters? Blech! Unfortunately, I think that happens a lot in King’s movies; generally I find the casting to be pretty awful. But most of the movies are pretty awful to in comparison to the books. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/11 "2000-04-25T15:20:00Z")
OK, let me see if I can fix **Bram Stoker’s Dracula** a movie with great potential, which was horribly miscast, and mis-directed: **Hugh Grant to replace Keanu Reeves**. Lets try an authentic English accent, shall we? (Not some weird surfer-speak hybrid.) Plus Grant has the proper mixture of reserve and nervous energy for the character. **Nicole Kidman to replace Winona Rider**. Nicole could pull off the accent and the balance of innocence and strong, but repressed, sexuality required of this character. **Anthony Hopkins to replace Anthony Hopkins**. That is, replace the bizarre, screaming, over-the-top Hopkins we see in _Dracula_ with the darkly reserved Hopkins we see in _Silence of the Lambs_ and _The Edge_. The man is right for the Van Helsing part. He just needs to approach it differently. **Liam Neeson to replace Gary Oldman** as Dracula. The Dracula described in the book is a huge man, nearly 7 feet tall. But he is also a seducer. Neeson might be able to pull off this combination of traits. **Ridley Scott to replace Francis Ford Coppola in the director’s chair.** Give me the brooding and slowly-building tension of _Blade Runner_ and _Alien_ instead of the yelling, screaming, maniacal and disjointed goulash Coppola cobbled together. Yeah. That should do it. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/12 "2000-04-25T15:47:00Z")
Oh, yes, and if someone makes a role famous on Broadway, why not cast THEM in the movie, rather than a “bankable” movie star who will suck? Like, Ethel Merman in “Gypsy,” rather than the otherwise great Ros Russell? Julie Andrews in “My Fair Lady,” rather than Marnie Nixon/Audrey Hepburn? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/13 "2000-04-25T20:59:00Z")
**Ernest Borgnine** in the Robert Mitchum role in _The Night of the Hunter._ **Ernest Borgnine** in the Alec Guinness role in _The Horse’s Mouth._ **Ernest Borgnine** in the James Dean role in _Rebel Without a Cause._ **Ernest Borgnine** in the Russ Tamblyn role in _West Side Story._ **Ernest Borgnine** in the Marilyn Monroe role in _Some Like It Hot._ I just _love_ **Ernest Borgnine.** ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/14 "2000-04-26T00:05:00Z")
I was thinking about bad performances, with an eye toward recasting them, and it occurred to me that one of the all-time worst screen performances I’ve ever seen was Shelley Winters in _Cleopatra Jones._ So how would I recast it? I wouldn’t. Somehow, Winters and that whole implausible screeching kung-fu Pillsbury dough-boy thing just works in that movie. 😃 * * * **Movie Geek Central** – Reviews, news, analysis, and more! [http://moviegeek.homestead.com](http://moviegeek.homestead.com) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/15 "2000-04-28T08:57:00Z")
Replace Jody Foster in _The Silence of the Lambs_ by Holly Hunter. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/16 "2000-04-28T13:37:00Z")
Good one **Wendell**. HH would have been great for that role. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/17 "2000-04-28T13:42:00Z")
You know, Holly Hunter would have been good in “Thelma and Louise” too. In either role, really. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-film-thread-play-casting-director/16500/18 "2000-04-28T15:57:00Z")
As much as I love “The Maltese Falcon,” I have never understood having Mary Astor as Brigid–just can’t see Spade falling hard enough for her to have difficulty shopping her to the cops. Now, if it had been Ida Lupino!