# Epic miscasting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716 "2005-09-27T18:21:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/81 "2005-09-30T11:11:22Z")
Nicole Kidman as a Big Wig Scientist dealing with Missing Bombs in whatever it was with George Clooney that she did. He did just fine. She was too young to be so high up on the political chain. Way too pretty to be a scientist and basically, all I could think of was " Kathy Bates needed this role." ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/82 "2005-09-30T11:31:57Z")
**Starship Troopers** --I don’t care that Buenos Aires is more European than “South American” – my point is that it, and its people, looked white-bread USA _norteamericano_, and it was clearly and obviously _wrong_. Europe ain’t the USA. If you filmed a movie in a US city and said it was Paris people would notice (and no cheating by going to someplace like New Orleans. If you do that you’re conceding my point) Another major casting mistake – Olivia Newton-John in **Grease**. Explaining her accent away because she’s a transfer student has to be one of the most ludicrous off-the-top-iof-y-head excuses I’ve ever heard. I know they wanted a hot young singing star, but you spent too much of the movie going “Nahhhh!” ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/83 "2005-09-30T11:37:35Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Denise Richards as nuclear weapons expert Dr. Christmas Jones in **The World is Not Enough**. Oh damn yes. 22-year-old PhD? Puh-leese. There are plenty of gorgeous actresses who actually look like they might be old and smart enough to hold a degree, but apparently they were all busy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/84 "2005-09-30T12:01:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh damn yes. 22-year-old PhD? Puh-leese. There are plenty of gorgeous actresses who actually look like they might be old and smart enough to hold a degree, but apparently they were all busy. There are plenty of 22 year old PhDs. There’s a rarity of ones that look like supermodels, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/85 "2005-09-30T12:07:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Another major casting mistake – Olivia Newton-John in **Grease**. Explaining her accent away because she’s a transfer student has to be one of the most ludicrous off-the-top-iof-y-head excuses I’ve ever heard. I know they wanted a hot young singing star, but you spent too much of the movie going “Nahhhh!” Heyyyy!!! Don’t go dissin’ Olivia (star of many a boyhood fantasy). 😃 Besides, they’d cleaned up the play so much as to make it a shell of it’s former self to get a PG rating. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/86 "2005-10-01T00:46:56Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Glenn Close as the mother of Mel Gibson in _Hamlet_ (she’s 6 years older) Then it was Mel who was miscast. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/87 "2005-10-01T04:26:51Z")
> [@Vintage 1957](#): > > Shelley Duvall in **The Shining**. Hell, \*everybody \* in that movie–except Scatman. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/88 "2005-10-01T04:38:55Z")
> [@](#): > > There are plenty of 22 year old PhDs. Err… I knwo it’s Cafe Society, but… _cite_? I mean, the only way this could possibly happen would be if you managed to compact many years of schooling. Most people don’t get a PhD until at least 25 y.o. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/89 "2005-10-01T05:12:47Z")
It’s a great movie, so I can’t really complain, but the casting in _North by Northwest_ is decidedly odd. First of all, the woman who played Cary Grant’s mother looked about the same age as he did. (I remember reading she was only a couple years older.) Until she specifically said that he was her son, I was confused as to what their relationship was. Secondly, Eva Marie Saint’s character introduces herself as being 26 years old. Um, no. She looks quite a bit older, and the IMDb confirms it - she was 35 when _NbN_ came out. It’s such a weird problem, too. Why didn’t they just change the age in the script to closer match the actress’ age? Just bizarre. Not to mention that Cary Grant was 55 at the time and looked it, giving them a huge age gap. It would have made more sense and been less icky if the character was in her 30s. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/90 "2005-10-01T05:56:26Z")
Nicole Kidman as Ada in Cold Mountain was pretty poor casting. And it isn’t because she isn’t a Southerner (Jude Law did fine as a man from North Carolina). She just didn’t pull off the character. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever really thought Kidman was ever good enough of an actress to pull off the parts she keeps getting. ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/91 "2005-10-01T08:48:20Z")
Telly Savalas after Kojak came out.He had been a fine character actor,but then he became a scene stealing ham.I saw the cheapie “Terror Train” with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.The film was convoluted enough,but when Telly popped on the train as a cossack (sp) Kojak.,it became surreal ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716/92 "2005-10-01T10:56:33Z")
For the record, Denis Richards was 28 in The World Is Not Enough. Slightly more beliveable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-miscasting/323716.md?page=4)