# Excellent actors who are completely wrong for a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110 "2011-02-21T13:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/41 "2011-02-22T11:22:15Z")
Michael J. Fox in _Casualties of War_. He’s a decent actor, and the film is good but come on. I’m supposed to believe Michael J. Fox, with his cute baby face perched atop a 3 foot tall body, is a mean Marine ? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/42 "2011-02-22T12:11:17Z")
Well, [this guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York) doesn’t exactly look like someone you’d be scared to ask for directions at midnight, either. Many of the biggest badasses in history don’t look like badasses at all. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/43 "2011-02-22T12:36:43Z")
Gerard Butler as the Phantom of the Opera was a classic stinker. Shouldn’t he have had to sing at the audition? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/44 "2011-02-22T13:05:22Z")
Oh, and Meryl Streep was at least a decade, if not two, too old to play the mother in “Mamma Mia.” I could understand a 16-18 year old being too scared to tell her parents that she was pregnant. But a 38 year old? Sorry, but that’s just pathetic. FYI, some argue that Pierce Brosnan was miscast as one of the potential fathers because he couldn’t sing a lick, but I was okay with non-singers being cast. I always hated IRL high school musicals who cast the leads based solely on who could sing the best. My high school chanteuse looked like a 35-year old plump librarian. They consistently paired her with the best male singer – who happened to be a tall, blonde, flamboyantly gay man. Watching them sing to each other as lovers distracted me to the point where I couldn’t enjoy the song. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/45 "2011-02-22T16:39:59Z")
I’ve said it before - Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio had zero chemistry in “Titanic” mostly due to the fact that she looked / carried herself like his older aunt. Come to think of it, they weren’t all that much better in “Revolutionary Road” though I adore them both individually. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/46 "2011-02-22T17:06:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Gerard Butler as the Phantom of the Opera was a classic stinker. Shouldn’t he have had to sing at the audition? I’ll second this. I’ve liked Butler in other things. He’s not the worst singer I’ve heard, but he’s nowhere near good enough for the role of The Phantom, the nominal star of the film. This is the second case I can think of where the film concentrated on the female lead and stinted on the casting of what was supposed to be the lead character, who supplied the film’s title. The other case was the Bo Derek version of **Tarzan**. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/47 "2011-02-22T22:03:38Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Not sure I understand this one? If they had been older actors, then it would have been harder to accept them making some of the basic mistakes that Damon and Norton showed in the movie. An older actor, playing somebody experienced in the poker underworld, would never have played above his bankroll like Damon did at the beginning of the movie, or have cheated so obviously as Norton did at the Cops poker game. > > The role needed younger actors, full of themselves and learning the hard way. Well Damon was in law school, so he didn’t have to be a college kid. I guess for me if they were young and learning the hard way, they wouldn’t have known Gramma, Knish, Teddy KGB, Petra and the girl that gets her cut at that club. Something about being so young _and_ so skilled and connected rang false for me. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/48 "2011-02-22T22:09:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Wild, Wild West. > 'Nuff said. > [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > I can’t really blame Will Smith for that one. _ **Everybody** _ was wrong for that movie. Who wrote it, 4-year-olds? Has there ever been a bigger waste of a cast? Kenneth Brannagh, Kevin Kline, Selma Hayek… and the movie was total shit. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/49 "2011-02-22T22:16:07Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Has there ever been a bigger waste of a cast? Kenneth Brannagh, Kevin Kline, Selma Hayek… and the movie was total shit. Bu… but it had a giant spider! ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/50 "2011-02-22T22:18:47Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Bu… but it had a giant spider! You’ve seen Kevin Smith hold forth on this, I assume? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/51 "2011-02-22T22:24:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This is the second case I can think of where the film concentrated on the female lead and stinted on the casting of what was supposed to be the lead character, who supplied the film’s title. The other case was the Bo Derek version of **Tarzan**. Incidentally, the Tarzan-example was not supposed to be that way. The original story/script began as a deconstruction of the Tarzan story from the perspective of Jane who was to be portrayed as a young feminist/anti-imperialist rebelling against Victorian/Edwardian attitudes. Of course, nearly all that was jettisoned once Bo and John Derek got involved and made one of the worst major motion pictures ever. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/52 "2011-02-22T22:26:08Z")
Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster in _The Rainmaker_. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/53 "2011-02-22T22:55:24Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Selma Hayek… [Nitpick] Salma [/nitpick]. Normally I don’t bother, but I make an exception for future wives. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/54 "2011-02-22T23:02:59Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > [Nitpick] Salma [/nitpick]. Normally I don’t bother, but I make an exception for future wives. Sorry, سالمة Hayek. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/55 "2011-02-22T23:06:52Z")
Edward Norton as Will Grissom in **Red Dragon**. In the book, I read Grissom as being a more quiet, troubled character. Ed played him as this vibrant, overthetop character. Didn’t fit at all. Also, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. I wouldn’t go near his Dr Lecter on a bet, as he played him so obviously as a nutter. I much preferred Brian Cox’s interpretation. Cox would sucker you in close where he could get you rather easily. Hopkins, though, puts up too many warning signs that something is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/56 "2011-02-22T23:09:55Z")
Lindsay Crouse in _House of Ga_… Oh, sorry, you said “excellent” actors, not “execrable.” My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/57 "2011-02-22T23:12:33Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster in _The Rainmaker_. Care to elaborate? Hepburn was probably too old, anyway she looked too old (that type of complexion just doesn’t age well) but I think she made it work. And I thought Lancaster was just about perfect for Starbuck. I think this was originally a play, and if so I haven’t seen or read it, but he did seem to nail both the bombast and the vulnerability. So do tell, why were they both completely wrong for this movie? Roddy ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/58 "2011-02-22T23:22:56Z")
> [@MonkeyMensch](#): > > Robert Redford in _Out of Africa_. > Some of my favorite films have him in a starring role, but those roles fit him; he doesn’t have the range to make himself fit a role. I guess it was a good thing that Sydney Pollack didn’t even try to convince Redford to put on an English accent. The results may have been Dick van Dyke-level awful. Denys Finch Hatton is an aristocratic, cynical British ex-pat living in British East Africa and Redford doesn’t even come close to fitting that description. Well, since I’ve already posted about OOA today, it’s on my mind. Redford actually did intend to use an English accent, and supposedly did it well, but Pollack nixed the idea for obvious reasons. That Redford doesn’t exactly come off as an English lord is obvious, but he’s made a good living off being the sort of person who can’t be tied down, and that’s what the role calls for. Anyway, my nominee would be Harvey Keitel in “The Piano.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/59 "2011-02-22T23:31:28Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > I can’t really blame Will Smith for that one. _ **Everybody** _ was wrong for that movie. Who wrote it, 4-year-olds? > > The saddest thing for me watching that was how .. _disinterested_ Kevin Kline appeared. It’s like he had to take that part or the producers were going to kill Phoebe Cates or something. Or maybe he just had some freakin’ big bills to pay, I don’t know. Years back, I remember seeing an Academy Awards issue in Newsweek, in which WIll Smith was one of several Oscar nominees being interviewed. He said himself how weird he felt promoting _ **Wild Wild West** _, doing the talk show circuit to shill for it, when he knew himself the movie wasn’t any good. I recall he said he felt really strange when he read that \*\*\*Wild Wild West \*\*\*made 50 million dollars in its opening weekend. All he could think was, “But… it isn’t even GOOD!” ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110/60 "2011-02-24T00:41:58Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Edward Norton as Will Grissom in **Red Dragon**. In the book, I read Grissom as being a more quiet, troubled character. Ed played him as this vibrant, overthetop character. Didn’t fit at all. > > Also, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. I wouldn’t go near his Dr Lecter on a bet, as he played him so obviously as a nutter. I much preferred Brian Cox’s interpretation. Cox would sucker you in close where he could get you rather easily. Hopkins, though, puts up too many warning signs that something is wrong. Totally agree with Edward Norton being miscast. He just didn’t have the gravitas, if you will, to play Will Graham (not Grissom – your brain took you there because William Petersen played Graham in _Manhunter_ :)). And for that matter, Ralph Fiennes as Francis Dolarhyde. Dolarhyde is supposed to be this hugely muscled, immensely powerful dude, and the scene where he disrobes and displays the tattoo of the Great Red Dragon on his rippling back is supposed to make you tremble where you stand. Ralph Fiennes just did not have the physique to pull this off, and the scene where he displays his tattoo comes off as rather sad and self-delusional. Which I guess is an _interesting_ take on the character, but not true to the book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excellent-actors-who-are-completely-wrong-for-a-movie/572110.md?page=4)