# Film Casting That Disappointed You **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488 "2002-06-17T07:21:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/41 "2002-06-21T15:37:21Z")
Kubrick’s **Barry Lyndon**. Anybody who’s seen it knows what I’m about to write. **Ryan O’Neill** is more wooden than any of the gorgeous trees that help make this one of the most visually appealing films I’ve ever seen. I ended up getting embarassed for the actors who had to work along side him. You could mix up the order of his reaction shots throughout any scene, or indeed the entire film, and not notice the difference. Bizarrely, the kid playing Lyndon’s stepson adopts exactly the same style. However I prefer him to annoying-70s-kid’s portrayal of Lyndon’s real son; did anybody actually care when that character died? ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/42 "2002-06-21T15:51:01Z")
Michael J. Fox as a coke-addled New Yawker in _Bright Lights, Big City._ Completely unbelieveable. Now if they had gotten Charlie Sheen instead… ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/43 "2002-06-21T21:08:02Z")
Here I go again…please skip this post if you have already heard me rant about “Robin Hood-Prince of Thieves.” Kevin Costner as Robin Hood. KEVIN COSTNER!!! Come on, give me a large break here. Even _I_ would have made a better Robin Hood than HE did. Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but… Of course Sean Connery was the best Robin Hood, he is always the best ANYTHING. [sub]see…Bond…James Bond[/sub] BUT since they wanted to go younger, who the Sam Hill overlooked Timothy Dalton? See “Flash Gordon” (yes, it was a cheesy movie. Yes, I LOVE that movie. I never claimed to have much taste) … in that movie, he played a prince from some world…Arborea maybe? Anyway, he would have made a PERFECT Robin Hood. JMHO. But even if they didn’t use HIM, almost anyone would have been more believable than Costner. Even Keanu Reeves. REALLY!!!😃 ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/44 "2002-06-22T02:47:49Z")
Anyone but **Sean Connery** as [i[James Bond\*\*. **Sofia Coppola** was dreadful as _Mary Corleone_ in **Godfather III** , although her death scene wasn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/45 "2002-06-22T11:46:34Z")
**Mena Suvari** in American Beauty. I don’t think she looked or acted right for the part. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2002, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/46 "2002-06-22T19:32:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tranquilis \* > Batman I would like to see John Cusack, couldn’t do any worse. That would have to be Batman as drawn by Marshall Rogers, where he’s always standing in the rain. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ukbanshee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ukbanshee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ukbanshee)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/47 "2002-06-22T19:43:56Z")
Im somewhat bemused as to how Oceans Eleven didnt seem to make use of its all star cast. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/48 "2002-06-22T20:01:49Z")
While watching **Falling Down** in the theater, my friend leaned over and whispered in my ear, “What is Tuesday Weld doing in Dyan Cannon’s role?” Speaking of Dyan Cannon - she was born to play DeeDee Day in **Tales of the City** , but by the time the movie was made, she was too old for the role… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/49 "2002-06-22T20:18:58Z")
I really didn’t like Renee Zellwhatever in _Bridget Jones’s Diary_. I loved the book because I identified so much with the character, but Renee portrayed her as so pathetic I didn’t want to identify with her. I also didn’t find her accent very convincing. I was also disappointed with the choice of Julia Roberts in _Michael Collins_, not because she was bad in it but just because I would really have preferred an Irish actress in that role, on principle I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/50 "2002-06-22T22:59:09Z")
Rosie O’Donnell is no man’s Betty Rubble. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/51 "2002-06-23T03:01:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fifteen Iguana \* > \*\*Wolfe may be fine, Archie may be ok, but Inspector Cramer is always wrong. What should he be like? Beats the hell out of me, but I know what he ain’t. > \*\* I always thought it should be the police detective on the old “McCloud” TV series. Guy’s name is J.D. Cannon. Right look, dark hair, thin, could chew a cigar (unlit) and a pretty good hand with the slow burn, a necessity when dealing with the sixth-of-a-ton ego that is Wolfe. ---
**Author:** ![tetsusaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@tetsusaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetsusaru)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/52 "2002-06-23T03:30:10Z")
Going back a bit now, but Malcolm McDowell as Flashman in Royal Flash. McDowell`s a good villain, but wasn`t Flashman: not tall enough, not dark enough, not rugged enough, and totally lacking the bluff, man`s man plausibility that enables Flashy to convince all he meets that he`s actually a hero and not a snivelling, treacherous scoundrel. Another vote for Timothy Dalton, the most under-rated of all the Bonds, on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/53 "2002-06-23T17:32:14Z")
This has bugged me since this movie came out. I read the book and was quite excited to see the movie until - UGH- The General’s Daughter - John Travolta as Paul Brenner :smack: The rest if the cast is wonderful, but by putting him in I literally cringe during some of his scenes. Normally i think he is a fine actor, but the clenched jaw thing just doesn’t WORK in this movie. And his horrible accent at the beginning. It just GRATES. The rest is so well casted, just not him. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Fifteen\_Iguana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Fifteen\_Iguana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fifteen_Iguana)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488/54 "2002-06-23T18:50:47Z")
SLightly off-topic. Sometimes even good casting can cause problems. One of the main reasons John LeCarre stopped writing about George Smiley was that, after Tinkert Tailor Soldier Spy was filmed his mental image of the character started to get tangled up with the brilliant performance by Alec Guiness. Peter Lovesey had a simiar problem with Alan Dobie’s portrayal of Sergeant Cribb. Oh, and to beat a favorite dead horse, before Kevin Costner was allowed to play the Postman (a great novel, sigh), Hollywood should have been shoved into the Pacific. Fifteen Iguana [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-casting-that-disappointed-you/114488.md?page=2)