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?
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!!!
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.
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.
Going back a bit now, but Malcolm McDowell as Flashman in Royal Flash. McDowells a good villain, but wasnt Flashman: not tall enough, not dark enough, not rugged enough, and totally lacking the bluff, mans man plausibility that enables Flashy to convince all he meets that hes 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.
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.
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.
