# Is "The Bonfire of the Vanities" the most miscast movie ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 27, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333 "2022-09-27T18:01:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mislav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mislav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mislav)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/1 "2022-09-27T18:01:17Z")
If not the most, it has got to be up there. Tom Hanks as a womanizing bond trader? Come on. > **[The Bonfire of the Vanities (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonfire_of_the_Vanities_(film))** > > The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1990 American satirical black comedy film directed and produced by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall and Morgan Freeman. The screenplay, written by Michael Cristofer, was adapted from the bestselling 1987 novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. > The film was a box office bomb, grossing just $15 million against its $47 million budget. The controversies surrounding the film were detailed in the 1991 book The Devil's ... > **[The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099165/)** > > The Bonfire of the Vanities: Directed by Brian De Palma. With Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall. After his mistress runs over a young teen, a Wall Street hotshot sees his life unravel in the spotlight and attracts the interest... [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO_7N54BDa0) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/2 "2022-09-27T18:09:06Z")
The book on which it was a big bestseller in the 1980s and received all sorts of praise, particularly in The New York Times, though I never read it. But the movie was famously a huge failure and not just because of the casting. There was even a book (The Devil’s Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood) written about the making of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/3 "2022-09-27T18:43:53Z")
I saw it in the past few months for the first time, knowing nothing more about it than it had been critically “unacclaimed.” I actually enjoyed it more than I had expected, but the casting was odd. Having said that, I don’t know that even with better casting it would have been a box office hit. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/4 "2022-09-27T19:36:57Z")
I read the book, which is very good. The movie was definitely miscast. Just one example: In the movie the judge is played by Morgan Freeman. In the book the judge is an old Jewish white guy. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/5 "2022-09-27T20:07:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The book on which it was a big bestseller in the 1980s and received all sorts of praise, particularly in The New York Times, though I never read it I’ve read the book and seen the movie. Didn’t make me want to read/see any more Tom Wolfe. I’ve even read _The Devil’s Candy_ but it was a bit dry and dull. Very disappointing with a title like that. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/6 "2022-09-28T00:00:16Z")
> [@Mislav](#): > > If not the most, it has got to be up there. How about John Wayne as Genghis Khan in _The Conqueror_? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/7 "2022-09-28T00:03:18Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Just one example: In the movie the judge is played by Morgan Freeman. In the book the judge is an old Jewish white guy. That’s not by itself a demonstration of miscasting. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/8 "2022-09-28T00:06:54Z")
Tom Cruise as “Jack Reacher” is my personal worst. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/9 "2022-09-28T00:16:05Z")
The whole point was that the judge was one of the last remnants of what had once been a large Jewish community in the Bronx. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/10 "2022-09-28T00:24:19Z")
It’s an _adaptation_. The point of the character in the movie might not be the same point of the character on the novel. Hanks was unsuited for the role because he couldn’t play the character that the _movie_ was trying to depict. Simply being black and not Jewish doesn’t demonstrate that Freeman was miscast for the role in the _movie_ without further discussion of how he failed to play the character that the movie was trying to depict. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/11 "2022-09-28T00:57:29Z")
Somewhere between his dimwitted poet on _Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In_ and his dimwitted Nazi in _Blues Brothers_, Henry Gibson was cast as the cunning country-music-star-with-political-aspirations “Haven Hamilton” in Robert Altman’s _Nashville_. Depending on what lens you look through (and especially whether or not you like country music) his portrayal was either brilliant or inept. ---
**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 28, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/12 "2022-09-28T15:03:25Z")
I can easily think of worse examples. Besides those mentioned above **Hello Dolly** – Barbra Streisand is a helluva singer and belter, but the part of Dolly Levi should be played by a middle-aged to late middle-aged woman whose husband has died and who is sizing up Vandegelder as possible husband material. Steisand was 27 and looked it. **Man of la Mancha** – The original stars were available, and perfect, but in quest of “star” power they cast Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren, two non-singers, in the leads. James Coco, as Sancho Panza, had the opposite problem – I thin he sang TOO well. I still can’t understand them casting Gerard Butler as The Phentom in **Phantom of the Opera** or Russell Crowe as Javert in **Les Miserables** And Frank Sinatra was WAY too old to play Alan in **Come Blow our Horn.** ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/13 "2022-09-28T15:06:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Tom Cruise as “Jack Reacher” is my personal worst. This is my vote too. One of the defining characteristics of the Reacher character is his imposing size. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/14 "2022-09-28T15:13:07Z")
Although size was a huge part of it, he also got the character totally wrong. It would be like casting Joe Pesci as “Lurch” in a new version of “The Addams Family”. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/15 "2022-09-28T15:20:34Z")
I liked the book of BotV. I couldn’t finish the film, and the casting had nothing to do with it. The screenplay was just clumsy, stilted and dumb. Worst miscasting: Keanu Reeves in **Little Buddha**. I mean, seriously? Nothing against Keanu but wow, that’s a weird way to go with the role of an actual Indian prince and, you know, THE BUDDHA. ---
**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 28, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/16 "2022-09-28T15:31:22Z")
Brian Donlevy played Professor Bernard Quatermass in the first two Quatermass movies in the 1950s. Quatermass is supposed to be a very British rocket scientist, but Donlevy has a broad an unmistakeable American accent, and feels more like an American gangster in the part that a British scientist. In the original BBC miniseries Quatermass WAS played by British actors , a different actor in each of the three series. And when they finally got around to filming the third they got Andrew Keir to play the part. (John Mills played him in the fourth TV serial and its movie, but I think about that one as little as possible) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/17 "2022-09-28T15:41:48Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > > Tom Cruise as “Jack Reacher” is my personal worst. > > This is my vote too. One of the defining characteristics of the Reacher character is his imposing size. - Cruise should have been Reacher, Jr. The elder Reacher either dead or out of the picture. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/18 "2022-09-28T16:10:16Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > > [@suranyi](#): > > > > Just one example: In the movie the judge is played by Morgan Freeman. In the book the judge is an old Jewish white guy. > > That’s not by itself a demonstration of miscasting. It was a weird casting decision because the racial politics were a big part of the movie. Particularly, the judge is accused toward the end of the movie (by a character who is clearly a surrogate for Al Sharpton) of being racist. It hits a lot differently when the judge himself is black. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/19 "2022-09-28T16:43:47Z")
John Travolta as (let’s call it what it is) Bill Clinton in _Primary Colors_. Everyone else in the movie is absolutely perfect, from Kathy Bates to Billy Bob Thornton to Emma Thompson, even down the characters that have one or two scenes. But In the middle of it all is Travolta with whitened hair, attempting a good ol’ boy accent and never coming close to pulling it off. If everyone else in that movie wasn’t so excellent, it wouldn’t stand out as much. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333/20 "2022-09-28T17:19:43Z")
In 1964, there were two moves about an accidental nuclear war. One of them had Larry Hagman, Dom DeLuise, and Sorrell Booke; the other was a comedy. _Fail Safe_ may not have been miscast at the time, but after those three actors went on to some broad, comedic roles, it’s hard to take the movie as seriously as it deserves. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There was even a book (The Devil’s Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood) written about the making of the movie. The book does describe one of the best continuity errors of any movie, ever. They filmed exterior scenes in New York City, then took a break while the production moved to Hollywood to shoot the interiors on sound stages. During the break, Melanie Griffith got breast implants. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bonfire-of-the-vanities-the-most-miscast-movie-ever/972333.md?page=2)