# Most Stunning Miscasts Of All Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644 "2003-05-26T22:20:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/41 "2003-05-27T08:14:35Z")
> [@](#): > > My vote goes to any actor over 50 paired with a love interest in her teens/twenties. Hello - Hollywood? Reality here. Women in their 40s and 50s and on are gorgeous, and seeing Grandpa Russell with Gwyneth had an extremely high yick factor. This is not miscasting if the characters are a man in his 50’s and a woman in her 20’s. Miscasting is when the person isn’t right for the role in which they’ve been cast. Although it may creep you out to see, say 50-something Humphrey Bogart courting late 20-year-old Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, the movie calls for people of those ages, so the actors cast are perfectly reasonable. What you’re complaining about is scripts that call for young women with much older men, a common occurrance in Hollywood films. > [@](#): > > In Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Christopher Lee was cast as Sherlock’s brother Mycroft. I like Lee, but he would have needed to gain about 200 pounds for the role. Why? Just because the literary character was obese doesn’t mean that the movie character had to be. A movie exists as a separate entity from the book/stories on which it is based, and so an actor’s fitness for a role should be judged on how fit they are for this particular movie role, not on whether they fit the physical description of a a character given in the book or story on which the movie was based. This goes for Tom Cruise as Lestat, and any other complaint based on the theory that “The actor (or any other element of a movie) looks/is different from the description in the book, therefore he/she was miscast”. Different from the source material, therefore bad is not a valid criticism. ---
**Author:** ![guava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@guava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guava)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/42 "2003-05-27T08:23:33Z")
Proof of Life. No surprise Meg Ryan’s character falls for Russel Crowe’s character in the mismatched marriage she was in. Bruce Willis was terrible in Disney’s The Kid, as was the child who played him as a kid. Girlfriend was pretty weird too. It might have been a good movie if it had been cast better. Helen Hunt was not my pick for either As Good as it Gets or for Pay it Forward. I liked Keanu Reeves in The Devil’s Advocate and Sweet November. He was perfect in Little Buddha, though most people wouldn’t be able to identify him behind all the make-up. Agreed that The Matrix and Speed would have been better without him. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/43 "2003-05-27T09:30:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 5 time champ \* > \*\*Sofia Coppola was absolutely dreadful in **Godfather III** \*\* You are being far to generous, my friend. she sucked the life out of every frame she as in, replacing it with foul-smelling dreck. And I STILL say that any woman who has to kiss Woody Allen on screen should get an automatic oscar. ---
**Author:** ![raizok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@raizok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raizok)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/44 "2003-05-27T09:36:43Z")
Martin Short playing a 12-year old in _Clifford_ ---
**Author:** ![raizok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@raizok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raizok)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/45 "2003-05-27T09:36:57Z")
Martin Short playing a 12-year old in _Clifford_ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/46 "2003-05-27T11:07:45Z")
**Sublight** : > [@](#): > > Keanu Reeves in _Twelfth Night_. In the right role, the guy is very good. This wasn’t the right role. Keanu Reeves was not in any production of _Twelfth Night_ that I or IMDB are aware of. I realize people need to take their shots at Mr. Reeves, but surely it’s over the line to castigate him for movies he wasn’t even in? I have not seen _Breakfast At Tiffany’s,_ but I’m told Mickey Rooney played a Japanese man in it. A horrible, stereotyped, buck-toothed Japanese man. Surely Toshiro Mifune wasn’t too terribly busy that year? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/47 "2003-05-27T11:29:17Z")
Will Smith as James T. West in the Wild Wid West movie. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/48 "2003-05-27T12:12:22Z")
Broadway’s most recent horrible casting: Michael Crawford as the lead in \*\* Dance of the Vampires \*\*. His career is OVER! ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/49 "2003-05-27T12:15:39Z")
Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell in “Hook”. Maybe she was just too tall. ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/50 "2003-05-27T12:18:30Z")
Ron Livingston in _Band of Brothers_. And that guy from Friends. > [@](#): > > Agreed that The Matrix and Speed would have been better without him. I haven’t seen Speed, but Keanu was pretty well cast in The Matrix. His role was to be as confused as possible as much as possible, which we all know Reeves excells at. ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/51 "2003-05-27T12:39:41Z")
Tom Cruise in **Interview with a Vampire**. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/52 "2003-05-27T12:43:29Z")
Geore Dubya Bush as President. What was the Supreme Court THINKING? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/53 "2003-05-27T12:52:38Z")
Melanie Griffith in **Working Girl**. She was unable to project the intelligence necessary for the role; it was completely unbelieveable that she was smart enough to do what she did. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/54 "2003-05-27T12:53:31Z")
In addition to the above, I’d suggest Jackie Gleason asand Mac Davis and Olver Reed in **The Sting II** , trying to do the roles originated by Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw, respectively. Robert Shaw as an Israeli agent in **Black Sunday**. > [@](#): > > ## quote: > > ## Originally posted by Mr. Wrong Oh, and Tony Curtis in (I think) Spartacus: “Dere is da home of my faddah, da Caliph.” > > That would be “Yonda lies da castle of my fadda,” from The Black Shield of Falworth. 1954. I haven’t seen it myself, but it is infamous. (Oddly, it’s not listed in the IMDB’s quotes for the film.) Sad to say, this seems to be an Urban Legend. I’d read it about The Black Shield of Falworth, too. But in a thread about two-three years ago, several Dopers who’d rented thisa film in the hopes of hearing the line couldn’t find it. I think **Mr. Wrong** was being funny, and probably knows about this line’s nonexistence. In **Spartacus** , by the way, notice that , except for Jean Simmons, all the slaves have American accents and all the Romans have British ones. It’s a neat touch, and Tony Curtis’ Brooklyn accent fits right in. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/55 "2003-05-27T13:09:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\ ***Sublight** :Keanu Reeves was not in any production of _Twelfth Night_ that I or IMDB are aware of. > > I realize people need to take their shots at Mr. Reeves, but surely it’s over the line to castigate him for movies he wasn’t even in? \*\* I’m sure that **Sublight** just made a small mental error. Keanu Reeves was in _Much Ado About Nothing_. I thought he was fine in that. He’s been worse. As for horrible miscasting–Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando in _Guys and Dolls_. As Frank himself thought, he would have been a fine Sky Masterson, but casting him as Nathan Detroit–please! And Brando should always stick to non-singing roles. He was okay, but mostly it was embarassing. * * * The other day I saw someone wearing _clothes_. In this day and age, unenlightened people still wear clothes! Can you believe it? I laughed in his face because he was so dumb.– **stypticus** ---
**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:** [May 27, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/56 "2003-05-27T13:16:14Z")
According to _The Golden Turkey Awards_ (IIRC), the notorious Tony Curtis line was “Yondah lies dah palace of my faddah, dah Caliph,” from _Son of Ali Baba_. In Sofia Coppola’s defense, I would like to point out that she was literally a last-minute replacement for Wynona Ryder–no-one else was avaliable on such short notice. Besides, Sofia was at best adequate and at worst wooden. The worst performer in _GF III_ (IMHO) was Eli Wallach, who overacted shamelessly and came across like a parody. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/57 "2003-05-27T13:16:37Z")
I’d just like to point out that when a bad actor gives a bad performance, that’s probably not miscasting. Most likely, they’re there for financial/box-office or political reasons. However, this does not excuse casting Melanie Griffiths as a secret agent in Shining Through, which is so dumb and inexplicable that those responsible should have committed suicide rather than make the movie. On the other hand, casting Tony Curtis, an excellent actor when playing someone from New York, as a viking (in The Vikings) or a Roman (in Spartacus) is a classic example of bad casting. My final nomination for the award for worst casting would be to everyone who cast Marlon Brando in anything after about 1973. It should have been obvious by then that he had turned into a self-loathing ham. And it should ahve been transparently obvious for anyone forced to sit through his performance in Arthur Penn’s Missouri Breaks (his simpering camp cowboy is possibly the most bizarre performance by any actor in the history of motion pictures). It should have been obvious before he was cast in Apocalypse Now, where he refused to read the script, mumbles throughout, and is utterly incoherent and really pointlessly bad. So why did people persistently say, “Hey, Marly, wanna job?” (And fair enough, Kenneth Branagh is widely acclaimed in Shakespeare, though not really to my tastes, but his performances in movies taking place after 1450 AD have generally been awful and eerily unconvincing, and he seems to have some of Olivier’s gift for bad accents.) ---
**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:** [May 27, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/58 "2003-05-27T13:24:36Z")
From Leonard Maltin’s entry on **Tony Curtis** on the IMDB: > [@](#): > > His accent was all too apparent, though the legend that he said “Yonda lies da castle of my fodda” is simply untrue. [http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Curtis,%20Tony](http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Curtis,%20Tony) ---
**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:** [May 27, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/59 "2003-05-27T13:28:38Z")
On the other hand, _this_ page says that he _did_ say it in **Son of Ali Baba** : [http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0045175](http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0045175) But since, despite what it says here, it isn’t really in the “Memorable Quotes” section (there _is_ no Memorable Quotes section for this movie), and the fact that this is the _third_ movie I’ve heard claimed as the source of this quote, I won’t believe it until I see/hear it. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644/60 "2003-05-27T13:36:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*I have not seen _Breakfast At Tiffany’s,_ but I’m told Mickey Rooney played a Japanese man in it. A horrible, stereotyped, buck-toothed Japanese man. Surely Toshiro Mifune wasn’t too terribly busy that year? \*\* You’re kidding right? In 1961 (the year that _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ came out), Toshiro Mifune appeared in no less than five films:[ul][li]_Osaka Castle Story_ (“Osaka jo monogatari”)[/li][li]_Salary Man Chushingura, Part 2_ (“Zoku sarariiman Chushingura”)[/li][li]_Gen and Fudo-Myo_ (“Gen to Fudo-Myo”)[/li][li]_Ánimas Trujano_[/li] and last, but definitely not least: [li]_Yojimbo_[/ul]Not only was Mifune too busy to take a stereotyped, throwaway role in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_, he was too good an actor to even be considered for such a part, in my opinion.[/li] Give the crap roles to crap actors. Mickey Rooney was well cast. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-stunning-miscasts-of-all-time/177644.md?page=4)