This should be far and away the winner. My brain hurts just thinking about it.
Maybe I can buy Ron Livingston being miscast, but when you talk about David Schwimmer…let’s face it: Ross is a jerk, the character Schwimmer played on BoB is a jerk, and Schwimmer plays both well.
refusal – Brando has made one decent movie since 1973: The Freshman.
Moderator’s Notes
Evil captor and RikWriter, cut it out. We’re not going to be doing this here.
THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY. Alan Cumming as a charasmatic pussyhound? Um, no.
I also thought he did just fine in Don Juan de Marco.
The worst casting, in my view, was Edward G. Robinson as Dathan in C.B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (1956). The runner-up would be James Cagney as George M. Cohen in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942).
In neither case did the actor make me believe they were the character portrayed; to the contrary, they were so glaringly wrong that my consciousness was taken from enjoying the film to protesting the choice of actors.
I’ve never seen it, but Sir Lawrence Olivier’s portrayal of General Douglas MacArthur was roundly ridiculed when the Moonie-funded flick Inchon splattered into the pavement.
Sofa King I haven’t seen Inchon either, but I spotted it in my local video store recently and plan on giving it a screen just for giggles.
Its write-up in RE:Search’s Incredibly Strange Films says that Olivier got a bit of questionable direction for that role-- to wit, that MacArthur’s speech-patterns were similar to W.C. Fields, and Olivier obligingly delivered all of his lines in what amounted to a half-hearted W.C. Fields impression. At least he got payed.
Be happy to. I simply find it very very rude when someone injects a totally off-topic political screed into a thread.
So do I which is why we’re not going to argue it out here. That’s what we have the Pit for. Thank you.
Jeanne Tripplehorn in The Firm. Her acting was fine, but she just didn’t look right with Tom Cruise. Maybe they ought to have recasted Mitch.
Richard Gere in First Knight. Some people look too “modern” to be in period pieces (I put Tom Cruse in this category).
Alicia Silverstone in Batman & Robin.
Maxine Bahns in Brothers MuMullen. I know she was dating the director at the time, but she was not a good actress.
Sandra Bullock in The Net.
ITA, and casting Matthew Modine opposite her wasn’t a great move, either.
I have to second or third or billion Denise Richards in The World Is Not Enough. I cringed when she’d come on the screen. On the other hand, I have to disagree with refusal over Kenneth Branagh. Shakespeare aside, I thought he copped a fine Californian accent in Dead Again. He slipped in a couple of places, but otherwise, I bought him as a native.
Hayden Christensen as Anakin didn’t bother me. IMHO, all the actors in the pre-quels are fine actors in their own right. The problem lies in the direction and dialogue.
I cannot believe no one mentioned the gigantic miscasting of nearly every female character in the Xmen movies!!!
With due respect to the good points brought by Number Six about actors not necessarily resembling their literary characters, this was way beyond that.
Halle Berry, sure she’s cute, all 5 foot of her?! Her character is an Amazon, literally, part of her schtick is having to cope with the average joe’s inability to deal with her heighth and general kickassitude. Iman would have been better suited physically, maybe even Grace Jones for the sheer ferocity.
Anna Paquin is harder to complain about, but that’s because they threw 40+ years of inter-related story lines into a blender and chose whatever looked yummy. I was so looking forward to a sexy, southern in yo’ face Woman, instead we get an angsty kid.
Since so much of Jean Grey’s acting is sorta non-physical, as a telepath we don’t see her really do stuff, as much as stuff happens near her, couldn’t they have cast a more expressive actress? Instead of feeling like we’ve a front row ticket to all the internal conflicts she goes thru, it’s like cut to the mannequin, oh look, she just appears bored.
One caveat, Mystique was fine!
OOoookay How about Michael Keaton as Batman. That was a huge Mistype. Is it only me that thinks that a six foot 280 pound superhero should be played by …i dunno some one BIGGER instead of using plastic muscles?
How about Hale Berry as Storm?! My apologies to Mz Berry and her ample boobs but she is not anywhere near the commanding presence of Ororo Munroe aka Storm.
…dont get me started on wolverine…
Anyone see Jack Palance as Atilla the Hun? that was hilarious.
Arnold as Mr Freeze was awful. That was just not right.
Jar Jar Binks … enuf said. no really make him stop!! Shut him UP!!
The queen of nice as Betty Rubble. lose the weight honey, then lets talk acting ability…
Why? Hugh Jackman was PERFECTLY cast as Wolverine. No one else could have pulled it off the way he did.
Why? Hugh Jackman was PERFECTLY cast as Wolverine. No one else could have pulled it off the way he did. Whenever I think of Wolverine since the first movie, I think of Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of him. In fact, I think it’s not a stretch to say that there has never been as perfect a casting of an actor in the role of a superhero.
Dana Delaney as Josephine in Tombstone.
Robin Williams as T S Garp.
Takes the quintessential deadpan role and interprets it in a comic fashion.
Michelle Pfeiffer in ** A Midsummernight’s Dream**. She just doesn’t do Shakespeare well.
Natalie Wood in West Side Story, trying to play a Latina girl, not very believable. “White bread sandwich, no crust” (says Michaelmichael)
Why? Hugh Jackman was PERFECTLY cast as Wolverine. No one else could have pulled it off the way he did. Whenever I think of Wolverine since the first movie, I think of Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of him. In fact, I think it’s not a stretch to say that there has never been as perfect a casting of an actor in the role of a superhero.
I thought Storm was from Africa.
shrug I thought that was a good casting call.