How about Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face in that one Batman movie? First of all, Harvey Dent was played by a black guy in the first movie. Worse was the fact that Jones’ performance was hopelessly unconvincing. Two-Face has Multiple Personality Disorder, but Tommy Lee just seemed to be indecisive.
Howyadoin,
Speaking of The Shining, forget Shelly Duvall, how about Rebecca-ferchrissakes-DeMornay as Wendy in the TV movie? Or perhaps Stephen-saintspreserveus-Weber as Jack in the same?
Gack…
-Rav
Going way back, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes in GWTW. Ashley was supposed to be gorgeous and dreamy and netherworldly; Howard was middle aged and obnoxious.
Lucille Ball in MAME. Too old and not dignified enough.
Melanie Griffith in SHINING THROUGH has been mentioned already, but bears repeating. I’m convinced she took personal acting lessons from Henrietta Pussycat. “Meow meow meow Mr. Nazi please let me save my boyfriend”.
Anthony Hopkins (a great actor) in THE LION IN WINTER (a great movie). The role should have gone to somebody more…hmmm… regal, perhaps.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in DOGMA.
Alan Rickman in RASPUTIN.
As I was sitting here trying to remember another good Mark Wahlberg performance, that one completely slipped my mind. Part of his problem as an actor, methinks, but he was good in that one.
I thought Wahlberg was fine in THE PERFECT STORM.
And oh yeah, the Broderick miscast in TMM was widely remarked on in theater circles. And he’s been good elsewhere, like HOW TO SUCCEED and THE PRODUCERS.
Forgot about that one too. OK then, I amend my statement to the following:
• Mark Wahlberg, in every movie in which he’s the lead except Boogie Nights.
Nice call on Julia Roberts. Ocean’s 11 was not an emotionally complex movie, but she was just a brick wall in it. Every scene with her just sorta died. Not that I’m a big fan of hers anyway.
Nevermore, don’t you start badmouthing Alan Cumming. I will BAMF your ass so fast- 
Anyway, how about Peter O’Toole in Phantoms? Yuck. We couldn’t figure out why on Earth he’d agreed to be in this movie. Maybe somebody had incriminating pictures. :dubious:
Kevin Coster in 13 Days. His accent was awful - as I’m told his accents always are - his character’s role was completely made up (one wonders if Costner’s role as exec producer had anything to do with that)… his accent was awful (DEFINITELY bad enough to merit two mentions), and he was just wrong.
I’m tempted to include Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu in The Phantom Menace. He was given nothing to do. Why have Samuel L. Jackson if he’s not going to kick any ass?
Someone mentioned Michelle Pfeiffer in A Midsummer Night’s Dream- I didn’t think Calista Flockheart was too good either.
I think N’Bushe Wright (she was in Blade) would have made a much better Storm than Halle Berry.
I thought Molly Ringwald did a fine job; it’s just that after reading the descriptions of Fran’s golden hair, she didn’t exactly match my mental image of the character.
And those were the smallest things wrong with that film.
NailBunny: Molly Ringwald as Frannie Goldsmith in The Stand. That’s just…wrong. But they got so many other characters like Tom, Stu and Glen so totally right that I forgave them.**
Not really a miscast, but I thought that one of the most horribly interpreted roles ever occurred in this series: Laura San Giacomo as Nadine Cross was freakin’ horrible. Totally destroyed the importance of the character.
I thought the 2 leads in the big TV miniseries of “The Thorn Birds” were really terribly miscast.
Before Keanu Reeves was cast as Neo they approached WIll Smith and then Ewan Mcgregor, either of these would have been so much worse, and possible the worst miscast ever. Will Smiths brash, annoying voice would have undermimed the entire depth of the films, while ewan mcgregor wouldn’t have been able to fight higher than waist height, plus who can take him seriously after star wars. (ps. sorry if someone wrote this, but i didn’t read the whole post)
Did anyone mention Edward G. Robinson in The Ten Commandments? WTF?
And I highly agree on Julia Roberts in Ocean’s Eleven. It just didn’t work.
And how about a ruling on people casting their real-life spouses in starring roles? Like Steve Martin putting his wife Victoria Tennant as his love-interest in L.A. Story? I just kept thinking: “And he likes her because…?”
You seem to be implying that McGregor is unusually short, but as he is not I don’t know what you mean by his inability to “fight higher than waist height”. I see no reason to believe he could not have mastered the same skills Reeves did for the film.
People who have seen him in pretty much anything other than Star Wars. McGregor has a well-deserved professional reputation as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’d have been right in The Matrix…I don’t know, as I’ve never seen the film. I’ve made it a point not to. I’d have watched it if it had starred, well, pretty much anyone other than the perpeptually wooden Reeves though, so from my personal perspective Smith or McGregor would have been a much better choice.
I know he has more range as an actor than he usually displays in the big-budget blockbusters he does, but when you said Will Smith was in consideration for The Matrix one image popped into my head instantly.
Will Smith as Neo: “Yo! Whoa.”
Will Smith as Neo?! Thank God that deal didn’t work out. Will Smith’s got too much of a reputation as a comic actor to be taken seriously. It would be like casting Jim Carrey as Neo.
As for Ewan McGregor…it’s possible, but I don’t see it working. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to Keanu Reeves in the role. But Wiull Smith as Neo would be a match made in the deepest pits of Hades.
As would Will Smith… :o
I think Will Smith would have been awful as Neo. One of my friends said he heard that Smith was approached with the story and didn’t get it at all, so he turned it down to do other stuff. I know he can do good, serious movies too, but I’ll forever think of him as the Fresh Prince.
Will Smith as Neo would’ve been pretty awful. Although The Fresh Prince of The Matrix sounds hilarious to me.
I like Ewan McGregor… I don’t know if he’d work as Neo either, but part of what makes The Matrix what it is is the way Keanu Reeves fits the part. His normal failings - wooden delivery, an apparent lack of comprehension of anything - are perfect for the character. Well, except the love scenes in Reloaded.
actually, the only thing that comes to mind when I see that movie now is “Is it safe?” It’s freakout city from that point on. Run, Neil, he’s a Nazi!
to reply to an earlier post, re: Julia Roberts in Michael Collins:
Neil Jordan wrote about all the lovely other actresses he had in mind for the part. I think Julianne Moore was one of the names tossed around for Kitty. But Roberts had something going for her at the moment- that ditzy persona. Kitty was no mental giant, but very sweet and more than a little dense.
The accent, on the other hand. Ugh. See * Mary Reilly*. Ugh.