# Movies that don't care that the replacement doesn't at all Resemble the Original **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988 "2019-04-24T12:45:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [April 24, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/1 "2019-04-24T12:45:46Z")
Generally, when a movie or TV show has to replace a prominent cast member, they try to cast someone who loks at least approximately the same. When Richard Harris died, they needed a new Dumbledore. Michael Gambon didn’t look significantly different – we still got an old white guy with a long white/grey beard. when Roddy MacDowell didn’t appear as Cornelius in _Beneath the Planet of the Apes_, his replacement, David Watson, didn’t look all that different (well, who wouldm, under the ape makeup). In penance, MacDowell had to play Cornelius in all the other Planet of the Apes movies in that first series, and on the TV show besides. Dick Sargent isn’t a dead ringer for the Dick York he replaced in _Bewitched_, but they’re not radically different. But some TV shows or movie series Just Don’t Care. The chief offender in this regard is arguably the James Bond franchise. after years of teasing us by not showing us the face of Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Spectre #1), whose face was coyly hidden while he stroked that damned white cat, they finally decided to show us in _You Only Live Twice_. They tried out actor Jan Werich, but the bearded man looked to the director like “a poor, benevolent Santa Claus”, not the menacing Evil Villain the previous films hinted at. So they replaced him with a bald Donald Pleasance, with a nasty scar down the side of his face and around one eye. His voice didn’t have the deep menace of the previous films, and he was shorter than Connery, so he didn’t really look all that imposingly evil, either. For the next film , _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_, they got Telly Savalas, who was, at least, bald, but appeared significantly taller, and who was (a plot point) missing part of his earlobes. But there was no face scar. Following this, they got Charles Gray to play him in _Diamonds are Forever_. This was a confusing choice. Gray had no scars, all his earlobes, and all his hair. He had also played Agent Henderson in _You Only Live Twice_, looking exactly the same. They skimped on the ending which was supposed to feature a sub chase, so we’re never quite sure what happened to him. They wanted to have Blofeld as the villain in _The Spy Who Loved Me_, but they lost the rights to the character in a legal dispute, so they substituted Stromberg who was Blofeld in All but Name. Curt Jurgens played him, still white-haired and scarless, but now with a Germanic accent. At the opening of _For Your Eyues Only_ an unnamed bald villain in a wheelchair threatens Bond with a remote-controlled helicopter. We never see his face, but he’s still petting that damned white cat. He’s clearly supposed to be Blofeld, even though they couldn’t use the name. I’s tempting to think he was crippled in that sub accident at the end of _Diamonds are Forever_, which explains the chair. But he’s bald, like Donald Pleasance/Telly Savalas Blofeld. Maybe Charles Grey Blofeld lost his hair in the accident, too. The company that made _Never Say Never Again_, who got the rights to Blofeld, significantly got someone who looked completely different – Max von sydow, with his brown hair. They gave him a cat to pet, too (Blofeld didn’t have such a familiar in Fleming’s books), but _his_ cat is orange. Finally, in _S.P.E.C.T.R.E._ they got Christoph Waltz to play Blofeld as a guy who looked like – Christoph Waltz, with hair and no scars and everything. Although by the time the film ends he’s had an accident that gives him a facial scar kinda like Donald Pleasance’s, which brings it all full circle, or something. I find it significant that when Mike Myers created his Dr. Evil character for the Austin Powers movies, he patterned him after Donald Pleasance Blofeld, bald head, scar, and all. The Bond franchise also gave us the Magical Changing Felix Leiter. We had Jack Lord as McGarrett Leiter in _Dr. No_, Cec Linder as white-haired balding Leiter in _Goldfinger_, rik van Nutter as Surfer Boy Leiter in _Thunderball_, Norman Burton as forgettable-second-banana Leiter in _Diamonds are Forever_, David Hedison as The Fly/Captain Crane Leiter in _Live and Let Die_ and again (the first to reprise the role) in _License to Kill_, John Terry as Second Surfer Boy Leiter in _the Living Daylights_. _Never Say Never Again_ gave us Bernie Casey as The First Black Leiter (Connery supposed suggested the race change because it might make the role more memorable), and Eon followed up with Jeffrey Wright as The Second Black Leiter and the Second Guy to Play Leiter Twice in _Casino Royale_ and _Quantum of Solace_. (There was also Michael Pate as the British “Clarence Leiter” in the 1954 TV _Casino Royale_) Of course, Bond himself was played by a slew of actors who varied quite a bit – Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Peirce Brosnan, Daniel Craig (and Barry Nelson as “Jimmy Bond” in he TV _Casino Royale_, along with David Niven and a slew of others in the 1967 _Casino Royale_) I was started thinking along these lines when I watched _The Magnificent Seven_ and its sequels. Yul Brynner played lead gunslinger Chris Adam (who’s supposed to be Cajun – Brynner was Hollywood’s main go-to ethnic) in the original film and its first sequel, the only actor of the Seven to return from the first film. Robert Fuller replaced Steve McQueen and Julian Mateos replaced Horst Bucholz for \*Return of the Magnificent Seven, although they don’t really look like the original actors. (But they’re not radically different, except that Mateos looks more Hispanic than Bucholz, which is appropriate). But for the next two sequels Brynner was replaced by the non-bald George Kennedy and Lee van Clef. I guess they figured van Cleef had been in Sergio Leone westerns, so they’re interchangeable. And don’t get me started on _Sting II_. Chubby Jackie Gleason and Full Head of Hair Mac Davis replacing Paul Newman and Robert Redford? Oliver Reed in place of Robert Shaw? And the names aren’t the same, but the situations are, so it’s like a parallel-universe version? What else you got? ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/2 "2019-04-24T13:03:23Z")
Omar Epps was a pretty poor and unconvincing replacement for Wesley Snipes in the [Major League](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_(film)) films. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/3 "2019-04-24T13:11:47Z")
Maybe Blofeld is a job description that can be held by different people like the Dread Pirate Roberts or Number 2 from The Prisoner. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/4 "2019-04-24T13:23:47Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Maybe Blofeld is a job description that can be held by different people like the Dread Pirate Roberts or Number 2 from The Prisoner. The same suggestion has been made about James Bond himself. But the films pretty clearly intend these to be the same people, not “take a number” Blofelds. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/5 "2019-04-24T13:30:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I was started thinking along these lines when I watched _The Magnificent Seven_ and its sequels. Yul Brynner played lead gunslinger Chris Adam (who’s supposed to be Cajun – Brynner was Hollywood’s main go-to ethnic) in the original film and its first sequel, the only actor of the Seven to return from the first film. Robert Fuller replaced Steve McQueen and Julian Mateos replaced Horst Bucholz for \*Return of the Magnificent Seven, although they don’t really look like the original actors. (But they’re not radically different, except that Mateos looks more Hispanic than Bucholz, which is appropriate). But for the next two sequels Brynner was replaced by the non-bald George Kennedy and Lee van Clef. I guess they figured van Cleef had been in Sergio Leone westerns, so they’re interchangeable. Boy, are you going to be let down when you see the [original cast](http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/1280_720/images/live/p0/6p/vb/p06pvbx8.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/6 "2019-04-24T13:35:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The same suggestion has been made about James Bond himself. > > But the films pretty clearly intend these to be the same people, not “take a number” Blofelds. Well we’ve only seen a couple dozen of his missions over 57 years. It’s entirely possible he gets his face remodeled from time to time (he does look incredibly young for a guy over 75!) to disguise him for various missions that we never learn about. Although why he went back to his old face after that adventure in Switzerland has always mystified me. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/7 "2019-04-24T13:43:11Z")
The best you can say about Don Cheadle’s resemblance to Terrence Howard is that they’re both African-American (though distinctly different skin tones) but that didn’t stop Cheadle from playing Col. James Rhodes in the subsequent Marvel movies after Terrence had the role in Iron-Man 1. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/8 "2019-04-24T13:55:25Z")
[Obi Wan Kenobi](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/pYLUnM7lQ6ef-ShHTdunHcExcw0=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/EP2-IA-60435_R_8x10-56a83bea3df78cf7729d314a.jpg) [Obi Wan Kenobi sixteen years later](https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/Obi-Wan-Kenobi_6d775533.jpeg?region=0%2C0%2C1536%2C864&width=960) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/9 "2019-04-24T14:09:19Z")
In the second season of the original _ **Poldark** _, they brought in a different Dr Dwight Enys after Ross rescued him from a French POW camp. The new guy looked \*\*nothing \*\*like the original. There was a scene where Caroline Penvenen, his fiancee, insisted on seeing him after she’d been told the wedding was off. He turned his back to her and said “Caroline, you don’t understand. I’m not … the same man who went away.” My immediate response was “Boy, I’ll say you’re not!” I was half expecting to hear: “No, by Jove, I don’t think you are! It is **Dr Enys** , isn’t it? Dr \*\*Dwight \*\*Enys?” "Why … **no**! I’m Dr \*\*Michael \*\*Enys! “You mean … Ross rescued the **wrong Dr Enys**?!?” “Oh, what a good joke on him!” “Shhhhh! Let’s not tell him!” ---
**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:** [April 24, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/10 "2019-04-24T14:23:17Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Boy, are you going to be let down when you see the [original cast](http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/1280_720/images/live/p0/6p/vb/p06pvbx8.jpg). Saw it and loved it. So did Akira Kurasawa – he sent John Sturges a samurai sword after _Magnificent Seven_ came out. even so, you gotta admit that they actually tried to make Britt, the character playing the counterpart to Kyuzo in _Seven Samurai_ look similar. James Coburn definitely bears a long-faced resemblance to Seiji Miyaguchi: [http://www.lardbiscuit.com/jidaigeki/seijimiyaguchi.html](http://www.lardbiscuit.com/jidaigeki/seijimiyaguchi.html) > **[James Coburn | Actor, Producer, Director](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000336/)** > > Known for: The Great Escape, Charade, The Magnificent Seven And, of course, the leaders – played by Takashi Shimura and Yul Brynner – are effectively bald. You could make arguments about resemblances between several of the other Samurai and the gunfighters, too. So your “counterexample” actually is a case of trying to match the replacements pretty well in some cases ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/11 "2019-04-24T14:31:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > [Obi Wan Kenobi](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/pYLUnM7lQ6ef-ShHTdunHcExcw0=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/EP2-IA-60435_R_8x10-56a83bea3df78cf7729d314a.jpg) > > [Obi Wan Kenobi sixteen years later](https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/Obi-Wan-Kenobi_6d775533.jpeg?region=0%2C0%2C1536%2C864&width=960) Hey, you try living on a desert planet with _two_ suns. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/12 "2019-04-24T14:45:52Z")
How about when they specifically have a different person, but it’s (wink wink nudge nudge) _supposed_ to be the same person? There’s a Season 5 L&O:CI episode (Cruise to Nowhere) with a professional gambler named Joey Frost played by Lou Taylor Pucci, who has a specific story about how his uncle murdered his father and turned Joey into a gambling machine. Then there was a Season 8 episode (All In) about a professional gambler named Josh Snow played by Aaron Stanford who has nearly the same back story, and obliquely references the events of Cruise To Nowhere. It a confusing episode because you think it’s a sequel, but it isn’t. It’s the “uncanny valley” of sequels. It’s like they wanted a sequel, but didn’t own the rights to the character. But L&O often has characters return after several seasons. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/13 "2019-04-24T14:57:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > [Obi Wan Kenobi](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/pYLUnM7lQ6ef-ShHTdunHcExcw0=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/EP2-IA-60435_R_8x10-56a83bea3df78cf7729d314a.jpg) > > [Obi Wan Kenobi sixteen years later](https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/Obi-Wan-Kenobi_6d775533.jpeg?region=0%2C0%2C1536%2C864&width=960) That’s more of a casting/filming/makeup problem- based on what I’ve found, Obi-Wan would have been 57 by the end of “A New Hope”, which would make him 38 at the time of “Revenge of the Sith”, and 25 at the time of “The Phantom Menace”, while McGregor was 28 and 34 respectively, and Guinness was (by our standards) an old-looking 63 when “A New Hope” came out. I found it believable; shy of trying to find an actor that looked like a ca. 1952 Guinness, they found one that vaguely looks like him, but could channel the voice and mannerisms well. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/14 "2019-04-24T15:00:06Z")
There are the many faces of Jack Ryan. The common threads seem to be white and dark haired. > **[The Five Faces of Jack Ryan, From Alec Baldwin to John Krasinski](https://www.vulture.com/2018/08/jack-ryan-actors-john-krasinski.html)** > > Which actor is the ultimate Jack Ryan? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/15 "2019-04-24T15:01:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > [Obi Wan Kenobi](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/pYLUnM7lQ6ef-ShHTdunHcExcw0=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/EP2-IA-60435_R_8x10-56a83bea3df78cf7729d314a.jpg) > > [Obi Wan Kenobi sixteen years later](https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/Obi-Wan-Kenobi_6d775533.jpeg?region=0%2C0%2C1536%2C864&width=960) It’s not the years, its the mileage. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/16 "2019-04-24T15:04:58Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > It’s not the years, its the mileage. That’s Han ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/17 "2019-04-24T15:06:15Z")
The _Game of Thrones_ showrunners didn’t give a shit when recasting Daario Naharis. Ed Skrein and Michiel Huisman look nothing alike. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/18 "2019-04-24T15:43:33Z")
Doctor Who. My personal theory is that James Bond, Felix Leiter and Blofeld are all secret Timelords. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/19 "2019-04-24T15:43:36Z")
How about Red Dwarf, with the ship’s computer ‘Holly’, who was played by a balding man in the first few series, then switched to being a blonde woman for several more series before the character was written out. Then just to finish off, the character apparently briefly reappeared, played by the same guy they started out with? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988/20 "2019-04-24T16:14:25Z")
Saavik. Kirstie Alley defined the roll. I’m not sure what they were thinking with Robin Curtis. And then they turned her into Valeris. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-dont-care-that-the-replacement-doesnt-at-all-resemble-the-original/832988.md?page=2)