# Perfect casting that could have happened and... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890 "2017-07-10T03:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/1 "2017-07-10T03:12:36Z")
…should have happened, but never did: A young Harry Connick Jr. as young, skinny Frank Sinatra. Yaphet Kotto in “The Running Man”…a FAITHFUL adaptation of Running Man as Dan Killian, not as the guy he played in the Ahnold film. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/2 "2017-07-10T03:23:46Z")
Dennis Quaid, as Hal Jordan. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/3 "2017-07-10T03:25:27Z")
It strikes me as one of life’s great injustices that no one made _A Confederacy of Dunces_ into a movie starring the _Seinfeld_-era [Wayne Knight](http://media.philly.com/images/seinfeld-newman-wayne-knight.jpg) as Ignatius. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/4 "2017-07-10T03:52:29Z")
Geoffrey Halder as Lando Calrissian. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/5 "2017-07-10T04:02:04Z")
Jude Law as James Bond. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/6 "2017-07-10T04:07:14Z")
Donald Sutherland as Jack Bauer’s father on _24._ He wanted to play the role, but unfortunately had a prior commitment. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/7 "2017-07-10T04:17:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Geoffrey Halder as Lando Calrissian. You mean [this guy](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/10/11/arts/Holder-promo/Holder-Geoffrey-ADV-OBIT-slide-JPDN-videoSixteenByNine1050.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/8 "2017-07-10T04:31:05Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Donald Sutherland as Jack Bauer’s father on _24._ He wanted to play the role, but unfortunately had a prior commitment. That reminds me…Darren McGavin as Kolchak on X-Files. Fortunatly he agreed to the role he did end up playing, but appearing as Kolchak would have been amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/9 "2017-07-10T04:34:38Z")
Jason Isaacs as James Bond. Rutger Hauer as Batman. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/10 "2017-07-10T04:40:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > You mean [this guy](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/10/11/arts/Holder-promo/Holder-Geoffrey-ADV-OBIT-slide-JPDN-videoSixteenByNine1050.jpg)? Yup. The Uncola Man: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AXmc7DG4uu8/hqdefault.jpg "7-UP "THE UNCOLA"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXmc7DG4uu8) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/11 "2017-07-10T07:21:47Z")
[Pete Postlethwaite](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T6xqWzbdmE0/maxresdefault.jpg) as Samuel Vimes. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/12 "2017-07-10T09:48:55Z")
I’ve said before that, while I’m not Jim Carrey’s biggest fan, it’s simply unthinkable that they did a big-screen version of BEWITCHED and didn’t cast him as Durwood. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/13 "2017-07-10T12:34:17Z")
Boris Karloff in _Arsenic and Old Lace_. He wanted badly to do it, but the play was still running on Broadway and the producers would not release him from his contract. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/14 "2017-07-10T15:19:52Z")
Sacha Baron Cohen was all set to play Freddie Mercury, but that’s probably never going to happen now. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/15 "2017-07-10T15:31:51Z")
Fear Strikes Out was a 1956 television play starring Tab Hunter, remade in 1957 as a movie starring Anthony Perkins. It was about Boston Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall’s struggles with bipolar disorder. Piersall played baseball until 1963 and was known as quite a showman. He could have played the role himself. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/16 "2017-07-10T15:39:47Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Fear Strikes Out was a 1956 television play starring Tab Hunter, remade in 1957 as a movie starring Anthony Perkins. It was about Boston Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall’s struggles with bipolar disorder. > > Piersall played baseball until 1963 and was known as quite a showman. He could have played the role himself. When he recently died I read that he hated the movie especially how they portrayed how he felt about his father. I doubt he would have accepted. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/17 "2017-07-10T15:41:57Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Jude Law as James Bond. Everything about the _Okay-That’s-A-Little-Weird-And-I-Don’t-Quite-Get-It_ casting of Matthew Goode as Ozymandias fell into place upon hearing that they settled for him after talking with – and even having mock-up art made of – Jude Law. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/18 "2017-07-10T16:50:55Z")
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, years before he actually became Bond. After Remington Steele was cancelled in 1987, Brosnan was picked as the new Bond. But then the publcity around that made the studio think Remington Steele could find an audience again, so they invoked a clause in Brosnan’s contract that forced him to come back for another season, and the part went to Timothy Dalton. Then, becuase the hype died down once Brosnan was no longer going to be Bond, the studio cancelled the the show again. That must have really sucked. He eventually got the role as Bond seven years later after Dalton dropped out. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/19 "2017-07-10T17:02:51Z")
Way back in the mid-90s, there was talk of having [Catherine Zeta-Jones](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ea/de/70/eade705e3adf5714c04de656c39e3ac5--catherine-zeta-jones-catherine-ohara.jpg) star in a Wonder Woman movie. I like Gal Gadot in the role just fine, but I still mourn the loss of a 90s-era Zeta-Jones WW. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/20 "2017-07-10T17:08:32Z")
Why hasn’t some producer created My Two Families, a TV show about a man balancing a wife and son in Manhattan and a wife and daughter in Queens? Starring Ben Stiller [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890.md?page=2)