# 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:** 3
**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:** [July 18, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/41 "2017-07-18T13:32:28Z")
Kate Mulgrew played Katherine Hepburn on stage in the play _Tea at Five_. Damn, she looks and sounds like Hepburn. She could have played her in the two Howard Hughes biofilms, but Cate Blanchett did (and won an Academy Award) in _The Aviator_. There are reportedly two Hepburn biopics in the works, but I don’t know who they’re getting. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/42 "2017-07-18T13:38:57Z")
For some bizarre reason, when they cast the movie _the Royal Hunt of the Sun_ (by Peter Shaffer, who wrote _Equus_ and _Amadeus_. It’s about Pizarro and Atahuallpa in the same way that Amadeus is about Mozart and Salieri – which is a discussion for another time). On Broadway, Christopher Plummer played Pizarro and David Carradine played Atahuallpa. For the film, Plummer played Atahuallpa and Robert Shaw played Pizarro. I love Plummer as an actor, but he’s not entirely convincing as a 16th century Spanish explorer/conqueror, and he sure as hell isn’t convincing as Emperor of the Incas. Whereas David Carradine’s look certainly do suggest Classic Inca. It would’ve been a better film with Carradine in it. ---
**Author:** ![Panthan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Panthan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panthan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/43 "2017-07-18T19:04:43Z")
Bill Mumy as the older Will Robinson ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/44 "2017-07-18T19:09:53Z")
It was rumored that Gary Sinise was considered for the role of Leonard H. “Bones” McCoy, M.D. in the 2009 _Star Trek_ reboot. I thought Karl Urban was right in the part, though. ---
**Author:** ![TheSundial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TheSundial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSundial)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/45 "2017-07-18T20:37:17Z")
Ashley Judd as Catwoman in the 90s ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/46 "2017-07-18T21:19:45Z")
Gene Kelly as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. He really wanted the part, but the producer didn’t like him. Ann Miller as Peggy Dayton in Silk Stockings. She really wanted the part, but they went with Janis Paige instead. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/47 "2017-07-18T22:24:44Z")
Oh, and IIRC, Elvis Presley really wanted to play the Pharoah in a stage production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/48 "2017-07-18T22:43:59Z")
> [@Marine\_One](#): > > How about Kelsey Grammar in a movie about Bob Hope? > > Especially when he was younger. He’s got the look, voice and mannerisms. > > Or, how about him and another actor in the Bing Crosby role in a _Road To …_ movie? > They could have a whole series of movies. Always thought that myself. He’s a dead ringer. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/49 "2017-07-18T23:15:19Z")
Peter Dinklage would have been perfect to play Miles Vorkosigan 25 years ago. Now he’s way too old, he’s 48. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/50 "2017-07-18T23:47:57Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It was rumored that Gary Sinise was considered for the role of Leonard H. “Bones” McCoy, M.D. in the 2009 _Star Trek_ reboot. I thought Karl Urban was right in the part, though. I agree, and we’re not the only ones. [QUOTE=Leonard Nimoy] When Karl Urban introduced himself as Leonard McCoy and shook hands with Chris Pine, I burst into tears. That performance of his is so moving, so touching and so powerful as Doctor McCoy, that I think D. Kelley [DeForest] would be smiling, and maybe in tears as well. [/QUOTE] Most of my 'perfect casting" attempts are for books that have yet to make it to film. ---
**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 19, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/51 "2017-07-19T00:32:43Z")
If there was a remake of The Fountainhead, John Hamm would be a great Howard Roarke. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/52 "2017-07-19T00:49:02Z")
Burt Reynolds as Buford T. Justice Jim Carrey as Junior Lyle Lovvett as Snowman Chriss Issac as the Bandit Paul Williams as Big Enos Burdette Vern Troyer as Little Enos Burdette It should have happened I tells ya. ---
**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 19, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/53 "2017-07-19T01:05:23Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > If there was a remake of The Fountainhead, John Hamm would be a great Howard Roarke. If they ever do a _ **Combat!** _ full-length feature film, he would be a good Lt Hanley; Kiefer Sutherland would make a good Sgt Saunders. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/54 "2017-07-19T10:01:40Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > I agree, and we’re not the only ones. > > Most of my 'perfect casting" attempts are for books that have yet to make it to film. The moment that cemented Urban as Bones for me was when he said to Spock (Zachary Quinto), “Are you out of your Vulcan mind?” DeForest Kelley had said that line in the TOS episode _Elaan of Troyius_ and in ST II: _The Wrath of Khan_. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/55 "2017-07-20T17:06:30Z")
Judy Garland and her husband Sidney Luft wanted Cary Grant to play Norman Baines in their remake of “A Star is Born”. But he didn’t want to work with Garland because of her “reliability” problems and was turning down roles to be with his wife Betsy Drake. So they eventually got James Mason 25 years later Barbra Streisand and Jon Peters couldn’t get Elvis \_Presley so they got Kris Kristofferson. When John Frankenheimer made his movie about auto racing “Grand Prix” he wanted Steve McQueen to play the lead Pete Aron. McQueen talked to the money men, it quickly devolved into a shouting match and James Garner got the role. McQueen eventually made his own film about auto racing “Le Mans”. Frankenheimer always felt if they had McQueen, “Grand Prix” would have been a huge blockbuster. ---
**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 20, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/56 "2017-07-20T18:04:39Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Judy Garland and her husband Sidney Luft wanted Cary Grant to play Norman Baines in their remake of “A Star is Born”. But he didn’t want to work with Garland because of her “reliability” problems and was turning down roles to be with his wife Betsy Drake. So they eventually got James Mason 25 years later Barbra Streisand and Jon Peters couldn’t get Elvis \_Presley so they got Kris Kristofferson. Barbra Streisand, Jon Peters, and Elvis Presley; wouldn’t that have been an interesting meeting to sit in on. > [@](#): > > When John Frankenheimer made his movie about auto racing “Grand Prix” he wanted Steve McQueen to play the lead Pete Aron. McQueen talked to the money men, it quickly devolved into a shouting match and James Garner got the role. McQueen eventually made his own film about auto racing “Le Mans”. Frankenheimer always felt if they had McQueen, “Grand Prix” would have been a huge blockbuster. If that’s what they felt, then they should have paid McQueen what he wanted. Sounds like they thought he was worth it. But I’m not sure I agree it would have been a blockbuster with him. Pete Aron is arguably the lead, but it’s enough of an ensemble piece that I’m not sure McQueen could have carried the film. And I like Garner better anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/57 "2017-07-20T18:08:55Z")
Leonardo DiCaprio really should’ve gotten the role as Robert Todd Lincoln in Spielberg’s _Lincoln_: [http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/robert-todd-lincoln-1865.jpg](http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/robert-todd-lincoln-1865.jpg) > [@Bayard](#): > > 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. Could be, but I always saw Philip Seymour Hoffman in the role. > [@erysichthon](#): > > …Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones. I, for one, am very, _very_ glad that Harrison Ford got the role. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Kate Mulgrew played Katherine Hepburn on stage in the play _Tea at Five_. Damn, she looks and sounds like Hepburn… We saw her as Hepburn in a one-woman show a few years back. She was quite good. > [@TheSundial](#): > > Ashley Judd as Catwoman in the 90s Sean Young _(Blade Runner, No Way Out_) was also really eager to get the part, and the story goes that she came on so strong - even stalkeresque - that she spooked the studio execs and missed out. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/58 "2017-07-20T18:18:47Z")
It’s probably not in a class with most of these, but I would have loved to see _a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum_ with Erland van Lidthe de Jeude as Miles Gloriosus. I’ve seen several versions of AFTHOTWTTF, and Miles nevers seems quite right. Erland was BIG, and he could sing. (If you’ve seen **Stir Crazy** , where he played Grossberger, you should know that they dubbed that voice – it’s not his. He finally did get to sing on-screen in **The Running Man** , where he played Dynamo, but it’s hard to hear over all the explosions.) > **[Erland Van Lidth De Jeude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erland_Van_Lidth_De_Jeude)** > > Erland Philip Peter Van Lidth De Jeude (June 3, 1953 – September 23, 1987) was a Dutch-American actor, opera singer, and amateur wrestler. > Van Lidth De Jeude was born in Hilversum, the Netherlands, and came to the United States with his family in 1958, where they resided in Orange, New Jersey (until 1960), then Stamford, Connecticut (1960–1962), Ridgefield, Connecticut (1962–1970) where he attended Ridgefield High School,\[citation needed\] and moved to Mont Vernon, New Hampshire in 1970 where ... He had “retired” from doing stage musicals as an undergraduate at MIT (I was in two productions with him in the Musical Theater Guild), but the director talked him back on stage for AFTHATWTTF because he was so ideal in the part. A lot of the lines that, in the mouths of actors who aren’t gargantuan, sound like hyperbole (“Stand back, everyone! I take large steps!”) were accurate in his case. When the actor playing Pseudolus is running around the stage near the end, Erland simply stuck out an arm and Pseudolus climbed up on it, chinning himself, without moving Erland at all. And Erland’s operatic voice filled the theater. He had his natural hair and a Roman Soldier beard to play the part, and looked good. He was easily the best Miles Gloriosus I’ve seen. Philip Kaufman, who “discovered” Erland for the movies when he cast him in **The Wanderers** , had him shave his head, because he was playing the leader of a gang based on the real-life gang The Fordham Baldies. But Erland was not bald. Nevertheless, every director who cast him wanted him with a shaved head, in **Stir Crazy** and **Alone in the Dark**. He got tired of playing Big Bald Geeks, so when John Derek wanted him to again shave his head for his part in the Bo Derek version of **Tarzan the Ape Man** , he left. I can’t tell if he’s bald under that helmet in **the Running Man** , but if he is, he probably got lured back by the promise of singing on the big screen. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/59 "2017-07-20T18:49:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Barbra Streisand, Jon Peters, and Elvis Presley; wouldn’t that have been an interesting meeting to sit in on. I’m guessing Colonel Tom would’ve been there too since he eventually put the kibosh on Elvis being in the movie. ---
**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 20, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890/60 "2017-07-20T21:47:12Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Sean Young _(Blade Runner, No Way Out_) was also really eager to get the part, and the story goes that she came on so strong - even stalkeresque - that she spooked the studio execs and missed out. She was on _ **Letterman** _ shortly thereafter, with some footage of herself in what looked like a black rubber catsuit. Batshit crazy, do-doo-de-doo-do!\* \*But still incredibly MILF-hot! :o [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-casting-that-could-have-happened-and/790890.md?page=4)