Having recently seen the trailer for Constantine, with Keanu Reeves (of all people) attempting to play John Constantine from the Hellblazer comics, two things happened. 1. I started wondering what the person who cast him in this role was smoking at the time, and 2. I wondered if anyone else could think of any poor casting choices for previous (or current) movies.
Can anyone think of a role that just should not have been played by the person who got it?
bamf
Catwoman. Halle Berry.
John Wayne as Genghis Khan.
William Shatner as Alyosha Karamazov.
Seriously? I think I might have a candidate for Bad Movie Night, here 
What’s the name of this one?
bamf
I will never pass up a chance to mention Michael Crawford in Broadway’s “Dance of the Vampire”
Not that it was necessarity bad casting, but using Max Von Sydow in Minority Report seemed a little obvious to me.
I mean, Earth to Steve, Von Sydow screams “Bad Guy! Bad Guy!” Next time try casting someone who hasn’t made a career of playing the evil kommandant in nearly every picture he’s been in.
I love Von Sydow, but that was pretty easy to see.
Two spring to mind.
Leonardo DiCaprio as the lead in “Titanic.” I would have actually used Billy Zane (who played Hockley) as the lead, and cast another person as Hockley.
Also, it’s widely reported that Kevin Smith wished he’d casted Janeane Garofalo as the lead in “Dogma.” He went with Linda Fiorentino, which turned out to be a big fat mistake – her performance was wooden, and she turned out to be quite the little prima donna.
[QUOTE=Shirt Ninja 13]
Seriously? I think I might have a candidate for Bad Movie Night, here What’s the name of this one?
[QUOTE]
The Conqueror.
My choice is Barbra Streisand in All Night Long. The part requires a timid, shy, mousy woman, something Streisand just isn’t.
Wow, you never heard of this turkey? It’s The Conquerer, from 1956. It’s famous for its hilariously poor casting choices. Just follow the link and look at the cover art if you want a good laugh. Ah, I can hear Wayne now …
“We’ll chase them like rats … across the tundra.”
I was watching Band of Brothers on the Hitler channel the other night. At the end of the episode, Easy Company is about to head into Bastogne with not enough food and not enough ammunition to hold it against the Germans. In the meantime, a parade of brutally wounded, completely stunned and dazed soldiers come marching out of the area and going the opposite way. One of the Easy Company soldiers pulls one aside and asks what the hell is going on and the wounded soldier sort of stares at him semi-vacantly and says, “The Germans…surrounded us. They slaughtered everyone, you need to get out of here.” So the Easy Company guys start getting really worried about what they’re heading into and start taking the ammo from the retreating wounded since they don’t have enough.
Heavy scene, right? Lots of tension and dramatic buildup and you’re getting into it when who comes riding up in a jeep with extra ammunition? Jimmy freaking Fallon.
I hear his voice and immediately I get taken out of the entire scene and think, “Is that Jimmy Fallon?” And it is! And he’s got that stupid Fallon smirk on his face and you can tell he’s desperately trying not to start laughing in the middle of his scene as is his wont.
It was just a bit part and maybe 30 seconds of screen time, but it was so jarring that it took me out of the show for the remainder of the episode. Just terrible casting. Who made that decision? Hadn’t they seen Fallon’s attmepts at acting before?
Yeesh.
Every role Keanu has been cast in has been a mistake, except for: **Bill and Ted ** and Parenthood. Especially hoot-worthy was his attempt at Shakespeare. Huh!!!
I disagree, RX - the first role I ever saw Keanu in was in a film called The River’s Edge, and he was actually quite excellent. Of course, he played a stoned teenager in that movie, so maybe he wasn’t acting. But I can easily see why a casting director, having seen him in that role, would offer him another role. I just can’t figure out why they KEPT offering him roles after his dreadful performance in Dangerous Liasions.
[The Critic]
Hath not a dude eyes?
If you prick us, do we not get bummed?
If you poison us, do we not blow chunks?
[/The Critic]
I saw the OP’s thread title and immediately thought of Keanu Reeves as John Constantine. Terrible, terrible casting, for someone who is supposed to be a smooth-talking, dark, sleazy British con man and magician. The character was conceived in the mid-'80s to look like Sting, and while Sting is too old, I’d have cast someone like Ewan McGregor or Jason Statham. Being British is a pretty integral part of the character, although if they had to go with an American Constantine, I’d have gone with Kiefer Sutherland, who looks the part, and can play dark and dangerous.
Halle Berry’s Catwoman will be a laughingstock, a bomb, the Gigli of superhero movies, mark my words. But Gina Gershon would be my dream actress to play the “current” DC Comics Catwoman. Furthermore, Angela Bassett would have made a much better Storm in the X-Men movies than Halle did.
I also thought Ben Affleck was sorely miscast as Daredevil. I’d have gone with Guy Pearce, Brad Pitt, or Matt Damon, any of whom could have brought more pathos to blind attorney Matt Murdock, and more “badassitude” to Daredevil (and any of whom look more like the comic book version).
Leonardo DiCaprio seemed out of place in Gangs Of New York. He’s a good actor, but that role required someone who looked tougher, more streetwise, less of a pretty-boy. Colin Farrell would’ve been perfect, actually–and he’s even Irish!
William Shatner as anything.
What, no mention of Kevin Costner as Robin Hood yet? I mean, if you’re going to have an American playing an Englishman, at least get one who can imitate a passable English accent…
Red Dragon: Ed Norton as Will Graham (mind you, I like Ed, a lot). Way too young, played way too cool (not “hip” cool, but “controlled” cool).
The Will Graham role needed someone older (the character was a peer of Lecter’s), someone whom you could imagine losing himself in the mind of a serial killer (the Graham character needed psychiatric hospitalization after getting too “close” to Lecter).
This was a role for Willem Dafoe if ever there was one.
And apparently Will Ferrel is going to play Ignatius J. Reilly. I don’t know which of these two I’m more appalled by.
…just went to see the Constantine trailer. sigh Guess I just start hoping no bright spark decides to make Preacher into a movie. They’ll probably get John Travolta or something…