# The best casted role TV or film or biggest casting mistake **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2013, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139 "2013-04-08T07:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 14
**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:** [August 22, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/261 "2013-08-22T14:55:51Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Best casting - Robert Guillaume as Benson Dubois, first in _Soap_, then in his own show. I’ll go along with you on the first half of that. Guillaume was brilliant on _Soap_, but Benson became a completely different character in the spinoff. The Benson of _Benson_ never struck me as a very interesting character or demanding role. > [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Bad: Gwyneth Paltrow in “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.” I’ve always thought Polly Perkins (Paltrow’s character) was the biggest weakness in what could have been a better movie, but I’ve never figured out if she was miscast or just mis-directed. She really needed to be more decisive and spunkier. As I’ve said before, Blythe Danner, in her prime, would have been perfect. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/262 "2013-08-22T14:56:55Z")
good casting: “I _am_ Iron Man.” bad casting: “I am Batman.” ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/263 "2013-08-22T15:46:30Z")
Good: John Goodman as Dan Conner in _Roseanne_ (and for that matter, Sara Gilbert as Darlene). David Tennant as Hamlet Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm in _Jurassic Park_ Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner in _The Avengers_ Alan Rickman as the Metatron in _Dogma_ Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes in _Elementary_ Ted Danson as D. B. in _CSI_ Bad: Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in _Daredevil_ Everybody (not just Jessica Alba) in _Fantastic Four_ ---
**Author:** ![Neo-Calredic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/96bed5/32.png) [@Neo-Calredic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neo-Calredic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/264 "2013-08-22T18:17:10Z")
Jeffrey Coombs as Herbert West in the Re-Animator movies. He is the quintessential mad scientist. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/265 "2013-08-22T18:25:07Z")
Many years ago, there was a Lifetime-esque TV movie starring John Ritter as a man who was going through a divorce that seemed amicable until his STBX started dating a man their kids hated, and he turned out to be a psycho stalker. Ritter’s character was a real estate developer, and he ended up killing the psycho stalker and burying him in a fountain he was constructing on one of his properties. The psycho stalker was played by Henry Winkler. :eek: And the casting was PERFECT because he doesn’t usually play characters like that. More recently, there was a very good movie called “Things We Lost In The Fire” that didn’t get wide release. It stars David Duchovny and Halle Berry as a married couple, and they fit their roles perfectly. AND The interracial issue was never discussed, most likely because it just plain old wasn’t in the original script. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/266 "2013-08-22T18:28:20Z")
> [@Neo-Calredic](#): > > Jeffrey Coombs as Herbert West in the Re-Animator movies. He is the quintessential mad scientist. Which reminds me tht Jeffrey Tambor was perfectly cast as Hank Kingsley on _The Larry Sanders Show_. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/267 "2013-08-22T18:36:49Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Edward James Olmos and Michael Hogan in the Battlestar Galactica reboot. For that matter, Tricia Helfer. It would have been so, so easy to cast someone who was stunning, but not especially talented for that role - but Helfer had _amazing_ levels of talent, across a wide range. It’s a shame that she hasn’t been cast in a similarly challenging set of roles since, so far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/268 "2013-08-22T18:46:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Some actors are perfectly cast in part because of a physical quirk. Think **Peter Dinklage** as Tyrion Lannister. His stature is only part of it, of course - he can _act_, and virtually inhabits the role. It would have been very easy for them to just hire the first dwarf actor to walk in the door, but they got someone who can act like a boss. Dinklage, if you ever see him in other work, is a hell of an actor. My pick for best casting role is William H. Macy as Jerry Lundegaard in “Fargo.” I know they gave the Oscar to Frances McDormand and good for her, but Macy was the true star of the movie, playing a hard role as well as it could possibly be played. His assumption of that character is so flawless that even after seeing him in a dozen other movies I find it disconcerting to see him interviewed and find out he’s NOT Jerry Lundegaard. [QUOTE=Mr. Excellent] For that matter, Tricia Helfer. It would have been so, so easy to cast someone who was stunning, but not especially talented for that role - but Helfer had amazing levels of talent, across a wide range. It’s a shame that she hasn’t been cast in a similarly challenging set of roles since, so far as I know. [/QUOTE] Tricia Helfer was legitimately scary-ass creepy in the role of Gaius’s “vision girlfriend.” Menacing and weird; she was often the most unsettling thing in the show. Why she doesn’t get more work I cannot imagine. But I don’t even think she was the best cast female on the series; that goes to Mary McDonnell as President Roslin, who could not have been better chosen and turns in as fine a performance as anyone ever has in television history. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/269 "2013-08-22T19:56:50Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Patrick Warburton as The Tick in the shortlived, eponymous TV series. Like Ron Perlman for Hellboy, I can’t imagine anyone else in that role. This is who I was going to mention. I read somewhere that initially they had the original Tick costume covering his eyes but because of Warburtons’ facial expressions they took the eye coverings off so we could see his eyes and eyebrows. He still does the eyebrow and squinty thing on Rules of Engagment and it always reminds me of him playing The Tick. If I won the lottery I would pay to bring the show back. Also on Rules of Engagement Adhir Kalyan as Timmy is the perfect straightman to David Spades’ Russell. Other goods: Jim Parsons as Sheldon And I agree Sheldon and Niles Crane in the same show would be hilarious. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/270 "2013-08-22T20:32:49Z")
Pretty much all of the cast of _Arrested Development_, but I’m going to single out Will Arnett. He had an especially difficult job because he was playing a character who had to simultaneously be overbearingly arrogant and desperately certain he was going to fail - and he nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/271 "2013-08-22T22:09:58Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Could anyone be more Chandler than Matthew Perry?. This is a bit unfair because it’s really the reverse; Chandler WAS Matthew Perry. His specific job was to act like himself, and the character was written to be like him. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/272 "2013-08-22T22:16:57Z")
On the other hand, I was a bit surprised to find out that the role of Harry Stone (on _Night Court_) was _not_ written specifically for Harry Anderson. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/273 "2013-08-23T18:10:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Pretty much all of the cast of _Arrested Development_, but I’m going to single out Will Arnett. He had an especially difficult job because he was playing a character who had to simultaneously be overbearingly arrogant and desperately certain he was going to fail - and he nailed it. I agree that all the roles were well cast. Even, umm, whatshername, Bland. But I’m arguably most impressed by Tony Hale as Buster. If you’d shown me some of the scripts on paper, I could have come up with a pretty good mental image of who GOB was supposed to be and why he was funny, but no mental image I came up with of Buster would possibly have matched up with what the character ended up being. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/274 "2013-08-23T19:54:54Z")
What about the Golden Girls. The producers want Rue McClanahan for Rose (she had just played the airhead Vivian on Maude) and Betty White for Blanche (she had just played the man-hungry Sue Ellen on Mary Tyler Moore). When Rue was waiting to audition after Betty, she thought “I would be perfect as Rose” and tried to think up a way for the producers to let her audition for the role. The producers came out and told her not to bother auditioning because “Betty has been cast as Rose.” And the rest is TV history. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139/275 "2013-08-23T20:52:32Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > What about the Golden Girls. The producers want Rue McClanahan for Rose (she had just played the airhead Vivian on Maude) and Betty White for Blanche (she had just played the man-hungry Sue Ellen on Mary Tyler Moore). When Rue was waiting to audition after Betty, she thought “I would be perfect as Rose” and tried to think up a way for the producers to let her audition for the role. The producers came out and told her not to bother auditioning because “Betty has been cast as Rose.” > > And the rest is TV history. Same thing happened on _Friends_. Originally, Courtney Cox auditioned for the part of Rachel and Jennifer Aniston auditioned for the part of Monica. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-casted-role-tv-or-film-or-biggest-casting-mistake/655139.md?page=13)