# Worst Examples of Miscasting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090 "2005-02-03T01:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/61 "2005-02-03T18:22:47Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > No, no, no, no… Rosiland Russell is to Mame Dennis what Vivian Leigh was to Scarlett O’Hara or Sean Connery is to James Bond or Alistar Cooke is to Ebenzer Scrooge. She **IS** the ideal. And don’t forget her brother, Topo Gigio… ---
**Author:** ![midget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@midget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midget)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/62 "2005-02-03T18:59:51Z")
Shouldn’t this thread be titled “Best Examples of Miscasting”? Or perhaps, “Worst Examples of Casting”? I guess my worst example of miscasting might be the cast of Lord of the Rings - everyone there was pretty well suited to their roles… ---
**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:** [February 3, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/63 "2005-02-03T19:09:22Z")
Ed McBain wrote a mystery called “Fuzz” with a 30-something, good looking, blue eyed, blond hair villian called The Deaf Guy. So who did they cast in the 1980’s movie? Yul Brenner :smack: :wally :dubious: As McBain wrote in his later novel “Downtown”: It was a very bad movie. ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/64 "2005-02-03T19:13:44Z")
> [@faldureon](#): > > Still isn’t Prefect a bright red haired white dude? WTF were they thinking? I don’t remember if DNA ever said anything about Ford Prefect’s appearance in the books. Even if he did, Ford isn’t a character whose appearance has a whole lot to do with how he acts, and (the forgettable TV series aside) there isn’t a particular image of him in people’s minds like there is with, say, John Constantine. Basically, they just need a guy who can project a mix of likeability, anonymity, and foreignness together. I think Mos Def is a pretty good choice for the role - probably not who I would have cast, but a good enough actor that he’ll make it work. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/65 "2005-02-03T19:54:46Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Mos Def is playing Prefect, not Will Smith. I am fairly disappointed in this. ☹ I can’t help but wonder if this is more another example of PC-ness than actually picking someone who would fit the role. I’m hoping this is not the case, but Mos Def would never have been the person I would think of as Prefect. I am holding off judgement, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/66 "2005-02-03T20:13:58Z")
Michelle Pfeiffer in the Michael Easton version of Batman. Bad, bad, bad, bad. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/67 "2005-02-03T20:16:37Z")
> [@faldureon](#): > > Still isn’t Prefect a bright red haired white dude? WTF were they thinking? > [@JerH](#): > > I don’t remember if DNA ever said anything about Ford Prefect’s appearance in the books. . He was not conspicuously tall, his features were striking but not conspicuously handsome. His hair was wiry and gingerish and brushed backwards from the temples. His skin seemed to be pulled backwards from the nose. There was something very slightly odd about him, but it was difficult to say what it was. Perhaps it was that his eyes didn’t blink often enough and when you talked to him for any length of time your eyes began involuntarily to water on his behalf. Perhaps it was that he smiled slightly too broadly and gave people the unnerving impression that he was about to go for their neck. ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/68 "2005-02-03T20:49:00Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > You know who I think would make a great Joker (although not necessarily in THAT Batman movie)? David Bowie. He’d be perfect as a sexually-androgynous unsettling freak, a la Dark Knight Returns. I always thought the Joker should have been played by Tim Curry. He’d have been perfect. When I heard that Jack Nicholson had been cast in the role, I was disappointed, and that disappointment colored my view of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/69 "2005-02-03T20:56:21Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > OK, we get it. You don’t like Charlton Heston. […]As for the “smug” part… I suggest that your disdain for his politics may be coloring your judgement… No, actually, you don’t get it. I _like_ Charlton Heston – when he’s appropriately cast. “Smug” has nothing to do with his politics – it’s the one note that he hit perfectly, every time. No one else will ever be Taylor in a _Planet of the Apes_ feature. He kicked ass in _The Omega Man_. He was great in _Solyent Green_. He did a good job in _The Last Hard Men_. In the right vehicle, he’s a joy to watch – but he was often cast so far beyond his range that the result was ludicrous. Some actors can step into xenonational or ethnic roles seamlessly. Others can’t, and shouldn’t be repeatedly cast in them. (At least Keanu Reeve’s agent learned from the _Dracula_ disaster.) Anyway-- an example of what _should_ have been a spectacular miscast, but turned out to be inspired: Morgan Freeman as “Red” in _The Shawshank Redemption_. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/70 "2005-02-03T21:11:06Z")
> [@JerH](#): > > Basically, they just need a guy who can project a mix of likeability, anonymity, and foreignness together. I think Mos Def is a pretty good choice for the role - probably not who I would have cast, but a good enough actor that he’ll make it work. I agree. I remember re-reading the part of the book a few weeks ago. I was surprised that Ford wasn’t tall and Arthur was, because I’d long since decided it was the other way around. It’s not something that’s important. If they’d been trying to cast somebody trendy or ‘just because he’s popular,’ it would’ve been Will Smith or someone like that. I don’t think Mos Def is famous enough. He seems likeable and I think it might’ve been tough for somebody really well-known to be Ford. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/71 "2005-02-03T21:14:53Z")
Also, Adams himself said the appearance, or even the nationality, of the actors aside from Arthur was not important. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/72 "2005-02-03T22:06:05Z")
Kevin Costner as Robin Hood. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/73 "2005-02-03T22:08:45Z")
Wait, I thought of an even worse one: William Hurt in _Lost in Space_. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/74 "2005-02-03T22:21:02Z")
> [@LindyHopper](#): > > I always thought the Joker should have been played by Tim Curry. He’d have been perfect. When I heard that Jack Nicholson had been cast in the role, I was disappointed, and that disappointment colored my view of the movie. Oh, God yes. Especially after he played Pennywise the Clown in the TV version of IT. I think the root of my dislike of Don Cheadle as an actor has to stem from his earlier work as a thug, tough guy or drug dealer in movies like Colors, Hamburger Hill, Bulworth, Meteor Man and Rosewood. I hated, hated, hated him as Mouse Alexander in Devil In A Blue Dress (but then, I barely liked Denzel as Easy Rawlins. Lawrence Fishburne would have been a better choice.) He always struck me as horribly miscast in those roles as someone waAAaay too controlled and urbane for that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/75 "2005-02-03T22:26:00Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Kevin Costner as Robin Hood. He was terrible in _Thirteen Days_ too. I don’t know if it qualifies as miscasting, or just a woeful accent combined with bad acting, but… ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/76 "2005-02-04T00:30:30Z")
> [@](#): > > I thought Kilmer was too bland and Clooney too smugly charming, but I put all the blame for both of those travesties (and killing the Batman franchise until recently) on Akiva Goldsman and Joel Schumacher, the writer and director. Kilmer was abit bladn - but that was why it worked. Without him standing as a somewhat straight man, the entire movie would have been lost. Jones was a bit over the top,m and Carrey was way over the top. O’Donnel was slightly childish, of course. As it turned out, I think this is why it worked: it came off like a bit of a spoof of the old 60’s show. Goopd fun all around, though I wouldn’t call it brilliant. I really dislike CLooney in general. The man comes off like a Tom Cruise, only more so. And Tom has actually done some pretty solid, serious work lately. > [@](#): > > I think Arnold Schwarzenegger could possibly have pulled off his badguy part, if only he had used a standin for his voice. Uma Thurman didn’t have a convincing character to work with and/or her acting couldn’t make a difference. Ironically, he was the only thing I liked. Arnold has charisma, nomatter what else, and I know of no active actor who can compel people to look at him like the Guvernator. He always held the screen when he was on it, even in the ridiculous getup. And he at least seemed to get the overall humor of the movie. Had they all played that up it like Arnold might have been alright. It was also irritating that they reduced Bane to a freakish dwarf turned super-monster sidekick. The man is supposed to be the biggest ass-kicker on the planet. With a good actor he could rule his own movie. ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/77 "2005-02-04T00:36:39Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Oh, God yes. Especially after he played Pennywise the Clown in the TV version of IT. I mean, just think. Jack Nicholson’s eyes alone ruin it for me. Whoever plays the Joker should have wide, crazy eyes, big lips, and a grin with humongous teeth. Nicholson has none of those, and Curry has them all. Feh. > [@Askia](#): > > I think the root of my dislike of Don Cheadle as an actor has to stem from his earlier work as a thug, tough guy or drug dealer in movies like Colors, Hamburger Hill, Bulworth, Meteor Man and Rosewood. I hated, hated, hated him as Mouse Alexander in Devil In A Blue Dress (but then, I barely liked Denzel as Easy Rawlins. Lawrence Fishburne would have been a better choice.) He always struck me as horribly miscast in those roles as someone waAAaay too controlled and urbane for that. Don’t forget _Out of Sight_. Actually, I like him as a tough guy/thug. His performance (and that of the rest of the supporting cast) was the only thing I liked about the movie. Didn’t care for George Clooney, and _hated_ Jennifer Lopez. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/78 "2005-02-04T01:30:27Z")
Lon Chaney Jr. as the English(?!) son(??!!) of Claude Rains(???!!!&%!!) in _The Wolf Man_. Jimmy Stewart, pushing 50, as 20-something Charles Lindbergh in _Spirit of St. Louis._ Some old extra about 5’5" as the tall cadaverous William Randolph Hearst in _The Cradle Will Rock_. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090/79 "2005-02-04T07:20:25Z")
The most miscast actor ever: Me, in the lead role of “The Guy Who Couldn’t Score With Supermodels Whenever He Felt Like It.” Absolutely wrong for the part. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-examples-of-miscasting/288090.md?page=3)