September 15, 2015

Five Horribly Miscast Movie Roles (That I’ve Seen)

I’m not a huge movie fan. I don’t ask for much when I do see a movie, it takes a lot for something in a film to really bother me. Product placement? Whatever. Another thing that doesn’t usually bother me is casting. For a role to be so horribly miscast even I’ve noticed means someone somewhere really failed along the way. Once in awhile an odd casting choice pays off. Who would have imagined how great Michael Keaton would be as Batman? That was inconceivable when it was first announced! Who could have pictured Richard Gere in Chicago? Hey it worked, he was great! Chris Pine as Captain Kirk? Hey he pulled it off. Kevin Costner in Prince of Thieves? I must have to re-watch this because I remember him being good, it seems I am in the minority on that one.




But usually odd casting is just that, odd and doesn’t work. Rosie O’Donnell as Betty Rubble in The Flintstones? No! Ben Affleck in Daredevil? No! John Wayne as Genghis Khan? WTF???? But those casting choices were DOA in my opinion, sometimes you have hopes it may work….and it doesn’t.


Here are five more roles I had hopes for, but were so badly miscast even I couldn’t help but notice!



Pierce Brosnan in Mama Mia

Ugh. Maybe it was because I saw the stage play (on Broadway!) that this really stood out for me. But was I the only one who could see how wrong Brosnan was for this? I know I wasn’t but if it was THAT obvious to me…I hope the casting person lost their job. Even if he could sing, he was still way out of place. And he couldn’t sing…at all! Actually nearly the whole cast was miscast. Christine Baransky is cool but was wrong for that character. The worst was Brosnan though, who couldn’t sing to save his life. Oh, and speaking of musicals you my wonder what I thought of Russell Crowe in Les Miserables. I’ve only seen pieces but it’s clear they hired him for the name appeal, and not because he could sing.






Hayden Christensen in Star Wars

If you told me the person who made the second trilogy didn’t really know Star Wars, I would believe you. Problem is they were made by George Lucas! I mean Jar Jar Binks was one thing, Lucas tried something new and it failed. Cool. But this?? Hayden Christensen is fine, but what was the thinking casting him? Every list like this I have seen has him one it. And why not? If you go back to the first Star Wars movie and listen to the scene where Obi Wan explains what happened to Luke’s father, does that match at all with the snotty brat we ended up with? He wasn’t supposed to be an immature kid! Ok to be fair he was pretty good after he was turned to the dark side, for ten whole minutes, but man before then….nothing.






Brandon Routh in Superman Returns

Yeah I almost feel bad picking on this guy again, but good lord was casting him a big mistake. I guess he got the role because he looks like Christopher Reeve. Ok, but Reeve knew how to play Superman. This guy…I don’t know what he was doing. Ok he was trying his best, but this just wasn’t Superman! Forget the fact he looks like a teenager, and is also way to thin, he comes off a mopy stalker in this movie! Henry Cavill at least pulled off the role, despite my gripes in Man of Steel he did feel like Superman. Routh was just awful, and I think he sucks on Arrow too but that’s getting off subject.





Julia Roberts in Hook

Yeah…no. The funny thing is that the casting in this movie was superb. Robin Williams as Peter Pan? Hell yes. Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook? Perfect. Bob Hoskins as Smeed? Fantastic. Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell? Um, no. I get the feeling even the studio realized this mistake, there was one point when she dyed her hair blonde for the roll yet she did the movie in her usual hair color. Why? Tinkerbell is blonde!! She also isn’t sweet and lovable the way Roberts plays her here. It didn’t ruin the movie, like these others, but it is a big strike against it. The movie she did ruin was Mary Reilly. Talk about to much of a stretch, but I never really saw that one.






George Clooney in Batman and Robin

I went back and forth on this one. I think Joel Schumacher deserves the most blame for this movie sucking. Could anyone have saved it? I mean Chris O’Donnell  went from being awesome as Robin in Batman Forever to a whiny pansy in this one. But when you think about, even with a good script this was a big fail. Michael Keaton owned the roll. Val Kilmer got it aspects of it right, for the mos part. And Christian Bale was really good but that voice….ugh. Still I’ll take Bale’s voice over Clooney clearly not fitting the role at all. I’ve heard it said he probably knew it was a bomb so didn’t even bother, and that may be. Thank goodness this didn’t sink his career.


So you may be wondering “What about Halle Berry in Catwoman?” Nostalgia Critic was right when he said Berry wasn’t the problem here. “Nicholas Cage in Ghost Rider?” I think Cage did a decent job actually. “Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man?” No complaints.



What about the villains? Carey was fine as The Riddler I am not sure why he gets so much hate. Also the villains in Batman and Robin and Returns were OK. Oh, and what about Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face? That wasn’t bad casting that was an actor who didn’t give a crap. That’s another subject entirely my friends. Danny DeVito was fine as Penguin, Tim Burton ruined that one. And the new movies were cast beautifully, I have no complaints there. Topher Grace as Venom? Yeah you got me, that one was bad!!!





Ok my friends, I know lots of choices which could be here that aren’t. So comment and let me know.

No comments:

Post a Comment