Most Horribly Miscast Movie Roles

jcdenton

jcdenton

250+ Posts
It's easy to take a role where an actor completely sucked (e.g. Anakin) and call it "miscast", but then instead of talking about the most "miscast" roles in history it turns into a list of the worst acting performances in history.So in this case, what do you think are the most horribly miscast roles, not necessarily due to acting ability, but simply because the actor completely failed to fit what the role was supposed to be (and it was clear that such would be the case before the film was even made), or because the role completely failed to capitalize on the actor/actresses' most valuable assets?My top four:

4. X-Men: Ray Park, Toad

So they cast one of the most talented martial artists in Hollywood (possibly the most of any non-"name" actor)... in a movie featuring loads of hand-to-hand combat between superheroes and supervillians... and use him in a role where he uses no martial arts whatsoever. Brilliant.

3. X-Men: Rebecca Romijn, Nasty Blue Chick

Not only did the original X-Men feature one of the worst casting decisions in film history, it featured two. And not only did it feature two of the worst casting decisions in history, but both were ****** up for the exact SAME reason.

In this case they decided to cast one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood (some might even say THE hottest, at least at the time this film was made)... then they cover her in blue scales, give her reptilian yellow eyes, and fail to show her "normal" a single time until two sequels later. After she's dead.

2. The Fifth Element: Milla Jovovich, Leeloo

I'm probably going to get ripped for this one since this film seems to have a pretty good sized following around here despite the fact that it sucks complete ***, but this pick has nothing to do with the film's quality (or total lack thereof) and everything to do with the fact that when you have a role featuring the ultimate, genetically perfect chick in the entire universe, it generally makes sense to find a chick who's at least hot by "normal human" standards (if not superhuman ones) instead of casting the average looking (by Hollywood standards) or moderately above average looking (by "normal" standards) girlfriend of the film's director.

1. The Flintstones: Rosie O Donnell, Betty

When the characteristics (physical and otherwise) of the actor/actress portraying a role are the complete opposite in every regard compared to the character said actor/actress is intending to portray, not only do you have the most horribly miscast role in movie history, you have the most horrible miscasting of a role that is even theoretically possible to be made.
 
Ray Park is going to playing Snake Eyes in the G.I. Joe movie!
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I'm sure I could think of other, better examples, but the first thing to pop into my head is Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in The DaVinci Code. The part screamed Harrison Ford, and in Brown's first Langdon novel, he even described Langdon as bearing a striking resemblance to Harrison Ford. Hint, hint?

Tom Hanks was a big, fat zero in that part, but wtf, Angels & Demons is a better story anyway.
 
1. Ben Affleck in everything
2. Val Kilmer as Batman
3. Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker
4. Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code
 
Speaking of Harrison Ford, I seriously could not process him as "the villain" in What Lies Beneath. He's been the hero so many times, I couldn't disassociate him from "good" as opposed to "evil."
 
Sidebar: I don't understand all the contempt for "The Fifth Element" around here. It wasn't Oscar-worthy, but it was entertaining. But would the "haters" at least acknowledge that Gary Oldman was freakin' great in that movie?

Oh, btw, my nominee for "Miscast" is Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu in Star Wars, Episodes I-III. There are a lot of black actors who pull off the sci-fi roles well, e.g., Larry Fishburne, Keith David, etc. But, not Samuel L. IMO, what makes him great in "Pulp Fiction" and "Snakes on a Plane" makes him ill-placed as a Jedi knight.
 
This is a remnant from my childhood, but if you ever read the novel "Jaws", then you knew Ellen Brody (wife of Amity Police Chief Martin Brody) was supposed to be hot as hell and screwing Matt Hooper.

I was waiting to see who would be cast as Ellen, and was pissed when I saw Lorraine Gary. Dreyfuss was also nothing like the preppy Hooper. Then when I saw the film, they excised the affair from the plot.

Years later, I discovered that Lorraine Gary was married to Sid Sheinberg, the President of Universal Studios.
 
There ya go, Nic Cage in Peggy Sue Got Married.

He was awful in that, pretty moronic in a few others, but I have to admit, no one does manic exasperation better than Cage.

Few will probably remember it, but he was awesome as Asswipe Johnson on SNL several years ago... "That's Oss-weep-ay!"

Transcript of Asswipe Johnson

I think he's fine in movies such as Honeymoon in Vegas. Not so much in Moonstruck.

Crap, edited to add a photo from his most awesome movie role ever:

arizonajunior3.jpg
 
OK, I will admit Cage is adequate in some of his less demanding roles, but if his daddy's last name was something other than Coppola, my bet is none of us would know who he is.
 
Come on Nick Cage is bad but he's done some good movies. Lord of War, Raising Arizona, and Gone in 60 Seconds come to mind. Much worse actors to rag on than him like Affleck.
 
Godfather III

Not Sophia Coppola. My main issue with that movie is George Hamilton in the Tom Hagen role.
 
Denise Richards, as...*hehehe*... nuclear scientist Christmas Jones, in the 007 film The World Is Not Enough.
 
Keanu Reeves as Don John in "Much Ado About Nothing." And I'll go out on a limb here and say Reeves will also be horribly miscast as Klaatu in the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
 
As far as Fifth Element goes, I loved the movie except for the role of the presdient played by Dee-Bo, but Milla was great!

My other choice would be for Josh Hartnett in (insert movie here)
 
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