Worst Casting Mistakes of all Time?

Tools    





The answer is probably "yes", but was I the only person here who liked Mary Reilly? Not that it was a great film or anything like that, but I liked it.
While I respect your opinion of the film, I thought this thread was about miscasting. I would really like to know more about your thoughts on Julia Roberts' casting as the titular character.



Not to be rude, but imh opinion she's not a very good actress. As for the film, she seemed like she was too regal and elegant for the part of a poor working-class woman.
__________________
#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!



While I respect your opinion of the film, I thought this thread was about miscasting. I would really like to know more about your thoughts on Julia Roberts' casting as the titular character.
Oh you're the one who does, are you. I thought someone must.

I wasn't commenting on her suitibility for the role, though I know that's the point of the thread, I was merely wondering if I was the only person here who liked the film.

For a star, I didn't think she did too badly in the role. But there's no doubt she wouldn't have been in my first 20 or so choices for the role. Since then female movie stars (rather than actresses) have learned (or decided) to play down-at-heel roles much better (I call it The Theron Effect.) Roberts did it in terms of make-up and choice of role, but forgot she wasn't supposed to be 'the star'.

Thought I'd put this here, rather than start a thread or something. It still fits, they just didn't make it to screen.

Actors who got fired on set

Eric Stoltz – Back To The Future

Possibly the most famous on-set sacking is the unceremonious binning of Eric Stoltz from the ‘Back To The Future’ franchise. Stoltz was cast as lead role Marty McFly and filmed for four weeks. However, after seeing a rough cut of the film, writer/director Robert Zemeckis and producer Steven Spielberg decided that Stoltz had played the role too seriously for a comedy, and he was replaced by Michael J. Fox. The rest is pop-culture history. Zemeckis was able to "convince the studio to let [him] reshoot five weeks of work," and Michael J. Fox was cast in a career-defining role.

Lori Petty – Demolition Man
Having broken into Hollywood in ‘Point Break’ and ‘A League of Their Own’, Lori Petty could have added another major film to her list in 1993. Originally cast as Lt. Lenina Huxley in action thriller ‘Demolition Man’, she was fired when she disagreed with producer Joel Silver over the direction of her character. The role was then handed over to Sandra Bullock. Lori’s career was then demolished.

Stuart Townsend – Lord Of The Rings
Irish actor Stuart Townsend, who had been cast to play the key role of Aragorn, was dumped after just two days of filming and left New Zealand (where it was filmed) the very same day. The shock dismissal was reportedly ordered by Jackson over what a senior studio executive described as "director-actor creative chemistry". It is understood no formal announcement was made and the dumping filtered through to bemused cast and crew over the next few days.

James Remar – Aliens
Remar was originally cast as Cpl. Hicks (my personal favourite character of all time) but was fired by James Cameron shortly after shooting began over "creative differences" and replaced by Michael Biehn. Remar can still be seen in the film during a shot where the Marines are walking through the complex, but the audience cannot tell it's him because his back is to the camera and he is in full costume.

Harvey Keitel – Apocalypse Now
After just a few days on set for ‘Apocalypse Now’, director Francis Ford Coppola was not happy with Keitel's take on Willard, saying that the actor "found it difficult to play him as a passive onlooker". After viewing early footage in Manila, the director took a plane back to Los Angeles and replaced Keitel with Martin Sheen. It’s since become one of the most revered films of all time.

Ryan Gosling – The Lovely Bones
Preparing for the role of Jack Salmon in ‘The Lovely Bones’, Gosling drank melted Haagen Dazs ice-cream when he was thirsty as that is what he imagined the character, a grieving-father, would do. His 60-pound weight gain did not sit well with director Peter Jackson and the film’s producers and he was subsequently dropped for a skinnier Mark Wahlberg.

Gig Young – Blazing Saddles
With a film career spanning over 35 years, Gig Young was a memorable figure in the hills of Hollywood. However, alcoholism plagued his later years, causing him to lose acting roles. He was fired on the first day of shooting the comedy film ‘Blazing Saddles’ after collapsing on the set due to withdrawal symptoms from alcohol.

Pruitt Taylor Vince - Cameraman
Police were called upon to remove director/star Pruitt Taylor Vince from a film set in Louisiana after a creative feud with producer David Newton Cole, according to TMZ. Vince was apparently fired in front of the crew for the movie ‘Cameraman’ when things got ugly and authorities were summoned to remove him.

Sean Young – Dick Tracy
Sean Young (AKA Mary Sean Young) is best known for her performances in films from the 1980s such as ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Dune’ and ‘No Way Out’. She was cast as Tess Trueheart in the 1990 movie ‘Dick Tracy’, but she was fired for not appearing maternal enough in the role. Young later claimed she was fired because she rebuffed the film’s star/director/producer Warren Beatty's advances, a claim Beatty denies – obviously.
http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/blog/arti...ed-on-set.html



Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47 in Hitman, just plain failure...

Nail on the coffin there my friend

He ruined the franchise of hitman before it even started
The games were wicked though
__________________
"Batman"



Keep on Rockin in the Free World
Actors who got fired on set

Eric Stoltz – Back To The Future

Possibly the most famous on-set sacking is the unceremonious binning of Eric Stoltz from the ‘Back To The Future’ franchise. Stoltz was cast as lead role Marty McFly and filmed for four weeks. However, after seeing a rough cut of the film, writer/director Robert Zemeckis and producer Steven Spielberg decided that Stoltz had played the role too seriously for a comedy, and he was replaced by Michael J. Fox. The rest is pop-culture history. Zemeckis was able to "convince the studio to let [him] reshoot five weeks of work," and Michael J. Fox was cast in a career-defining role.
Has any of that footage been saved, do you know? Would the studio need Stoltz' permission to use it as a supplemental feature on a collector edition type blue-ray?
__________________
"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.



^ Really? I thought he was wonderful, but then I haven't read the books.
Yeah. That's what makes the difference, I guess. I've read them all over at least 3 times, so I had a pre-conceived notion as to how he should be played. In the books he was much more kindly, had an effortless aura of power rather than the shouty guy I saw in the films. For the record I thought Richard Harris nailed it, it was a real shame he died before he could finish the job.



I agree. I could'nt get past Burt Lancaster as an Indian and it detracted from the movie. It's like in all of those "Road" movies with Bob Hope...if you had dark hair you were and Indian or Asian or Egyptian or something.
Yeah, no argument regarding Burt Lancaster in Apache.



Edgar G. Robinson as the Pharoh in The Ten Commandments springs to mind .

Cary Grant ruined what woulld have been a very good movie, The Howards of Virginia (1940). He just wasn't cut out to play a character in costume.

John Wayne was horrendous as The Conqueror (1956).

Burt Lancaster as Massai in Apache (1954). Although his acting wasn't horrible , he looked nothing like an Apache.
Billy Crystal used to do a hysterical impression of Robinson in The Ten Commandments.



The Duchess's Avatar
Registered User
John Wayne in The Conqueror (1956)


Paul Newman in Blaze as Gov. Earl K. Long (1989)



Finished here. It's been fun.
Roman Polanski in Roman Polanski's "The Tenant". It's an okay film still, but it would have been miles better had someone else been casted instead.



Finished here. It's been fun.
While I won't deny he's far from a "good actor", I don't think any actor could have done good under George Lucas and his awful writing and lazy direction.