A different cast

An earlier thread about a favorite cast for a certain movie got me to thinking about what would it have been like if some of our favorite--or unfavorite--films had been cast differently.

It might be a situation like with Shane where the original cast was to be Montgomery Clift, William Holden, and Katherine Hepburn, but ended up with Alan Ladd, Van Heflin and Jean Arthur.

Or it might be someone else you've liked to have seen in a particular role--maybe a person from another time period like Johnny Depp taking Clark Gable's place as Rhett Butler.

Could even be a comparison as when Jack Palance and Joel McCrae each played the role originated by Bogart in remakes of High Sierra.

I for one would have loved to see a film that combined some of the screen's biggest "rebels"--James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and John Garfield, when they were all about the same age and starting to make their marks in the movie industry -- maybe have the 4 of them in a juvenile delinquent film like The Lords of Flatbush or Blackboard Jungle.

I would have loved to see Gene Kelly in Easter Parade with Judy Garland. I know he was originally cast for it, but hurt his leg (or ankle?) before shooting and Fred Astaire was called in to replace him. Eventhough I love Fred in this, I always thought he and Judy had more of brotherly/sisterly chemistry than a romantic chemistry.

Which makes me think of...Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in High Society. Eh. That pairing always seemed odd to me. I would have love to have seen Frank Sinatra take on roll of Ex-Hubby CK Dexter-Haven. I guess I'd have re-think who'd re-fill the roll of Mike Connor. Brando?

That's an interesting thought rufnek. Maybe Scarlett Johansson as Scarlett and Amy Adams as Melanie to join Johnny Depp?

I agree--Kelly had much more charisma with Garland (as in The Pirate) than did Astaire.

As for High Society, I'm sure you recall that was the musical remake of The Philadelphia Story that restarted Katherine Hepburn's career after a series of flops, including Bringing Up Baby. The stage play was written for Hepburn as the female lead and she was wonderful in it, so boyfriend Howard Hughes bought the film rights to the play as a gift for her and she had it in the contract that it couldn't be filmed unless she could reprise her stage role. She originally wanted Gable and Tracey as the two men (they are great together in Boom Town!), but had to "settle" for Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart in the roles later done by Crosby and Sinatra in the remake.

Crosby should have been playing Grace Kelly's father instead of her ex-husband in that movie. She seemed closer to Crosby's age under a ton of makeup and drab clothing in The Country Girl, but you could still tell he had some years on her.

As for Brando, Sinatra was miffed when they gave Brando the lead and him the supporting player part in the musical Guys and Dolls, and Brando proved in that he's no singer. Maybe Dean Martin would have been a better choice for the reporter's role. But an interesting alternative would have been Mel Torme. I don't remember ever seeing him and Sinatra on the same screen, and they were peers back during the Big Band era. Always thought Torme was the best singer of the two but that Sinatra was a much better performer in that he could really put his personal touch to a song and really sell it to the audience. Torme appeared in a few films in the 1940s but was never a movie star.

Speaking of Brando, how many are aware that the 1988 comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin and Michael Caine was a remake of Bedtime Story (1964) with Marlon Brando and David Niven pursuing Shirley Jones? The Rotten Scoundrels titled was lifted from the interim failed Broadway musical adaption of the original film. Martin was funnier than Brando, but Niven was classier and funnier than Caine. What would a Martin-Niven combo have given us, if each were at the appropriate age?

How about Bogart in Blade Runner?

"Ok Batty, the jig is up... I'd give ya a shot in the teeth, but here you are without drawers and I feel a little funny. Say... that broad with the cigarette, are her eyes glowing or is it just me? And another thing, I have a pint of rye in my pocket, maybe if the painted dame takes a shot she'll stop screaming and floppin' around like last Sunday's catch of the day... gotta light?"

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I've just read that Mike Nichols wanted to direct First Blood with Dustin Hoffman as Rambo. That's a whole alternate reality opening up right there. Would 1982 have seen Stallone starring in Tootsie instead?

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Now wouldn't that have shook up Hollywood history!!!!

Aye, I learned this not too long ago, but I was disappointed to learn that Netflix doesn't have a copy of it.

Great idea for a thread. I don't know if there should be a remake of White Christmas (the original was great) but if there was I could see a few of these folks reprising the roles.

Rosemary Clooney role:
Kristin Chenoweth

Vera-Ellen role:
Amy Adams

Bing Crosby role:
Nathan Lane
Matthew Broderick

Danny Kaye role:
Neil Patrick Harris
Ewan McGregor

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Clive Owen as Batman

I've always wondered if, Magnum PI was never picked up as a series, and Tom Selleck the original choice to play Indy, how much of a ripple that would have been.

Hugh Jackman thanks his lucky stars that Dougray Scott was tied up with Mission Impossible 2 as well i would think.

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"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.

I am surely going to slammed for what I am going to say next..

Hugh Jackman still doesn't seem the perfect choice for Wolverine... I think Dougray would have been much better. (I know noone will agree with this though)

It doesnt matter, as hugh has been established, its 2 bad glen Danzig couldnt act because he might have been the only human with the dimensions as described in the books.

I agree.. he would have looked the part.

I don't care about X-Men, but I can understand where you're coming from because, IMO, the man is a bland, charisma-free zone with zero screen presence.

Ouchie! Not a massive Jackman fan but I wouldn't go as far as to say he has no charisma. I mean, he did pretty good work in the film in which my screename is based off and he wasn't bad as Wolverine, I thought. I can think of better and more interesting actors who could have taken the role, but for his part, he did well I thought. I mean, as far as Australian exports go, he ain't no Guy Pearce, but he isn't Julian MacMahon either.

I'm not talking about talent, I'm talking about screen presence. The man is beige in human form. If he was the only thing in shot I'd probably miss him.

Ah skeen, lol. I don't think he is great at leading and I guess the presence thing comes into play the most when the actor is the lead. It is true that his best films are the ones in which he is part of an ensemble (X-Men 1-2) or one of two leads (The Prestige), but yeah, his worst films have been ones in which he has led (Van Helsing, X-Men Origins, Swordfish, etc)

ok, I must confess I bought kate and leopold for my wife, and watched the entire thing.

not only that i've slipped it in whilst she isn't even home.

hey its a time travel flick .