Fatal Casting Errors

Some films are so close to greatness. You can feel it watching it. That was a wonderful movie, you say to yourself afterwards, but there was something wrong, something very small, but it definitely had a problem. Its more often than not casting.

The Godfather Part III. Anyone who's seen the first two Godfather movies will place them firmly on their top 10 list but there's rarely, if ever, a mention of the third. And that's because of a casting error. Sofia Coppola can't act. She admits to this. She had never had a part before Godfather and she hasn't had one since. But Daddy Coppola saw the Godfather trilogy as a big-budget home movie and cast his little baby girl as the most important character in the film. The rest of the third Godfather is so perfect that it was a shame Sofia was cast. Winona Ryder's personal problems disallowed her from starring. What a difference she would have made. Pacino is wonderful as ever, maybe his best Godfather performance. "Just when I get out, they pull me back in". Andy Garcia has never been better. The final act in Rome is an interesting use of historical lore surrounding the death of Pope John Paul and is masterfully cut between the opera house and the Pope's murder. It's similar to Godfather 1's baptism scene. Sofia's death is tragic and the closing shot is a fitting end to the series. Oh, if only Sofia Coppola hadn't have been cast.

Once Upon A Time in America. I don't know if anyone in the States has seen the 4 hour version or any version of this movie but it is possibly the greatest gangster film ever made, and would be undoubtedly the greatest gangster film ever made if it wasn't for a Miss Elizabeth McGovern who plays Deborah. The part of Deborah is vital to the movie. At one stage Noodles (Robert De Niro) has to choose between Deborah and Max (James Woods), a happy life of love or a dangerous but exciting world of violence. He chooses the latter. Deborah continues to haunt Noodles. He knows that he has made a mistake and he wants Deborah so badly that he rapes her in a vicious scene, cut from most prints. As a child Deborah was played by Jennifer Connelly, yes that Jennifer Connelly in her first role. Its easy to see why the young Noodles falls for her. She is beautiful, strong and wiser than Noodles. She casts her spell over the entire movie. We can understand how Noodles decided to turn his back on his life for a life of crime. He felt that wealth was the only way to impress Connelly. When Connelly grows up, she unbelievably transforms into McGovern. McGovern isn't a good actress and she's hardly as attractive as a grown up Connelly would have been. It's an astonishing casting call that almost fatally ruins the movie.

Other casting errors.

I know many will argue it but I couldn't see Henry Fonda as the bad guy in Once Upon A Time in the West. Juror no. 8 could never kill a kid.

Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights. I thought she played the part beautifully but, and I know this sounds crude, Jack Horner says in the movie that "to get 'em in the theatre you need big t*ts and big d*cks". Well, enough said.

Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Way too over the top Jack. I would have preferred more menace, less insanity. I know, he goes crazy, but Jack was too much.

Samuel L Jackson in The Phantom Menace. It didn't need another star, especially one who gets such little and unimportant screen time. It stalled the movie. Bad call George. Probably the role will expand in the forthcoming episodes but I still won't be happy until the man starts swearing.

Shelley Duvall in anything. But that's a seperate post.

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Sofia Coppola sticks out and can't act, but to be fair she's not the only thing wrong with The Godfather Part III. I don't think it's at all perfect otherwise, as you do. Far, far from it.

As the third film in the trilogy it's passable and fine (though nothing spectacular). It ties up some of the characters nicely, especially Michael and Connie (wanted more with Kaye). But as an individual movie standing on its own, The Godfather Part III is a HUGE let down. As brilliant a sequel as Part II is, it is also a magnificent film in its own right, with a narrative complexity and individuality that is still remarkable over twenty-five years later. The same canNOT be said for Part III.

Coppola and Puzo didn't have anything new this time out. The stuff with the Vatican set against the mysterious changing of the Popes in '79 was good historical background, though unlike the fall of Cuba and the Senate Organized Crime hearings in Part II, I don't think they mined it quite for all it was worth. But still, this element is one of the things that actually works for me in III. Structurally, the finale is set up to obviously echo the ending of the original Godfather, where Michael's taking power with a series of brutal killings is juxtaposed with the ceremony of the baptism. Brilliant in the original, but to re-use the same device again for III - this time killings juxtaposed with the Opera, is trite and obvious and hollow compared to the narrative and thematic elegance achieved almost twenty years before. Coppola needed to find something new in the narrative and style, something that would resonate and be as distinctive as the first two masterpieces. To put it plainly, he doesn't even come close.

For me the casting decision that was as huge a blunder as Sofia Coppola, if not more, is not having Robert Duvall return as Tom Hagen. This is even more infuriating knowing the one and only reason Duvall didn't return is that Francis and Paramount refused to pay him the same multi-million-dollar salary they were giving Pacino and Diane Keaton(which I believe was only $3-million in those days). Where Part III works best is the exploration of the returning characters. To see Tom Hagen going toe-to-toe with the Vatican, and in the end to see him finally have a chance to assert himself and prove all these years later that he is indeed a good war-time Consigliere, is an enormous missing piece. To then fill that function with George Hamilton, who is not only a pretty vacant actor but a character we don't give a single flip about, is insulting to me as a fan of the series.

There's more, but before this turns into a Godfather III thread you should be starting to get my drift. For me Sofia was a definite mistake, but only one of many. To say she "ruined" The Godfather Part III, as is the popular line, is disingenuous. Had she been cast as say Karen Hill in GoodFellas, now THAT could have ruined an otherwise perfect film. Thank goodness Marty Scorsese didn't have a teenage daughter he was trying to turn into an actress, I guess.

And as a final note about Sofia Coppola, while she was a lously actress, I thought her directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides (2000), was very strong and holds muich promise.


Here's more disagreement: I like Elizabeth McGovern in Leone's Once Upon A Time in America (one of my all-time favorites, I own the letterboxed 227-minute version on LD) and think she did well as the older Deborah. Among other things, I thought the young Jennifer Connelley looked remarkably like the then-twenty-two or so year-old McGovern and count it as one of the best cast-matching between a child and adult as the same character in any modern film. I've probably seen OUATIAmerica over fifteen-times beginning to end, and McGovern's performance is one of the many elements that always impresses me. With her performances in this, Ragtime, Ordinary People and Racing with the Moon, I always wonder why she didn't become a bigger star in the '80s. Maybe she didn't chose the best material after her initial push into the Industry, but I always liked her.


As for Hank Fonda in Leone's Once Upon A Time in the West, you're kidding, right? Sergio so brilliantly and perfectly cast Fonda against type that it has become one of the most indellible viallainous performances in cinematic history. Frank in this movie was reportedly Fonda's favorite of his entire career, bar none. It's certainly my favorite. A story goes that Fonda showed up to the set wearing contacts that made his eyes appear brown. Leone went bananas, saying that those kindly blue eyes are exactly what he wanted for the part. Boy was he right! To see those baby blues as he raises the gun to the youngest McBain's red-headed freckled-face as he squeezes off a single round ("Now that you've called me by name") is still chilling over thirty years later, and I would have loved to be a part of the audience in 1969 to see how shocking that notion really was back then.


As for Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights, if you've seen any of the XXX-rated flicks from the late-'70s, this was well before the silicon revolution in fake breasts. Many of the top girls were far from huge in boobage. From what I saw, her breasts are quite nice, especially in the nipple department....not that I've, uh, like repeatedly paused the Criterion LaserDisc in certain moments to exaimne this issue more closely. I'm afraid you've over-estimated what a willing and 'talented' red-head would have needed t!t-wise in 1978 to be a porno star, especialy one as pretty as Julianne Moore.


Jack Nicholson in The Shining was intentionally over-the-top, and by all accounts it was Stanley who pushed for that performance, to match his vision of the film. The legend goes that Jack wanted to do more subtle work, but Kubrick would keep pushing and pushing, sometimes well up over fifty takes, until he got the Kabukiesque menace he wanted. For me, I think it works perfectly inside the context of The Shining. It's different from the book, but I'm not a King fan, I'm a Kubrick fan, and personally I LOVE how Kubrick re-interpreted the novel, including and perhaps most crucially the Jack Torrance character. I think it's among Nicholson's best work, no matter how he arrived at it.


And I couldn't care less how much or how little Sam Jackson was used in The Phantom Menace. Yes, the role is supposedly more substantial in the second entry, but Episode I was so incredibly disappointing for me on just about every single level it wouldn't have mattered to me who was in that small role. The whole thing was a waste from my perspective, Jackson doesn't even register on the radar.


Shelley Duvall...see the other thread.


Ahhhh. I think I'm done disagreeing with you, Val....for now anyway.

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I thought Nicholson was amazing in the Shining. I couldn't picture anyone else in that role..ever.

To add to the list: Ed Burns in Saving Private Ryan. This guy should only be in chick flicks where his wuss voice fits in. His voice and acting were sore thumbs in spr.

Steve

You're 100% correct with Coppola. I couldn't agree more. I happened to like Sam Jackson in the TPM, though...I thought he looked very Jedi-like (simply because he's one of the coolest guys alive...and Jedis are the epitomy of cool, most of the time). I thought "Thirteen Days" could have been much better without Costner, too.

That's a good one actually. Costner did take some of the focus away from the Kennedy's in Thirteen Days but I'll admit I probably wouldn't have seen it if it didn't star Costner.

On similar grounds, how about Christian Slater in Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves as Will Scarlet? He was such a big star and said nothing for the first hour that we knew he was going to do something in the second half. Terrible performance. Spoiled a good movie.

Well here's a perfect example of our opposing tastes, Val: you actually think Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a good movie, except for Christain Slater?!?!? Egads, man. That is one rotten flick, and possibly Costner's worst performance (though that's not an ugly contest I'd like to judge).


Here's a fatal casting error in my estimation: Leonardo DiCaprio doing a double role triple-badly in Randall Wallace's take on The Man in the iron Mask (1998).

The adaptation of Dumas is good enough (though pales in comparison to Dick Lester's Three and Four Musketeers of the early '70s), the sets and the cinematography are great, and the rest of the main cast - Gabriel Byrne, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Gerard Depardieu - are all just right as the aged Musketeers. But my GOD is DiCrapio awful!!! It takes quite an impressive lack of talent to drag down a project with so many strengths, yet little Leo does it effortlesly.

I'll have to put my faith in Scorsese's judgement and hope DiCrapio doesn't taint Gangs of New York (after all, he used Sharon Stone perfectly in Casino), but I don't feel very good about it on a gut level. Hopefully Scorsese's greatness will dwarf and repair Leonardo's deficiencies.

Oooh. I don't like Costner knockers. I thought everybody had a good laugh at the Postman and had forgiven the man. Perfect World, Field of Dreams, Tin Cup, JFK, The Untouchables and yes, Robin Hood. The man has starred in some classics.

Leo Di Caprio? Hmmm... I'll agree with you on the Three Musketeers. I'm thinking maybe the Beach but I don't think he was miscast per se, just poorly directed in that one, the film was fixed too easily around his star billing.

Johnny Depp, whom I'm a big fan of, was badly miscast in Chocolat. Maybe my sheer hatred of the film is clouding my judgment but I thought he was awful in it. He showed up very late, did very little, and produced another of Hollywood's legendary lame Irish accents.

That's pretty funny, Val, that as a fan of Costner's work in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves you'd actually dare criticize what Depp did in Chocolat. Not that I'm defending that film, I thought it was pretty bland fluff and was stunned Miramax was able to push it into the Oscars, but Depp's unimpressive accent is positively authentic compared to Costner as Robin of Locksley. Puh-leeze.

And I thought Costner was absolutely brilliant in A Perfect World (a big-time favorite of mine). Eastwood managed to get far and away the best performance of Kevin's career out of him. I also like the Costner of Bull Durham and Tin Cup, great movies that perfectly suit his talents. I think he's fine and non-detrimental to The Untouchables, No Way Out, Field of Dreams and Silverado, and as for his very early work, Fandango is a true gem. I'm actually a bit of a defender of The Postman (decent Sc-Fi) and think it is a better movie than the criminally overrated Dances with Wolves. So, in general I'd say I don't have a problem with Costner.

That is until I start mentioning Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Waterworld, The Bodyguard, Revenge, Message in a Bottle, and 3,000 Miles to Graceland, all of which I would include among the worst Hollwood has had to offer in the past decade or so, and Costner was horrible in front of the camera in every single one of 'em. As an actor, Costner has a very limited range. As a movie star, I think he has terrible taste in projects and exposes his many weaknesses much too often.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a perfect example of low-concept, dumbed-down, miscast, uninspiring Hollywood dreck from the first half of the '90s. For me it will forever stand as an embarassing monument to Kevin Costners inadequacies.

Did anyone else find his accent in this movie a little...annoying??

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Does The Pope wear a funny hat?

When I was watching Thirteen Days I was like...WHAT!?!?!? Isn't Kennedy the one that's supposed to have a weird accent, but instead we get Costner with the accent. Who's call was that!?

You would have thought Costner would have learned from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves that he's better off not trying any difficult accents. Both Thirteen Days and Hood would have been better if Costner had simply played the roles in his normal voice.

I didn't think he used an accent for Robin Hood. Maybe I'm just mistaken, it's been a while since I've seen it.

That's the point spud, he went in and out of it so often, it was hard to say if he was using one or not. I'd have to say that in bigval's first post, he was right on about Moore in Boogie Nights. If it was true about big boobs, then she slid through under the radar. I'd have to agree with Holden though, that porn movies in the 70's featured a lot of women that fit Moore's body type ( I wouldn't know about nipples, nipples are nipples ) I DO NOT agree with the miscast of Jack in the Shining...C'mon, over the top? YES! perfect and enjoyable performance? UH-HUH!

The 3 biggest casting travesties for me have been:

Keanu Reeves in "Much Ado About Nothing"- Need I say More?

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond- zero charisma, zero physical threat and jusyt plain wrong for the role.

Julia Roberts in "Erin Brokovich"- it takes undeniable skill to destroy a Soderburgh film but she manages to. Hollow acting, zero empathy and she actually made me want the bad guys to win.

heaps more, but these are films I actually wanted to see that were destroyed by bad casting..........might as well mention Ally McBeal in "Midsummer Nights Dream" as well

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Deckard, you just gained a new friend. Meet..sadesdrk

And myself.
I HATE JULIA ROBERTS.

And with that, off the soapbox.

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I'm no Julia Roberts fan, but I thought she was just right as Erin Brockovich.

I AM proudly a gigantic Soderbergh fan, and I thought he used Julia as well as I can even imagine possible. While she didn't give the best performance of the year, I don't begrudge her the Oscar either. She held her own against Albert Finney on-screen, and that's not easy to do (even in a push-up bra). It was easily the best all-around performance of her career, and likely the best we'll see from her while she's still a boxoffice phenomenon.

But to each their own.

ditto to everything Holden has said about Costner and DiCaprio (i'm riding your shirt-tails Holden!), and ditto to Deckard's , SilverB's and Sades' opinions of Julia Roberts. (wow, you guys made that easy for me)

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Drew Barrymore in Charlie's Angels. She's about as sexy as crontol-top-granny-underwear.

Carrie Ann Moss should have been the third Angel. She so sax-ee.