In Your Opinion: Best/Worst Casting Decisions

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ITA with the War of The Worlds flick! I think that movie was ruined! They could have done it so much better than what they did!
 
Complete agreement from me. :D

I would actually expand the good to the entire cast of Pirates of the Caribbean. Johnny Depp is obviously untouchable. Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom were fantastic choices as well.

Christian is Bruce Wayne/Batman. :lol: He has the look, the presence/charisma, the ass-kicking skills, the talent, etc. Kinda bothers me when people complain about his casting simply because they don't like his Batman voice, which is part of the character.

I think all four leads in Closer were perfect, despite my dislike for the movie.

I think Katie Holmes in any film is bad casting. :lol: She just hasn't shown she has what it takes in Batman Begins, Abandon, or Disturbing Behavior. She was good only on Dawson's Creek.
 
Nope, I haven't seen that movie. Okay, maybe I should amend that to "Kevin Costner in anything I've seen". :blush:

I guess I've been disappointed by all the movies that I have seen him in (Dances, No Way Out, Tin Cup, the one with Jen Aniston) so I'm no longer interested in seeing him in anything else! :lol: I loved the movie Dances With Wolves, but I thought he was the worst one in it! His delivery is just so.... mo.no.ton.ous.
 
I can't believe this slipped my mind before. I entirely agree. The tension was incredible, everything was in its perfect place when those 2 came on screen.
 
Honestly I don't think he was absolutely dreadful in the movie, I don't know. I guess the chemistry between him and Renee Zellweger was just not as amazing as I would have liked. There are worse roles I have seen cast, but it was just not my favorite :shrug:
 
Did you see him in The Upside of Anger? I think that's the only movie I've seen of his and thought he really nailed it. I think that was great casting.
 
Good - Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow in POTC, Edward Scissorhands, Willy Wonka, and Ed Wood
Christian Bale as Batman in Batman Begins, he was perfect as the Dark Knight
Tom Cruise as Vincent in Collateral, he was great as psychotic hitman
Christian Haydensen as Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne in Scooby Doo, the movies weren't Oscar calibur but Sarah did a good job as Daphne

Bad - Jude Law in Cold Mountain and any other movie in which he has had a Southern accent
Collin Farrell as Sonny Crocket in Miami Vice
 
Good - Obviously Johnny Depp in POTC.

Bad - Katie Holmes is Thank You For Smoking. She can't really pull of that role.
 
Totally! I was going to say her but I was falling asleep so I kept it short. Her voice was okay and at first I loved her but the more I watched the movie the more I felt she was going through the motions. She really was dead, she didn't work. But thank God for Catherine. She was a star! :D
 
I loved, loved, loved Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelley in Chicago!!! :blush: She totally deserved her Oscar. On the other hand, I did not like Renée Zellweger as Roxie Hart. At all.

I know they moved Catherine into the supporting actress category to make sure she won, but I don't think Renée even deserved to be nominated for lead; it's like they were obligated to do so, so they did. It would have been better if Catherine had been nominated for best lead actress (cuz I still think she would have kicked Renée's and Nicole's arses and won!) and then Queen Latifah could have won for best supporting actress. :nod:


:lmao: Oscar-winner or not, I think Angelina needs to broaden her horizons as an actress and stop pigeon-holing herself as a "bad ass" or "psycho bitch" in every movie she does. You're a rebel. I get it. Now let's move on. :rolleyes:


ITA. I’d rather see Troy with the piano girl. He he he....

And ITA about Kristen Dunst being badly cast as Mary Jane in the Spider-Man movies. Or Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. I don’t know how much better Keri Russell would have been playing Lois Lane but she couldn’t have been much worse!! :lol:

Other best casting jobs:
  • Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in the POTC series -- who else coulda pulled it off? :blush:
  • Nikki Blonsky as Traci Turnblad in Hairspray -- another 'who else?'... Actually, pretty much the entire cast of Hairspray was a good choice!
  • Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter...
  • Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins in LOTR Trilogy
  • Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 1 & 2...
  • Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), and Ian McKellen (Magneto) in X-Men Trilogy...
  • Madonna as Evita... she was better than I expected, considering her track record in movies...
  • Roger Moore, Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan as James Bond
  • Bruce Willis in the Die Hard movies...
  • Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as Riggs and Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series...
  • Julia Roberts and Richard Gere as Vivian and Edward in Pretty Woman... they said that Meg Ryan turned down the role. Thank goodness!
  • Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter) and Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling) in Silence of the Lambs.
Other worst casting jobs:
  • Halle Berry as Storm in the X-Men Trilogy. I am an avid X-Men comic book fan and Halle Berry (to me) did not convincingly portray Storm as a bad-ass mutant who, at one point, beat out Cyclops to become the leader of the X-Men. Instead, she turned the character into some weakling wanna-be super-heroine who was beat down more than she did the beating down.
  • Thomas Jane as The Punisher. --- Whaaaa???
  • Jessica Alba as Susan Storm/Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four... oh, come on! :rolleyes:
  • Kevin Costner in anything. He's such a baaaaaaad actor. :no:


:high_five: Totally agree!
 
WOW I have never heard anyone complain about Jerry Maguire. I think he made that movie what it is. One of the best movies of all time, everything fit perfect the story the characters. It's an absolute classic IMO.
 
Best Casting:
-Jennifer in Dreamgirls. She came and made an iconic musical chracter her own. She was flawless.
-Halle Berry in Monster's Ball. There were some other big name actresses that were considered for that but i think none could've pulled it off like her
-Bette Midler in..everything she does. i can watch her in anything lol.

Those are the 1s i can think of right now..not sure about bad casting yet
 
I enjoyed Brad in The Mexican :lol:

Great casting

Uma Thurman...Kill Bill
Brandon Lee....The Crow
Viggo Mortensen....Aragorn, LOTR. So glad they went with him and not Stuart. Stuart was too young.
Alan Rickman...Prof Snape, in Harry Potter
Johnny Depp..POTC

Bad casting

Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in The DaVinci Code
Cameron Diaz..in Gangs of New York
Keanu Reeves as Constantine
Nick Stahl as John Conner in Terminator 3
Kevin Costner as Robin Hood
Nicholas Cage ....Ghost rider
 
I definitely have to agree on Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow. He was the perfect choice for that role :nod:

And Ellen Page for Juno. She was brilliant. After seeing it, I seriously cannot think of anyone who would be better for that role.

Other good casting choices:

Okay, don't make fun of me or anything, but I think Mara Wilson in Matilda was adorable. She was such a great actress in that movie, and made that part so believable. I think it totally did justice to the book.

While I'm on kid actors, I think Haley Joel Osmet in The Sixth Sense and Pay It Forward were amazing. He was so eerie and scared in TSS, and his part in PIF was so adorable. I thought he was great.

Morgan Freeman in pretty much anything. I think in Seven, High Crimes, and Kiss the Girls he was especially awesome. His narration is great too, he has such an amazing speaking voice

Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda was unbelievable. He made that role.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova in Once. That movie was absolutely beautiful. The two of them were utterly and completely perfect for those rolls

As for the bad casting decisions:

Mel Gibson in What Women Want. Rather than coming off funny, he came across creepy IMO. Signs was not his best role either. Joaquin out-shined him, I think.

Ben Stiller in Along Came Polly. As much as I liked the movie, and him occasionally, he just doesn't fit the neurotic, germaphobic type to me :shrug:

Tom Cruise in a lot of things. Mostly in War of the Worlds and Jerry Maguire. I just don't think he pulled off the roles very well, he always seems very stiff and bored.
 
Jim Carrey in The Number 23. It didn't work at all. The movie was bad, but maybe with another lead, it could've been a little better. I love Jim Carrey and the last 20 minutes were really well acted, but overall, this wasn't his character.
 
The best casting I've ever seen was, I think, The Da Vinci Code. The movie had a lot of flaws, mainly because they allocated Sophie's brain to Robert Langdon instead of letting her be the smart woman she is, but when I saw it, it was like the characters had stepped out of the book and onto the screen. Given the givens, every single player was pitch-perfect.

The worst... Kate Bosworth and Katie Holmes in just about anything, I think. But that's not so much a casting problem as it is the fact that they're allowed to have any film parts at all... oooh, that was harsh. I don't mean either one of them actual flames, I just think they should have both stuck to TV (and, in the latter case, sanity).
 
Good:
Johnny Depp in POTC - nobody else could play Jack.
Christian Bale in Batman Begins - Christian did an amazing job in this, he looked the part and really brought the franchise back
Clive Owen in Closer - Best actor in this film
Keanu Reeves in The Matrix - as Johnny in POTC

Bad:
Katie Holmes in Batman Begins :sick: - she was the one bad thing about the film
Lindsay Lohan in anything - cant stand her, sorry.
 
So.much.word. I just saw TDK last night and I've tried to explain to people what watching Heath as The Joker was like and you nailed it. Absolute perfection.

Best Casting:

Joaquin and Reese in WTL and Ellen Page as Juno (all three have been mentioned but they're big ones for me). Also, Reese as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.

Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I haven't loved everything she's ever done but she was so charming and... warm in that role.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko. Jake has those big, haunting eyes and he just owned that character and film. It's bizarre, of course, but he really pulled me in and made me care.

Anna Chlumsky as Vada in My Girl. I watched this tonight for the first time in years and she absolutely kills me. Aside from being one of the most adorable little girls on the planet in that movie, she delivers an amazing performance. There was a depth to that character, even at such a young age.

Worst Casting:

Rachel Bilson in The Last Kiss. Horrible. I think it was mostly just a poorly written character but a stronger actress would've been able to give the character some other level of emotion or humanity. It came across so, so bad.

Kristen Bell in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I wasn't at all impressed and I feel like she was the weakest part of the film. Again, I'm not sure who I picture instead of her but... her comedic style, so to speak, didn't mesh with the others. A lot, if not all, of her stuff fell really flat for me.

Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard. He looked stiff, uncomfortable... bored? I don't even know but I watched this on TV at like 2 AM the other night and it popped into my head instantly when I thought of bad casting. I'm not sure who would've pulled it off but he wasn't it. Bad, bad, bad.

Brad Pitt in The Mexican. It's a pretty awful movie (though I did adore Julia and James Gandolfini, hee!) but Julia's character was at least believable (IMO). Brad's performance felt phoned in, he couldn't pull off that character, and it was just a whole lot of bad.
 
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