Biggest Miscasts

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by esteban²

Scarlett Johansson - The Island. No matter how the movie itself turned out, she was terrible in that. Based on that movie, I would say she's no action-flick material. I know Lucy is hot right now, so maybe she is afterall.

Ewan McGregor - Big Fish. It's clear what type of man Tim Burton was going for and Ewan just didn't fit the role. It felt extremely forced and unnatural. While the movie was good, indeed.

Johnny Depp - Charlie and the Chocolat Factory. I do like him as an actor when he's not doing the same thing all over again, but this strange character twist ruined it completely. While everyone else in the movie was the perfect choice, he couldn't be more wrong compared with the Willy Wonka from my favorit childhood book.

Nicole Kidman - Moulin Rouge. It's no secret : I hate this movie. She's one of the main reasons. Her over-the-top and out-of-place performance is so not Kidman and ... awful, just awful.

Wow.

I happen to completely disagree on -every- single count.

That's rare enough to be noted

On my side:

Nuclear physicist & Crack Pilot of a Space Cruiser:

[Show spoiler]

Suave & Refined British Secret Agent

[Show spoiler]

Middle Aged Smartest Man on Earth

[Show spoiler]

Blonde Scientist married to the Smartest Man on Earth

[Show spoiler]

Mongol (Asian) Conqueror, bent on Pillaging

[Show spoiler]

Neuro-Surgeon vs PhD in Astrophysics and Crack consultant for Pentagon vs Top 3 Fighter Pilot in the world material

[Show spoiler]

Top 1 Fighter Pilot in the World material

[Show spoiler]

Man ... so many (list not exhaustive by any means of course)

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by JavaJulien

My picks are James Franco and Mila Kunis in Oz: The Great and Powerful.

Agreed about Mila Kunis, but I liked James Franco as Oz. This is my favorite scene...

Oz the Great and Powerful - Speech #2 - YouTube

[tylerdurden10]

Originally Posted by esteban²

Scarlett Johansson - The Island. No matter how the movie itself turned out, she was terrible in that. Based on that movie, I would say she's no action-flick material. I know Lucy is hot right now, so maybe she is afterall.

Little confused by this statement. Her part in the Island wasn't really that demanding, and I didn't notice anything about her that could've been done better.

Now as far as not being right for action movies, have you not seen the Avengers or Captain America: Winter Soldier? She was pretty badass in both, not to mention alot of people would love to see her get her own Marvel movie.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by esteban²

Nicole Kidman - Moulin Rouge. It's no secret : I hate this movie. She's one of the main reasons. Her over-the-top and out-of-place performance is so not Kidman and ... awful, just awful.

You, sir, are certifiable.

[dissention]

Melanie Griffith in The Stranger Among Us. I quite like her in the right role (she is fantastic in Dark Tourist), but that one was absurd. Lumet was out of his mind with that casting.

And everyone but Griffith was miscast in The Bonfire of the Vanities. Some of the worst casting in the history of cinema, all in a single film.

[esteban²]

@Tylerdurden;

I have seen Scarlett Johansson in the Marvel movies. And I believe she's OK in those, not great or even memorable. Just OK. But that doesn't change the fact I felt like she was a total miscast in The Island. She just couldn't get away with it in that one. Every singel piece of dialogue felt wrong, while Ewan and the others (same silly dialogues) didn't have that problem. The way she acted made me think "My god, she's all wrong for this part." the whole time.

My English isn't good enough to explain it a better way.

@dissention;

The funny thing is : I absolutely love Nicole Kidman in many different things she did. But Moulin Rouge, for me, is one of the most annoying performances I've ever seen. Don't know what it is, the whole movie really gets on my nerves. While Romeo + Juliet is one of my favorite movies.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by benderal

George Lazenby as James Bond. He may have been physically right, but his acting was flat. Takes me out of the movie. I often wonder how much better that movie would and should have been with Connery.

I've actually always thought that was the best Bond movie of that era. While Connery was far more fun to watch, Lazenby was much more of what a secret agent might be like. Agents are supposed to fit in with the crowd, not stand out. Ian Fleming thought that James Bond should look like Hoagy Carmichael, the songwriter, who was not very good looking.

And OHMSS was closest to the book of any Bond film and very un-Hollywood like, they stuck with the original sad ending.

[donzo29]

There are many great answers posted already.

I know that many will disagree but I often wish that Gangs of New York didn't have Leo or Cameron Diaz in it. I am not saying they are bad or anything and I can't even say who would be better but I just never thought either of them were the right choices for the movie.

But, for worst ever, John Wayne as Genghis Khan still gets the top prize.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by esteban²

@dissention;

The funny thing is : I absolutely love Nicole Kidman in many different things she did. But Moulin Rouge, for me, is one of the most annoying performances I've ever seen. Don't know what it is, the whole movie really gets on my nerves. While Romeo + Juliet is one of my favorite movies.

I think it's easily one of her greatest performances (and surely not over the top, especially in the company of Leguizamo and Broadbent); she absolutely embraces that film and hurls out a performance that's as heartbreaking as it is unconcerned with looking like a fool. She barks, she purrs, she sings, she cries, she loves, she dies. It's a role that doesn't just have the kitchen sink thrown into it, it has the entire kitchen & she runs with it at a time where she hadn't yet shown herself to have so much range.

It's one giant, gaudy, intentional mess of a film, but she's the emotional center to all of the glitz & grotesqueries. I wish you'd give it another look and focus on just her performance.

[Kevin Holly]

Jessica Alba in Sin City

It's great to have a no-nudity clause, and I respect that, but shame on Rodriguez for hiring someone with such a clause for that role in that movie.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Revolution 9

Sofia Coppola as Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III. That film would've been so much better had Winona Ryder not pulled out of the role.

Sofia may be one of my Top-5 currently working directors right now. At least of those who work in English. But she's no actress, and putting her in that position was really unfair to her when all's said and done.

It would like putting me in as starting SS for the Detroit Tigers. Of course I'm going to look like a complete idiot -- because I'm NOT A BASEBALL PLAYER!

Acting is a learned skill, taking years of study and many successes and failures. Tossing Sofia into the cauldron -- especially when we're talking about a big-time film like Godfather 3 -- was just mean when you think about it.

But her amazing work as a filmmaker since has completely made up for her failure to perform in GF 3.

Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre in Watchmen. Nearly ruined the movie for me.

This one I disagree with, however. But I'm a fan of Ackerman generally.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

Wow.

I happen to completely disagree on -every- single count.

That's rare enough to be noted

On my side:

[Show spoiler]Nuclear physicist & Crack Pilot of a Space Cruiser:

[Show spoiler]

Suave & Refined British Secret Agent

[Show spoiler]

Middle Aged Smartest Man on Earth

[Show spoiler]

Blonde Scientist married to the Smartest Man on Earth

[Show spoiler]

Mongol (Asian) Conqueror, bent on Pillaging

[Show spoiler]

Neuro-Surgeon vs PhD in Astrophysics and Crack consultant for Pentagon vs Top 3 Fighter Pilot in the world material

[Show spoiler]

Top 1 Fighter Pilot in the World material

[Show spoiler]

Man ... so many (list not exhaustive by any means of course)

I notice that every time you listed a miscast scientist it's a female.

You do know that in the STEM studies, in the S and the M parts more women get degrees than men right now. Now, they are woefully underrepresented in the T and E areas. But still.

[AaronJ]

I've noticed that a lot of these choices are from movies that were just plain bad movies in the first place. You could have Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in a lot of these roles, and even they couldn't have made them work.

If you're a great actor given a shit script in a film that is badly conceived and executed, there's not a whole lot you can do (other than take the film in the first place ).

[BluPat]

Will Ferrell as Darrin Stephens in Bewitched (2005). I don't find Will Ferrell funny in the slightest. Nicole Kidman as Samantha and Shirley MacLaine as Endora were perfect. Jim Carey SHOULD have been cast as Darrin. He would have been perfect. And he bares a resemblance to Dick York. Will Ferrell was AWFUL.

[threefiftyrocket]

Okay, I agree with some of these on here and I disagree with some (never seen ye old John Wayne as Genghis Khan so I can't comment, although I've never really been a fan of The Duke anyway) but my biggest miscast is the entire cast of "Texas Rangers" Hey, no one said the movie had to be good :P

James Van Der Beek, Ashton Kutcher, Dylan McDermott, Rachel Leigh Cook, and Usher in the old West. Yeah, believable. NEXT!

[RockzillaXD]

I didn't find Will Smith believable as a scientist in I am Legend. Although I thought the movie was pretty lousy anyways, so it wouldn't matter who the lead was.

[Agent Bond]

Adrien Brody in Predators

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze

[The Debts]

Cameron Diaz from The Counselor. She was more annoying and tacky than sexy and menacing.

[hawaii sun]

Cind Crawford as a lawyer on Fair Game.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I notice that every time you listed a miscast scientist it's a female.

You do know that in the STEM studies, in the S and the M parts more women get degrees than men right now. Now, they are woefully underrepresented in the T and E areas. But still.

Nothing to do with. Just about being believable or not, gender is not an issue. Generally Hollywood casting tend to go too young for the roles for women, and that's a pretty common issue (cf Kidman who would have been perfect with say 5-10 more years in that specific role). For the men, they tend to go for pretty/ chiseled face rather than actually matching.
It's the classic syndrome of both young & old men can do anything in Hollywood, whereas only a very few women can get appropriate roles as they age (beside mother/ grandma that is).

Good examples imo of women as high level scientists:
Rene Russo (Outbreak), Jodie Foster (Contact), Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist) ... etc.

Unless you want to tell me that Denise Richards was a good match that is?

This being said, let's balance things out and add

Two World class level Scientists who can save the planet

[Show spoiler](As much as I love Pacific Rim to death)