Best casting decisions ever made in movies

[robn1]

Wasn't Jim also considering Lance Henricksen for the Terminator? He painted Lance as the character for an early pitch..

From what I remember reading in Cinefex, Arnold was cast as Reece, he was supposed to be the good guy/hero. But he was more interested in the Terminator so he convinced Cameron to let him switch roles. The original concept for the terminator was that it would be a normal looking man, and the endoskeleton would be a mechanical version of a human skeleton, powerful but very spindly and fragile looking. When Arnold was recast Winston was inspired to redesign the endo as a larger massive machine that matched Arnold's physique.

I'd say a good cast change up all around.

 

[The Searcher]

From what I remember reading in Cinefex, Arnold was cast as Reece, he was supposed to be the good guy/hero. But he was more interested in the Terminator so he convinced Cameron to let him switch roles. The original concept for the terminator was that it would be a normal looking man, and the endoskeleton would be a mechanical version of a human skeleton, powerful but very spindly and fragile looking. When Arnold was recast Winston was inspired to redesign the endo as a larger massive machine that matched Arnold's physique.

I'd say a good cast change up all around.

Being knowledgeable on the production of Terminator and T2, I can confirm that all this is true.
Speaking of perfect roles, can anyone imagine Woody as anyone other than Tom Hanks?

 

[The Brahma Bull]

Pacino and De Niro in Heat. One of the greatest movies of all time with one of the greatest scenes. Simply magic.

Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as Joker. They are the voices millions of people imagine when they read a Batman comic/novel.

Karl Urban as Dredd. Damn he nailed it.

Keanu Reeves as John Wick.

And of Course Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. Too pretty for the role but he became the character.

 

[Scarecrow Joe]

Tom Cruise as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire.

 

[GirlyGothicGeek]

100% agree with Robert Downey Jr. being the perfect Iron Man

Evanna Lynch being such a perfect Luna Lovegood that J.K. Rowling started half-basing the character off of her.

Alan Rickman as Severus Snape was amazing. He technically was too old for the role by about 20 years, and I've wondered how the character would have been viewed if they had cast someone younger, but he's iconic as the character.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Tall, strong, and beautiful.

I would put Emma Watson as Belle on here, though it would have been better is she could sing.

 

[Richard Baker]

Alan Rickman was great as Snape but I think my favorite role he was in was Dr. Lazarus in Galaxy Quest. He played the character on several levels, as the weary actor trapped by nostalgia opening up electroncs stores and as a wonderful fusion of Spock and Worf in his role. There were some scenes where he played both at the same time- notable the epic dinner scene where he is given a dish of oily bugs and towards the end when alien who used him as a role model dies and goes full on revenge. You could see the man as an actor and also the character he played working together.

 

[y3a]

Rickman was also great in Quigley down under.

 

[Axlotl]

...Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl...

Hey! I was gonna say that!

 

[Captain Dunsel]

Tom Hanks—Capt. Miller in “Saving Private Ryan”. He made that movie what it was and was believable in the role. I didn’t look at him on the screen and think, “there’s Tom Hanks”; I saw the character.

 

[Kovnyn]

Tom Hanks—Capt. Miller in “Saving Private Ryan”. He made that movie what it was and was believable in the role. I didn’t look st him and think, “there’s Tom Hanks”; I saw the character.

This is exactly why I said Bradley Cooper in American Sniper. I never once saw Bradley Cooper playing Chris Kyle, I just saw Chris Kyle.

I'll add, Gary Oldman in every role he has ever played.

Aaron Ekhart as Harvey Dent / Two Face in TDK was just as well cast as Heath Ledger as Joker.

 

[Laspector]

Tom Cruise as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire.

I've gotta agree with that. I have never been a Tom Cruise fan (even before he went nuts) and when it was announced he would be LeStat I thought it was a horrible decision. But I will have to admit he owned that role. I could never think of anyone as LeStat except him. That guy in the second one was AWFUL!!!

 

[Laspector]

Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison. I really thought he should have been nominated for an Oscar for that one.

 

[Kovnyn]

Val Kilmer as Madmartagen in Willow. Love the movie, mostly because of him.

 

[Scarecrow Joe]

Lets keep talking about Val Kilmer.....his role as Doc Holiday stole the show in Tombstone.

"Im your huckleberry"

 

[Richard Baker]

I liked Val Kilmer in 'Real Genius' - he had the best lines in the film.

Mitch: You know, um, something strange happened to me this morning...
Chris Knight: Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
Mitch: No...
Chris Knight: Why am I the only one who has that dream?

Mitch: What are you doing?
Chris Knight: Self-realization. I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"

 

[Richard Baker]

I'll add, Gary Oldman in every role he has ever played.

Gary Oldman (like Meryl Streep) has the uncanny ability to so become a character that you cannot see them as themselves- I never recognize he is playing the part even if I know before hand.

He also adds little unscripted flourishes to make each unique- he gave Zorg a southern accent in 'The Fifth Element' on his own just to make the character a bit more interesting...

 

[gedmac66]

Not movies , but Lee Majors as the Six Million Dollar Man and Linda Carter as Wonder Woman

Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense ...
Gregory Peck is Atticus Finch .

 

[Richard Baker]

David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight in 'Knightrider'
IIRC they had planned on a totally different style of interaction between him and KITT but he improv'd the 'buddy' thing and it worked so well they altered the scripts to accommodate it.

 

[gedmac66]

Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf
Christopher Lee as Saruman
Andy Serkis as Gollum/Sméagol and Viggo Mortensen as Strider/Aragorn ...,

The entire cast for the LOTR films was pretty much spot on , but those above were exceptional imho !

 

[Scarecrow Joe]

I have another one....Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins.

Also Robin Williams as Genie in Aladdin.