Worst casting decisions ever made in movies

[Larry T]

Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes was absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Probe Droid]

Everyone in The Bonfire of the Vanities. You know you're in trouble when you've got Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and Donald Moffat, etc., and freakin' Melanie Griffith gives the best performance!

 

[SethS]

Deniro as Frankenstein's monster.

 

[The Brahma Bull]

Keaton as Batman. The whole movie is visually great but it's characters and plot had nothing to do with Batman.

Resse Witherspoon in every movie that pretends she's beautiful, she's not.

 

[Somerset]

Keanu in Much ado about nothing, now that was truly horrible casting. He was way out of his element and everything he said came out so flat that it was extremely distracting whenever he was on screen.

We had to watch this film in our English class when I was 15. Keanu was so hilarious - "It must not be denied, but I am a plain-dealing villain!"

 

[Nismo]

Topher Grace - Venom (He would be a better peter- with build and personality)

Finn Jones - (Iron fist) he'd be a better Robin as far as super hero's go

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor

 

[Edraven99]

"Mary Jane as a well rounded and interesting character? Screw that, just gimme some big titts and red hair!"

Were we watching the same series of movies? You might as well have cast Kristen Stewart in the role for the performance Dunst delivered. Every scene that involved her came across as flat and one-note and anything 'well rounded and interesting' about the character was completely lost.

Again, if you go to the source material, MJ is supposed to be larger than life. Dunst's performance was nothing of the sort.

 

[Strikerkc]

The MJ I'm referring to as being more of a well rounded character is the one in Homecoming. The character finally has aspirations beyond being "famous, so I don't have to live here" or being the brood mare for a football player "so I don't have to live here".

Dunst was not, to me, a quality MJ; for all the same reasons you listed.

 

[CT1138]

Halle Berry as Catwoman. Just... no. In fact, know what? Just throw the whole thing out.

Michelle Pfeiffer also as Catwoman. I mean, does she really even do anything in this movie besides having a sexy BDSM thing going on in an over stitched catsuit?

Jack Nicholson as The Joker. He plays a better psycho in The Shining.

Leslie Jones in the Ghostbusters remake. Yes the movie is complete garbage, but I'll admit that the rest of the main cast are at least funny in other movies. Leslie Jone's entire shtick is being loud. It wasn't funny when Adam Sandler did it. It's not funny when Will Ferrell does it. It's not funny. I don't like her on SNL, I didn't like her here.

"Why did they cast this dude as magneto? He's old, and not strong." Good god, so a character who's super power has nothing to do with being strong, and all about being able to manipulate magnetism, while being deviously brilliant has to look buff? And who cares that the root of his character motivation in the film specifically revolves around him having been in nazi concentration camps, no need to cast an actor old enough to fit the timeline, lets make him a 32 year old body builder.

I thought McKellen was perfect as Magneto specifically because he wasn't shredded. Magneto being an old man with an 8 pack was never something I liked about his comic book portrayal. It just seemed antithetical to the character. Magneto was a mastermind who sent others to fight for him and his causes. He rarely got his hands dirty himself.

 

[GirlyGothicGeek]

Someone already mentioned this, but Kristen Dunst as MJ... yeah no.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia, Keanu Reeves in Dracula, Vince Vaugnn in the Psycho remake...

And am I the only one who thought that David Thewlis in Wonder Woman was terrible? I started laughing in the theater at the end of the film because it seemed so ridiculous

 

[Axlotl]

And am I the only one who thought that David Thewlis in Wonder Woman was terrible? I started laughing in the theater at the end of the film because it seemed so ridiculous

You're not the only one. That was a truly terrible casting decision.

 

[Egon Spengler]

I didn't mind Kirsten Dunst as MJ as much as I minded the stupid way her character was written.

 

[Kovnyn]

David Thewlis was great up uptil the end reveal. As he revealed his true nature, he should have shed his human form and appeared more godlike.

Maggie Gyllenhaal in TDK. The entire character, who should have acted as a catalyst for both Bruce and Harvey, was boring and forgettable.

Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons, et al. I envisioned Robert Langdon more as an Indiana Jones type, rough and tumble but still cunning and intelligent. Hanks is a great actor, but lacked the physicality of the role.

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/ Hawkeye in the MCU. Flat, boring delivery. Might be the writing for the character, but I just don't care for him.

 

[Richard Baker]

Maggie Gyllenhaal in TDK. The entire character, who should have acted as a catalyst for both Bruce and Harvey, was boring and forgettable.

Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons, et al. I envisioned Robert Langdon more as an Indiana Jones type, rough and tumble but still cunning and intelligent. Hanks is a great actor, but lacked the physicality of the role.

I really agree about Maggie Gyllenhaal- if you removed her and her character from the film nothing would be changed.

On the other hand, from what I remember in the novels, Robert Langdon was an academic with no real physicality, just a man thrown into situations over his head and struggling to cope. As time went on he did get more competent, but that was from gaining experience in dealing with these situations,

 

[GirlyGothicGeek]

David Thewlis was great up uptil the end reveal. As he revealed his true nature, he should have shed his human form and appeared more godlike.

Yeah, that could have saved it.

Maggie Gyllenhaal in TDK. The entire character, who should have acted as a catalyst for both Bruce and Harvey, was boring and forgettable.

I actually did forget she was in that film hahaha

 

[funboy1013xx]

anything with john cena... the man can NOT act.... and that's my biggest gripe with the new bumble bee movie....

 

[Probe Droid]

And am I the only one who thought that David Thewlis in Wonder Woman was terrible? I started laughing in the theater at the end of the film because it seemed so ridiculous

Agreed. Thewliss is a fine actor, but he's the least-threatening person imaginable. Frankly, I thought the girl was a mistake, as well.

 

[The Searcher]

Whoever got casted as Closeau in the two pink panther remakes was simply unfit for the job.

 

[mattycsi]

Agreed. Thewliss is a fine actor, but he's the least-threatening person imaginable. Frankly, I thought the girl was a mistake, as well.

Maybe in the context of that film, but he was very menacing in the last season of Fargo.
He's pretty creepy as the voice of the Shame Wizard in Big Mouth too.

 

[Richard Baker]

Whoever got casted as Closeau in the two pink panther remakes was simply unfit for the job.

That was Steve Martin. His comedy is rather hit and miss depending on the role, IMO his standup routines are much better than his character roles.
Peter Sellers original played the Inspector Jacques Clouseau role and while some of the later films were just plain silly he owned that character on several levels