The 10 Worst Comic Book Movie Casting Blunders (And 5 That Nailed It)
7. Sylvester Stallone — Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd doesn’t take his helmet off. It doesn’t matter what he looks like. He is the law. It’s really the foundation of the character.
In Judge Dredd, John Wagner explains how this became a hard and fast rule for Judge Dredd comics:
It sums up the facelessness of justice − justice has no soul. So it isn’t necessary for readers to see Dredd’s face, and I don’t want you to.
Casting Stallone as Judge Dredd threw that right out the window. It wasn’t more than 20 minutes into the movie and off comes the helmet. Then I think he loses it, or something.
Then there is the fact that Judge Dredd is as cold-blooded a man as have ever walked Mega-City One. All he cares about is the law and will mete out justice with zero empathy. He doesn’t care about you. He cares about the law.
Casting Stallone in that part doesn’t work. Remember, this was made a few years after Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!
Try and picture Judge Dredd saying that.
6. Dolph Lundgren — Frank Castle
In the late 80s, Dolph Lundgren struggled to make it as an action movie leading man. He had played Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, a KGB officer in Red Scorpion, and He-Man in Masters of the Universe. Only his performance in Rocky IV was memorable.
Then came The Punisher.
It wasn’t a role that required a lot of depth. Lundgren brought less than that.
5. William Hurt — General Thunderbolt Ross
William Hurt is a fine actor. However, the role of General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross was already cast to the best actor for the role, Sam Elliott. In Hulk, Elliott became Thunderbolt Ross, from his demeanor all the way to his power mustache.
Hurt’s mustache simply couldn’t compete.
Plus, throughout The Incredible Hulk Hurt came across as weak, always at the mercy of those around him or circumstances outside his control. While Elliott’s character also had difficulties controlling the Hulk, he never seemed weak because of it. He came across as if there were always a backup plan.
Guess we could have just found confidence in the ‘stache.
Christopher Reeve as Superman. Forget the sequels. When he did that original flick in 1978, he had it down perfectly: Kansas farm boy who hits the big city and casually uses the word “swell.” Utterly wonderful.
My pick for Green Lantern would have been Kyle Chandler.
My pick for Green Lantern would have been Kyle RAYNER. This was a case in which the ROLE should have been changed to fit the actor, and only in the comics – and precious few of them – can you get away with that. So the guy your studio is grooming as the next America’s Sweetheart, Boy Division, is at his best when playing a cheerful wiseass? Well, then use the available cheerful-wiseass incarnation of the character. Talk about missing at point-blank range.
I think the real genuius of Reeve’s portrayal was how he was not only convincing as both Kent and Superman, but he even made it seem plausable that people can’t tell they’re the same person. Definitely should have made the “good list”, I agree.
Zombie takes issue with Stallone playing Judge Dredd. Here’s a strange connection of the day for you: Dredd’s look was based on David Carradine’s Frankenstein from the 1976 movie Death Race 2000. Who played the villain? Stallone.
Batman-Michael Keaton??! He smirks too much.
I’ve long thought Jeff Goldblum would have been a terrific Batman. Keaton? Bleh!
Yep, Reeve as Superman was terrific. One reviewer when that film came out described how it engendered in him an enormous feeling of Respect. That’s how I felt about it too, “This is IT! They finally did Superman Right!” And everybody I talked to about it agreed (okay, “everybody” consisted of one very cute blonde girl I worked with at the time). And more importantly, Reeve nailed Clark Kent, the guy who gets a kick out of pretending to be a helpless weakling, except with Lois, when he doesn’t. Everybody else plays Clark Kent as done by Nick Fury.
And while he would not have been my 1st, 2nd, or probably 27th pick, Toby did a simply great job as Spiderman and like, Reeve, as Peter Parker as well.
Also, everybody in “The Rocketeer” did a simply terrific job.
Agreed one hundred percent on “The Rocketeer.” That movie’s been a favorite for years now, and it still holds up, mainly thanks to its cast (Timothy Dalton was magnificent).
Great googly moogly! I LOVE “The Rocketeer!” What a flawless gem!
I love it too! A flawless gem describes it perfectly. I still go back and marvel at the details.
But I am very prejudiced. The year before it was made I had been flying out of the airfield where it was filmed (Santa Maria) and launching rockets just over the hill, at Vandenberg AFB. When those hangar doors opened at the beginning my jaw dropped, “That looks just like….!”
And the music was just great, too. With the best version of “Begin the Beguime” ever recorded.
What Reeve & Kidder did great about the Clark/Lois relationship was that she never turned around and actually looked at Clark. He was invisble to her. It was hilarious. It finally made sense why she never made the connection concerning his secret identity.
Not all comic books are US-made, a lot of them are Japanese.
One of them who ‘got it right’ imo (full disclosure: I did graphic design on both the movie and the anime series) is Basilisk/Shinobi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q1J_cjbTZk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo7lg9ecgxU
I also worked at ‘Samurai Champloo’ and ffs I hope it will never be made into a movie.
Btw, fully agree about Superman and although not comic books James Bond and Hherlock Holmes. New Spiderman movies suck, unlike those made in the 80′s.
I’m looking forward to Green Hornet sequel tho.
Samurai Champloo was a beautifully done series, and I can’t think of any actor that could pull off Mugen or Jin, or any director that could give give us the anachronistic world it was set in without making it into some Bunraku BS. I just pray there won’t be any more Dragonball live action movies ever.
Nice work! Samurai Champloo was great.
I’m sorry, but George Clooney as Batman? Really?
Yeah, talk about a franchise-killer.
George Clooney was a good Bruce Wayne but Michael Keaton was the better Batman. We won’t even get into Val Kilmer.
Methinks thou dost take the “pictorially supplemented contemporary mythopoetry” genre a groat too seriously, forsooth!
An actor can be on both lists:
Chris Evans as Captain America. They did use CGI to make him look small and wimpy before the transformation, but he owned the Captain America role.
He was forgettable in the forgettable Fantastic Four movies.
I actually think his work as the Human Torch was the one bright spot in those movies. I thought he really nailed the character, at least as much as he could with what he had to work with.
and let’s not forget his turn as Lucas Lee in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” another movie with several excellent casting choices.
Among the best ever were those of an era before Comecon: Jane Fonda as Barbarella, Monica Viti as Modesty Blaze and Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy.
I agree with the ten and four of the five, but not Downey as Stark. Stark was a serious, kinda terse guy who got in trouble with the gov’t for his actions, not acting like he owned Studio 54. Sure, he tried, but he never really sold that role well. He was more like Bachelor Father.
And how could you miss one of the best casting decisions ever? The Wolverine. Jackson IS the Wolverine.
JACKMAN is the Wolverine. He is also Peter Allen. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this tickles me pink.
Not bad as Van Helsing, either. Would’ve liked a sequel…
I agree completely. Until I saw Hugh Jackman, I was convinced that nobody could ever play Logan convincingly. As for Van Helsing, he WAS him, he didn’t just “play” him. And his interpretation was very close to the way the character was depicted in Bram Stoker’s original 1897 novel “Dracula”, as opposed to the later Universal film versions.
Speaking of novels, has anyone here ever read “The Stars My Destination”, aka “Tiger! Tiger!” by Alfred Bester? Probably the original “cyberpunk” novel; even though it was written in 1955, most of the tropes associated with that genre show up (corporate states, combat cyborgs, “street samurai”, etc.).
Today, when I read that novel over again, and visualize its protagonist, Gulliver “Gully” Foyle, it’s Hugh Jackman. I’d love to see a film of the book with him in that role.
cheers
eon
It is a startlingly visionary read for the year it was published. People in the 60s who thought Americans were conformists who needed diversity before the Cultural Revolution are knuckleheads. Name a culture that has ever effortlessly demonstrated the range of interests as America, even before 1960.
“The Stars My Destination” is one reason those of us who are SF fans should be protective of our history and try and make distinctions between what we like and what is important. Otherwise wheels are re-invented, rewards go to the unworthy and I have to listen to someone tell me why “Ender’s Game,” is somehow better or more important than Bester or 100 other novels.
No one should be criticized for having a particular interest in The Battle of Leyte Gulf; they should be criticized for saying it started WW II.
Fail Burton;
Alfred Bester is one of the lesser-known gods of modern SF. In fact, it would be fair to say he invented about half of it.
I can’t honestly recall a “bad” Bester story or novel, and I’ve read most of them. From “The Demolished Man” to “Fondly Fahrenheit”, he was an expert on dealing with characterization, in addition to just telling a ripping-good yarn, as Michael Palin and Terry Jones would say.
He also should be credited with being the godfather of the presently-popular “urban fantasy” genre, which (like Shadowrun) mixes fantasy and magic with modern-day or near-future tech. In evidence of which, I submit one of his last works, “Golem 100″. Which itself would make one Hell of a movie- literally. I could easily visualize Halle Berry as Gretchen Nunn.
cheers
eon
I had heard about Alfred Bester and “The Stars, My Destination” and “The Demolished Man” for years as foundational works for modern sci-fi and finally decided to see what all the hype was about.
Five paragraphs in I realized it wasn’t hype, but rather massive understatements.
Normally I take a dim view of claims that this author or that “invented” some major chunk of modern sci-fi or fantasy, but in this case I agree with Eon – at least half of modern sci-fi should be traced to Bester.
Sam, now read “Ender’s Game” and have the exact opposite experience. Or simply toss your money out a window and then slam it on your head.
For a good fantasy series, read Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy. I pray it doesn’t get made into a movie.
I must agree with the others about Alfred Bester. Ao much of what became the Golden Age of sci fi came from him along with Robert Heinlein and Isaac Azimov writing at the same time.
I do think “Ender’s Game” was also an excellent story; it was as a short that I first read in an anthology series called THERE WILL BE WAR. The novelization padded the original, terse writing with about 150,000 unnecessary words. Still a great concept but hardly groundbreaking.
For the sake of personal taste, I beg to differ on a few of these.
10. Nicolas Cage – Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider: Not that bad a choice for the man who halfway named himself after Luke Cage. Sure, he’s not a blonde pretty boy as the book was drawn at one point, but it seems to me whenever Ghost Rider showed up in someone else’s book — which seemed more frequent than his own book — they didn’t usually show you Blaze, so what Blaze looked like is kinda moot. Now, a serious blunder would’ve been casting him as Superman…
6. Dolph Lundgren — Frank Castle: Eh. This B movie was marginally doomed anyway. I liked it, but that is a matter of personal taste. Casting Lundgren as the monolithic Punisher in a B picture isn’t the worst thing to happen. Maybe he didn’t have any fancy acting depth, but he was competent in the role, and after dying his hair and eyebrows, he had the look.
Sidenote: If we must bring in the B movies, there’s Justice League of America (1997). David Ogden Stiers as the Martian Manhunter? Really?
4. Ben Affleck — Daredevil: I didn’t find this particularly memorable but I seem to recall he was at least competent. Jennifer Garner as the dark and willowly Elektra was a worse choice.
3. Arnold Schwarzenneger — Mr. Freeze: After seeing self-promotinal juggernaut Otto Preminger play the role in the 60′s, Schwarzenneger seems like a brilliant choice. And I can think of a worse acting performance from that trainwreck of a movie: Uma Thurman’s. (What the heck? Did she try to make up for her astounding overacting as Poison Ivy by giving us a boring Emma Peel?)
1. David Hasselhoff – Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I expected to dislike this, but I gave a chance. Hasselhoff was a lot more credibile than I expected. (Sidenote: Nick Fury was originally conceived as a gruff Americanized James Bond type. Yeah, the ‘Hoff could do that, although the movie didn’t.) For the sake of comparisons on a top ten list, I thought Hasselhoff’s Fury was more convincing than, say, Chris Evans’s Captain America.
On the “nailed it” side, I figure Patrick Warburton as The Tick was a good choice. And Sam Jones was better as The Spirit than he was as Flash Gordon.
And PS, there’s one that sticks in my mind: I think Josh Brolin’s a competent actor, but I think they could’ve gotten a more likley Jonah Hex. Say: Adam Baldwin….
I seriously have to disagree with you on #3 Schwarzenneger/Mr. Freeze (though you are correct on Uma Therman). Not only was the well built Schwarzenneger the wrong bodytype for Mr. Freeze his portrayal was so off it was vomit inducing. Mr. Freeze was a cold, (near) emotionless, intellegent, (tragic) villain. He was committed to rescuing his wife and getting revenge on the people who stopped his work no matter the cost. Schwarzenneger’s portrayal was wisecracking, laughing, fool. They transformed a great tragic character into a tragedy. If you havent seen the animated version of Mr Freeze:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC48pBw8yog
In many ways the later episodes with Mr. Freeze are even better.
I thought Thurman’s use of voice, cadence and body-language was outstanding. A Batman TV-style performance was needed and she delivered. Clooney underacted and is nowhere to found in the film.
IIRC, Mr. Freeze was invented by the TV series, and did not originate in the comic. So it would seem that would be the correct model.
I would throw in for some of the worst these two: James Marsden as Cyclops in the xmen series, he came across as a jealous boyfriend type, not the leader of the Xmen & Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth, I couldn’t buy cotton weary as a man-beast who’s supposed to be bigger than but not as smart as Wolverine.
and Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/Hulk because he embodied the humble, brilliant Banner while trying to control the Hulk and find his place in the world.
As for the most inspired casting: Pam Anderson as Barb Wire, ’nuff said
James Marsden’s contract should forbid him from appearing in any film not describable by one or more of these words: “romantic,” “musical,” and “comedy.” He’s our generation’s great song-and-dance man in a world that no longer has a place for song-and-dance men. How the mighty are fallen…
He was great in Enchanted, though.
A 50/50:
Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne
Christian Bale as Batman
Each was perfect for half the role but had to stretch a bit for the other half.
As a weird Trifecta:
Ceser Romero-Jack Nicholson-Heath Ledger as the Joker
Each was a different Joker, but each was absolutely perfect for the Joker they were portraying.
“Each was a different Joker, but each was absolutely perfect for the Joker they were portraying.”
I think that is one of the wonderful things about the Joker. He is such a psychopath that you can play the role in any number of ways and still pull it off.
I never cared for Nicholson’s Joker, the main reason being he wasn’t actually playing the Joker, he was just Jack Nicholson in makeup. Compare that to Ledger who actually deserves all the hype he gets for completely submerging himself in the role.
But if you want to talk about quality AND quantity the finest Joker of all time has to be Mark Hamill voicing him for Batman: The Animated Series and its assorted spinoffs.
I thought Nicholson and Ledger were miseries as the Joker. Part of that is the fault of how a director portrays such a character. Look at Sin City to see why. The Joker would be much more frightening if not simply left naked out in the open to act. Romero was given that task and performed admirably because he was an old school pro. More subtle actors like Nicholson and Ledger, who are great actors, were lost.
Agreed.
Kilmer and Clooney were horrible all around. Joel Schumacher should be shot for what he did to the franchise. When the hell did Alfred’s neice become batgirl???????
Jim Carrey was fair as the Riddler. DeVito was way off on the Penguin.
*gasp* No mention of Hugh Jackman’s iconic turn as Wolverine in X-Men and X2? I actually LIKED Wolverine after seeing his portrayal; before that, I could take him or leave him.
In that same vein, Halle Berry as Storm? Seriously? Some of the worst casting of one of the coolest characters EVER. Angela Bassett would have kicked that role’s tuckus so hard it would still be rolling to this day.
Angela Basset would have been a good storm. i alway picture Iman as in the storm role.
I like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, but he is too much of a pretty boy in some ways. Wolverine is gritty, and rugged. i always thought that Robert Dinero in his prime would have made a great Wolverine. The way the guy looked in Cape fear is how I always imagined the character.
I’m torn on at least one casting decision: Keanu Reeves as Constantine. On the one hand, I think he did a good job with a crap script. On the other hand, it’s Keanu Reeves. Keanu is always Keanu, even when he’s supposed to be John Constantine.
Call it a draw?
Keanu Reeves plays Keanu Reeves no matter what he’s doing. I thought he couldn’t possibly do a worse job than he did in “Constantine”, until I saw him doing Klaatu in the horrendous “Day The Earth Stood Still” remake.
He basically veered between being semiconscious, being a deep-ecology “Kill the Humans” Luddite, and redoing Neo from the g-dawful Matrix movies. Exactly none of which had anything to do with the original story from 1951, or even the original short story “Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates.
Add in the total collapse of the screenplay from Scene One (never mind the mass of scientific and military SOP errors), and the only good thing about the whole business was that Fox included a restored master print DVD of the original 1951 version in the DVD release of this turkey. It is the best print of that one ever, period.
Which is the only reason I bought it. On sale, from a bargain bin.
cheers
eon
The new film was based on the old; neither had anything to do with the short story, other than a few visuals. Having said that, the 1951 story is far more entertaining than either of the bookends.
I know. The new movie borrows three things from the 1951 original; a character named Klaatu (that they misspell as “Klatu”), a robot, and a young widow with a precocious son. Everything else is their own fault.
I’d have been happy with a film based on Bates’s story. It’s no barn-burner, but it does have a neat punchline.
cheers
eon
Frank Gorshin as… do I even need to say it?
Wait. Was that a riddle?
Hah! You’re right. We missed that. And Cesar Romero as the Joker and Burgess Meredith as the Penguin. Julie Newmar. I think she actually was some kind of superhuman. At least her hips were.
We’ve also forgot to pillory the Fantastic Four. Arguably other than the Thing, Reed, Sue and Johnny are nowhere to be found.
To say nothing of Dr. Doom. Seriously, Victor as Reed’s boss? Prithee, render unto me a fragging break, as they’d say in Seattle in 2040. (Yes, I’m an ex-Shadowrun player.)
As for Julie Newmar, she will always be Catwoman to me, just as Yvonne Craig will always be Batgirl. No others need apply.
Other than them, the only other reason I watched “Batman” as a kid was, to be honest, the car. In fact, I just finished building the 1/25 Polar Light TV Batmobile kit, which saves me the trouble of adapting the reissued 1959 vintage Revell Lincoln Futura show car kit. I’m building it as the original Autorama version, BTW.
Yes, I’m a geek, and proud of it.
cheers
eon
The video game Batman: Arkham Asylum nailed Catwoman perfectly, imo, but Julie Newmar was the best live actress. From what I’ve seen it seems that its shaping up to be another abysmal showing of Catwoman in the next Batman flick, who is also grossly mis-portrayed in just about ever iteration of his fiction.
What I’ve seen so far tells me that they have DC’s Catwoman confused with the Black Widow from Marvel’s Avengers.
Even Michelle Pfeiffer’s version was better than that. She at least had the costume and the whip more-or-less close.
I suppose we should just be grateful that they haven’t rung Talia in on this one. Although with Ras Al’Ghul coming back, even that isn’t impossible.
I’m trying not to imagine how badly they could mishandle her. The way they mangled the characterization of her father in “Batman Begins” was bad enough.
cheers
eon
I hated every Batman casting. Hated them. Batman is a huge dude. When first written, 6′ 220 lb was a big dude. And he is borderline psychotic. Even as Bruce Wayne, he doesn’t smile. The guy is dead serious and imposing. He has presence! He simply scared the cr*p out of the bad guys.
So, they cannot find a big, serious, borderline psychotic dude to play Batman? They had to find wimpy guys? Biggest guy was Val Kilmer. Ugh.
How about you cut off Steven Seagall’s ponytail and make him Batman? Cutting off his ponytail should push him right to the edge. Big. Strong. Knows how to fight. Athletic. Kinda psychotic looking. Never smiles. Yep, Batman.
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I did not like what they did with Rogue in the X-Men. Wasn’t she originally a foe, not a kid? The girl did a good job in the role as they conceived it, but the role was wrong. In fact, I did not like most of the casting of the X-Men, except Wolverine, Prof X, and colossus. The villains were good, though.
Hated Jessica Alba as Sue Richards (Fantastic Four). The others were good, though.
Toby MacGuire nails Spiderman, just nails him. Kirsten Dunst? Oh, please. Besides, Parker’s college love was a platinum blond, Gwen. Mary Jane was much later.
I think the reason most of these comic movies do not do better is the casting. Get some folks who grew up reading and loving these comics and their characters to help with the casting.
Gwen and Mary Jane are only 11 issues apart. And MJ was lurking, her face unseen, before that. “Face it tiger – you’ve hit the jackpot,” said MJ in her stylish hip-huggers. I was there that day.
Personally, I thought Toby McGuire was perfect in Spiderman. After they cast a prettyboy actor in the 1970s Spiderman series, I thought McGuire captured the young goofiness of Peter Parker perfectly.
Agreed, Toby nailed it.
But hey, even though they were never a comic book, I thought all the character-voices for “The Incredibles” were all perfect. Holly Hunter is a scream in everything she does. She even elevated Nick Cage to “plain” up from “dismal” in “Raising Arizona”.
I think the problem with the casting is that it isn’t done with the character in mind, but often to push Hollywood’s hottest property. Also it helps if the person in the role, at likes they’re taking it seriously (see: Supperman, The Joker) – not as an ongoing joke – with them smirking at the audience (see: Daredevil, Green Hornet).
Which is the only halfway-rational explanation for Barry Sonnenfeld casting Will Smith as James West in “The Wild, Wild West”. Let alone Kevin Cline as Artemus Gordon. Although I admit he was excellent as President Grant in the same film.
As for Kenneth Branagh as Dr. Loveless; I honestly needed brain bleach after that horrific experience. In fact, that pretty much sums up my reaction to the whole bloody movie.
I understand that at one point, George Clooney was to have played West, with Tommy Lee Jones as Gordon. That would have been a much better idea. As it is, “Jonah Hex” came very close to being the movie “WWW” wished it was.
It was poetic justice when Robert Conrad, the original Jim West, accepted the Razzie for the “reimagined” movie version as the Worst Film Of The Year for 1999. It deserved no better. And Bob saying “This one’s for you, Mike and Ross” (for the late Michael Garrison, the show’s creator, and Ross Martin, the REAL Artemus Gordon) made it perfect.
cheers
eon
At least “WWW” had Salma Hayek in it. It’s pretty bad when a supporting character is the best part of a movie.
I liked Lundgren as the punisher. The best yet. He looked tired, loopy and talked to God. Dolph was a big guy and he looked mean as hell with those motorcycle boots. He was also a European karate champ (ask Stallone, he broke a couple of Sly’s ribs filming rocky) so the fight scenes were believable. Unlike, say, Ulma Thurman beating the crap out of 50 Yakuza.
And he used guns. No fancy powers.
IMO, Tom Hanks did a good job portraying Michael Sullivan in “Road to Perdition”.
The D.C. graphic novel was far more brutal, and they kind of rewrote the storyline, it was still a pretty good remake.
While it’s admittedly not a comic book movie, I thought that while most of the casting was solid enough in the Smallville TV series. John Schneider (Jonathon “Pa” Kent) and Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) both stood out, but the one that stole the show for me had to be John Glover as Lex’s father Lionel.
It was too bad that Jane Seymour was only on the show for part of one season as she made an excellent villain and occasional foil for Glover’s Lionel.
Agreed about Glover. And his turn as the Devil in “Brimstone” was brilliant and hilarious.
Thanks for the heads up. Just watched the first episode. Interesting premise. Glover’s role in that one was fairly minor, if distinctive. Guessing he’ll get more screen time in later episodes. He does well with those “the prince of darkness is a gentleman” roles.
Found it odd that there’s never been a DVD set of Brimstone. Didn’t think there were many shows left, no matter how short-lived, that didn’t have one.
The best actors as ‘comic book characters’ have to be Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter as Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl.
Considering the similarities in history between Robert Downey, Jr. and Tony Stark, I considered this bit of casting to almost be typecasting. It certainly seemd like a good casting call to me.
I actually liked Reynolds as Green Lantern, the movie’s story was just a bit weak.
If you think Nic Cage as Ghost Rider is bad, he originally wanted to play Superman.
Probably the best I’ve seen other than Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was Alec Baldwin in “The Shadow”. He nailed both Kent Allard alias Lamont Cranston and the Shadow; granted, helped by makeup in the latter role. And yes, the Shadow has appeared in the comics in addition to the pulps, notably at DC.
Baldwin was also excellent as Tom Clancy’s hero, Jack Ryan, in “The Hunt for Red October”. I also give them (a lot of) credit for casting Sean Connery as Captain Ramius and James Earl Jones as Admiral Greer. My one regret about the film was that we didn’t get to see more of Gates McFadden as Cathy Ryan. Frankly, I’d rather have seen her continue in that role, instead of as Dr. Crusher on “Star Trek; The Next Regurgitation”.
As for the later Jack Ryan movies, the only thing worse than Harrison Ford was, once again, Ben Affleck. And oh yes, every single script. Even John Milius as a ghostwriter couldn’t save “Clear and Present Danger”, and the other two were even worse. “The Sum of All Fears” was an unmitigated P.C. disaster. My guess is that there will never be another “Jack Ryan” movie if Clancy has his way, and I wouldn’t blame him one bit.
cheers
eon
An often-ignored casting disaster was Malin Akerman in the “Watchmen” movie. The role was emotionally central to the film, and required acting ability that the actress just didn’t have. Moreover, the character of Laurie was not a supermodel, but an ordinarily attractive, thirtyish woman whose bombshell days (in senses both superheroic and otherwise) were receding, and which she was no longer sure she valued.
In short, Akerman was a mistake tantamount to casting Zac Efron as Rorschach.
Akerman was absolutely the weakest link; her bad acting nearly pulled the whole thing down. She’s was probably only hired for her willingness to act out the Archimedes scene in all its graphic glory.
Matthew Goode was the next weakest in the group as Ozymandias, who in my opinion, was completely mischaracterized in the film to be a sympathetic figure rather than the tyrant he was shown to be in the graphic novel.
You have to admit though that Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach made that movie. I was pretty unimpressed with the movie as a whole, but he owned that role and added the only real depth to the movie that I noticed.
Agreed. He and the Comedian. Rorschach’s death was better in the movie than the graphic novel, and his determined “Do it!” scream at Manhattan was very moving.
Billy Crudup wasn’t bad as Dr. Manhattan, either. Granted, his role wasn’t as demanding, but I guess it took a certain level of acting skill to distract the ausience’s attention from his continually exposed … “co-star.”
And I’m with Rik w/r/t Matthew Goode. The Ozymandias role required someone extremely charismatic, someone who could dominate any setting he entered. While watching Goode, my eyes kept drifting towards the furniture on set.
A funny little story about Christopher Reeve I recall reading. He was a pilot and was over in England a few years after the Superman film, flying an ultralight, just for fun.
He had a problem with the machine and was forced to come down over the fence of a British military installation. The guards ran to grab him – and then saw who it was. “Oh, its Superman.” they said. And then just escorted him off the base with no problem. They did not need to ask Superman any questions about his being in a controlled area.
Reeve was embarassed about the incident, because no pilot wants to brag about an unplanned landing in the wrong spot.
That’s a great story.
As a kid in the 50′s I remember watching George Reeves play Superman/Clark Kent on the old TV series and thinking, “That’s not really Superman!” And I was an expert because I had ALL the comics (wish I had them now).
Chris Reeve WAS Superman – he had the look and persona down pat, although Dean Cain was pretty good also.
Many pooh-poohed Reeve’s talent but I considered him a competent actor. We loved him in Somewhere in Time.
I had the opportunity to hear Christopher Reeve speak about 2 years after his accident.
To say he IS Superman is an understatement. I also believe that, if he had not played Superman and still had his accident, he would have died. In playing the role, he took on the role personally. There were a lot of ways he could have played it, but he chose to play it with respect, and proved he was a far better actor than he’d been given credit. His version of Superman essentially said to everyone, “you can be better than you believe you are”, and that is essentially the core of Superman.
Very well said. Nice tribute to Chris Reeve.
Halle Berry as Storm was wonderful.
I believe Dolph Lundgren had the size, the physique, the fighting chops and the brooding attitude to play Batman.
I think Kiera Knightly would have made a better Poison Ivy if you wanted thin, and Dita Von Teese if you wanted curves.
I think Johnny Depp could have played several roles well and was superb as the Mad Hatter.
I think a 50 year old Clint Walker would have been a magnificent Nick Fury.
How’s about Max Von Sydow as Ming the Merciless?
“Pathetic Earthlings!”
Wondered when anyone would bring up Flash Gordon!!! Little known part: Kenny Baker (aka C3PO) as a dwarf! Watched this along with my kids back in the 80′s. This movie was my first exposure to Timothy Dalton [as Prince Barin: Tell me more about this man, "Houdini".] who also played in The Rocketeer!
One comic book turned movie that is more of a cult classic: Howard the Duck. No outstanding performances come to mind except for Lea Thompson, who does ditsy-flake female really well.
Make that Kenny Baker as R2-D2. I should have known better….
The most bone-head castings in the most recent Batman movies were the Rachel Dawes characters. Katy Holmes lacks both the acting chops and the credibility to play a strong ADA. And Maggie Gillenhall, who played Dawes in the sequel, isn’t the least attractive.
Billy Zane / The Phantom… SO bad that no one even remembers it.
Non Comic Kudos:
Downey Jr. / Sherlock Holmes
Lynn Collins / Portia (Merchant of Venice)
Keeping with the Africa theme, I’ll see your Billy Zane as The Ghost Who Walks (in his case, more like stumbles), and raise you Richard Chamberlain as Allan Quatermain.
The most unbelievable thing about his performance is that the first movie (King Solomon’s Mines) apparently did well enough at the box office that they went ahead with the concurrently-filmed sequel (Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold).
Then again, they may have figured since they already had it in the can, they might as well release it and completely humiliate themselves.
I suspect Stewart Granger was not amused.
cheers
eon
I rather liked Dean Cain as both Clark Kent and as Superman.
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Ben Affleck brings a miasma of disgust to every role he plays. They can start with a decent movie idea, and the minute they cast Affleck it’s ruined. I’ve wondered for almost two decades how this guy keeps getting parts.
I have to disagree a little about Ben Affleck. He started out promising. Then turned into a drunken asshat, who couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. Since he cleaned himself up though, the quality of his work has gotten far better. Gone Baby Gone, which he directed, and The Town which he starred in and directed were both outstanding movies. Remember that Robert Downey Jr. had to go to jail to get his act together, before that he was pretty lame. I think there are some serious growing pains for actors with that much potential that get thrust into the Hollywood scene. Some actors and actresses with great potential wind up being swallowed up and spit out before you know it. Others like Affleck and Downey eventually drag themselves from rock bottom and get their sh*t together.
But yes he was atrocious as the daredevil.
Not that Perlman did a bad job, but I would have liked to have seen Bruce Campbell as Hellboy.
Bruce Lee as Kato, very good.
Now that you mentioned the Green Hornet….
Jay Chou as Bruce Lee? As Bruce Lee?? As Bruce Lee??? Oh, sorry… I meant… that dweeb, Jay Chou as Kato???
And even worse. In terms of missing the boat. That isn’t even on earth. Or in a body of water. And with a hole in it, washed up on the shores of the uncharted Gillian’s Island: Seth Rogen. Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet? I grant, this show did not mean much to me, but by Sweet Odin’s Raven, what were they thinking?
And does anyone remember “Captain Nice?” Never a comic book, as far as I know. At least not before the TV show. That is where I would put the Green Hornet. Therefore I say the casting was perfect: William Daniels as Carter Nash, aka Captain Nice.
Thomas Jane as Frank Castle in the little seen and underappreciated The Punisher from 2004, first class. I thought it was a good film and Jane just nailed Castle. Jane has been so underused and so remains underrated.
I don’t even see comic book films these days, they tend to be so bad, I just stay away.
Juggernaut – agree with the casting. Just didn’t work for me. Another problem I had is that apparently the US Gov is terminally stupid. They transport the Juggernaut and he’s still wearing his gear. What prison guard school trained these guys? Off with the helmet and gladiator outfit and on with the orange jumpsuit.
Hasselhof as Fury – didn’t buy the casting either. Just couldn’t get past Knight Rider and Baywatch while I watched. Oh, and Hasselhof isn’t German. His family has been in the US since 1865 and he was born in Baltimore.
Ian McKellen as Magneto and Gandalf – excellent at both. nothing like having a classicly trained actor who buys into the roles. One quibble with his fate in X3 though. At the end he’s an old man sitting in the park playing chess. Seriously? Why is he not in the darkest deepest jail on the planet? He killed – personally – hundreds of people. He ordered or orchestrated the deaths of hundreds more. And you leave him to play chess in a park just because you think he’s powerless? Please.
Whoever thought of Robert Downey Jr. for the role of Tony Stark must be an Iron Man fan, someone who actually read the comic and knew the character because there is no other actor who could have fit the role better. Downey was the rich smartass sometimes nice sometimes not kid in all the 80′s teen pics, and then he let the drug scene destroy his life sending him to prison. All of that life experience comes across in his portrayal of Tony Stark and brings the character to life. For those who’ve actually read the Sherlock Holmes books and know the great detective was sometimes dragged from drug dens by his friend Dr. Watson, Downey is also the perfect Holmes.
Well, I agree with you on Downey. Jude Law did a superb job of portraying Watson as well; he’s about the only actor they’ve ever had in the role’ who fit Doyle’s version, both in appearance and build, to say nothing of his ability in close combat.
But as for the other, in all of the four novels and sixty-four adventures that form the Canon, Watson enters an opium den exactly once, in “The Man with the Twisted Lip”. And that time, he is there to find Isa Whitney, the husband of an old school friend of his first wife, the former Mary Morstan.
Watson finds Whitney, but in the process is shocked to find that an old man in the next row of bunks is Holmes in disguise. After sending Whitney home in a cab, and joining Holmes in another, Watson is relieved to learn that instead of adding opium addiction to his seven-per-cent cocaine solution habit, Holmes was merely scouting the den in disguise while searching for the missing Mr. Neville St. Clair.
Holmes adopted the disguise on the off chance that he might encounter someone who (a) knew him by sight and (b) bore a grudge on their own or someone else’s behalf. Which, considering the sort of criminal types who frequented such establishments, shows that Holmes was not only a genius, he was also no fool.
The two do not necessarily always go together.
cheers
eon
Finally, someone else recognizes the absurdity of having ANYONE “famous” playing Judge Dredd. Apparently, the directors and producers didn’t even bother to read any of the comics. If they had, they would have IMMEDIATELY understood that the “star” of the Judge Dredd comic is…
wait for it…
Mega City One, itself.
The comic’s eponymous namesake is largely background except for some of the larger story lines. It’s the city and it’s quirky cum deadly denizens that make the comic, simply.
… and don’t get me started with including Rob Schneider as anything in this movie. He can’t even portray Fergee correctly, FFS.
At least we have this to look forward to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dredd
A minortiy view, I’m certain, but I liked both Brandon Routh’s Superman and Christian Bale’s Batman. Reeve’s Superman generally struck me as disengaged from any of the proceedings. Bale gets the edgy monomania that is the Batman.
Heath Ledger- The Joker, a masterpiece.
I think Val Kilmer SUCKED as Batman as well as George Clooney. Christian Bale all the way. Heath Leger on the other hand playing the Joker was EPIC!!!! He’ll be missed for sure. This role was “redemption” for “Broke D*ck Mountain”. Maggie Guyllenhall? PUHLEEZE!
Watch Crazy Love sometime, Maggie Gyllenhall may be a far left wacko (seriously, read up on her) but she’s got a hell of an ass on her.
Peter Parker was a teenager, Tobey Maguire looked like a 30 years old trying to play the part of a teenager. Wouldn’t it had been better to have a teenager playing the part of a teenager?
Kirsten Dunst as MJ Watson? MJ was pure fun and energy, Dunst was suffered and gloomy, and nowhere close to the perfect 10 MJ was.
And who was that guy playing JJ Jameson? Din’t they thought of getting the gunny R. Lee Ermey?
Willhelm Dafoe as The Green Goblin? Well, actually that one was right on.
Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier (X-Men) belonged on the “nailed it” list.
Agreed. My major complaint with the X-Men movies was Famke Janssen as Jean Grey.
She looks the part, but her basic persona is just a bit too dark for the role. She came very close to getting it right in X-Men 3, in the (very truncated) version of the Dark Phoenix Sag, but all the time I was thinking that she was miscast.
Frankly, I think she’d have made a better Mystique than Rebecca (Romijn-) Stamos did.
cheers
eon
There’s no accounting for taste.
Back when I was creating little catch-lines and bits for the movies in the 1990s, I did some brushing up, reviewing some of what I already knew about movie-making, script-writing… and the comic books and westerns and lighting and sound and… analyzing a wide range of movies for structure, timing, character development… well, you get the idea.
One of the books, _The Many Lives of the Batman_, I think it was, mentioned that people latch onto different things as being core characteristics of characters — in “literature”, comic books, SF, and movies. If an adaptation matches their key core characteristics — whether they be temperament, blonde or black hair, age, how they dress, height… — they cut a lot of slack on what they consider to be minor peripheral details. The catch is that one person’s minor peripheral detail is another’s totally botched key core characteristic for which he will never ever forgive you. (When I didn’t get paid for work on one, I went along with every bit of garbage the director floated for the sequel, with predictable results, after which a new director revived the franchise.)
Ben Affleck was perfect playing George Reeve in “Hollywoodland.”
I think it was his best ever performance.
And he looked good as a 1950′s Superman too.
I seriously worry about people who sit around thinking about casting for cartoons. Do they vote in presidential elections?If so, can they be barred from voting?
What amazes me is that Nicolas Cage keeps on getting work even though two-thirds of his movies tank or barely make back their production costs. It’s good to have family connections.
My pick for Brilliance in Casting: Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier. Plus Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
Worst casting decision in the same movie: Halle Berry as Storm, Famke Jannsen as Phoenix, Tyler Mane as an undersized, hairless Sabertooth, James Marsden as Cyclops.
Yeah, split down the middle on the X-MEN but they did have a lot of roles to fill. Too bad they completely destroyed the comicbook dynamic in an effort to be either PC or to “modernize” the story.
I don’t know anything about storm since I don’t read comic books.
What I do know is Halley Berry. I get wood just thinking about her. I’m pissed that they didn’t give her more screen time.
It’s not a live-action movie role, but–
The Ultimate Joker is Luke Skywalker.
Mark Hamill freaking owns that role in every voice acting gig I can think of. (He does some other villains, like Firelord Ozai and such, but eh.)
He’s there in the cartoons, he’s there for the follow up cartoons, he’s in the video games, he’s in the Robot Chicken parodies.….
Frank Oz as Grover as Master Yoda.
It can’t get much more transcendent than that.
for worst casting decision, I am going to make a plug for an actress who did NOT get the perfect role – Sean Young should have been Catwoman. She would have brought a seriously dangerous/crazy edge to the role. Would’ve loved to have seen that.
Keeping on the crazy theme, I am going to register a thumbs up to the casting of Lori Petty as Tank Girl. The movie was a failure, but not because of the casting; Petty was the perfect choice (and a young Naomi Watts as Jet Girl worked,too).
Worst movie portrayal of a comic book character? No contest – it has to be Robert “Jeep” Swenson as Bane in “Batman & Robin”.
In the comics, Bane was a genius who manipulated the release of Arkham Asylum inmates to weaken the Batman, then outfought him mano-a-mano and broke his back across his knee. In doing so, he achieved in a few months what the Joker, Two Face and even Ra’s al Ghul had utterly failed over 50+ years of comic continuity. (He also identified Bruce Wayne as Batman the first time he saw him.)
The movie version? Tor Jonsson for the 90s.
Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin in the 60′s “sitcom”. Nothing about that show was good….except the Batmobile.
Funny thing. My mother drove a black 1960 Pontiac Catalina. All the kids in the neighborhood called it the Batmobile.
I think I’m the only one who liked the Hulk with Eric Bana much better than the newer one. Certainly liked the better portrayal of the military in the first one.
I know that I am dating myself, but one of the WORST casting jobs was Reb Brown as Captain America. Poor guy was so over his head that I think they used a cardboard cutout and told Reb to just rest in his trailer.
For all of the anger poured over the Ben Affleck “Daredevil” movie, there was a role in that movie that is sorely overlooked…Michael Clarke Duncan NAILED the role of Kingpin. I was really hoping to see him make a cameo appearance in any other Marvel Universe movie.
I also thought Alfred Molina gave an excellent turn as Doc Ock in Spiderman 2.
There are campy comic book movies and there are serious comic book movies. Superman was a serious comic book movie that I think set the standard. They don’t get any better than Christopher Reeve as Superman or Robert Downey Jr as Ironman. When it comes to campy comic book movies, The Masters of the Universe and Flash Gordon come to mind, if only for the casts that went on to greater notoriety. Just plain silly, but fun, is Howard the Duc. Absolutely appalling is Casper. Christina Ricci was better in the Adamms Family.
Another terrible choice for casting has to be Jessica Alba as The Invisible Girl.
Really liked Terrance Howard as Rhodie.