OT - Recast your favorite movie/tv show
Stuck at home with a sick baby, watching the IMDB series on roles that were turned down. In Game of Thrones, Mark Strong, Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, and Brian Cox all turned down roles. Even Emilia Clarke wasn't the first Daenerys to be picked to play the role. Will Smith turned down the role of Neo in Matrix.
If you could recast your favorite movie/tv show, who would you replace?
February 26th, 2019 at 11:13 PM ^
Ann Arbor doesn't have an elevated train.
February 27th, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
I can’t believe this comment hasn’t received more upvotes.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:34 PM ^
Recast anything with Nicholas Cage with literally anyone else
February 26th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation are truly great performances. He is also very good in Raising Arizona.
He can suck too, no question. I would hardly say he is universally bad though.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
Yeah, Nicholas Cage's extravagant lifestyle and poor money management has forced him to do a lot of shitty movies, but he's really good at playing eccentric roles.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
He basically plays himself in every movie and will do that talk slow and deliberate thing. That’s all he’s got.
February 26th, 2019 at 1:06 PM ^
I don't think you're giving him enough credit. I think he mails it in a LOT, but when he commits to a role, he can deliver. See him in Adaptation, he's not doing that Nick Cage character in that film.
February 27th, 2019 at 12:00 PM ^
It's confusing.. isn't it?
February 26th, 2019 at 3:32 PM ^
He was fucking great in Vampire's Kiss!
February 26th, 2019 at 1:04 PM ^
Blasphemy. I'm supposed to just sit here and pretend The Rock and Gone In 60 Seconds weren't incredible?
February 26th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
Con Air trumps them all.
"My little hummin bird"
February 26th, 2019 at 3:16 PM ^
agree on Con Air - no one could replace him in that role, terrible accent and all!
Joking aside, I fully agree on The Rock and Gone in 60; I thought he was a good fit for those roles
February 27th, 2019 at 2:35 PM ^
"Put the bunny back in the box!"
February 26th, 2019 at 2:45 PM ^
Nobody would be better in the National Treasure movies. His whole vibe is perfect for an eccentric treasure hunter willing to risk death to steal and discover artifacts.
February 26th, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
Not a huge Cage fan, but he fit well in those movies, which I enjoyed very much. Of course, the biggest reason was simple:
Diane Kruger. Black cocktail dress. Leaning over to get the invisible code off the back of the Declaration.
Ouch.
February 26th, 2019 at 6:46 PM ^
He was perfect in "Valley Girl" and great in "Honeymoon in Vegas" but wretched in "Peggy Sue Got Married."
February 27th, 2019 at 9:08 AM ^
Honeymoon in Vegas was a classic, "The Flying Elvis'" was a great touch.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
Not that I don't like William Shatner, but it's interesting to wonder how Star Trek would've been different had Jeffrey Hunter stayed on as Christopher Pike for the entire series run.
February 26th, 2019 at 3:15 PM ^
Jeffrey Hunter might still be alive today also if he decided to keep the role.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
I would recast Jordan Poole from Sunday with Jordan Poole from last Thursday...or most other games.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
Hoosiers
Dennis Quaid: as Coach Norman Dale
Jessica Alba: as Myra Fleener
Gary Busey: as Shooter
Nik Stauskas: as Jimmy Chitwood
Duncan Robinson: as Rade
Zak Novak: as Buddy
Spike Albrect: as Merle
Stu Douglass: as Everett
Tim Tebow: as Strap
Andrew Dakich: as Ollie
Tom Izzo: as George
Kate Upton: as Hickory cheerleader
February 26th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
And Zack Novak as "Zak Novack." ;)
February 26th, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
Fixed it. Thanks
February 26th, 2019 at 2:14 PM ^
What? Hackman was incredible in Hoosiers!
February 26th, 2019 at 2:19 PM ^
He was incredible. It would be hard finding anyone who would do better than he did.
February 26th, 2019 at 7:09 PM ^
Coach stays.
February 26th, 2019 at 2:16 PM ^
*Anllela Sagra as Hickory Cheerleader
February 26th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
I wouldn't recast, but I would add King Kong to every movie ever made.
February 26th, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
That's racist.
February 26th, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
Gary Dolphin is that you?
February 26th, 2019 at 4:40 PM ^
Gorilla's are not racist. They are majestic.
February 27th, 2019 at 9:48 AM ^
People always want to call Kong racist, but to get to that point you have to ignore the context of why Kong was even created.
The creator, Merian Cooper, was fascinated by gorillas from the age of six. The intrigue started when he was given a book, "Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa", by his uncle. The book chronicled the adventures of Paul Du Chaillu in Africa. Du Chaillu described one gorilla known for its extraordinary size that the natives described as invincible and the King of the African Forest. That planted the seed for Cooper's imagination and ultimate creation of the character King Kong.
Cooper also had a dream about a giant ape that was destroying New York City and recorded it when he woke up. This was the basis for the classic King Kong, not racism.
Yes, you can project racial undertones onto the movie but that is your own projection and not what the director ever intended. Kong was a story born out of his love and fascination of gorillas.
You could just as easily project that Kong is actually about the cruelty of the circus and how they hunted and captured exotic animals to put on display and show for people. The only outsider not trying to harm Kong is the female lead and their bond grows out of that fact. Not that the movie is actually about that, but you can project those undertones if it is your goal.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Hollywood Squares, except with kids. Gary Coleman could host.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:55 PM ^
From the grave?
February 26th, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
Gary Coleman died in 2010
February 26th, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
I heard Keith Jackson died too .
February 26th, 2019 at 3:56 PM ^
Omar from the Wire as Arnold in Different Strokes.
Will Smith as Willis
Jimmy Carter as Mr. Drummund (Donald Trump if you don't like Carter)
Kate Upton as Kimberly
Arnold Schwarzenegger as "The Gooch"
Kathy Bates as Mrs. Garrett
February 26th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
Not a huge fan of the main character casting in Outlander. Jamie, Claire, Roger and Brianna all ring false to me.
Funny thing is that they absolutely nailed the casting for more minor characters like Murtagh, Jenny and Old Ian.
February 26th, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
You're absolutely right about Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin, they're very uneven with their performances show-to-show. I don't mind Sam Heughan and Caitrona Balfe as Jamie and Claire, but the problem with the past season is their story got pushed to the background too much in favor of developing the Roger and Brianna arc.
You're dead-on about Duncan Lacroix as Murtagh though. Murtagh is a pimp. And Tobias Menzies was great as Jack Randall.
February 26th, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
My answer is probably unconventional but I thought this at the time. Coming Home (1978) dealt with a paraplegic Viet Nam vet (Jon Voight) embittered from the hand dealt him, and recovering in a VA Hospital where he encounters a married nurse (Jane Fonda) who falls for him. A powerful anti-war picture that dealt with an important topic. Both leads are fine actors with impressive bodies of work over the course of their careers. Each won an Academy award for their performance- so what's the problem?
Both were too old for their parts. Fonda was 41 and Voight 40 at the time. Voight's character was not an officer. His part called for a young man who was innocent before his experience which damages him emotionally as well as physically.
John Travolta was 24 (a full 16 years younger than Voight) and coming off of Saturday Night Fever the year before. he looked even a bit younger and could have better played a young innocent who was subjected to the horror of Vietnam. For the part of the nurse you could have stuck with Fonda and gone with the May-December aspect of the romance or you could have chosen someone like Debra Winger, then 23 (though still a relative unknown). Of course these two would star just 2 years later in a completely different kind of movie (Urban Cowboy).
Again, no knock on the actors but I felt they were wrong for the parts. Don't know the back story but I am guessing that Fonda wanted to do the film, and had the star clout to insist on a male lead close to her own age.
February 26th, 2019 at 1:07 PM ^
Pulp Fiction with Maizen as the gimp.
February 26th, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
2005 Fantastic Four
Not sure who to recommend but 2 of the 4 were really poor choices and made the movie suck
Ioan Gruffudd was horrible as Reed Richards
Jessica Alba - always keep her - as Sue Storm
Chris Evans was okay as Johnny Storm
Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm was awful - old bald out of shape guy?
Julian McMahon the guy from Nip Tuck was okay as Victor Von Doom
The early Spiderman movie actor also sucked but Mary Jane - Kirsten Dunst - was good
February 26th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
The early Spiderman movie actor also sucked but Mary Jane - Kirsten Dunst - was good
Jake Gyllenhaal would've made a better Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire.
February 26th, 2019 at 1:33 PM ^
______________________ would have made a better Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire.
Fixed it.
February 26th, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^
Literally, anyone in the world would have been a better Batman/Bruce Wayne than Ben Affleck!
February 26th, 2019 at 1:46 PM ^
I actually didn't mind him. I don't think he was the problem in those movies, and I'm not sure you would've gotten a better overall result in BvS or JL with a different actor.
The DC Extended Universe just really can't put good movies together outside of Wonder Woman.
February 26th, 2019 at 2:12 PM ^
I just don't like him as an actor. And no matter who they picked they weren't gonna compete with the Bale/Nolan Batman. So it was a no win for any actor. Now there's a buffer movie so I bet most people will like the next Batman.
February 26th, 2019 at 2:22 PM ^
Yep... this, every single word. I like Affleck in the right role but at this point, it's really narrow for me but for him to follow Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne really showed how out of his league he was for that role. The exact opposite of what the OP is asking, Bale was the perfect Batman for how the character was written.
February 26th, 2019 at 2:22 PM ^
I think Affleck did a pretty damn good job as Bruce Wayne / Batman. Was he as good as Christian Bale? No. But I think his performance more than stands up against say a Val Kilmer or a George Clooney, not that these are totally fair comparisons given the quality of script for the mid-90's Batman movies directed by Joel Schumacher. Be interesting to see who they cast for the next movie that's due to start shooting towards the end of this year.
I saw an interesting interview with Kevin Feige, the President of Marvel Studios, where he was asked how he would fix the DCEU and he thought that DC's mistake was starting off with their strongest characters and trying to build an ensemble from that. Part of the reason that Marvel has been so successful, in his opinion, is that they were forced to grab the lesser known characters that Marvel hadn't sold off to other studios (i.e. Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X-Men) and since these characters were less known and their stories less established, it was easier to weave them together into a larger story arc.