10 Bizarre Movie Casting Decisions That Made No Sense

2) Angelina Jolie As Mariane Pearl In A Mighty Heart

Remember that time Angelina Jolie effectively blacked up for a part? Maybe not – A Mighty Heart isn’t a particularly well-remembered movie, and those that do recognize it tend to on the basis that it’s that movie where Jolie wore a black frizzy wig, tanned her skin darker and sported brown contact lenses to play a part Afro-Cuban, part Dutch-Jewish woman.

In this case, the request for the odd casting choice was made by the woman Jolie would be playing herself. Mariane Pearl, whom the protagonist of A Mighty Heart is based on, personally asked for Jolie to play her in her story. The film still came in for controversy, though, likely none of which troubled director Michael Winterbottom, who’s subjected audiences to much worse (see The Killer Inside Me, if you’re curious).