Before you even start rolling the cameras, there is something crucial that can make or break a movie: casting. Getting the right actor for the role is one of the most important parts of filmmaking. The scenery could be beautiful, the CGI out of this world, and the script could be witty or thought-provoking, but if the actor doesn’t work then none of it really matters.
There have been plenty of times where studios have absolutely taken a gamble on an actor and it has paid off in spades — a famous example would be Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man — but sometimes these gambles can go the other way. In some cases, there have been castings where we have no idea why that actor was chosen. Oftentimes it’s to do with the actor not matching the ethnicity of the character they are playing or being unable to pull off a convincing regional accent, which can really throw you out of the story.
Film fans are now pointing out times when the wrong actor in the wrong role really ruined the character or even the movie for them.
Many have a true hatred for what Jared Leto did as the Joker, especially his off-screen “method” acting that annoyed his fellow castmates.
It didn’t help that he looked like a wannabe “edgy” version of the infamous character.
When you are adapting the greatest stage musical of all time, hire an actor who can sing.
Ah, the good old ’50s, where any white actor could play a person of color, including legendary Mongolian figure Genghis Khan. Wait… we still do that today?
Not only was there the notoriety hanging around Johnny Depp at the time, but many were actually disappointed to lose Colin Farrell out on the role of Grindelwald.
The recent Uncharted film had many questioning Mark Wahlberg’s casting as Victor “Sully” Sullivan, as the actor was a little on the young side for the role.
Many pointed out that he would have been better as the lead character if the film had gone in a different direction.
The Batman vs. Superman film had a lot of issues, one of which was casting Jesse Eisenberg as the well-known baddie, Lex Luthor. The outcome was just… weird.
It isn’t always certain when you cast someone if they are going to be right, and sometimes movies even change out an actor after shooting, with notable examples being Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings and Hugo Weaving as V in V for Vendetta. You aren’t always going to get it right, but in the above cases, movie fans think that they absolutely got it wrong.
