10 Most Awkward Casting Changes in Film Franchise History (not limited to comic book)

[Watson]

^have you ever seen the wind and the lion? Connery plays a Arabian desert king. He basically plays himself but makes a godawful attempt at a Middle Eastern accent.

 

[Wolfwood]

As much as I enjoyed Terminator 3, I could never buy Nick Stahl as John Connor.

 

[KenK]

Maria Bello taking over for Rachel Weisz in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor. If they had to re-cast, so be it, but they could've done better.

I'd have gone with Francess O'Conner. British AND had already worked with Fraser in Bedazzled.

 

[roach]

the real reason Batman forever and Batman and Robin were so light was because family groups were protesting Batman Returns and WB made him make the films lighter...Joel wanted to do DKR

 

[SpandexFan]

Concerning the bonds YES to Moore miscast in the role ....I mean he's funny and charming but I always saw in him Lord Brett Sinclair playing james bond and not james bond himself ! A light yes to Lazenby, he'd have been better with more acting skills but a big NO to Timothy dalton as a casting error.....physically he's probably the actor who best fits with Ian Fleming's description, it's just that he wasn't as charming as the other ones !

I guess it's unfair to criticize Gambon for not being more like the novel version of Harry Potter and not hold the James Bond actors to the same standard, but I haven't read the original Bond novels, and I'm also aiming more at audience reaction than novel-to-film interpretation. Regardless of how much Timothy Dalton might be like the book version, most movie audiences really didn't accept him and the studios were all too quick to throw him out of the franchise when Pierce Brosnan became available.

 

[SpandexFan]

Jodie Foster not returning for Hannibal hurt it, but it was a bad film anyway.

Honestly, Jodie Foster probably should have replaced The Matrix on the list. I think my own prejudice caused me to poke at those awful sequels which were killed by the new direction of the franchise more than anything. The dynamic between Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster was what made Silence of the Lambs great and it was lost in the second movie, although it wasn't that great of a story. I knew when I read the book it was going to be a bad movie.

 

[SpandexFan]

Maria Bello taking over for Rachel Weisz in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor. If they had to re-cast, so be it, but they could've done better.

That was definitely another "feel wierd" choice, but I'm not much of a fan of The Mummy, so probably didn't look at it as much as I should have. I also happen to think Rachel Weisz is cute as hell which is why I think I noticed her absence more than anything.

 

[SpandexFan]

As much as I enjoyed Terminator 3, I could never buy Nick Stahl as John Connor.

Yeah, I think it's a credit to the writers and director that even with an awkward looking John Connor and a barely pumped up Schwarzenegger, it was still a fun movie to watch.

 

[choskins]

I like the idea of your list but some of your examples aren't "casting changes" IMO. A casting change to me is when a new actor plays the same character in another film. Tommy Morrison as a Rocky opponent is not a casting change. It may have been a bad casting choice though.

Two that come to mind for me are: (1) Julianne Moore playing Clarise in Hannibal, instead of Jodie Foster; and (2) the constant recasting of the Griswald kids in every Vacation movie.

 

[That-Guy]

LOL... yeah, the National Lampoon's Vacation movies are so awkward in that regard... the parents get older, but the kids stay the same age. WTF?

 

[Schlosser85]

Superman Returns" was directed by Bryan Singer ("X-Men"), who is attuned to the action potential of the story, but his movie has no warmth, and Bosworth is a big part of the problem. It's a heck of a thing to say that the intricacies of playing Lois Lane are outside an actress' sphere, but whatever those intricacies are, they elude Bosworth, possibly because she's simply too young for the role. She was 22 at the time of filming, and her idea of playing a 30-year-old professional woman was to act confrontational and aggrieved and never smile. This is a younger person's naive conception of strength, the notion that the path to success is to behave as if the whole world were trying to pick you up in a bar and you're not having it.

Am I the only one who thinks this exact quote could be used to describe Katie Holmes in Batman Begins?

 

[Ace of Knaves]

It could actually. But it's also pretty perfect for Bosworth too.

 

[Schlosser85]

I initially disliked Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, but I thought he got right in Half-Blood Prince.

Agree that they totally could have gotten someone better for Anakin than Hayden Christensen though...although the idea of an actually talented actor like Heath Ledger having to say some of those lines is a little sad...

 

[That-Guy]

Yeah, as bad as Hayden was, I don't think anyone could have made those lines work. "And you've grown... more beautiful."

(VOMITS)

 

[Dr. Evil]

Elisabeth Shue replacing Claudia Wells as Jennifer Parker and (to a lesser extent) Jeffrey Weisman replacing Crispin Glover as George McFly in the Back to the Future sequels. Don't get me wrong, Elisabeth Shue is a really good actress (he has been nominated for an Oscar after all), but the casting change really threw the continuity out of wack. The second one after all, does literally take place after the first one ends (i.e. Marty, Doc and Jennifer time traveling to the year 2015).

Wait....I thought Crispin played George McFly in all three movies?

Shue did a better job playing Jennifer then Wells. Shue was (and still is) hotter then Wells, although I don't know what Wells looks like today.

So Crispin did not play George in all three movies? I didn't even notice it.

 

[That-Guy]

No Crispin had a drug problem and (I believe) was not asked back for the sequels. Hence the reason you hardly see George in parts 2 and 3.

I agree about Shue... the character of Jennifer was hardly in the first movie anyway, and Shue was WAY hotter and had more charisma that she did.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

No Crispin had a drug problem and (I believe) was not asked back for the sequels. Hence the reason you hardly see George in parts 2 and 3.

I agree about Shue... the character of Jennifer was hardly in the first movie anyway, and Shue was WAY hotter and had more charisma that she did.

Agreed. Thats one Shue i wouldn't mind trying on for size... And when i say "trying on for size", i mean, of course "having sex with"...

 

[That-Guy]

Lmao

 

[KenK]

Agreed. Thats one Shue i wouldn't mind trying on for size... And when i say "trying on for size", i mean, of course "having sex with"...

HA! She was so good in Hamlet 2!!!

 

[choskins]

No Crispin had a drug problem and (I believe) was not asked back for the sequels. Hence the reason you hardly see George in parts 2 and 3.

It had nothing to do with drugs. He demanded the same salary as Michael J. Fox and was thus replaced.

Replacement of Crispin Glover

As Bob Gale states in the DVD commentary, actor Crispin Glover was asked to reprise the role of George McFly in this film. Glover indicated interest, but demanded a salary the producers felt was unreasonable. Glover reportedly refused to budge, so he was dropped from the picture. Glover later insisted in a 1992 interview on The Howard Stern Show that he and Zemeckis had some "creative disagreements" over the character, and felt that the director simply wanted an actor who was more pliable. He also said that the salary offered was "really low" (reportedly around $50,000), and that he was certain they never really wanted him back.[citation needed]

In the BTTF FAQ, Gale and Zemeckis state that Glover was uninterested in doing the sequels and was asking for the same salary as Michael J. Fox, and therefore was written out of the story.[1]

As a result, the filmmakers found inventive ways of avoiding showing the character's face in the movie, despite the fact that George McFly was in certain key scenes and dialogue. During all scenes in which the George McFly character appears in both this film and Back to the Future Part III, he is played by Jeffrey Weissman and seen wearing sunglasses, from the back, upside-down, or out of focus in the background. This was to preserve the George McFly character's continuity, despite being played by a different actor. However, producers also recycled footage from the original Back to the Future that included Crispin Glover's portrayal of George McFly. Glover sued Universal for compensation, on grounds that his contract for the first film did not allow subsequent uses of his portrayal of George McFly in new films. The day before the lawsuit went before a judge, Universal quietly settled the case, paying the actor an undisclosed sum. Glover would not reveal the amount during his Howard Stern Show appearance, but did suggest the real reason for the settlement was that Universal was reluctant to "open up their accounting books to the public" during the trial. The Screen Actors Guild later rewrote their rules regarding the derivative use of actors' works in films or TV series, setting terms under which to require the studios and networks to give payment and credit to the actors.

 

[That-Guy]

Oh, okay. Guess I was wrong. I had always heard it was a a drug problem, but I guess that was just a rumor that sprung up due to the Letterman incident.

 

[Jolly Rolly]

LOL... yeah, the National Lampoon's Vacation movies are so awkward in that regard... the parents get older, but the kids stay the same age. WTF?

Even Clark Griswold in Vegas Vacation makes a joke about saying that he hardly recognizes the kids anymore, surprisingly a few of them became succesful in their careers.

Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science, Dead Zone, TDK)
Dana Barron (a few 90210 episodes in the 90's)

Jason Lively (Night Of The Creeps)
Dana Hill (voices in Rugrats, Goof Troop) she died in 1996 of diabetes

Johnny Galecki (Roseanne, The Big Bang Theory)
Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers)

Ethan Embry (Can't Hardly Wait)
Marisol Nichols ("24")

 

[KnightBat]

How about Kristie Alley replaced with Robin Curtis as Lt. Saavik for Star Trek III/IV? I always thought that one was bad. They were like night and day. Curtis was basically a new character, her performance as Saavik was nothing like Alley's. Although this maybe due to writing as in TWOK, Saavik was written as being half-Vulcan, half-Romulan, which is why Saavik shows emotion and cries at Spock's funeral, but all references to this were deleted in the film.


Where in TSFS, Saavik is portrayed as being full Vulcan.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Even Clark Griswold in Vegas Vacation makes a joke about saying that he hardly recognizes the kids anymore, surprisingly a few of them became succesful in their careers.

Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science, Dead Zone, TDK)
Dana Barron (a few 90210 episodes in the 90's)

Jason Lively (Night Of The Creeps)
Dana Hill (voices in Rugrats, Goof Troop) she died in 1996 of diabetes

Johnny Galecki (Roseanne, The Big Bang Theory)
Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers)

Ethan Embry (Can't Hardly Wait)
Marisol Nichols ("24")

Dana Barron reprised her role as Audrey in a TV Spinoff movie involving Randy Quaid's Cousin Eddie.

 

[KnightBat]

Thought of some more:

Robert John Burke replacing Peter Weller in Robocop 3 and then subsequently the guy that played Robo in the TV series & TV mini series.

Sticky Fingers replacing Wesley Snipes as Blade in the TV Series.