The Why did you cast them ? Cast this person Thread...

[Mandon Knight]

Roles that actors or actresses were born to play and you would have cast them in a heartbeat because you thought them ideal for the role, but went to someone else.

Did the person who eventually get the role justify their opportunity, in what way would your choice have made the role different, do you feel ?

I'll kick things off....

Back in 2006/07 when The Dark Knight Joker casting was beginning to gain steam and SO much on-line debate on who was playing him was being discussed, (very few of us would have instantly thought Heath Ledger, I'm sure we'll get onto him more later) but for me, there was only one choice for me, and it was blindingly obvious to me he should be chosen, Paul Bettany.

When Ledger was cast, I was in disgust, not because Ledger had been cast, because how had they missed out on Bettany, in my view.

Having seen him in Gangster No. 1, here was a performance that screamed The Joker, cold, monovalent, manic, distorted. They had failed in my book.

We know in hindsight, how well Ledger did, he owned the role and what comes out of this, is Nolan wanted his Joker different to the way I saw the part, and this is what this is all about really, the art of choice and reasoning of choice.

I still say 10 years on, Bettany's Joker would have been incredible and maybe one day we get his 'take' (god, I hope so) but Ledger gave us a decaying visage of The Joker, a man whose only care was destruction, he was already destroyed and eaten away, now it was everybody else's turn.

Bettany would have given us a well dressed sociopath, clean cut, vicious and separated from his own sub-conscious I feel, Heath gave us the dynamic & heart with visually a different take.

 

[David H.]

I guess there’s been a lot of this with the It: Chapter 2 cast. It’s primarily a surface level issue like wanting Amy Adams as Beverly because she more closely resembles the actress playing her in chapter one.

I think I’m usually on the reverse of this, sort of speak, where there’s an actor/actress who in my opinion are perfect for one thing and are then cast in another (Cumberbatch as Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, goes on to play Dr. Strange.)

 

[David H.]

Going off what I’ve seen in the forums, I think a big one (if not the one) here is Jon Hamm as Batman instead of Affleck back in 2013.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Another Joker one, for me, as much as I love 1989's Batman, I think Nicholson as the Joker is just such lazy casting. It struck me it was a case of 'let's just go for Jack', at the time of casting there were equally good actors out there for the role. I know they were interested in both Robin Williams & Tim Currey but by-passed both to go straight to Nicholson, I know it seems obvious casting back then, but for me, Williams would have given you something very different.

 

[Flash525]

Tom Cruise or Mark Wahlberg as Hal Jordan; hasn't happened yet, but if there's remotely any truth to the rumours, that'll be a terrible decision.

 

[MilkmanDan]

Speaking of Tom Cruise... I know he sells tickets and all, but Jack Reacher really should have been Liev Schreiber.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Emmy Rossum should've played Belle in the live action Beauty and the Beast. She would've been perfect for that.

 

[Web-Head]

Ezra Miller as the Flash

 

[Mandon Knight]

Ezra Miller as the Flash

For or against the casting ?

 

[Web-Head]

For or against the casting ?

Against

 

[Mandon Knight]

Article about some controversial casting choices....

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertain...t-turned-out-great/ar-BBMpsEF?ocid=spartanntp

Nothing hugely new, the history we knew but the Spacek one has interesting view.

 

[gwynplaine]

Another Joker one, for me, as much as I love 1989's Batman, I think Nicholson as the Joker is just such lazy casting. It struck me it was a case of 'let's just go for Jack', at the time of casting there were equally good actors out there for the role. I know they were interested in both Robin Williams & Tim Currey but by-passed both to go straight to Nicholson, I know it seems obvious casting back then, but for me, Williams would have given you something very different.

I don't know that they were considered but either Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe or James Woods would have made a better Joker back then. Nicholson was not only lazy casting like you say, even though I also get why they went with him for the star appeal and cachet he brought to the project, he was also more or less doing a take on Romero's interpretation and was maybe too old for the part. His Jack Torrance was a better Joker than his Jak Napier.

 

[Herofan]

I really wished that a Green Lantern film had (being made a few years earlier) had Jennifer Connelly as Carol Ferris and Hugo Weaving as Sinestro so I was disappointed when they instead had other comic book film roles in 2003 and 2005/6.

 

[Asr]

Nathan Fillion could've/should've been the live-action GL Hal Jordan. I know he's voiced Hal Jordan in animated DC material, but would've been great in live-action too.

Also, I love Michael Keaton as Batman, but I feel like Alec Baldwin at the time could've made for a stronger Bruce Wayne. Today, I'd totally settle for either of them in either a TDKR storyline, or as old Bruce in a live-action Batman Beyond.

As far as Joker, no one in live action has really captured him for me, at least if Mark Hamill's voice and characterization is the benchmark. Still waiting for the right actor to come along to capture a Joker that's psychopathic, murderous, and comedic all at the same time.

On the Marvel side, most of the characters are really well-cast, but ScarJo as Black Widow is one of the worst, and I'm sure there were plenty of better options available. Emily Blunt would've been great (although I know she's turned Marvel down before, but maybe not now?), or Kate Beckinsale, or almost any other tall & brown-haired actress, which there are a ton of in Hollywood, but no they had to cast a short naturally-blonde-haired woman?