The Casting & Recasting Thread

[vb68]

Yes I believe it was.  I was touched as well.   There were great stories for anyone even remotely interested in films.

[methodwriter85]

The casting of Virginia Madsen as Jennifer Lawrence's mother in the upcoming "Joy" is perfect. The two of them really do look alike. 

 

Another really impressive casting was Joan Allen and Keri Russell as mother and daughter in The Upside of Anger. The older Keri's getting, the more she's looking like her.

 

As for Lawrence, Julia Stiles played her older sister in Silver Linings Playbook. I thought it was pretty bang-on. I'd love to see them playing sisters again.

Edited December 18, 2015 by methodwriter85

[Schweedie]

The first piece of casting that comes to mind for this thread for me was Izzy Meikle-Small as the young version of Carey Mulligan's Kathy in Never Let Me Go. That was inspired.

 

As for recasting/casting that didn't happen, I will forever be sad that we'll never have a version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with Hugh Laurie as Arthur Dent and Minnie Driver as Trillian.

[Rick Kitchen]

Bailee Madison as young Snow White in "Once Upon a Time" was spot on casting.  She looks just like Ginnifer Goodwin.

[methodwriter85]

I've mentioned this before, but Anthony Ingruber was absolutely convincing as a younger version of Harrison Ford in Age of Adaline:

 

 

It's so uncanny. I would swear this was his grandson or something.

Edited December 18, 2015 by methodwriter85

[PepSinger]

The name of the HBO documentary is Casting By. The Director's Guild can suck it, IMO.

[UYI]

Honestly, hands down, the most impressive casting I've ever seen in my life was Christine Taylor as Marcia Brady in the Brady Bunch movie. THAT was just incredible to watch. She nailed that character/child star in every imaginable way. There's been a lot of "t.v. show to movie" adaptions, and I've never seen any other movie-based-on-a-t.v.-show adaption so faithfully re-adapt the feeling of the original piece.

 

Maureen McCormick once said that she remembered seeing the premiere of the movie, and there were times while watching that she thought she was watching herself, and how bizarre it felt.

 

But yeah, Christine Taylor knew what she was doing--she even pronounced the word school as "skule", the way Maureen sometimes did on the show! I think the only real big difference is that Christine has brown eyes, and of course Maureen's are blue. 

[methodwriter85]

Fantasy casting- Cara Delevingne is exactly how I pictured Lux Lisbon when I read the Virgin Suicides. I can't see that movie getting remade, but she really does look like how I pictured Lux when I read that book, long before I had ever heard of Cara.

[JBC344]

As an actor I have tremendous respect for the Casting Director but I absolutely understand why there isn't a casting Oscar, at least yet.  Casting a movie can get very murky and blurry as to who actually casted.  A lot of people will look at a film and say, "that is a great cast", but that doesn't mean that the casting director "casted" those actors. 

 

There are actually times of course where the casting director really did assemble all these great names, but a lot of time the "A-list" talent for a movie is assembled through other areas and the casting director may be in charge of casting the supporting cast, or even a lot of the incredibly smaller parts.

 

The problem with awarding is that the flashier movies are the ones that get the "casting" attention and those are the most blurry as to who actually did cast the film.  The Director, Producer, and studio will actually cast a lot of the major players for a movie before they even hire a casting director to cast the rest of the film.

 

In order for there to be a Casting Oscar it would have to have very strict criteria.  Something like 95% of everyone who appears on screen in a movie would have to be cast by the Casting Director in order to be considered. 

[Ambrosefolly]

As much as I like James Marsden, I really wish Jim Caviezel would have reconsidered and taken the role of Cyclops. Apparently the role didn't have the "depth" of Wolverine, to him at least, but I think with Jim Caviezel in the role, it could have truly competed with Wolverine.

[methodwriter85]

I was going through clips of Bye Bye Birdie, and it really did strike me how well they cast the McAfee Family:

 

 

It really wasn't hard to see how Paul Lynde and the woman playing his wife could have produced Ann Margaret. Facial structure and coloring from Mom, eyes from Dad.

[Rick Kitchen]

Johnny Depp will star in an Invisible Man remake.

 

Why do people keep making Johnny Depp movies when his movies keep failing at the box office?

[AimingforYoko]

Johnny Depp will star in an Invisible Man remake.

 

Why do people keep making Johnny Depp movies when his movies keep failing at the box office?

Let's ask Rick James:

[SeanC]

Johnny Depp will star in an Invisible Man remake.

 

Why do people keep making Johnny Depp movies when his movies keep failing at the box office?

When you've been as successful as Depp was for as long as he was, you build up a lot of residual credit.

[absnow54]

Yeah, his 1986 performance of Donald J. Trump was huge.

[methodwriter85]

Seeing the trailer for Luke Bracey's film "Me Him Her" just reminded me again what horrible, horrible casting he was as a teenaged(?) James Marsden in "The Best of Me". Seriously? I mean, seriously. They have a similar eye shape and that's about it. I don't care if you dye his hair brown, it's not going to make Luke look like he could be an 18-year old version of James Marsden.

 

Although it's not quite as bad as Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis playing the same character at different points in their lives. They tried with prosthetic pieces, but nothing was going to make him believable as a younger Bruce Willis.

 

On the other side, I really like the pairing of Saoirse Ronan and Vanessa Redgrave in "Atonement." It's believable. (Vanessa has used her daughter Joely a couple of times, but I'm talking about older/younger casting that doesn't use relatives.)

 

Of course, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, Anthony Ingruber was just uncanny as a young Harrison Ford. Just uncanny.

[absnow54]

Or in the movie Zathura when they tried to pretend that Dax Shephard was the adult version of Josh Hutcherson.

[cpcathy]

Wow, really?? That's awful! That's another one of my petpeeves, where the adult versions of characters do not resemble the kid version. Of course, you can't get a mini version of an actor, but geez, try better than that!

[Trini]

... Of course, you can't get a mini version of an actor, but geez, try better than that!

 

Sometimes you can! I was really impressed by the casting of Kid!Thor and Kid!Loki in Thor. Similar face shape and everything. And Young Snow White on Once Upon A Time, for a TV example.

[methodwriter85]

Wow, really?? That's awful! That's another one of my petpeeves, where the adult versions of characters do not resemble the kid version. Of course, you can't get a mini version of an actor, but geez, try better than that!

 

It just don't get where they thought that 6'1" or whatever Luke Bracey, with his big broad-shouldered lanky build, would make a believable younger version of the lithe and compact James Marsden, who's probably 5'10" at most on a good day. They didn't even have similar body types. (Not to say that it's not possible for a guy's body type to change, but usually, a guy doesn't get significantly shorter or see his shoulders and chest become less broad.)

 

Now for the okay...I pretty much was able to buy Evan Rachel Wood as the younger version of Uma Thurman in The Life Before Her Eyes. I don't think it was perfect, but it was believable enough.

 

Now for fantasy...if Cate Blanchett needs a mini-me that can pass for late teens/early 20's, she should totally think about Saoirse Ronan. They both have a similar, unique kind of look to them.

 

With some contour, it should work well.

 

I also think that Leo should think about getting Dane DeHaan to play a younger him before age catches up to Dane.

Edited March 12, 2016 by methodwriter85

[wallflower75]

In the "woefully miscast" department, may I submit Anthony Hopkins in The Human Stain?  Any chance I might've found him believable in the role was pretty much gone by the casting of Wentworth Miller to play the younger version of his character.

[Dejana]

I watched Sweet Dreams (1985), a Patsy Cline biopic. Jessica Lange and Ed Harris are wonderful actors but looked at least ten years too old for their roles (and Jessica's hair seemed to retain this poofy/permy 1980s look most of the time). Especially ridiculous was Ed playing a character who got a draft notice. Don't think the US Army was calling up 35-year-old civilians for either Korea or Vietnam, let alone between the two wars.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Call me crazy, but I thought casting Johnny Fontane was a stroke of genius by Don Corleone.  :) 

 

My all-time worst casting choice was Anthony Perkins as Jimmy Piersall in Fear Strikes Out.  Dude literally could not throw a baseball!

[raezen]

My all-time worst casting choice was Anthony Perkins as Jimmy Piersall in Fear Strikes Out. Dude literally could not throw a baseball!

I have the same problem with 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'. Tom Courtney is excellent in the flashbacks but his running technique left a lot to be desired. Of course once you see the race at the end you saw that no one cast could actually run.

Edited March 13, 2016 by raezen

[lampshades]

I couldn't buy Adam Driver in Star Wars as the son of

Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher

. He's too unique looking to be cast as anyone's child.

 

I also had a hard time with Leonardo Dicaprio and Cameron Diaz in Gangs of New York - they did not look or sound (emphasis on sound) like poor turn of the century Irish immigrants.

[katha]

I also had a hard time with Leonardo Dicaprio and Cameron Diaz in Gangs of New York - they did not look or sound (emphasis on sound) like poor turn of the century Irish immigrants.

Diaz and DiCaprio have thankless roles, their screwy and inconsistent accents aren't helping and Diaz in particular just couldn't shed her "modernity" (for lack of a better word) either. Also, they're up against Day-Lewis in IMO one of his greatest, because most entertaining performances. Bill the Butcher is one of my fave movie characters ever, because he's just so fun! In a psychotic kind of way... DDL could have gone all serious and grave and historically important, but instead he made the choice to go full pulp fiction. And he was right, because Scorsese's movie, messy as it is, is pulp fiction in tone. So his larger than life persona, the mugging and comedy bits are pitch perfect, and make the Butcher ultimately even scarier.

 

So yeah, Diaz and DiCaprio are miscast and struggling, and it becomes even more obvious because the third lead, DDL, is acing it and making them look even more awkward in comparison. Apparently there were considerations at the beginning to slot DDL into Supporting Actor for awards season LOL. And structurally he is a supporting player. But he's such a dominant force that they wouldnt't have gotten away with that, even though category fraud is rampant.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Diaz and DiCaprio have thankless roles, their screwy and inconsistent accents aren't helping and Diaz in particular just couldn't shed her "modernity" (for lack of a better word) either. Also, they're up against Day-Lewisin IMO one of his greatest, because most entertaining performances. Bill the Butcher is one of my fave movie characters ever, because he's just so fun! In a psychotic kind of way... DDL could have gone all serious and grave and historically important, but instead he made the choice to go full pulp fiction. And he was right, because Scorsese's movie, messy as it is, is pulp fiction in tone. So his larger than life persona, the mugging and comedy bits are pitch perfect, and make the Butcher ultimately even scarier.

So yeah, Diaz and DiCaprio are miscast and struggling, and it becomes even more obvious because the third lead, DDL, is acing it and making them look even more awkward in comparison. Apparently there were considerations at the beginning to slot DDL into Supporting Actor for awards season LOL. And structurally he is a supporting player. But he's such a dominant force that they wouldnt't have gotten away with that, even though category fraud is rampant.

Agree about everything, especially about Daniel Day-Lewis, who is my EVERYTHING. I remain in mourning because I don't know when, or IF, he will do another movie.

Ahem.

Sorry, anytime Daniel Day-Lewis is mentioned, I swoon.

On topic! Though she is the better actress, I didn't care for Maggie Gyllenhall's performance as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight, because she played her as a totally different character. Not that I liked Katie Holmes's portrayal either, because I didn't, nor did I care for the harpy judgmental character. It's more salt on the would since she was a made up character for the movies. So I wasn't shedding any tears when she bit it.

[methodwriter85]

Diaz and DiCaprio have thankless roles, their screwy and inconsistent accents aren't helping and Diaz in particular just couldn't shed her "modernity" (for lack of a better word) either.

Diaz just can't pull off period films. I think she's too tall to really work as a period woman, and there's just something too modern about her face. I can't really point to what it is, but she has this very 1980's/1990's former blonde Valley Girl beauty to her face. I honestly think the earliest period I can buy her as being from would be the 1970's.

 

This goes way back, but man, William Holden was just way too old to be Hal in Picnic. Hal is supposed to be a guy who recently dropped out of college, not a guy in his late 30's who looks like he's 50 because of the way he drinks. I will give him the fact that he did have fantastic chemistry with Kim Novak in the Moonglow dance scene, but if you have to significantly change plot points to accommodate him (Alan had to be aged up as well which took out the plot about how Alan was going back to college soon), then maybe they should have stuck with the plot.

 

Paul Newman originated the role on Broadway...I get that they wanted star power and he wasn't really a star yet in 1955, but god, if only....

[methodwriter85]

You know, I'm sure Dave Franco will do a good job as Greg Sestero in The Disaster Artist, but I kind of wish they had gotten a guy who better matched Greg in being a tall, blue-eyed blond, because it really contrasted with Tommy Wiseau's looks as a short, dark-haired vampire. It kind of messes with the dynamic for Greg to be shorter than Tommy. Oh, well.

Edited March 19, 2016 by methodwriter85

[raezen]

I always see the resemblance between James and Dave Franco, and I'm wondering if they are going to be able to hide that well. If not that would be pretty distracting.

[methodwriter85]

I always see the resemblance between James and Dave Franco, and I'm wondering if they are going to be able to hide that well. If not that would be pretty distracting.

 

To Dave's credit, he DOES look pretty damn good in the fake blonde wig and beard. I'm wondering if trying to hide the family resemblance is the reason why they don't have Dave wearing blue contact lenses like James is wearing.

 

I don't want to be too critical on this because it's a basically a zany look at a zany movie, but Greg's looks are SUCH a big part of the story, in my opinion. They're why Tommy is obviously obsessed with him, because he can't ever be the tall, good-looking All-American guy that Greg is.

 

I will say though, Ari Graynor just nails it for me as Juliette Danielle/Lisa. Not so much that they look alike, but that I can see Ari as the Lisa part,

Edited March 20, 2016 by methodwriter85

[VCRTracking]

Margot Robbie has been cast in the upcoming Tonya Harding biopic "I, Tonya" which hopefully will be campy fun, but as critic Amy Nicholson tweeted, their was a missed opportunity:

 

"I loooooooooove Margot Robbie. But clearly Amy Adams was born to play Tonya Harding."

 

Edited March 22, 2016 by VCRTracking

[UYI]

Margot Robbie has been cast in the upcoming Tonya Harding biopic "I, Tonya" which hopefully will be campy fun, but as critic Amy Nicholson tweeted, their was a missed opportunity:

 

HELL YES!

 

I'm SO excited for this. Figure skating is my all time favorite sport, so this is basically a gift from Heaven for me.

 

All I need is Taylor Swift as Nancy Kerrigan in a busted looking black wig and I'm all set. (Just kidding...sort of. :P) 

[methodwriter85]

Amy Addams...if this had only come around about a decade earlier when she was still pulling off playing early 20-something characters. Oh, well.

 

I'm sure Margot Robbie is going to rock it.

[wallflower75]

*blink* They're making a movie about Tonya Harding.  I.  Am.  So.  THERE!!  I have to agree that if she were just a little younger, Amy Adams would've been perfect, but the heck with it.

Edited March 25, 2016 by wallflower75

[methodwriter85]

Speaking of Amy Adams...Isla Fisher is going to play her alter-ego in a movie!

I've been wanting them in a movie together since 2006 when I thought the chick in the Wedding Crashers was the same chick that I had seen in a little indie movie called Junebug, and then realized I was wrong. I was so disappointed that they didn't cast Isla to play her sister in Sunshine Cleaners.

[cpcathy]

I hate when opportunities like that get missed!

I also wonder when Jesse Plemons and Matt Damon are going to play brothers.

[Bruinsfan]

Or Damon's love-child with Jim Gaffigan in some futuristic action comedy.

[methodwriter85]

I loved seeing Christina Applegate playing the Head Bitch in Charge with Bad Moms. Kind of made me wish we could have seen her play that kind of part in a beloved teen movie back in the late 80's/early 90's, but she really seemed to steer outside of typical "blonde" roles outside of Kelly Bundy.

Correction Hmm, it looks like she DID play a teen bitch role in a t.v. movie called Dance 'Til Dawn, but it was no Heathers, unfortunately.

Speaking of, they really wanted Heather Graham to play Heather Chandler, and then Heather McNamara, but her parents refused because they were 80's evangelical Christians who believed that movie was of the Devil. Kind of a shame- I don't think Heather Graham is much of an actress, but I bet she would have been an amazing Heather McNamara. And she would have looked age-appropriate as opposed to Lisanne Falk, who did kind of stick out as looking a little too old compared to the actual teenagers (Winona and Shannen) and the near-teenager (Kim) they had.

[methodwriter85]

Kirsten Dunst to Direct The Bell Jar starring Dakota Fanning

You know, I can see this. Esther is a pretty cerebral person, and I can see Dakota playing the role

[topanga]

On 8/1/2016 at 11:32 PM, methodwriter85 said:

 

I loved seeing Christina Applegate playing the Head Bitch in Charge with Bad Moms. Kind of made me wish we could have seen her play that kind of part in a beloved teen movie back in the late 80's/early 90's, but she really seemed to steer outside of typical "blonde" roles outside of Kelly Bundy.

 

Yes, she was great. It took me a long time to recognize her--not because she looks any different--but because I'm not used to her playing this type of role.

[methodwriter85]

I feel like Christina Applegate was wary of playing the bitchy beautiful blonde girl because she didn't want to play the type of roles her looks would normally get her, especially back during the 1980's and early 1990's when teen movies were especially heavy-handed on stereotypes. John Hughes would have never let her be the protagonist in one of his teen movies.

Christina apparently dyed her hair brown at some point because she was tired of the "blondie" jokes and wore a wig.

[spaceytraci1208]

I think Kristen Stewart was well cast as Jody Foster's daughter in Panic Room

[JessePinkman]

1 hour ago, spaceytraci1208 said:

I think Kristen Stewart was well cast as Jody Foster's daughter in Panic Room

I was literally just watching that! She is very well cast, and a natural. What happened?

[Athena]

18 hours ago, JessePinkman said:

I was literally just watching that! She is very well cast, and a natural. What happened?

I am not a fan of her style, but she received a ton of critical acclaim and awards last year for Clouds of Sils Maria. She is still getting work for indie and art house films. She must be doing something well?

[methodwriter85]

I think Kristen's greatest strength is that she is VERY good at generating chemistry with her co-stars. I managed to root for her and Jesse Eisenberg, as well as her and Eddie Redmayne.

[JessePinkman]

9 hours ago, Athena said:

I am not a fan of her style, but she received a ton of critical acclaim and awards last year for Clouds of Sils Maria. She is still getting work for indie and art house films. She must be doing something well?

I guess I'm thinking of the 5 Twilight films I was forced to watch with my ex, then again no one was very good in those movies.

[supposebly]

I've never seen the Twilight movies, so I came to Kristen Stewart's acting without any preconceptions. Why anyone older than 13 would watch this stuff is beyond me anyway.

I think she's good. I liked her in the Snow White movie, and American Ultra. She makes interesting choices in movies and I like her look too, so, maybe I should put this in the unpopular opinions thread? Next on my list is "Still Alice." I won't watch the Woody Allen movie she made but that's because it's a Woody Allen movie. I hate that guy and his movies.

[methodwriter85]

Not that she did a bad job, but I would have recasted Mila Kunis in Bad Moms. Yes, she was 32 playing 32, but I just didn't find her believable as a mom to tweens. Her mannerisms and the way she interacted with the kids didn't feel like a woman who had her kids young and therefore missed out on her 20's. She seemed more like the aunt who wind up raising her older sister's kids after she and the husband die in a tragic accident, interrupting her wacky and fun single gal lifestyle. The fact that they brought up how young she seemed at least three separate times in the movie seems just a tad defensive on their part.

Not that anyone casts her anymore in anything, but I could've seen Jessica Alba in the part, especially since she seems to have responded to her has-been status by being really into her motherhood product business.

It might have been a bit meta(because Bad Moms is basically Mean Girls: Thirtysomething Edition), but it might have been fun to see Rachel McAdams play the part as well.

I will reiterate the fact that I loved every fucking minute of watching Christina Applegate play the total bitch. I wish she had done more roles like that, and it makes me wonder how she would have tackled Heather Chandler in Heathers.

[topanga]

13 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

Not that she did a bad job, but I would have recasted Mila Kunis in Bad Moms. Yes, she was 32 playing 32, but I just didn't find her believable as a mom to tweens. Her mannerisms and the way she interacted with the kids didn't feel like a woman who had her kids young and therefore missed out on her 20's. She seemed more like the aunt who wind up raising her older sister's kids after she and the husband die in a tragic accident, interrupting her wacky and fun single gal lifestyle. The fact that they brought up how young she seemed at least three separate times in the movie seems just a tad defensive on their part.

Not that anyone casts her anymore in anything, but I could've seen Jessica Alba in the part, especially since she seems to have responded to her has-been status by being really into her motherhood product business.

It might have been a bit meta(because Bad Moms is basically Mean Girls: Thirtysomething Edition), but it might have been fun to see Rachel McAdams play the part as well.

I will reiterate the fact that I loved every fucking minute of watching Christina Applegate play the total bitch. I wish she had done more roles like that, and it makes me wonder how she would have tackled Heather Chandler in Heathers.

Amen to your entire post! BoogieBurns and I have been discussing this on the movie's thread.  Mila Kunis would work better as the mother of younger kids--infants or toddlers.  Or maybe it's also the way the character is written.  She's still completely clueless and frazzled when it comes to her kids. And while I laughed at the jokes, most of them (for me) reminded me of days when my kids were younger (less than 7 or 8, for example).  

But I hardly ever see Mila Kunis in movies (the most recent was Book of Eli with Denzel Washington, I think), so it was nice to see her be the lead in a movie.  She's incredibly thin, though. Seriously, are moms living outside of Los Angeles really that thin after having children? I'm sure Mila Kunis is a naturally slim person, but she had some pretty good muscle definition going on. So when was Amy (the character) supposed to be hitting the gym? Besides those Zumba classes, of course.