The Most Disastrous Castings Ever

Casting a key role can be critical to a film's success, particularly when it comes to beloved
characters — both in fiction and in real life.
Knocking out of the park with the right actor or actress can mean the difference between
being an audience favorite...and becoming an all-out laughingstock.
"Bird angry."
In the cases of these films and TV features, the casting decisions were so awful that the
projects suffered, and became near-universal flops.
Whether or not a different actor might've done the part justice is up for debate.
But it goes without saying that these actors were just plain wrong for their roles.
Johnny Depp as Tonto
Johnny Depp's had a lot of hits and misses in his career, but The Lone Ranger was an
especially big miss.
The film reportedly lost Disney a whopping $190 million after critics and audiences alike
were unimpressed by the film's attempt to reboot the popular Western TV show for the
big screen.
One of the most prominent issues with the film was the selection of white actor Johnny
Depp for the role of Tonto, a Native American sidekick.
Depp has made his entire career out of being a screen-chameleon, whose performances have
included heavy makeup and prosthetics.
But his Native makeup designs and headgear prompted blowback, with critics calling it
out for having racist undertones.
Depp's career has been in a real slump lately and fans can only hope that he makes a return
to form soon — before his name becomes completely synonymous with bad movies — like a certain
someone we know.
"Reason for visit?"
"Takin' care of business."
Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson
It didn't take long for the Internet to go crazy after we got our first look at Joseph
Fiennes taking on the role of Michael Jackson for an episode of Urban Myths, from the UK-based
Sky Arts network.
People with eyes were unanimous: the actor looked embarrassing in his cartoonish imitation
of Michael Jackson.
Jackson's family, especially daughter Paris Jackson, openly took offense to the depiction.
In a now-deleted tweet, Paris wrote that she was incredibly offended by the portrayal and
that it even made her, quote,"want to vomit."
Following the backlash, the network decided to pull the episode, which also included actors
playing Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando.
The show's creators explained that the decision was made in an effort to respect the Jackson
family's wishes and that even Fiennes himself agreed with the decision in the end.
It isn't often that a portrayal is bad enough to actually get pulled from screens.
But when you're trying to tackle one of the most iconic artists of all time, you should
maybe try to actually get it right.
That said, Michael Jackson was also one of the most controversial celebrities in modern
history — so it's almost fitting that he's continued to stir up controversy even after
he's been long gone.
George Clooney as Batman
1997's Batman & Robin is considered one of the worst adaptations of the DC hero that
anyone's ever seen.
And even star George Clooney knows that his casting as Bruce Wayne was all wrong.
The actor has since reflected on this regrettable performance, and has even said that he thought
he'd destroyed an entire franchise for good.
"I thought at the time this would be a very good career move.
It wasn't."
The only saving grace for Clooney's Batman is that he was fortunate enough to be surrounded
by some other dreadful performances like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze and Uma Thurman's
Poison Ivy.
It seems that the take home lesson here is that if you're going to be bad in a role,
make sure everyone around you sucks just as bad, too.
"Kill the heroes!"
"It's the hockey team from Hell."
"Cool party!"
Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker
The Star Wars prequel trilogy has become something of a galactic-sized joke, even for audiences
who positively adored the original films.
And one of the aspects that fans seem to hate the most is definitely Hayden Christensen's
exaggerated portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in the days leading up to his transformation
into Darth Vader.
Before he began his cinematic anti-sand crusade...
...Christensen was a little-known actor with few films and TV roles to his name — not
unlike a certain other young actor who played a Skywalker.
So Christiansen's work was certainly cut out for him when he was asked keep pace with the
likes of Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ewan Mcgregor.
But despite his best efforts, his performance ranks among the most memorably bad of the
franchise, and helped put a stain on that series of films that pretty much every Star
Wars fan is ashamed of.
He's lucky the movies came out when they did.
Could you imagine the social media Twitter takes Christensen would've gotten today?
"Oscar Isaac is a Brooklyn hipster piece of s***.
And I'm going to fight him."
"Sounds like a very well adjusted human being"
Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker
Over the years, Keanu Reeves has given the world plenty of performances that make you
say:
"Whoa"
And if we're talking about Keanu, let's take moment to ask who thought it'd be a good idea
to cast him as Buddha?
"No way."
Yes, way.
But as bad as that one was, his supporting role as Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker's Dracula
is the one that really takes the cake.
Despite the fact that the film won three Oscars for its costuming, sound effects, and makeup,
Reeves' portrayal of Harker was...basically just Keanu doing a terrible British accent.
And some over-the-top reactions thrown in for good measure.
"Bloody wolves chasing me through some blue inferno."
Director Francis Ford Coppola kindly remarked that Reeves "tried so hard" when it came to
speaking with an English accent.
But the huge effort itself was ultimately the issue with his portrayal.
Coppola explained that Keanu's obsession with getting the English accent perfect is actually
what caused him to sound so stilted.
When it comes to Keanu Reeve's, it's probably best that he just sticks to the "more shooting,
less talking" style of acting going forward.
Denise Richards as a Doctor Christmas Jones
For some actresses, the idea of becoming one of the female vixens in a James Bond movie
is a career benchmark.
When Denise Richards nabbed one such role in 1999's The World Is Not Enough, the actress
was still a promising up-and-comer — so it seemed like a sensible career move.
However, many have criticized her stint as the overly sexualized Dr. Christmas Jones,
a nuclear physicist who worked for a defunct international organization.
Seriously — how many scientists wear crop tops and Daisy Dukes on the job?
The whole thing resulted in Richards being regarded as one of the very worst Bond girls
ever.
Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates
The long standing theory that any reboot of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho would be terrible
has largely been set aside by the success of TV's Bates Motel.
So, however unnecessary or inadvisable the 1998 remake of the film was, it seems like
Vince Vaughn's portrayal of Norman Bates might be to blame.
Granted, the script for that film was far from perfect, since it really eliminated any
semblance of the character being a sane human being, making his drastic turn for the worse
later on much less impactful.
Still, Vaughn was definitely miscast in the role and his eerie demeanor lacked the charm
and vulnerability that made Anthony Perkins' portrayal so haunting in the original.
These days, it's probably a good idea if Vince Vaughn sticks to crashing weddings and winning
dodgeball tournaments rather than taking a stab at remaking cinematic classics like Psycho.
Colin Farrell as Alexander
Irish actor Colin Farrell has had a fair number of acclaimed performances.
But his disastrous turn in Alexander was certainly not one of them.
Not only has his casting been panned for being insensitive to Greek culture, he just wasn't
convincing playing the legendary Alexander the Great.
Farrell, for his part, has since been able to laugh off the criticism, particularly when
it came to his terrible bleach blond locks he sported for the role.
"Was Alexander famously blond?"
"He was famously blond, yea, golden locked golden locked child.
But he should've been a brunette.
For sure"
Farrell is a good sport about it all, and he's even joked about how the critics were
probably right when they said that Alexander shouldn't have an Irish accent.
Seems hard not to agree...
Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone
As a general rule, Zoe Saldana is usually a pretty safe bet when it comes to audience
appreciation.
In recent years, she's impressed fans with her great performances in the Guardians Of
The Galaxy and Star Trek films.
However, casting Saldana in the lead role of Nina, the 2016 biopic about the groundbreaking
jazz musician Nina Simone, was a critical misstep.
Saldana is of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage, and doesn't really look anything like Nina
- like at all.
While the distribution company's reps praised Saldana's fitness for the role above any physical
differences, the film was still universally panned by reviewers and audiences.
Simone's family hated Saldana's portrayal, and they along with many others felt that
Simone's unique looks were an essential part of her story and helped to prove just how
exceptional her musical talents were.
Before Saldana landed the role, Mary J. Blige was actually in line to play Nina.
It's hard not to wonder if things would have turned out any better if this was the version
the world got to see.
Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz in The Last Airbender
M. Night Shyamalan was on a real cold streak by the time he decided to helm a live-action
adaptation of the beloved animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Unfortunately, the film definitely didn't help him turn around his career.
The movie was a total catastrophe in every conceivable way.
Shyamalan has since blamed the massive flop on adults not understanding his movie, but...we're
not sure about that one.
Now, as bad as the movie is from top to bottom, there's also the matter of the whitewashing
casting controversy.
That's right — not only was The Last Airbender offensive to from an artistic standpoint,
it was also just straight-up offensive!
Shyamalan placed white actors, like as Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz, in roles that were
created with characters of Asian descent in mind.
Shyamalan's casting decisions resulted in no shortage of protests that called the entire
film into question.
It's really too bad when such great source material ends up being so brutally wasted.
And it's not like Hollywood's learned its lessons since then, either…
"I am Major."
No, you are box office poison.
Oh, well!
Better luck next time, everyone.
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The Most Disastrous Castings Ever

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