Best casting

[Mwnger]

While doing the Oscar rounds, Christopher Nolan was quoted a few times saying that Robert Downey Jnr's role as Iron Man was "one of the greatest casting decisions in Hollywood history"

Which was an angle I'd never heard before (for Oscar campaigning anyway). I thought it was interesting that he was possibly damning Marvel with faint praise (not for great acting, but great casting - considering all the money it made off the back of RDJ) or was he just reminding the Academy how much Hollywood owes Downey Jnr in order to prompt them into voting for a cast member of his movie?

Anyway, it got me thinking. I don't agree with his claim obviously - for starters I actually think there was a better casting decision in his own filmography (Ledger as the Joker) but I don't think RDJ was even the best casting decision in Marvel's filmography. For me, that would be Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool - if ever an actor was born to play a role it was him in that

So what would be your choice? I know this could just descend into listing great acting performances, so try to avoid obvious choices like Streep in Sophie's Choice or Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Great performances undoubtedly, but not exactly a big surprise they would be good.

What roles have made you think "Blimey, I never thought they of all people would be good in that role!"

For example - Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast. Never saw him as an intimidating Cockney gangster. But he was utterly compelling in that role

[Glebe]

The Lord of the Rings triogy.

[Mr Trumpet]

Carl Weathers in the Rocky films. The first one would have been a hit regardless, but I think the franchise would have quickly petered out without him featuring heavily in the first two sequels.

[dead-ced-dead]

The young trio in Harry Potter. Chris Columbus had to pick three kids with limited/no acting experience to carry a blockbuster franchise on their shoulders for ten years and pray to the Lord above they didn't a.) go off the rails like child actors do and b.) gain enough talent that they were credible years down the line.

[notjosh]

Bruce Willis in Die Hard might seem like an obvious bit of casting, but it wasn't at the time, when Willis was primarily known as a light comedy actor, and some people laughed at the idea of him being an action hero. Here's a bit from the original New York Times review which also touches on the excellent (and similarly counter-intuitive) casting of Alan Rickman and Alexander Gudunov:

Partly an interracial buddy movie, partly the sentimental tale of a ruptured marriage, the film is largely a special-effects carnival full of machine-gun fire, roaring helicopters and an exploding tank. It also has a villain fresh from the Royal Shakespeare Company, a thug from the Bolshoi Ballet and a hero who carries with him the smirks and wisecracks that helped make "Moonlighting" a television hit. The strange thing is, it works: "Die Hard" is exceedingly stupid, but escapist fun.

The film's producers and director were also responsible for the Arnold Schwarzenegger hit "Predator." Here they graft the Schwarzenegger-style comic hero onto Mr. Willis's boyish, mischievous "Moonlighting" persona, and send this new creature sauntering into "The Towering Inferno."

Willis mentioned that the real police offers he spoke to in preparation all had quite a dark humour which he incorporated into his performance and worked perfectly as a counterpart to Rickman's sophistication. And of course he brought a vulnerability to the role which is a refreshing contrast to the roided-up antics of late 80s Schwarzenneger and Stallone.

On a similar note, people supposedly laughed at the idea of Jimmy Stewart in a serious western at the beginning of Winchester '73, but, like some of the other films he made around this time, it was a brilliant deconstruction of the boyish optimism that had defined his pre-war films, and he continued to make westerns for the rest of his career.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction. Although she was the driving force there.

After I read that script, I was in Arizona and I got in a car and drove six hours to get to the meeting because I had never read anything so unique in terms of a female character. And I walked in the meeting with John Dahl, the director, and I said, 'John, you are not allowed to hire anyone but me for this film.' And I wasn't kidding.

Casting James Woods as Max Renn in Videodrome seems quite prescient given how he's turned out several decades later.

[checkoutgirl]

There are many memorable movie acting performances in history but it would be difficult to envisage the feature film Windy City Heat without Perry Caravello in the lead role of Stone Fury. Although the second choice Carson Daly could have filled in quite well, it wouldn't be the same.

The audition process was filmed by a video crew and was so intriguing and dramatic it was actually included in the final version of the film! That happens very rarely and goes to show how perfect he was as that character.

There are podcasts where Perry goes into more depth about his preparation for the role and his influences as well as extra information regarding his acting coach and how he broke into Hollywood. This completes the story of how Perry came to star in this film and why he was so central to why it turned out so well.

[13 schoolyards]

Schwarzenegger. Terminator.

[Keebleman]

Juliet Aubrey as Dorothea Brooke in the BBC's adaptation of Middlemarch. I didn't read the book until 26 years after watching the show, and while I remembered well Patrick Malahide, Douglas Hodge and Rufus Sewell from the production, their faces didn't come to mind when I was reading the characters they played. Aubrey's did. She was the perfect embodiment of one of the most interesting creations in English literature.

[Mister Six]

While doing the Oscar rounds, Christopher Nolan was quoted a few times saying that Robert Downey Jnr's role as Iron Man was "one of the greatest casting decisions in Hollywood history"

Which was an angle I'd never heard before (for Oscar campaigning anyway). I thought it was interesting that he was possibly damning Marvel with faint praise (not for great acting, but great casting - considering all the money it made off the back of RDJ) or was he just reminding the Academy how much Hollywood owes Downey Jnr in order to prompt them into voting for a cast member of his movie?

Anyway, it got me thinking. I don't agree with his claim obviously - for starters I actually think there was a better casting decision in his own filmography (Ledger as the Joker) but I don't think RDJ was even the best casting decision in Marvel's filmography. For me, that would be Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool - if ever an actor was born to play a role it was him in that

I think you've misunderstood the intent, although you've picked up on the reasoning.

Iron Man was a great action film anyway, but it was RDJ's casting that really pushed it into the stratosphere - and at the point he was hired, RDJ was considered too much of a liability from his years of booze and drug abuse to carry such a film. Terrence Howard actually pushed to get RDJ hired (and, Howard says, RDJ failed to pay it back when he pushed for more money from the sequel and Marvel just replaced him with Don Cheadle from there on out).

Iron Man was also a total gamble for Marvel, which was at that point an independent studio and had been on the verge of bankruptcy a decade before. Because of that bankruptcy, they sold the film rights to all their best-known characters (Spider-Man and characters to Sony, The X-Men and Fantastic Four and all related characters to Fox) and were left with a bunch of properties that were either obscure or outdated - with Iron Man definitely being one of the former.

So if Iron Man wasn't such a smash hit, then the MCU might not have taken off - and the face of Hollywood would have been very different.

Nolan's right, then - regardless of what you think of RDJ's casting in that film (I'd say it was perfect, but whatever), it was one of the greatest casting decisions in history, because it transformed mainstream cinema for decades.

[dissolute ocelot]

Casting Chris Hemsworth as Thor was another great Marvel decision. I'm not sure his comedic skills were appreciated when he got the role, which primarily called for someone tall, blonde, and good-looking.

[Mister Six]

Thor 1 is a romcom, so I'd say they were.

[Tarquin]

Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West. He had played bad guys before but not in colour with extreme close ups of his blue eyes whilst he gunned down a child.

Anthony Perkins in Psycho. He was tipped as the new James Dean and a huge teen idol. We all know him for that role but it must've been an extra shock to viewers in 1960.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Elliot Gould as a washed-up Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye.

[BJBMK2]

Kubrick reckoned that if he couldn't have got Macdowell, he'd have never made A Clockwork Orange, it's hard to disagree.

[Memorex MP3]

(not for great acting, but great casting - considering all the money it made off the back of RDJ)

I'd say RDJ played a huge part in setting the tone that led to the MCU dominating the film industry for a decade. Gotta remember the same year they had Edward Norton as the Incredible Hulk so it wasn't a sure thing at all.
Could stretch it to say Shane Black and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was the real source of it all but I think it was more a joining of Shane Black's 90s action sensibilities with Joss Whedon's smug mainstream nerd wank.

Chris Evans would be in with a shout too; he ultimately had an extremely prominent position and was probably less of a sure thing than Hemsworth even though he had a longer track record.

[Johnny Textface]

Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda

[magister]

Leslie Nielsen in Airplane.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Pam Grier in Jackie Brown.

I think it was seen as quite daring and edgy of Tarantino to have made Jackie Black in the film, which it may well have been, but having read Rum Punch the white Jackie Elmore Leonard wrote basically has all of the same traits as both the film and the characters Pam played in her 70's Blaxploitation films so they're naturally a perfect fit.

[Memorex MP3]

James Cromwell in Babe, over 20 years into his career instantly going from endless one off supporting appearances in TV shows to being one of the most prominent and reliable character actors going.

I think the film is an absolute gem overall but it's very hard to picture it working without him.

[phantom_power]

Robert Englund as Freddie Krueger. I don't think the character would have had half the popularity or longevity with someone else playing him. He managed just the right balance of charm and evil

Griffin Dunne's sweaty nervous energy really takes After Hours to the next level of greatness I think

Alan Rickman in Robin Hood? Seems to be in a completely different, infinitely better film than everyone else

[lipsink]

Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon in The Dark Knight trilogy is just brilliant casting. Apparently he was originally asked to play Ra's Al Ghul (and Chris Cooper was asked to play Gordon) and Nolan then decided it would be refreshing for Oldman not to play a villain.

Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman.

[checkoutgirl]

Robert Englund as Freddie Krueger. I don't think the character would have had half the popularity or longevity with someone else playing him. He managed just the right balance of charm and evil

The funny thing is, at some point I believe Englund was deemed too much hassle/expensive and it's just a guy in a mask so we'll replace him. The producers stuck another actor in the get up and it was terrible. So they had to go and get Englund again.

[studpuppet]

Bruce Willis in Die Hard might seem like an obvious bit of casting, but it wasn't at the time, when Willis was primarily known as a light comedy actor, and some people laughed at the idea of him being an action hero.

He was ubiquitous at the time for Moonlighting, and he only got to do the film because Cybill Shepherd got pregnant and the show had an 11 month break. The original film poster didn't have his face on it (only the Nakatomi Plaza), and they only relented when the film became successful. The rest, as they say, is history...

[studpuppet]

Anyway, my shout. I mean, Pinkie in Brighton Rock is a nasty piece of work, but this portrayal is still creepy fifty years on.

[studpuppet]

Also - in a movie with big hitters etc. the story doesn't take off until this guy hits the screen.

[checkoutgirl]

The original choice for Die Hard was Frank Sinatra which is pretty funny.

[phantom_power]

Also - in a movie with big hitters etc. the story doesn't take off until this guy hits the screen.

He is so good an understated in first two Godfathers as well, and really missed in the third one

[Bad Ambassador]

The original choice for Die Hard was Frank Sinatra which is pretty funny.

The original book was a sequel to The Detective by Roderick Thorp, which had been filmed in 1968. Thorp wrote Nothing Lasts Forever with the intention of Sinatra starring in a film version, as the character was explicitly meant to be older with an adult daughter, and because of his contract from the first film, Sinatra had right of first refusal. His last significant film was The First Deadly Sin in 1980, after which he only made a couple of cameos, and even that had been his first film in a decade.

[Dr Rock]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Perfect three fuck of amazing performances.

Sonatine

Beat Takeshi, know mostly as a comic actor, placed himself as a Yakuza taking a break, excellent movie and he's great in it.

As for Marvel I'll pick Pom Klementieff and Dave Bautista as Mantis and Drax in Guardians Of The Galaxy. Some of the best funny bits involve them. All the GOTG movies are very well cast.