ONTD Original: Most Miscast Roles in Recentish Film History
Oftentimes, directors and casting teams know what they are doing in matching a role with the perfect actor to make that character come to life. In other times, the viewer is left wondering what the hell happened when the final movie arrives and the actor just doesn't embody the role at all. The performance might fall flat, the actor might not have the right look/voice/air for the character they are playing, the actor just isn't good enough, the director is terrible at their job, or any number of other reasons. Join me in a look at a few of the most miscast roles in recent-ish film history, and please contribute your own in the post!
Marwan Kenzari as Jafar in "Aladdin" (2019)
You know things didn't go great when you google "most miscast roles" and a name pops up multiple times on the first page. Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari (OP note: yeah, I'm a big fan of his, just not in this AT ALL, sorry) has the unfortunate distinction of appearing in almost every Reddit thread in the past five years when someone asks this question, along with a good chunk of reviews of the movie as a negative. Where as Jafar in the 1993 cartoon was old, creepy, and gravelly voiced, Jafar in the 2019 remake was a handsome young man who just looked (and sounded) out of place and wasn't intimidating at all. Somebody must have liked his performance, though, because Marwan was then cast as the villain in "Black Adam" in 2022, and he seemingly is the villain in the Ralph Fiennes movie "The Return" out in December. You can also argue Will Smith as the Genie was also miscast in this, though. This movie was full of choices. (Side note, if you haven't seen The Old Guard, just go watch that LOL. Obligatory promo! Fuck you Netflix, give us the sequel!)
Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevigne as Valerian and Laureline in "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" (2017)
"Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", from Luc Besson, known creep and director of "The Fifth Element", has a lot going for it on paper in concept and CGI. But man, whoever did the casting for this movie dropped the ball hardcore. I am just listing the two mains here, but most of the cast list proves that this movie was just terrible cast. Rihanna as a shapeshifting alien dancer, Ethan Hawke as whatever that was, Clive Owen doing whatever he was doing... The performances of this movie bring an otherwise fun, campy sci-fi spectacle down multiple notches.
Eddie Redmayne as Balem Abraxas in "Jupiter Ascending" (2015)
Now, you could also view this as PERFECT casting, even if Eddie himself hates how this role turned out. Maybe Eddie truly understood the assignment - a campy, kitschy sci-fi spectacle of pretty dresses and even prettier space scenes, but also a lot of bees and of course a wolf-man who used to have wings but traded them in for hoverboots. This movie is so fun, I don't care, but Eddie won Best Actor at the Oscars within weeks of this movie coming out.
Cameron Diaz as Jenny Everdeane in "Gangs of New York" (2002)
A very infamous entry on this list, many people cite Cameron Diaz as by far the weakest link in this otherwise very much lauded and awarded film. Some of the blame on this has been laid on the story shoe-horning her character in as an unneeded love interest to create a romantic subplot, but a lot of it is because of her accent, an issue that also goes for Leonardo DiCaprio in this. However, many actors seem miscast against Daniel Day-Lewis, so your mileage on this one may vary.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan in "Star Trek: Into Darkness" (2013)
Besides the fact that they cast a white guy, it's possible this one falls squarely on JJ Abrams thinking he was being cute by having Khan appear when the movie wouldn't have changed one bit if the character wasn't actually Khan all along. He was cast solely on name recognition at the time, and given the original portrayal of Khan by Ricardo Montalban in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", Cucumberpatch just doesn't live up at all.
Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone in "Nina" (2016)
One word: blackface. Longer explanation: I'll just use the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis for why it has a 2% approval rating - "A wholly misguided tribute to its subject's searing talent and enduring impact, Nina is the cinematic equivalent of a covers project featuring all the wrong artists."
Everyone in "Troy" (2004)
As recommended by flyingpigs_live, "Troy" features a whole host of performances that are just weird and fall extremely flat. Brad Pitt should have worked on paper, but did it? NOPE. On a side note, I somehow combined this movie in my head with the other 2004 Greek mythology movie "Alexander" with blonde Colin Farrell and his mom Angelina Jolie. 2004, why the fuck were you so weird.
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There are obviously many more, including multiple Keanu Reeves roles, the cast of the Fifty Shades series, George Clooney in "Batman & Robin"... Leave your pick in the comments!
Marwan Kenzari as Jafar in "Aladdin" (2019)
You know things didn't go great when you google "most miscast roles" and a name pops up multiple times on the first page. Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari (OP note: yeah, I'm a big fan of his, just not in this AT ALL, sorry) has the unfortunate distinction of appearing in almost every Reddit thread in the past five years when someone asks this question, along with a good chunk of reviews of the movie as a negative. Where as Jafar in the 1993 cartoon was old, creepy, and gravelly voiced, Jafar in the 2019 remake was a handsome young man who just looked (and sounded) out of place and wasn't intimidating at all. Somebody must have liked his performance, though, because Marwan was then cast as the villain in "Black Adam" in 2022, and he seemingly is the villain in the Ralph Fiennes movie "The Return" out in December. You can also argue Will Smith as the Genie was also miscast in this, though. This movie was full of choices. (Side note, if you haven't seen The Old Guard, just go watch that LOL. Obligatory promo! Fuck you Netflix, give us the sequel!)
Click to viewDane DeHaan and Cara Delevigne as Valerian and Laureline in "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" (2017)
"Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", from Luc Besson, known creep and director of "The Fifth Element", has a lot going for it on paper in concept and CGI. But man, whoever did the casting for this movie dropped the ball hardcore. I am just listing the two mains here, but most of the cast list proves that this movie was just terrible cast. Rihanna as a shapeshifting alien dancer, Ethan Hawke as whatever that was, Clive Owen doing whatever he was doing... The performances of this movie bring an otherwise fun, campy sci-fi spectacle down multiple notches.
Eddie Redmayne as Balem Abraxas in "Jupiter Ascending" (2015)
Now, you could also view this as PERFECT casting, even if Eddie himself hates how this role turned out. Maybe Eddie truly understood the assignment - a campy, kitschy sci-fi spectacle of pretty dresses and even prettier space scenes, but also a lot of bees and of course a wolf-man who used to have wings but traded them in for hoverboots. This movie is so fun, I don't care, but Eddie won Best Actor at the Oscars within weeks of this movie coming out.
Cameron Diaz as Jenny Everdeane in "Gangs of New York" (2002)
A very infamous entry on this list, many people cite Cameron Diaz as by far the weakest link in this otherwise very much lauded and awarded film. Some of the blame on this has been laid on the story shoe-horning her character in as an unneeded love interest to create a romantic subplot, but a lot of it is because of her accent, an issue that also goes for Leonardo DiCaprio in this. However, many actors seem miscast against Daniel Day-Lewis, so your mileage on this one may vary.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan in "Star Trek: Into Darkness" (2013)
Besides the fact that they cast a white guy, it's possible this one falls squarely on JJ Abrams thinking he was being cute by having Khan appear when the movie wouldn't have changed one bit if the character wasn't actually Khan all along. He was cast solely on name recognition at the time, and given the original portrayal of Khan by Ricardo Montalban in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", Cucumberpatch just doesn't live up at all.
Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone in "Nina" (2016)
One word: blackface. Longer explanation: I'll just use the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis for why it has a 2% approval rating - "A wholly misguided tribute to its subject's searing talent and enduring impact, Nina is the cinematic equivalent of a covers project featuring all the wrong artists."
Everyone in "Troy" (2004)
As recommended by flyingpigs_live, "Troy" features a whole host of performances that are just weird and fall extremely flat. Brad Pitt should have worked on paper, but did it? NOPE. On a side note, I somehow combined this movie in my head with the other 2004 Greek mythology movie "Alexander" with blonde Colin Farrell and his mom Angelina Jolie. 2004, why the fuck were you so weird.
Source 2 3 4 5 6 7
There are obviously many more, including multiple Keanu Reeves roles, the cast of the Fifty Shades series, George Clooney in "Batman & Robin"... Leave your pick in the comments!