Kevin Costner, Robin Hood.
Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis in the 70’s version of Dillinger.
Sam Waterson as an Indian in 1979 Eagle’s Wings
No matter what you think of Tom Cruise, the guy does get a lot of movie roles, and I think there are times where can act, but he was miscast in “Valkyrie.”
Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina
Grace Kelly in High Noon
Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity
Spencer Tracy in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Actually, he wasn’t miscast. It was justy a bad script. The only way to save that would have been to have Jackie Gleason play the lead and make it unintentionally funny.
BTW, I think Heston was great in a “Touch of Evil”. I have known Mexicans and South Americans who have a similar build and demeanor. Who should have played the part, Duncan Renaldo?
Well, you already got the big one I was gonna lead with (Palance as Castro in “Che!”), but here’s a few others I think were miscast:
Sean Penn as Willie Stark in the remake of All The King’s Men. So bad it’s funny. I actually like Penn as an actor (if not as a person), but he just could not have been more wrong for the part of Stark.
Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon. She’s the one part of the movie that just doesn’t work for me. I could see Bogey being torn up and played for a sucker by Lana Turner, or Lauren Bacall. But Mary Astor? She just didn’t bring the beauty or the screen presence to play a femme fatale. A good actress, but wrong for the part (IMHO).
Jack Nicholson. Yeah, The Shining is a scary masterpiece, and Nicholson plays an amazing psycho. The thing is, Jack seemed unbalanced from minute one in the film. The idea is that the weird going ons in the hotel drive him nutty. I don’t buy that he was ever really sane in the flick.
Jason Robards as Al Capone in The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Good movie, and Robards played the part pretty well. The problem for me is, he didn’t. look a thing like Capone. Capone was heavy set and swarthy. Robards was rail thin and built like a stork. It would be like having John Kerry play Jake Gusik.
A few that could have happened, but mercifully didn’t:
-Molly Ringwald was considered for Laura Dern’s role in Blue Velvet.
-Alex Karras was considered for the part of Carlo, Connie’s weasly husband in The Godfather.
-Joan Crawford, Mae West, Lucille Ball, and Marlene Dietrich were all seriously considered for the part of Scarlet O’Hara in Gone with the Wind.
Bruce Willis
Tom Hanks
Melanie Griffith
Hell, the entire cast of ‘Bonfires of the Vanities’.
Tom Wolfe had written a great novel on the Kabuki theater of a hit and run blossoming into major lawsuits. That was ruined by Political Correctness for the big screen.
Kirk Douglas
Harvey Keitel
In ‘Saturn 3’ Douglas was way too old. And Keitel with a British accent???!
Meryl Streep
As Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Iron Lady’. Why is an American in a role tailor made for Helen Mirren?!!!
Rex Harrison as Caesar?
David Bowie as Pilate??? Wait...you said good actor...
Edward G. Robinson in the 10 Commandments...
Halle Berry...Catwoman
Sean Connery in "Zardoz". WTH?
Marlon Brando as an Okinawan in “Teahouse of the August Moon” and Mickey Rooney in “ Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. It’s just a mistake to cast white guys as Asians.
Tom Selleck as Eisenhower in “Ike:Countdown To D-Day”
Ingrid Bergman as Gladys Aylward in “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness”
I would disagree in part. Though Heston may have been miscast in Touch of Evil, he did what was expected and the movie is regarded as by far the greatest film noir ever made.
Clint Eastwood in Paint Your Wagon.
Keanu Reeves in FFC’s Dracula.
Keanu Reeves as Don John and Michael Keaton as Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing.Jack Lemmon as Marcellus and Robin Williams as Osric in Hamlet
Max von Sydow as Jesus, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist, and Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate, in The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Marlon Brando in Teahouse of the August Moon and Guys and Dolls.
John Travolta in Battlefield Earth.
James Cagney as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Martin Sheen (wearing a wristwatch) as Robert E Lee in Gettysburg.
I love Robert Duval, but him playing “Stalin” didn’t work for me.....Maybe if I wasn’t so familiar with all his other roles, I might have appreciated it more, but I still felt I was watching Duval and not Stalin.
Anthony Hopkins as NIXON
Tom Selleck as EISENHOWER
Chevy Chase as FORD (Oh, wait... I bought it ‘though.)
Okay, it is not quite a “good actors in bad roles” nomination; but, I just go crazy when Hollywood always has genius science types played by beautiful, slinky blonde actresses. I think Mayim Bialik from The Big Bang Theory is probably closer to the mark.
John Wayne as Centurion in the Greatest Story Ever Told. (actually not miscast, just weird hearing his characteristic drawl at Golgotha)
My nomination goes to a movie that has not been released yet. At least I don't think it has been released yet.
Will never watch it, even if someone paid me big money.
Jane Fonda as former First Lady Nancy Reagan. Alan Rickman plays President Ronald Reagan in The Butler, filmed in New Orleans. Fonda reportedly appears in just a few scenes. The pic stars Forest Whitaker as White House butler Eugene Allen whose career spanned 34 years there. Director Lee Daniels adapted the screenplay with Danny Strong.