What is the Worst Casting in Movie History?

Nothing gets the Lovely Bride's dander up like Caucasians cast as Asians.

I guess you guys don't do Charlie Chan movies, huh?

I don't even mention the name...

Someone already mentioned John Wayne as Genghis Khan but this one holds a very special place in my heart. The first and only time I've ever seen it was with my brother, who was dying of cancer. I'd spent the night with him in the hospital, just a few days before he died, and Genghis Khan came on early that morning. Mike and I howled together for the last time, watching Wayne make an enormous fool of himself and throwing Maureen O'Hara around like a ragdoll. It was so offensive on so many levels, all we could do was laugh at it. And we did. We laughed til we cried.

That's got to be the winner. At least, in my book.

Bing Crosby as the romantic lead in anything. I have no idea how a casting agent could have looked at that guy and thought: "sexy".

Re: Setanta (Post 3523465)
Setanta wrote:

Serious business, Bowie played Pontius Pilate? Wow . . . that must be a veritable treasure trove of bad casting.


Here the link to Bowie's big scene in the movie.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rtCxmNEttQ

Yaknow, I don't remember thinking ZiggyStardust-I-mean-DavidBowie was that awful an actor last time I watched this movie... That's a pretty terrible clip, I must say...

Abe Vigoda is a good choice for Don Corleone. I had also thought of Lee J. Cobb.

Ditto that.

"Temujin: I feel this Tartar woman is for me, and my blood says, take her.
There are moments for wisdom and moments when I listen to my blood; my
blood says, take this Tartar woman. "

My fodda, da king, tole me an my budda, de odda prince, we gotta do good for da people.

Tony Bennett in The Oscar, but then he would have been miscast in any movie.

Tony Curtis in anything other than Some Like It Hot.

Amen to that (Tony C) .

And what a movie classic - one of the finest comedies of all time, IMHO.

Never saw it, but the casting made sure that it was a turkey before they had a shot in the can...

She's supposed to be his Mum, so why is he trying to look down the front of her dress?

Indeed, but Tony Curtis in The Vikings made Kirk Douglas and Ernest Borgnine, in the same film, look like a the product of a Casting Director's genius.

While we're on the Viking theme, Richard Widmark in The Long Ships was a casting nightmare (along with Russ Tamblyn!), although Sidney Poitier as the Moorish King who sentenced the vikings to ride the Mare of Steel was preety cool.

Excellent Viking casting:

Vladimir Kulich as Buliwfy in the The 13th Warrior (and just about all of the Norseman characters)

(But Antonio Banderas as a Moor? Actually not to bad)

Victor McLaglen who could never be miscast in any film that even remotely referenced Ireland was thoroughly miscast in Prince Valient as Boltar.

(Pure genius in Gunga Din, The Quiet Man , and The Informer)

But now let's return to Bernie Schwartz (Tony C) and his long list of mis-casts: (In no particular order)

1) The Vikings
2) Spartacus
3) The Black Shield of Farnsworth ("Yonder is the castle of my faddur.")
4) Son of Ali Baba
5) The Prince Who Was A Thief
6) Taras Bulba (Which could not have been made more clear than comparing his performance to that of Yul Brynner in the title role)

And each and every costume drama in which he was mis-cast.

Check it out though - He was bedding all of his female stars in these otherwise good movies: The lovely Vivian Leigh and ethereal Christine Kaufmann (Town Without Pity of the Gene Pitney fame - starring Kirk Douglas)

Come to think of it, it's pretty amazing how often Curtis and Douglas paired in one way or the other: One being a hack in anything but romantic comedies and the other being a, at times, quite fine actor.

Charlton Heston miscast as Moses?

Nonsense!

God might be miscast as Charlton Heston, but Heston was never miscast in the role of an uber-leader.

Yes, Edward G Robinson, Vincent Price, Cedric Hardwicke, Judith Anderson and John Carradine were miscast in their supporting roles, but it was a cast of thousands!

Redhead Ann Baxter, who even today can be seen as a very sexy wench, was totally miscast as an Egyptian.

And yet there was Yul Brynner, again, perfectly cast as Ramses: "So let it be written; so let it be done."

Was Brynner ever miscast?

Could have been with "Chris" the Cajun in The Magnificent Seven, but he transcended the role and, clearly, made it work.

Harrison Ford as Captain Alexei Vostrikov, in K-19 The Widowmaker.

Completely ridiculous, worst accent ever.

I hardly think him our greatest actor, but watch his performance in The Mosquito Coast, and it's hard to conclude that he is only the hack he has portrayed in most of his films. His role in The Witness was not too bad either.

Han Solo has to be one of the worst acted parts in movie history (and that series had no shortage of horrible acting) and given some of his other work, I might grant him immunity for uber-camp, and yet he followed up with so many really bad jobs.

The Indiana Jones series falls short of iconic masterpieces only because Ford was such an effin ham. Imagine these films with a actor who not only took icon status serious but was able to act around and within the limitations: Mel Gibson, Sean Connery, Gerard Butler, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, Errol Flynn, Clint Eastwood, et al...

Ford looked the part but I doubt he ever enjoyed it.

Hell, he married skinny ass Calista Flockhart, and he wears an effin earing.

(But he is a master carpenter - way cool)

I have never seen The Mosquito Coast or Witness.

I mean I can probably name other movies that the actor was just completely the wrong person for it.

I guess I just didn't like H.F. in K-19 because of the accent, it really threw me off. Especially in a movie that is based on a true story that is about something serious. Instead of focusing on the movie itself all I could think about was him and that lame impersonation he was doing.

I have never seen The Mosquito Coast or Witness.

But you need to, dear heart, if you are to be relevant.

This is true.

I liked him in Witness. He's somber style was just right for that role. I saw The Mosquito Coast several years ago but have absolutely no recollection of it. Didn't make a dent, i suppose.

ewan magregor as obi won in star wars.... that accent is just rubbish and grates on me all the way through the films, strange really because i think he's a great actor and has been in some brilliant films.....