Oddest/Worst Casting Choices

So I've been off of work for going on 7 weeks now. But recently I found $60 in the parking lot at my local library branch and since as of today Lance Armstrong and I are now tied for Tour de France wins. I figure things are picking up for me! I guess it's about time for another blog entry.

With all my down time I've been watching a lot of movies lately. Most are movies I've already seen... many times. But some are just movies I'm revisiting for the first time in many years. While watching Jaws it occurred to me; what's up with the old broad with the 10 year old son? Well in honour of Alex Kintner's Mom, here's my picks for oddest casting choices in no particular order;

"Kiss me Bruce"

Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight

The primary role of any love interest in any superhero movie, even a Christopher Nolan superhero movie, is to be pretty and be available for abduction. Mags nailed the B requirement but unfortunately falls short of the most important part, PRETTY! "Hi there. I'm Bruce Wayne and I have a ugly girl fetish." Too mean? Sorry friends. Here's Billionaire Playboy Bruce Wayne, he could have any woman he wants, and he picks the homeliest girl in Gotham? C'mon she looks like Eric Stoltz in Mask. (Good movie, even with Cher, check it out).

Yes kids, this almost happened.

Nicolas Cage as Superman

Oh sweet merciful gods of casting in Hollywood, we thank thee for not actually letting this abomination see the light of day! It was the late 90's and Tim Burton had apparently suffered a brain aneurysm when he decided he wanted to make a new Superman movie staring one our generation's worst actors. Take a long hard look at the picture folks. It is strangely hypnotic in a train wreck kind of way. Look away, I dare you! I think you'll agree, no other words are necessary.

Lee Fierro in Jaws

Miss Amity 1917

Don't know the name? I'm not surprised. I IMDB'd her and her only credits are Jaws and Jaws: The Revenge. Not too surprising considering she looked to be in her 60's in Jaws. In a movie that's so great she was oddly miscast as young Alex Kintner's mom. You remember Alex, the 10 year old on the raft eaten by Jaws? That's him, the pre teen with the octegenarian mom.



Adam Sandler in ANY tough guy role.

Am I missing something? When did movie makers decide we are all so dense that we would think Adam Sandler could pull off any sort of tough guy role. OK try it once, but please, with a few exceptions, every role?Sandler barely qualifies as funny as it is with is high pitched voice and constant yelling. Please don't make us swallow the fact that he is a strong rugged man's man on top of it.

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Kate Bosworth in Superman Returns

I realize I'm in the minority of people who actually like Superman Returns. I thought Brandon Routh was a fantastic choice for Supes and Kevin Spacey is always great. Why oh why then did Bryan Singer pick a 20 year old blond (yes I know Amy Adams is a redhead) to play Pulitzer prize winning mother Lois Lane? This is the opposite of the above. Unlike Mrs. Kintner, she's too young! So Lois won a Pulitzer at 15 and became a mother at 18? Perhaps if they made a direct sequel it would have been revealed that she was really Lois's long lost 12 year old daughter playing dress up with mommy's clothes.

Jake Lloyd/Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker

Oh George you silly bugger! I have now become convinced that George Lucas suffered an unknown stroke in about 1990ish thus removing any ability to make good decisions. Jake Lloyd was his pick to play prepubescent Darth Vader. OK maybe the kid wowed during the audition process and froze when the cameras rolled like Fred Flintstone. But did they not watch Jingle all the Way? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on George.

scared yet?

"So we're ready to cast for the younger version of the most iconic villain in cinema history George."
"Excellent, lets get the whiniest, stiffest, scrawniest guys in here first. Oh, oh and he shouldn't be too tall." Is how I imagine that production meeting went. We're to believe this brat makes an ex-queen fall in love with him and grow up to run the Empire? Really?