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Mads Mikkelsen should've played Grindelwald from the very beginning.
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00:00One of the key things filmmakers absolutely hate doing above almost anything else is having to recast an actor for a sequel.
00:07Even when the casting fundamentally works, audiences generally hate change and will endlessly compare the new actor to the prior portrayal.
00:15And while there are certainly many examples where recasting doesn't quite fit or is clearly inferior to what came before,
00:22there are also those rare winning cases where the recast ends up improving the new movie.
00:27So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture and here are 10 actor replacements that actually improved movies.
00:34Number 10. Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight.
00:39In Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, the role of Bruce Wayne's primary love interest, Rachel Dawes, was played by Katie Holmes.
00:47Holmes' totally fine performance nevertheless slides into the periphery while up against top shelf work from the likes of Christian Bale,
00:54Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy and Morgan Freeman.
00:59Holmes opted not to return for sequel The Dark Knight, however, preferring instead to shoot the crime comedy Mad Money with one of her idols, Diane Keaton.
01:07A film, unfortunately, which bombed both critically and commercially.
01:11Holmes was ultimately replaced with Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Dark Knight.
01:14And while Holmes is far from an incapable actress, Gyllenhaal was just a much better fit for this character in every fibre of her being.
01:22Holmes seemed a little too young and fresh-faced to fully convince as Gotham's assistant district attorney,
01:27while Gyllenhaal carried herself with an inherently more mature and sophisticated air.
01:32This is evident from the first time we see Gyllenhaal's new take on Rachel,
01:36and to boot, she also has far more persuasive chemistry with Christian Bale than Holmes ever did.
01:42The series would have been absolutely fine if Holmes stayed on board,
01:45but Gyllenhaal probably should have been cast in the part from the very beginning.
01:48Number 9. Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth in X-Men Origins Wolverine
01:54Iconic X-Men villain Sabretooth made his first cinematic appearance in 2000's X-Men,
02:00where he was played by professional wrestler-turned-actor Tyler Mane.
02:03There's no denying that Mane brings a heft and physicality to the part,
02:08though his Sabretooth isn't much more than a hulking brute,
02:10a blunt object who tussles with Wolverine and ultimately gets disposed of a little too easily.
02:15In 2009's prequel film X-Men Origins Wolverine,
02:20a younger Sabretooth is portrayed by the great Liev Schreiber,
02:23who, while lacking Mane's massive stature, is nevertheless a lithe force of nature in his own right,
02:29and one who matches it with his sheer charisma.
02:31Schreiber gets far more of an opportunity to crack wise and show off his easy chemistry with Jackman's Logan.
02:38Mane did the best with what he had,
02:40but Schreiber took the character to another, more entertaining and nuanced direction
02:44that Mane, hardly an actor of Schreiber's calibre, would have struggled to.
02:48Number 8. Don Cheadle as James Rhodes in Iron Man 2
02:52In the original 2008 Iron Man, the role of Tony Stark's good pal James Rhodes was played by Terence Howard.
02:59Howard, a recent Oscar nominee at the time, commanded the highest salary on the entire set,
03:06far more than even Robert Downey Jr., but was reportedly offered less money to return for Iron Man 2,
03:12prompting him to bulk and be replaced by Don Cheadle.
03:14Terence Howard's acting skill certainly isn't in doubt here, and he did a solid job as Rhodey in the first Iron Man,
03:21but Don Cheadle's more affable and gently sarcastic demeanour instantly made him much easier for the audience to warm to.
03:28Cheadle really helped take the Rhodey-Tony dynamic to the next level,
03:32and it's difficult to picture Howard bringing quite the same to a deceptively tricky role,
03:36a part that requires the actor to be both stern and likeable.
03:40As with the Katie Holmes Batman situation, there's no way Howard would have sunk Iron Man 2,
03:46but one suspects Rhodey wouldn't be nearly as well regarded by fans had Cheadle not taken over.
03:51Number 7. Moira Kelly as Donna Haywood in Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me
03:57Donna Haywood was a significant character in David Lynch's series Twin Peaks,
04:01though also one of its more divisive major players, in part because Lara Flynn Boyle's performance
04:07as Laura Palmer's troubled best friend split audiences right down the middle.
04:12When Boyle couldn't return for the 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me due to scheduling conflicts,
04:19she was replaced with Moira Kelly, who many fans maintain gave a far more vibrant and persuasive performance
04:25in a single film than Boyle did across 30 episodes of the show.
04:29Granted, the two actresses are in many respects playing two starkly different versions of the same person
04:35on separate sides of a traumatic, life-changing event, but even so, Kelly's portrayal feels more well-thought-out,
04:42while Boyle's is more skittish and ultimately irritating.
04:46Kelly had the advantage of only performing the part for a comparatively short time,
04:50while most fans agree that Donna's characterisation veers off a cliff in the show's second season
04:55and Boyle's performance with it.
04:57Number 6. Antonio Banderas as El Mariachi in Desperado
05:02The curious case of El Mariachi might well be the biggest no-brainer on this list.
05:07In Robert Rodriguez's 1992 feature debut El Mariachi,
05:11the part of the title character was portrayed by Rodriguez's friend and co-producer Carlos Galado,
05:17who had scarcely little acting experience prior to taking the role,
05:21and likely played it himself in order to keep the budget down.
05:23After the film became an indie hit, Rodriguez was approached to make a sequel and soon enough came up with Desperado.
05:30However, now armed with a larger budget and having to answer to major Hollywood studios,
05:35Rodriguez had Galado replaced in the lead role by a more recognisable actor, Antonio Banderas,
05:41while Galado remained on board as a co-producer.
05:43It was certainly the right call. 99.8% of the people alive today couldn't compete with Banderas' rugged handsomeness and infectious charisma,
05:52so it's difficult to argue with the replacement of Galado, who, all things considered, did a totally respectable job in El Mariachi.
05:59But when you're presented with a studio budget and all the resources to make a bigger, more successful movie,
06:06you'd be silly not to play ball.
06:08Rodriguez did, and Desperado was a massive commercial success,
06:12enough that Rodriguez, Banderas, and Galado all returned for the again-successful 2003 sequel Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
06:19Number 5. Carol Kane as Grandmama Adams in Adam's Family Values
06:25This is a piece of recasting subtle enough that more casual fans of the Adam's Family movies might not even notice.
06:32In Barry Sonnenfeld's original 1991 film, Grandmama Adams was played by the late Judith Molina in a relatively small supporting role.
06:41For 1993's sequel, Adam's Family Values, however, Sonnenfeld replaced Molina with Oscar nominee Carol Kane.
06:47Beyond the fact that Kane was given far more memorable dialogue to work with,
06:51Kane's more expressive, over-the-top rendition of Grandmama simply left Molina's more subdued version in the dust.
06:59Sonnenfeld had never stated publicly why he decided to recast the part,
07:03but given that Kane is a whole 26 years younger than Molina,
07:06it's entirely possible he wanted an actor who could more easily bring a lively physicality and vibrancy to the part.
07:13Number 4. Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood
07:19Friday the 13th's iconic serial killer Jason Voorhees has been played by 10 different actors over the years,
07:26though there's undeniably one who is far and away the most closely associated with the role, and also the best.
07:33Friday the 13th Part 3 is where the classic hockey mask-wearing Jason we all know and love came into being,
07:39as played by Richard Brooker, before the part was taken over by Ted White, Tom Morga, and C.J. Graham in each of the next three films.
07:47For Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood, however, Kane Hodder took the role of Jason
07:52and categorically made it his own through his intensely intimidating, wordless performance.
07:58Hodder brought a subtle physicality to Jason, which implied a lot without actually saying anything,
08:02enough that Hodder became a distinct fan-favorite and returned to play Jason in the series' 8th, 9th, and 10th entries,
08:09more than any other actor.
08:11While each Jason performer has in some fashion put their own sly stamp on the character,
08:16Hodder quickly established himself as the definitive portrayal of Jason.
08:21Number 3. Patton Oswalt as Max in The Secret Life of Pets 2
08:25Illuminations' 2016 smash hit animated comedy The Secret Life of Pets starred Louis C.K. as Max,
08:32our Jack Russell Terrier protagonist.
08:35C.K. was widely expected to return in the role for the sequel,
08:38but was dropped after being accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in late 2017,
08:44ultimately being replaced with Patton Oswalt.
08:46Beyond the fact that Universal effectively had to recast the role in order to avoid a massive PR headache,
08:52they actually settled on a much better-suited actor for the part anyway.
08:57C.K.'s deadpan, even hangdog, pardon the pun, vocal delivery really doesn't measure up to Oswalt's
09:03more expressive, jovial voice when it comes to casting the protagonist of an animated movie
09:08who needs to appeal to kids.
09:10Even though Max is supposed to have a bit of an edge to him as a character,
09:14C.K. always felt a bit miscast in the role, even if it clearly didn't hurt the box office bottom line.
09:19The original made $875.5 million worldwide.
09:24And though the sequel didn't crack even half that number,
09:27Oswalt makes Max a far more endearing character kids and adults alike will actually want to spend 90 minutes with.
09:342. Mads Mikkelsen as Galert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts The Secret of Dumbledore
09:40The world was left with their jaws on the floor when Johnny Depp made a surprise cameo appearance
09:46at the end of the first Fantastic Beasts film,
09:48revealing himself to be the true visage of the evil dark wizard Galert Grindelwald.
09:53Though many lamented that Colin Farrell, who played Grindelwald disguised as Percival Graves,
09:58didn't simply play Grindelwald also,
10:00some fans nevertheless warmed to Depp's full-on portrayal in the otherwise highly divisive sequel The Crimes of Grindelwald.
10:07But the franchise was thrown into a tailspin when mere days into shooting his role in threequel The Secrets of Dumbledore,
10:14Depp was asked to resign after losing a libel case against a newspaper that characterised him as a wife-beater.
10:21Mads Mikkelsen was swiftly subbed in to take over the part.
10:24While The Secrets of Dumbledore was ultimately a mixed bag of a movie,
10:28critics were near-unanimous in agreement
10:30that Mikkelsen's more mannered, menacing and less campy performance in the role was considerably more effective.
10:371. Felicia Rashad as Mary-Anne Creed in Creed
10:42Throughout the Rocky franchise, Apollo Creed's wife Mary-Anne has appeared five times,
10:47first in the original Rocky as played by Lavelle Roby,
10:50and then by the late Sylvia Means in Rocky II and IV.
10:54Though Roby and Mils did fine enough work with what they had,
10:57neither of their Mary-Annes had much dimension at all as characters,
11:00and so there was only so much they could do with the part.
11:03But Mary-Anne was given significantly greater bite when she reappeared in both Creed movies
11:08and also its upcoming sequel, as now played by Tony Award winner Felicia Rashad.
11:14Rashad brings soul and dignity to the fore as the adoptive mother of Apollo's son, Donny,
11:19serving as an indispensable well of wisdom, even when Donny doesn't heed her advice.
11:25Instantly sympathetic as a concerned parent and further elevated by Rashad's authoritative,
11:30compassionate performance, this is a textbook example of a brilliant recast that worked in perfect tandem with superior writing.
11:37And that concludes our list.
11:40If you can think of any other examples, then do let us know in the comments below,
11:43and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:47Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there,
11:49and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:53I've been Ellie with WhatCulture.
11:55I hope you have a magical day, and I'll see you real soon.
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