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These actors were all kinds of wrong for these roles.
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00:00Though most, if not all, of these actors are terrifically talented in their own right,
00:04not every actor is right for every project, as quickly became apparent to audiences within
00:09minutes of watching these movies. So, with that in mind, I'm Ellie for WhatCulture,
00:13and here are 10 actors who were totally miscast in recent movies.
00:17Number 10. Kevin Hart, Lift
00:19Netflix's recent heist comedy Lift stars Kevin Hart as Cyrus, a thief and the leader of a crack
00:25heist crew, in a surprisingly serious role that isn't a good fit for him. Like, at all.
00:30Hart clearly excels at playing the goofy comedian, and while he's shown himself to have dramatic
00:34range in other projects, the role of a suave con artist just isn't something he's naturally suited
00:39for. The script seems engineered to work against Hart's innate gifts, stripping away any sense of
00:44humour or charm in Cyrus, ensuring the part feels like it was written for somebody else entirely,
00:50namely an actor more attuned to playing the straight man. This miscasting is all the more bizarre given
00:54that Hart was a producer on the film, and so we can presume he clearly wanted to try something
00:59different, but alas, it was to no avail.
01:02Number 9. Chris Pratt, The Garfield Movie
01:04The moment that Chris Pratt was announced to be voicing Garfield in The Garfield Movie,
01:09many fans cried, miscast, feeling that Pratt didn't seem remotely well-suited to play the lazy,
01:14lethargic, lasagna-loving cat. Rather, it seemed like Pratt was cast purely because he's a household
01:19name with proven success in animated fare like The Lego Movie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie,
01:25and ultimately, few were left persuaded by the end product, which indeed saw Pratt deliver a
01:29spirited, effervescent portrayal of Garfield, which felt rather at odds with who the character
01:34traditionally is. The prior live-action Garfield movies weren't good by any means, I mean,
01:39I beg to differ, those films were my childhood, but at least they nailed the casting part by bringing
01:43in the relentlessly sardonic Bill Murray to do the character justice. Pratt is perfect to voice many
01:49characters, but one whose entire essence is his flattened expressiveness and generally dour
01:53demeanour? Not a chance. This was a miscast in the most cynical way possible, hiring a marketable
01:59A-lister to do a job that would have probably been better served by a character actor.
02:03Number 8. Jennifer Lopez, Atlas
02:05Not to add fuel to the JLo haytrain that's been running wild this past year, but she was so thoroughly
02:11out of her element in Netflix's recent sci-fi dud, Atlas. Though Lopez has proven herself a
02:16solidly capable performer in both drama and comedy roles over the years, certainly for the standards
02:21of musicians turned actors anyway, it's extremely tough to buy her as a misanthropic data analyst
02:27with a deep distrust of AI in this movie. Granted, the script makes little attempt to take advantage
02:33of Lopez's innate charisma or physical athleticism, but it's painfully clear throughout that this lead
02:38role would have been better played by literally hundreds of A- and B-list actresses who seem a
02:43little less out of place in a sci-fi action flick. This isn't to say that JLo can't thrive in
02:48the
02:48action arena, but nothing about this film made her seem like a natural fit for it.
02:52Number 7. Johan Griffith, Bad Boys Ride or Die
02:56Johan Griffith plays a supporting role in the most recent Bad Boys film as mayoral candidate Adam
03:01Lockwood, who also happens to be the boyfriend of Captain Rita. Gee, do you think he's gonna be the
03:06secret villain or what? The problem here is that Griffith is so brilliant at playing smarmy,
03:11arrogant a-holes that he's basically become typecast in that role, and so when he showed
03:15up in this movie, it was painfully obvious he would be the mole that helped frame the late
03:19Captain Howard. In fact, Lockwood's villainy was so damn neon signposted, it seemed like the movie
03:24was primed to pull the rug out and just have him simply be a nice guy, but alas, that wasn't
03:29the
03:29case. Griffith can play these types of roles in his sleep, so perhaps it's more that he was too
03:34well cast for his own good, enough that it sank the entire twist. Casting an actor better known
03:39for playing more likeable characters would have definitely been the way to go here.
03:42Number 6. Jessica Alba, Trigger Warning
03:45Jessica Alba is certainly no stranger to action, but her work in recent Netflix action,
03:50A Trigger Warning, leaves much to be desired. Alba plays Special Forces Officer Parker,
03:55who returns to her hometown and wages war on a violent gang terrorising the locals.
03:59As a meat and potatoes genre schlock setup, it has potential. To see Alba kicking ass as a crappy
04:05commando? I mean, why the hell not? But Alba's stilted, even downright boring performance robs the
04:10film of much sense of fun. There's little visceral intensity to the action beat, which should have
04:15emphasised her scrappy intelligence in fending off men much larger than herself. And when it comes to
04:20the dialogue, Alba often sounds totally bored. Perhaps she was going for coolly stoic, but this is a movie
04:25that desperately needed a ferocious lead actress to elevate the uninspired material, and Alba just
04:31wasn't it.
04:32Number 5. Ryan Reynolds, If
04:34Given his popularity, it's little surprise that Hollywood wants to cast Ryan Reynolds in
04:38everything it possibly can. But his performance in John Krasinski's If proves how even he can be
04:44aggressively miscast. Reynolds plays Cal, a man who works with the imaginary friends to place them
04:50with new children once their original children have grown up and moved on. It's rather fitting that the
04:54entire film has an air of Steven Spielberg's hook about it, because you know what if, and especially
04:59the character of Cal could have used? Some of that manic Robin Williams energy. Despite his penchant for
05:05playing energetic motor mouths, Reynolds really doesn't have the mirth or earnestness to play this
05:09part well. Without an array of sarcastic barbs to rip through, Reynolds seems lost as Cal, bringing
05:15bafflingly little heart or warmth to a role that desperately needed both in order to pay off emotionally.
05:20Number 4. Andy McDowell, Red Right Hand
05:23Red Right Hand stars Orlando Bloom as Cash, a man who runs afoul of local kingpin Big Cat. And while
05:29the
05:29prospect of seeing Andy McDowell playing hugely against type in a savagely villainous role certainly had
05:35potential, the movie really only proves why she's so rarely cast in parts like this. McDowell fails to bring
05:41the resolute menace necessary to make the role work. And given that she's the movie's overarching
05:45antagonist, that's obviously a huge problem. Props to her for trying to break out of her comfort zone at this
05:50stage in her career, but somewhere along the line, someone should have faced facts that she just
05:55doesn't have the gravitas as a performer to pull this kind of ruthless character off, especially when
06:00she's front and centre. Ultimately, you're more likely to laugh at McDowell's crime matriarch than
06:04feel intimidated by her presence, which really says it all. Number 3. Chris Pine, Pool Man
06:10The case of Chris Pine's miscasting in recent mystery comedy, Pool Man, is all the more bizarre given that
06:15the film was also written and directed by him. Pine plays Darren, a slacker pool cleaner who gets caught
06:21up in a Chinatown-esque conspiracy relating to property, politics, and water. As a clear homage
06:26to not only Chinatown but also the Big Lebowski, Pine evidently wanted to cast himself as a modern riff
06:31on Jeff Bridges' The Dude, a goofy himbo who gets in way over his head. And yet the film never
06:36once
06:36persuades that this role plays to Pine's strengths. Sure, Pine has proven himself a fine comic actor in the
06:42past, but this material does nothing for him whatsoever, leaving him to give a shapeless performance as a
06:47character who isn't nearly as charming as Pine seemingly thinks he is. To Pine's credit, though, he does
06:52seem to have taken the near-universal critical scorn in good humour. Number 2. Sydney Sweeney, Madam Web
06:59Granted, you could argue that most of Madam Web's main casts are hilariously miscast, especially Dakota Johnson
07:05and Adam Scott, but nobody feels more out of place here than Sydney Sweeney. Sweeney plays Julia, a 16-year
07:11-old
07:11teenage girl, a sentence one can barely get through without laughing. 26-year-old Sweeney, who has thus
07:17far made a career out of playing mature young women, simply can't pass muster as a high schooler, and the
07:23fact that the filmmakers even tried is, honestly, weird at best. Furthermore, the attempts to age her
07:29down, namely by giving her large glasses, a miniskirt, and thigh-high socks, only draw further attention to
07:34how awkward she looks in the part. Obviously, Sweeney was cast because she's one of the most high-profile
07:39rising actresses in Hollywood right now, even though it was a part that she was totally wrong
07:44for. Number 1. Christopher Walken, Dune Part 2. Many were understandably excited when Christopher
07:50Walken was cast as the villainous Emperor Shaddam IV in Dune Part 2, that such a statuesque acting
07:56legend would be portraying one of the most important characters in the epic sci-fi saga. But then the
08:00movie came out, and Walken's performance proved majorly polarising with audiences, as many felt that
08:05his subdued work failed to translate the dangerous cunning of the character from the source text.
08:11It just felt a bit flat, and the fact that Walken spoke in his typical Queen's twang didn't much
08:15help either. Some fans have defended Walken's lethargic turn as an intentional attempt to
08:21underline that the Emperor isn't really supposed to live up to the hype, but ultimately it felt more
08:25like Walken got driven to set, rattled his lines off for a take or two, and then went straight home.
08:29Given the baggage of an actor as iconic as Walken brings with him to serious roles like this,
08:34Denis Villeneuve was probably better off casting an actor who the audience has a less set in stone
08:39perception of.
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