Best Casting EVER! (oooh)

Cactus Col

Well seeing as there's a thread for Worst Casting Ever, thought I may start one for the best casting ever, this is a thread for roles that have been filled by actors who have seemed born to play them, and you could not even consider another actor.

For starters:

Christopher Reeve in Superman

Brendan Gleeson in The General

koneko

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in Fight Club. It really wouldn't have been the same without them.

Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore.

Sleepy

Notably great casting IMHO

Al Pacino in Godfather
Michael Douglas in Wall Street
Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver
Russell Crowe in Gladiator
Sean Connery as Bond
Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire
Ewan MacGregor in Trainspotting

smoke.me.a.kipper

harrison ford in indiana jones.

Cactus Col

Sleepy wrote:

Notably great casting IMHO

Al Pacino in Godfather
Michael Douglas in Wall Street
Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver
Kurt Russell in Gladiator
Sean Connery as Bond
Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire
Ewan MacGregor in Trainspotting

Pretty much agree that they are pretty great casting there,

however, I think De Niro could have done just as well in Godfather, and Bronsan is as good a Bond as Connery, would have loved to have seen Ewan Bremner as Rent in Trainspotting

assume you meant Russell Crowe in Gladiator? (or I'm showing my ignorance) ... I reckon there's a few folk around that could have done it better

although:

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean

Gizzard

Sleepy wrote:

Notably great casting IMHO

Al Pacino in Godfather
Michael Douglas in Wall Street
Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver
Kurt Russell in Gladiator
Sean Connery as Bond
Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire
Ewan MacGregor in Trainspotting

Sean Connery as Bond yes agreed, but Kurt Russell in Gladiator, is this another gladiator other then Scotts?

ixoy

Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in "The Shawshank Redemption".
Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs".
Edward Norton in "American History X".

Zulu

Arnold as the Terminator - NO ONE else could have done it. Whatever about his acting abilities, he played the first one fantastic.

Cactus Col

Don't know about Anthony Hopkins ... thought Brian Cox did it just as well in Manhunter

mayordenis

Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan

Joeface

ixoy wrote:

Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in "The Shawshank Redemption".

Edward Norton in "American History X".

espically Morgan Freeman in the Shawshank..who new a old black could pull of playing RED HAIR MIDDLE AGED WHITE IRISH GUY ...one of the best casting ever

Also the cast of Usual suspects

mycroft

Cactus, Imitation is the sincerist form of flattery.

Kurt Russell in Gladiator

:eek:

Kinda blinked when I saw that. But I thought about it and y'know what I liked it. I think Snake Plisken could take a tiger.

Depardeui in Cyrano.

Redford and Newman as Sundance and Butch

Bizarely Mark Dacascos in brotherhood of the wolf.

Natalie Portman and Jean Reno in Leon.

Cactus Col

should such flattery improve my rep?

Ron Pearlman as Hellboy
Bruce Campbell as Elvis

(reckon Bruce Campbell and Kurt Russell are almost interchangeable as actors ... if only Campbell had had the laters success)(see Kurt in Big Trouble in Little China and you'll see what I mean)

Blitzkrieger

The entire cast of Pulp Fiction.

Uma Thurman in Kill Bill.
What'shisface the lead in Lock, Stock
The entire cast in Snatch too.
Sean Patrick Flannery? in Boondock Saints.

mike65

mayordenis wrote:

Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan

Agreed but consider this - (useless factiod#647) the first name in the frame for Dirty Harry was

v


v


v


v


v


v


Frank Sinatra!



Mike.

dangerman

Ian McKellan ... gandalf.

Sleepy

Fecken hell, that was a typo and a half - Edited...

mycroft wrote:

Natalie Portman and Jean Reno in Leon.

Good call. They were brilliantly paired in that.

Earthhorse

Not just Edward Norton in American History X, the whole cast was great in that film. A great ensemble performance even if it did centre around Norton.

Bill Murray in Kingpin, Rushmore.
Jack Nicholson as the Joker, Michael Keaton as Batman.
The cast of Glengarry, Glenross.

There are just too many films with great casts. You could go on forever.

vibe666

travolta and cage in face/off. thought they played it very well.

'bub' in day of the dead. gotta love that zombie shuffle. (howerd sherman if memory serves)

gary oldman in just about everything he's done esp. leon and fifth element (with the possible exception of dracula).

as much as a hate the w@nker, val kilmer in the doors. the boy done good.

and many more.

Pugsley

Yer man in Leon played his role perfected, Ewan McGreggor played a superb Obi Wan Kenobi in the new Star Wars films (he held the movie IMO). For terminator, Arnie was the only man for the job, could not have been cast better. The man who plays Aragorn in LotR, he played his role superbly too.

iasc

Jeff Bridges - Big Lebowski
Joe Pesci - Goodfellas
Jack Nicholson - One flew over

Wacker

Val Kilmer was also perfectly cast in Wonderland. Who else could have portrayed a star on the decline so well?

chewy

Ron Pearlman as Hellboy

a bit straightfoward no

it was like patrick stewart for dr xavier in xmen obvious jsut cos he looked liked him but then again stephen fry for wilde was perfect in a similar but different sense...

john travlota as vincent vega...

seeing as we talking about it sigourney weaver for aliens, this would be example of unexpected casting as of course the film was original written for man..

i dunno cant think of anyone else now i say it

segadreamcast

'Shattered Glass' - Hayden Christiansen as Stephen Glass.

Karl Hungus

Cactus Col wrote:

Don't know about Anthony Hopkins ... thought Brian Cox did it just as well in Manhunter

I agree, Cox was fantastic, and although I certainly loved Hopkins in Silence Of The Lambs, if you held Manhunter and Red Dragon back to back, Cox was indeed the man, so to speak.

Capt'n Midnight

Pugsley wrote:

Yer man in Leon played his role perfected,

It was Jean Reno and you obviously haven't seen Nikita, he played the same character Victor Nettoyeur

And I've never understood the fuss over silence of the lambs, Manhunter was much better in most respects.

Buck Owens

Lord of the rings cast, particaly the Fellowship of the ring.

Christian Bale as Batman, I Know the film is'nt out for another year but going by the trailer he is perfect for the role.

Karl Hungus

I'd agree with you Buck about Lord Of The Rings for the most part, especially Ian McKellen as Gandalf, he was just absolutely perfect. But lets not forget that Jackson was going to cast Stuart Townsend as Aragorn!? Now that would've been a complete disaster!

ChumpStain

Wesley Snipes as Blade
Sean Astin as Sam in LOTR, when I read the books I always pictured him this way.
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, even though hes like 6'2" he still manages to pull it off
Will Smith as Ali, I'm not the mans biggest fan but he did good here.

Creature

Pachino in The Devil's Advocate.

Ciaran500

Christian Bale - American Psyco

He's just so evil looking h fits the character perfectly.

Etain

John Candy as Uncle Buck
John Candy as Del Griffith

milltown

Dennis Hopper as Howard Payne in Speed
Charlie Sheen as Topper Harley in Hot Shots

Hello Kitty

Robin Williams.
I love Flubber, Patch Adams and especially Mrs.Doubtfire.. thats brilliant!

Fuhrio

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as 'Riggs' and 'Murtaugh' in the Lethal Weapon series.

Probably the best casting ever, made such a great pair.

Lafortezza

Tom Cruise as Frank TJ Mackey in Magnolia, another pretty damn fine cast in the whole film too.

chewy

Wesley Snipes as Blade

didn't he cast himself

Err..

Unarguably some of the best castings ever...

John Malkovich as John Malkovich: Being John Malkovich
Howard Stern as Howard Stern: Private Parts
And from The Player:
Steve Allen .... Himself
Richard Anderson .... Himself
Rene Auberjonois .... Himself
Harry Belafonte .... Himself
Shari Belafonte .... Herself
Karen Black .... Herself
Michael Bowen .... Himself
Gary Busey .... Himself
Robert Carradine .... Himself
Charles Champlin .... Himself
Cher .... Herself
James Coburn .... Himself
Cathy Lee Crosby .... Herself
John Cusack .... Himself
Brad Davis .... Himself
Paul Dooley .... Himself
Thereza Ellis .... Herself
Peter Falk .... Himself
Felicia Farr .... Herself
Katarzyna Figura .... Herself (as Kasia Figura)
Louise Fletcher .... Herself
Dennis Franz .... Himself
Teri Garr .... Herself
Leeza Gibbons .... Herself
Scott Glenn .... Himself
Jeff Goldblum .... Himself
Elliott Gould .... Himself
Joel Grey .... Himself
David Alan Grier .... Himself
Buck Henry .... Himself
Anjelica Huston .... Herself (as Angelica Huston)
Kathy Ireland .... Herself
Steve James .... Himself
Maxine John-James .... Herself
Sally Kellerman .... Herself
Sally Kirkland .... Herself
Jack Lemmon .... Himself
Marlee Matlin .... Herself
Andie MacDowell .... Herself
Malcolm McDowell .... Himself
Jayne Meadows .... Herself
Martin Mull .... Himself
Jennifer Nash .... Herself
Nick Nolte .... Himself
Alexandra Powers .... Herself
Bert Remsen .... Himself
Guy Remsen .... Himself
Patricia Resnick .... Herself
Burt Reynolds .... Himself
Jack Riley .... Himself
Mimi Rogers .... Herself
Annie Ross .... Herself
Alan Rudolph .... Himself
Jill St. John .... Herself
Susan Sarandon .... Herself
Adam Simon .... Himself
Rod Steiger .... Himself
Joan Tewkesbury .... Herself
Brian Tochi .... Himself
Lily Tomlin .... Herself
Robert Wagner .... Himself
Ray Walston .... Himself
Bruce Willis .... Himself
Marvin Young .... Himself
Althea Gibson .... Herself (uncredited)
Julia Roberts .... Herself (uncredited)
Scott Shaw .... Himself (uncredited)
Patrick Swayze .... Himself (uncredited)

Cactus Col

Liam Neeson as Schindler

aidan_dunne

Richard Harris as The Bull McCabe in 'The Field'. Great casting, there.

Colm Meaney in 'The Van' and 'The Snapper'.

Mel Gibson in 'We Were Soldiers'. From what I've read about Hal Moore, Gibson portrayed him pretty accurately.

And whoever mentioned Christopher Reeve as 'Superman' was spot on. For my money, there will never be anyone able to portray the Man Of Steel and his mild-mannered alter-ego as well as Reeve did. Is it any wonder Hollywood has had so many problems trying to find a suitable actor to fill those big boots for the widely anticipated future 'Superman' film? I mean, come on, Nicolas Cage? :eek: Who was the idiot in Hollywood who even thought for a second of possibly casting him in the role? Sweet Jesus! :rolleyes:

eggshapedfred

Matthew Broderick - Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Jeffrey Jones also)

Eddie Murphy - Beverly Hills Cop films.

Sly Stallone - Rocky

mycroft

And whoever mentioned Christopher Reeve as 'Superman' was spot on. For my money, there will never be anyone able to portray the Man Of Steel and his mild-mannered alter-ego as well as Reeve did. Is it any wonder Hollywood has had so many problems trying to find a suitable actor to fill those big boots for the widely anticipated future 'Superman' film? I mean, come on, Nicolas Cage? Who was the idiot in Hollywood who even thought for a second of possibly casting him in the role? Sweet Jesus

Kevin Smith was writing the script for superman reborn and the producer wanted Sean Penn (this was around the time of dead man walking)

The producer wanted Penn cause "He had the look of a m*therf*cking stone cold killer about him" :eek: Characteristics the man of steel is famous for.

Sly Stallone - Rocky

Doesn't count, Stallone wrote and directed Rocky for himself, casting himself was kinda obvious

scoey

Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption
Christopher Llyod- Back to the Future
River Phenix-Stand by Me
Arnold Schwartzenegger- Terminator
Harrison Ford- Indiana Jones and Witness
Marlon Brando-On the Waterfront
Jimmy Stewart- It's a Wonderful Life
Anthony Perkins- Psycho

LegacyUser

Bruce Willis as John McClane

ShiverinEskimo

Harrison Ford as Han Solo
Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (and the rest of that cast actually)
Already mentioned but Johnny Depp in Pirates was genius
Bill Murray - Lost in Translation
Robin Williams as the voice of the Genie in Aladdin.
Colin Farrell in Tigerland (the first and last decent part he's played imho but i don't blame him - his agent should be shot)
Jim carrey in the Truman Show.
Tom Sizemore in Black Hawk Down - I think he suits the whole hard as nails military man - he played similar in his short role in Saving Private Ryan.
Matt Damon and Robin williams in Good WIll Hunting
This one may cause hassle but what the heck: Matt Damon as Jason Bourne.

angeldelight

LOTR was already mentioned but Ian Mc Kellen as Gandalf was inspired! He was so suited to the part. This might seem little odd but Andy Serkis as Gollum is high up on my list. Yes, he was only doing the movements for the character but how perfect were they? Gollum came across exactly as squirmy and unpleasant as the book portrayed him and I thought he did a great job!