20 Actors Who Were TOTALLY Miscast In Movies

Though most, if not all, of these actors are terrifically talented in their own right, not every actor is right for every project, as quickly became apparent to audiences within minutes of watching these movies. So, with that in mind, I'm Ellie. I'm Gareth. You're watching WhatCulture, and here are actors who were totally miscast in movies. Kevin Hart, Lift Netflix's heist comedy Lift stars Kevin Hart as Cyrus, a thief and the leader of a crack heist crew, in a surprisingly serious role that isn't a good fit for him. Like, At all. Hart clearly excels at playing the goofy comedian, and while he's shown himself to have dramatic range in other projects, the role of a suave con artist just isn't something he's naturally suited for. The script seems engineered to work against Hart's innate gifts, stripping away any sense of humour or charm in Cyrus, ensuring the part feels like it was written for somebody else entirely, namely an actor more attuned to playing the straight man. This miscasting is all the more bizarre given that Hart was a producer on the film, And so we can presume he clearly wanted to try something different, but alas, it was to no avail. Kevin Hart and Cate Blanchett – Borderlands Before even a single frame of footage had been shown off, fans were already busy screaming Claiming miscast at Eli Roth's adaptation of hit video game Borderlands. Yes, it looked weird as they did that while sat on the bus, but that's what they did. So for starters, the short, statured Kevin Hart seemed like a howlingly inappropriate choice to portray the burly, serious-minded Roland Greaves. And Cate Blanchett, much as we love her, was a wholly unnatural fit for Lilith too. Lilith was just 22 years of age in the first Borderlands game. Yet here she's played by a mid-fifties Blanchette, which naturally gives the character a totally different and most would argue inferior vibe. These casting choices made it abundantly clear that little effort was made to respect the core of the source material. Because why would any filmmaker deviate so aggressively from the core physical tenets of these beloved characters? Just didn't make sense. Blanchette was clearly at least having a bit of fun with what little she was given. Hart, though, seemed totally lost throughout. Now, Borderlands was a bit of a disappointment in the end, but I want to know right now what's the most disappointing film that you've seen in 2024. It might be Borderlands, you let me know down below. Chris Pratt, The Garfield Movie The moment that Chris Pratt was announced to be voicing Garfield in The Garfield Movie, many fans cried, miscast, feeling that Pratt didn't seem remotely well-suited to play the Lasagna-loving cat. Rather, it seemed like Pratt was cast purely because he's a household name with proven success in animated fare like The Lego Movie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and ultimately few were left persuaded by the end product, which indeed saw Pratt deliver a spirited, effervescent portrayal of Garfield, which felt rather at odds with who the character traditionally is. The prior live-action Garfield movies weren't good by any means. I mean, I beg to differ, those films were my childhood. But at least they nailed the casting part by By bringing in the relentlessly. Aaron Dean Eisenberg, The Iron Claw The Iron Claw was one of 2023's best films, a riveting and upsetting drama about the Von Erich wrestling dynasty, which benefited enormously from its superbly cast ensemble. That is, except for its infamous portrayal of wrestling legend Ric Flair, actor Aaron Dean-Eisenberg was hired to play the part, and though he bears a passable physical resemblance to the man, he categorically fails to capture the physical essence of Flair. The voice, the mannerisms, The in-ring physicality. Hell, even his woo seems laughably weak compared to the real Flair, and it doesn't help at all that wrestling fans have spent decades watching Flair do his thing, so they have an intensely intimate understanding of how he's supposed to look, act, and sound. Eisenberg certainly hasn't been blind to the backlash either, calling it a bummer that wrestling fans called out his performance, while also defending his intentional attempt to not merely mimic Flair's popular persona. Even so, few fans seem convinced that Eisenberg captured the spirit of who Flair, both as an entertainer and a human being, actually is. For all the aforementioned reasons, the Nature Boy is admittedly one hell of a hard role to cast and play, so good luck to the next person. Oh, and if you like yourself some wrestling, then head on over to WhatCultureWrestling after you've finished this video. Why not? Jennifer Lopez, Atlas. Not to add fuel to the J-Lo hate train that's been running wild that she was so thoroughly out of her element in Netflix's sci-fi dud Atlas. Though Lopez has proven herself a solidly capable performer in both drama and comedy roles over the years, certainly for the standards of musicians turned actors anyway, it's extremely tough to buy her as a misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of AI in this movie. Granted, the script makes little attempt to take advantage of of Lopez's innate charisma or physical athleticism, but is painfully It's awfully clear throughout that this lead role would have been better played by literally hundreds of A- and B-list actresses who seem a little less out of place in a sci-fi action flick. This isn't to say that J.Lo can't thrive in the action arena, but nothing about this film made her seem like a natural fit for it. M. Night Shyamalan – Trap M. Night Shyamalan's trap revolves around a serial killer who finds himself caught in a, you guessed it, trap, while taking his daughter to the concert of a Taylor Swift-esque mega-pop star called Lady Raven. Lady Raven is played by pop star Salika, whose real name is Salika Night Shyamalan. Yep, she's the eldest daughter of her filmmaker father. Now, in an era where Nepo babies are raked over the coals left and right, it is easy to bleat about nepotism sight unseen, but in this case it surely applies. Though Salika fills the musical requirements of the role just fine, and even recorded a 14-track pop album for the movie, her dramatic performance is decidedly less persuasive. Given that Raven plays a pivotal role in the film's second act in particular, she needed a strong portrayal from a fierce actress, and Salika, well, just doesn't quite get there. It's painfully clear that Shyamalan wrote the script with his daughter in mind, and some might argue to help boost her lukewarm music career, but when the part asks her to sink her teeth into some serious dramatic meat, she's sadly unable to fully rise to the occasion. What a twist. Sorry, couldn't resist. Bad boys ride or die. Yoann Griffith plays a supporting role in the most recent Bad Boys film as mayoral candidate Adam Lockwood, who also happens to be the boyfriend of Captain Rita. Gee, do you think he's gonna be the secret villain or what? The problem here is that Griffith is so brilliant at playing smarmy, arrogant a-holes that he's basically become typecast in that role. And so when he showed up in this movie, it was painfully obvious he would be the mole that helped frame the late Captain Howard. In fact, Lockwood's villainy was so damn neon signposted, it seemed like he was going It seemed like the movie was primed to pull the rug out and just have him simply be a nice guy, but alas that wasn't the case. Griffith can play these types of roles in his sleep, so perhaps it's more that he was too well cast for his own good, enough that it sank the entire twist. Casting an actor better known for playing more likeable characters would have definitely been the way to go here. Basically, everyone uglies. Impressively topping Madame Webb's risible attempt to cast an adult actress as a child, we have Uglies, which does the very same thing with basically its entire central cast. Hooray! The critically panned Netflix young adult film takes place in a dystopia where, at the age of 16, everyone undergoes cosmetic surgery in order to look pretty. But rather than cast age-appropriate actors to play the 15-17-year-olds featured throughout the We've got the likes of 25-year-old Joey King and 32-year-old Chase Stokes. Almost nobody here looks their actual age or even close to it. And in the case of Stokes, he's literally playing a character half his own age. What? Now, while it is understandable that Hollywood hires actors a few years older to portray teenagers due to child labor laws, could the production really not find actors in their late teens or early 20s to play these parts? It ensures that an already laughable film is even more difficult to take seriously. Silly stuff. Thank you for stopping by to check out this list of miscast folks today, my friend. If you're enjoying your lovely self, then hit that subscribe button and more of this stuff will be heading your way. I know, what a life. Jessica Alba, Trigger Warning Jessica Alba is certainly no stranger to action, but her work in Netflix actioner Trigger Warning leaves much to be desired. Alba plays Special Forces Officer Parker, who returns to her hometown and wages war on a violent gang terrorising the locals. As a meat and potatoes genre schlock set up, it has potential. To see Alba kicking ass as a crappy commando? I mean, why the hell not? But Alba's stilted, even downright boring performance robs the film of much sense of fun. There's little visceral intensity to the action. which should have emphasized her scrappy intelligence in fending off men much larger than herself. And when it comes to the dialogue, Alba often sounds totally bored. Perhaps she was going for coolly stoic. But this is a movie that desperately needed a ferocious lead actress to elevate the uninspired material, and Alba just wasn't it. Jack Kessie, Hellboy the Crooked Man. Now to be completely fair to Jack Kessie, he was basically doomed before he even opened his mouth in Hellboy the Crooked Man. This second attempt to reboot the comic book franchise had the massive uphill task of being endlessly compared to Guillermo del Toro's big budget original duology, while armed with a mere $20 million price tag. But even if you can forgive the overall cheapness of the production, the lackluster Hellboy makeup, and undeniable superiority of Ron Ron Perlman's prior performance in the role. Jack Cassie sadly just doesn't bring too much to the table here. Sure, he hews closer to the original Mike Mignola conception of the character in some respects, and is a sure improvement over David Arbus's lacklustre work in the role in the previous reboot, but ultimately, Cassie's Hellboy just doesn't leave much of a lasting impression really. If the producers truly wanted this version of Big Red to succeed, they would have benefited from casting a higher profile actor in the part who had a Had a real vision for the role. Instead we're simply left with a. With a wishy-washy take that's not awful, but not particularly good either. It's just sort of there. Ryan Reynolds, If Given his popularity, it's little surprise that Hollywood wants to cast Ryan Reynolds in everything it possibly can. But his performance in John Krasinski's If proves how even he can be aggressively miscast. Reynolds plays Cal, a man who works with the imaginary friends to place them with new children once their original children have grown up and moved on. It's rather fitting that the entire film has an air of Steven Spielberg's hook about it. Because you know what If, and especially the character of Cal, could have used? Some Robin Williams' energy Despite his penchant for playing energetic motormouths, Reynolds really doesn't have the mirth or earnestness to play this part well. Without an array of sarcastic barbs to rip through, Reynolds seems lost as Cal, bringing bafflingly little heart or warmth to a role that desperately needed both in order to pay off emotionally. Natalie Emmanuel – Megalopolis To be completely fair here, the only cast members to fully escape Megalopolis with their dignity intact are Aubrey Plaza and perhaps Shia LaBeouf. As the pair are the only ones who seem to fully give themselves over to the campy vibe of Francis Ford Coppola's epic sci-fi drama mess. All the same, one of the film's disappointments is the shockingly wooden work by lead actress Natalie Emmanuel. Emmanuel, who made a name for herself in Game of Thrones and the newer Fast and Furious movies, is definitely a talented and likeable actress. Though she seems to struggle a bit here. Much like Adam Driver, she seems to take the part and the project as a whole far more seriously than she should have. Resulting in a strangely leaden, personality-devoid performance. Granted, the script doesn't exactly give her a whole lot to do. But all the same, the part clearly would have benefited from a different approach by another, perhaps more seasoned actress. Andy McDowell, Red Right Hand. Red Right Hand stars Orlando Bloom as Cash, a man who runs afoul of local kingpin Big Cat. And while the prospect of seeing Andy McDowell playing hugely against type in a savagely villainous role certainly had potential, The movie really only proves why she's so rarely cast in parts like this. McDowell fails to bring the resolute menace necessary to make the role work, and given that she's the movie's overarching antagonist, that's obviously a huge problem. Props to her for trying to break out of her comfort zone at this stage in her career, but somewhere along the line, someone should have faced facts that she just doesn't have the gravitas as a performer to pull this kind of ruthless character off, especially when she's front and centre. Ultimately, you're more likely to laugh at McDowell's crime matriarch than feel intimidated by her presence, which really It is telling that when the first image of Dennis Quaid playing Ronald Reagan was released from the biopic, the general consensus was, yep, that's Dennis Quaid in a cowboy hat. And that's really the crux of Quaid's performance in the film. Look, he's certainly not awful here, but beyond being a middle-aged, right-leaning white guy with an air of charm about him, was he really the best choice for the part? Eh, probably not. Quaid absolutely tries to embody the former president, and receives some scattered critical plaudits for that attempt. But ultimately, it's tough to look past his recognisable mug and voice and actually believe we're watching an artistic rendition of the real person. Hell, it's probably fair to say that Quaid would have made for a better Nixon, who he bears a more natural physical resemblance to. Instead, it feels like Quaid was the first available actor on the producer's Rolodex, and that was that. Chris Pine, Pool Man The case of Chris Pine's miscasting in mystery comedy Pool Man is all the more bizarre given that the film was also written and directed by him. Pine plays Darren, a slacker pool cleaner who gets caught up in a Chinatown-esque conspiracy relating to property, politics and water. As a clear homage to not only Chinatown but also The Big Lebowski, Pine evidently wanted to cast himself as a modern riff on Jeff Bridges' The Dude, a goofy himbo who gets in way over his head. And yet the film never once persuades that this role plays to Pine's Pine's strengths Sure, Pine has proven himself a fine comic actor in the past, but this material does nothing for him whatsoever, leaving him to give a shapeless performance as a character who isn't nearly as charming as Pine seemingly thinks he is. To Pine's credit, though, he does seem to have taken the near-universal critical scorn in good humor. Anna Kendrick, Woman of the Hour. Anna Kendrick's directorial debut Woman of the Hour is certainly a solid showcase for her filmmaking chops, though somewhat less assured is her decision to also play embattled protagonist Cheryl Bradshaw, a game show contestant who was unknowingly caught in the midst of serial killer Rodney Alcala. The big problem here is that Kendrick Jake never once convinces as a woman existing in the 1970s, like at all. Even ignoring her clothing and hairstyle, which barely feel like they're approximating the period at all, Kendrick's vibe and mannerisms throughout the film simply feel like we're watching an Anna Kendrick-adjacent person existing in the modern day. Kendrick's quirky public persona permeates through to her character to a distracting degree, and so while her dramatic performance here is totally commendable, she's still ultimately unable to get entirely out of her own way. It ostensibly doesn't help that Kendrick bears little physical resemblance to the real Bradshaw, and so it's easy to appreciate that Kendrick should have probably just stayed behind the camera on this occasion. Sydney Sweeney, Madam Webb. Granted, you could argue that most of Madam Webb's main casts are hilariously miscast, especially Dakota Johnson and Adam Scott, but nobody feels more out of place here than Sydney Sweeney. Sweeney plays Julia, a 16-year-old teenage girl, a sentence one can barely get through without laughing. Sweeney. who has thus far made a career out of playing mature young women, simply can't pass muster as a high schooler, and the fact that the filmmakers even tried is, honestly, weird at best. Furthermore, the attempts to age her down, namely by giving her large glasses, a miniskirt, and thigh-high socks, only draw further attention to how awkward she looks in the part. Obviously, Sweeney was cast because she's one of the most high-profile rising actresses in Hollywood right now, even though it was a part that she was totally wrong for. FKA twigs the crow. Though there wasn't exactly much enthusiasm going around for the reboot of The Crow, in the very least Bill Skarsgård was a solid casting choice for Eric aka The Crow, even though the movie was largely a bust. Less successful however was the casting of pop star FKA Twigs as Eric's doomed girlfriend Shelly, for though she certainly looks the part, there isn't much evidence here that acting is a natural calling for the musician. Even though she gets far more screentime than Sofia Sheena's version of the character did in the 1994 film, FKA Twig's Shelley rarely feels like more than a thin sketch here, and a big part of that is Twig's relatively lifeless performance in the role. It's vitally important that we buy into the chemistry between Skarsgård and Twig's for the revenge story to actually work, and yet it just ends up feeling mostly forced and undercooked in the end. Clearly there was more interest here in casting a buzzy name in the role rather than a performer with the chops to do it full justice. Christopher Walken, Dune Part 2 Many were understandably excited when Christopher Walken was cast as the villainous Emperor Shaddam the Fourth in Dune Part 2, that such a statuesque acting legend would be portraying one of the most important characters in the epic sci-fi saga. But then the movie came out, and Walken's performance proved majorly polarising with audiences, as many felt that his subdued work failed to translate the dangerous cunning of the character from the source text. It just felt a bit And the fact that Walken spoke in his typical Queen's twang didn't much help either. Some fans have defended Walken's lethargic turn as an intentional attempt to underline that the Emperor isn't really supposed to live up to the hype, but ultimately it felt more like Walken got driven to set, rattled his lines off for a take or two, and then went straight home. Given the baggage of an actor as iconic as Walken brings with him to serious roles like this, Denis Villeneuve was probably better off casting an actor who the audience has a less set-in-stone perception of.