Vox

Casting About

One of my favorite games to play with D is the casting game - take any movie and figure out who would have been better in any of the parts. I always thought I would blog about it, but like many of my clever post ideas®, it just never happened.

Then I posted about Brad Pitt & Tom Cruise...and their lack of acting ability. And Lori mentioned Collateral which is one of my favorite casting game movies.

Here's why - I don't think you could swing a cat in Hollywood without hitting someone who would have been better in the role of Vincent. I thought it was a good movie, and I thought Vincent was a great, and well written, role, but Cruise was NOT up to it. From the moment I saw him with that fake gray hair (I've seen better fake gray in junior high drama productions), I could not buy him as the ruthless killer - despite his emotionless, robotic performance.

So who would be better (besides anybody with a pulse)?

Take the easy and obvious switch, have Jamie Foxx play the killer. I think he would have rocked it.

* Then you have the list of never fails, the actors who always deliver; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, Edward Norton, Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Robert Downey Jr., Christian Bale, John C Reilly, James McAvoy, Alan Rickman, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Greg Kinnear...

* How about the pretty boys with talent; Eric Bana, Jason Statham, Will Smith, Val Kilmer, David Duchovny, Harry Conick Jr, Clive Owen, Pierce Brosnan - and for Lori, Russell Crowe...

* How about others in, or offered, roles in the movie; Cuba Gooding Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Colin Farrell, Adam Sandler...

* Even some highly unlikely choices that would have worked; Angelina Jolie, Jeff Bridges, Bruce Campbell, James Woods, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Stephen Dorff, Gabriel Byrne, Tom Conti, Famke Jansen, Rhona Mitra, Daniel Craig, Gerard Butler, Bill Paxton, Tom Waits, Chiwetel Ejiofor...

I could do this all day. Sorry, Lori, but I can hardly think of a performer who wouldn't have been better as the cold-hearted killer.

Footnote on this movie: Jada Pinkett Smith has an annoying and unnecessary role here. The annoying part may have been the casting as I really can't stand her. The character, though, is too obvious and predictable, not to mention completely superfluous.

p.s. D actually likes Tom Cruise, we definitely don't see eye-to-eye on that one, but he has come up with some of the best suggestions for alternate Vincents.

UPDATE: From ExLg's post on the Coen Bros films, I am reminded of John Tuturro, Tony Shaloub, Steve Buscemi, John Mahoney...

UPDATE: Forgot to include my favorite scary bad guys; John Lithgow, Rutger Hauer...(though they may both be a bit long in tooth)

And from the world of comedy; Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Robin Williams, Don Cheadle...

Actors that don't usually do much for me but who could've pulled it off; John Travolta, Richard Gere...

Posted by Vox at August 16, 2008 06:53 PM | movies