Good Movies thanks to Casting

[G0UCONN]

These are movies that are good but likely/could easily be bad/shaky without perfect casting of the main character ... a few come right to mind.....

Elf with Will Ferrell

My Cousin Vinny with Joe Pesci

Forrest Gump with Tom Hanks

Iron Man with Robert Downey

As Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson

 

[Waquoit]

What came to mind first for me when I read the thread title was Casablanca. And I think it still fits after reading your main character stipulation.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon made "Premium Rush" much better than it probably should have been.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Good thread idea. I will tweak it a bit and go with non-obvious actors. For example, I agree that Joe Pesci was excellent in My Cousin Vinny, but he was an obvious actor for the role. Same with Tom Hanks and Forrest Gump (although I believe he wasn't the first choice for the role). I think Robert Downey was not an obvious choice for Iron Man, and I think that casting choice was really interesting, and ultimately successful.

Two that jump to the top of my mind:

Ricardo Montalban - Khan in Star Trek II. The Star Trek franchise wasn't even a franchise, and was on life support after a lackluster Star Trek - The Motion Picture. If II flopped, there wouldn't be a III, and the studio wasn't even sure they wanted to do II. It was a ballsy choice to bet the franchise on making a feature length sequel to a single episode that broadcast 14 years earlier, with the villain a B/C level TV star whose show was widely mocked. Montalban crushed the part, and started a franchise.

Courtney Love - The People vs. Larry Flynt. I know she was basically playing herself, but I thought Love was fantastic in this movie.

 

[8893]

Being There, Peter Sellers.

 

[G0UCONN]

Being There, Peter Sellers.

Good call.

Actually Peters Sellers for every Pink Panther movie may be best example of this category. Take him out of those movies and they may be unwatchable and don't think anyone else could do it....

 

[G0UCONN]

Thought of another .... Will Ferrell and John C Reilly in Step Brothers.

To me it is among best comedies ever. Take them out and it may be a straight to video disaster.

 

[huskyrob1]

These are movies that are good but likely/could easily be bad/shaky without perfect casting of the main character ... a few come right to mind.....

Elf with Will Ferrell

My Cousin Vinny with Joe Pesci

Forrest Gump with Tom Hanks

Iron Man with Robert Downey

As Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson

The Big Sleep
The Great Santini
The Quiet Man
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
M*A*S*H
North by Northwest
Being There
To Kill a Mockingbird

 

[8893]

I'll add the one I saw last night, Lady Bird, starring Saorise Ronan. Angst-driven coming of age teen movies have been done for time immemorial, as have movies about complicated mother-daughter relationships. This story itself would be otherwise cute and forgettable, but Ronan absolutely makes this movie, and I suspect she will make a lot more.

 

[storrsroars]

The In-Laws (original). Falk, Arkin and Libertini were magical. Which is why Hollywood should never have attempted a remake.

Remains of the Day. It's two hours of tedium with anyone other than those two leads. I don't even think Gielgud and Streep could've pulled that off. Some would say it was two hours of tedium anyway, but I have a hard time thinking of any movie with better understated acting.

As I just mentioned Gielgud, hate to admit, but Arthur probably belongs on this list. Not a big Moore fan without Peter Cook, but the Moore/Gielgud/Minelli thing worked well. As obnoxious and outlandish as Moore was, he made the character sympathic, and I'm not sure many other comics at the time could've done as well.

Maybe My Favorite Year as well. Probably could've replaced Mark Linn-Baker with some other Richard Dreyfuss type, but not Peter O'Toole and probably not Joe Bologna.

 

[dbmill]

The In-Laws (original). Falk, Arkin and Libertini were magical. Which is why Hollywood should never have attempted a remake.

Remains of the Day. It's two hours of tedium with anyone other than those two leads. I don't even think Gielgud and Streep could've pulled that off. Some would say it was two hours of tedium anyway, but I have a hard time thinking of any movie with better understated acting.

As I just mentioned Gielgud, hate to admit, but Arthur probably belongs on this list. Not a big Moore fan without Peter Cook, but the Moore/Gielgud/Minelli thing worked well. As obnoxious and outlandish as Moore was, he made the character sympathic, and I'm not sure many other comics at the time could've done as well.

Maybe My Favorite Year as well. Probably could've replaced Mark Linn-Baker with some other Richard Dreyfuss type, but not Peter O'Toole and probably not Joe Bologna.

I saw The In-Laws a couple of months ago for the first time. Absolutely hilarious, with a great pairing between Falk and Arkin.

 

[8893]

The In-Laws (original). Falk, Arkin and Libertini were magical. Which is why Hollywood should never have attempted a remake.

Remains of the Day. It's two hours of tedium with anyone other than those two leads. I don't even think Gielgud and Streep could've pulled that off. Some would say it was two hours of tedium anyway, but I have a hard time thinking of any movie with better understated acting.

As I just mentioned Gielgud, hate to admit, but Arthur probably belongs on this list. Not a big Moore fan without Peter Cook, but the Moore/Gielgud/Minelli thing worked well. As obnoxious and outlandish as Moore was, he made the character sympathic, and I'm not sure many other comics at the time could've done as well.

Maybe My Favorite Year as well. Probably could've replaced Mark Linn-Baker with some other Richard Dreyfuss type, but not Peter O'Toole and probably not Joe Bologna.

Great call in In Laws.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Being There, Peter Sellers.

Being There is one of my favorite books and favorite movies ever. Peter Sellers was perfect for the role of Chauncey Gardner.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I am obviously partial to Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. He wasn't the first choice for Lecter either.

Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Bastards. I believe that was his first major non-German role.

Robert Duvall as Augustus McCrae. Not sure how they got an Oscar nominated actor to do TV in the 80's.

Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday. That would be a very different movie without Kilmer.

 

[G0UCONN]

I am obviously partial to Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. He wasn't the first choice for Lecter either.

Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Bastards. I believe that was his first major non-German role.

Robert Duvall as Augustus McCrae. Not sure how they got an Oscar nominated actor to do TV in the 80's.

Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday. That would be a very different movie without Kilmer.

All good calls.

Add Robert Duvall in Great Santini too. Oscar worthy and carried movie.

And Kilmer as Doc Holliday singlehandedly turned a solid/decent movie into a really good one.

 

[8893]

Being There is one of my favorite books and favorite movies ever. Peter Sellers was perfect for the role of Chauncey Gardner.

It's also one of my favorites, and one of the best acting jobs ever imo. So much so that I question Sellers's sanity every time; until I watch the bloopers at the end and see him cracking up during the "Raphael" scene. Kills me every time.

 

[auggie22]

PCU, Jeremy Piven

 

[nelsonmuntz]

PCU, Jeremy Piven

I will disagree on this one. I thought Jeremy Piven was awesome in Entourage, and I liked PCU, but dozens of actors could have played that role. It was a good ensemble cast that carried that movie. On a separate note, going PG-13 was a strange direction to go for that movie. Throwing some nudity onto the screen and getting an R rating would have made more sense.

 

[SubbaBub]

Unforgiven. Does that movie work at all without Clint, Morgan, and Gene?

 

[storrsroars]

Unforgiven. Does that movie work at all without Clint, Morgan, and Gene?

I think you could do it. Clint is a good director, but let's face it, his ability to convey any emotions other than anger and annoyance are pretty limited. And even then, he's basically still doing "The Man With No Name" from the early spaghetti westerns (I'd argue it'd be harder to imagine anyone but Eastwood/Wallace in TGTB&TU).

I don't think Clint is the type of director that could work wth Daniel Day-Lewis, but I think DDL might've been even more "powderkeg ready to explode" terrifying. Probably could replace Freeman with Russell Means and had a more interesting spin on that character. And Hackman... I dunno, maybe Kris Kristofferson.

But as long as we're still discussing leads: Steve Martin in The Jerk. At the time that came out, nobody else could've done it and sold the part.

 

[8893]

But as long as we're still discussing leads: Steve Martin in The Jerk. At the time that came out, nobody else could've done it and sold the part.

That was a life-changing movie for me. Steve Martin was like nothing we'd ever seen before. Given the number of times I watched it and how few movies I watch repeatedly any more, it is probably still in the top ten in terms of number of times watched. Jerry Lewis in his prime maybe could have come close? I'm not as familiar with his movies and didn't like him nearly as much, but my sense is that this would have been up his alley.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Unforgiven. Does that movie work at all without Clint, Morgan, and Gene?

I agree. This was basically a star vehicle for these 3 + Richard Harris anyway. I know the script had been bouncing around for a while, but that movie was not getting made without Clint doing it.

I think Clint is an excellent actor within his range. He is not Daniel Day Lewis, but Clint can communicate a lot with a look or inflection.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Alan Rickman in Die Hard. This guy came out of nowhere and made a fairly formulaic shoot em up into one of the best action movies of all time.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Almost anything Clint Eastwood is in holds up b/c of him. That's why they were able to make 2-3 movies with him and a freaking Orangutan. Its the nature of the 'star' system. So pick any mega-star and you have movies they carry.
Julia Roberts - Pretty Woman - who else is so beautiful that she makes a prostitute wholesome?
Sean Penn - Fast Times - star turn made the movie great
Eddie Murphy - 48hrs, BHCops, Trading Places, even Coming to A - he can still do it in cartoons, but given his schlock the last 20yrs its easy to forget his charisma carried movies.

 

[Dogdeacon]

A non-star one, Almost Famous is one of my favorite movies, maybe a lot of actors could have done it, but Patrick Fugit augmented by the always amazing Frances McDormand is nearly perfect, possibly a great movie regardless of who was in it as its easily Kate Hudson's best performance too. Overall casting as good as the acting - but Fugit is perfect as William Miller.

Back to stars, Michael Keaton makes Nightshift and Johnny Dangerously very watchable movies just because he is funny. They tried to push this in the movie "Duplicity' with multiple Michael Keaton's and it ran out of juice.