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Casting Bill Murray in anything is never random or insane. Bill Murray could play a toaster. Bill Murray could play Meryl Streep. Bill Murray could play a hooker with a heart of gold. I don't care, and I would see it.

I completely forgot how AMAZING the (rest of the) cast is for Much Ado About Nothing!

Also, I won't deny my love for Interview, and it is one of the few movies wherein I love CrazyCruise.

I agree. I thought Kelsey Grammer was a great choice to play Beast. Perfect, really. Though a bit random, yes.

OK, honestly? I'm a Shakespeare purist and certainly no Keanu apologist but I don't mind that casting Much Ado. Don John is not a complex or multi-layered character like Iago needing subtlety or, in Keanu's case, more than one facial expression to get the job done. He is, is Big Willy Shakes' words, "A plain-dealing villain." So yeah, Keanu, in all his bare chested homo-erotically oiled glory suits me just fine in that movie because it is one of the greatest movies of all time. Denzel, I love you. Robert Sean Leonard, you made me forget that Claudio is a total ASS. Kate Beckinsale was never so good (except for Cold Comfort Farm). Kenneth Branaugh should ALWAYS be bearded. And, Emma Thompson, marry me.

The only thing worth watching in Troy is the pretty.

That's reason enough to watch it, I think.

The only thing worth watching in Troy is the pretty.

and he gets nekkid

Razor's Edge was Murray's passion project.
Clooney as Bruce Wayne, random? A perfect fit that didn't work surely.

I'm right with you for Betty Rubble though. Everyone knows Betty was meant to be hot. There's a similar example of that if only my mind would remember.

coveredinbees, the stilted line delivery wasn't enough to drive you crazy?

"I am not. a. man. of. manywords." THANK GOD.

For some reason I'm blind (or deaf) to it. Maybe I'm still just basking in Brian Blessed's belly laugh. It's like music!!

coveredinbees, I can almost agree on all of that with you. That movie had epically awesome casting. But it just made Keanu stand out too much. He's not a one-note villain, he's got no notes. Couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

And I was so sad when I saw KG cast as Beast. Beast was always my favorite intellectual monster and as much as I enjoy Sideshow Bob, he was just off somehow. Too theatrical to be a nerdy scientist monster, for me.

Made as much sense as casting Hugh Jackman as a 5-foot-3 badass.
Posted by: Tracer Bullet at April 15, 2010 3:04 PM

Wolverine was about 5'6" in the comics. And Hugh is ghey.

Kelsey Grammar was PERFECT as Beast. I can't think of another Hollywood actor who would've been anywhere close from both a physical and personality standpoint.

And... what's wrong with Brad Pitt as Achilles? I mean, the movie was terrible, but what about the character of Achilles do you think he was a bad fit for? Achilles is just a ripped, egotistical badass - sounds like 7 other Brad Pitt characters.

I feel like this is mostly just a list of badly acted roles, or weird roles in bad movies...

Nope. 5-foot-3

http://marveldirectory.com/individuals/w/wolverine.htm

http://marvel.com/universe/Wolverine_%28James_Howlett%29

How about Halle Berry as Storm? She's beautiful, I know, but she's no badass goddess.

Give me Angela Bassett any day for that role, even if she is a bit older than Berry.

Is that Dr. Wilson in Much Ado About Nothing? It is!

Ha! I love Robert Shaun Leonard, so that makes me happy. In the show, his relationship with House is the only reason to keep watching.

According to the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Keanu was not actually that bad. Some research has shown that during Shakespeare’s time, the acting was stilted, over-dramatic, and involved a lot of shouting due to the atmosphere of the theatre. So really, he's actually one of our generation's greatest Shakespearean actors.

Well, I guess I'll have to be the one to defend Fox in Casualties of War; he plays well as the naive youth of the movie up against the casual cruelty of Penn. (Doesn't hurt that it's one of the very few good Brian DePalma movies.)

Angela Bassett turned down the part of Storm, she thought she was too old. She was the only one who thought so. Angela would've owned the shit out of that role, but it wasn't meant to be.

Yeah, Troy was pretty awful, but damnit, the man candy in that movie is just too strong to resist.

I made the grave error of basing a college essay off of Troy. It might have gotten a few things right, but Melody said it; as a whole, it's painfully inaccurate. Serves me right for ignoring the book.

coveredinbees: Fair. Plus, Beatrice's badassery blocks out a lot too.

The X-Men casting that always bugged me was Cyclops/Jean Grey. I mean, I think the actors were good in their respective parts, I just never bought them together. For people who don't know the comic, you have precious little time to show why these people are important to one another and it always seemed....I dunno, like Cyclops came back from college among the normals and bagged the teacher he'd had a crush on high school.

I figured this list would have Paris "Crotch Rot" Hilton somewhere. I mean, it is random and TOTALLY INSANE to think that she could act or that she should be given the chance. She didn't even convince me that she was having sex in her sex tape, so, you know.

Ooooooh I'm here TB.

In fact I think I made a rather pissy remark about Kelsey Grammar on this list--he is everything the Hank McCoy I grew up with on Saturday mornings embodies. In fact, he is probably the best casting decision made in the last two X-Men films. His voice, his calm demeanor, awesome. I think I hit the refresh instead of "post message".

Alright, on to Jeffrey Donovan. The hard-ass version? Yes. I fucking hate Cyclops and all his boy-scout pussy bullshit. But despite the fact that it's not a great run, I like his character arc with the Messiah line.

Holy crap, you want a great bit of casting? Stephen Laing as Cable! That. Would. Rock. (And remember he's a theatre guy, he can act when Cameron isn't writing).

I'm really unsure about the Danny Rand casting--the Ben Foster call is pretty good, but for some reason in my head Danny is young. I need to go grab an Iron Fist set again. The big fat huge problem with Iron Fist is that you need someone who can convincingly pull off the fluid martial arts stuff. You would need blonde, white Tony Jaa...

I dunno, I think there's a lot of guys who could pull off the look of Rand, but I want to focus on the physical aspect. We don't need another Affleck...

They did a great job with the look for all of the X-Men. Trying to keep Logan at his actual height would have thrown your standard audiences for a loop. Marvel rarely misfires on the look (Juggernaut/Sue Storm), but nobody makes 100% casting decisions based on talent.

Really? I thought 4 and 6 made perfect sense.

Well, that's just it. There are no young actors to play these roles. Either they're attractive dimwits like Charming Potato or they're twerps like Pattison and LeBouf. Can you see, I don't know, Zac Effron and Usher as Danny Rand and Luke Cage? Fuck and no.

Crap, I guess you're right Tracer. I've always been a bad judge of height. All these years I've been wrong. I feel... unbalanced. Like the world is falling apart around me. Like it wasn't bad enough having Hugh play Wolverine, now I find out Wolvy was a midget too?

I'm with SK and others...Brad Pitt was a perfect choice for Achilles.

The character is a whiny, petulant diva of a warrior who spends much of the early part of the war sitting on the sidelines in a huff over a perceived slight by the king, only getting involved when his buddy Patroklos gets killed.

Kelsey Grammar as The Beast was about the only thing I couldn't find fault with in X3. I thought that was perfect casting the moment it was announced.

The less said about the rest of the movie, the better. Remember how exciting it was to see the Phoenix Effect at the end of X2? And then the announcement that Ratner would be fucking the follow-up? Yeah.

The usually draw him as shorter but not short. He should be the same height as Jean Gray, but he's always a bit taller. They never get Colossus right either. He's supposed to be 7-foot-5, but he's rarely more than a head taller than Cyclops at 6-foot-3.

Yes, I know all this without looking it up. No one is more amazed than I am that a woman consented to marry me.

The only memorable moment of Troy was Brad Pitt's naked ass So, really, I think the casting was genius.

Good list. But a list of the "Most Randomly Insane Casting Decisions" is very second rate without including Tim Curry playing the Devil in Legend. Seriously Random and Fucking Awesome.

D-Day, I love Nate Grey. I think we need to see some pics.

I don't know if AoA works without the regular 616 X-Men as a backdrop. There is a lot of implied backstory and AoA only makes sense if you know it all that history. It would take a miniseries to handle all the exposition. Plus, an AoA with a happy ending is just gross. That said, I'm dying to see Holocaust in action. By the same token, I have no desire to see Colossus in a Scarlet Pimpernel mask.

How about Rosie O'Donnell in anything!

Granted she wasn't playing far off type, but O'Donnell was good in A League of Their Own.

Can we talk Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane? No va, va, nor voom there.

I disagree with a couple of your picks. I thought Kelsey Grammer was perfect as the Beast. When I first heard he was going to play him, I was skeptical, but then I thought he owned the party pretty well. Remember, the Beast is very intelligent (Okay, I'm outing myself as a reader of the comic books long before the movies came out).

Tom Cruise as Lestat was another one I thought would miss and instead it hit dead on. I thought he was fey and creepy enough for it, though I never quite got over seeing him as a blond.

How could you mention Keanu Reeves without mentioning the inexplicable casting of him as John Constantine? Fie!

I'm confused by this list. I like the concept but...not really sure you got it right. Like, at all.

Kelsey Grammar is perfect casting for Beast. Brad Pitt as the god-like Achilles is random? How so? Brad Pitt was established as an action star and had the looks and presumably had the acting chops to do a blockbuster movie. Also not really sure why George Clooney or Rosie O'Donnel or even Tom Cruise was "random" casting.

Real random casting:

Tom Cruise as Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder.
Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight.
Topher Grace as Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3.
Mike Myers, B.J. Novak in Ingloriuos Basterds.

All I can think of for now but I think those castings were a bit more peculiar. Most worked, some didn't *cough* Topher *cough*.

Oh man, whoever said Stephen Lang as Cable is right on the money. The excessive pouches, oversized weapons, ever-changing hairline, no-feet-having money.

I thought Tom Cruise was awesome as Lestat. That movie has always been on my list of guilty pleasures and say what you will but it beats the shit out of Twilight any day.

I never understood ROsie as Betty Rubble. I always thought Betty was like, y'know, "the hot one" and then they go and cast Rosie. Whats up with that? If I had to re-cast, I would have casted a black-haired Charlize Theron or something.

As for Brad Pitt in Troy...

I always thought someone MUCH BIGGER AND SCARIER should have played Achilles. I pictured Vin Diesel. Pitt's a better actor, but I just didn't get pretty boy as the awesome warrior.

Plus the homoerotic subtext would have been more sexy with a butch guy.

*points up*

Yeah LB hit that one on the head.

Aeneas, now that's something Vin Diesel might tackle! Monica Bellucci could make a mighty fine Dido, too... Writing of which, I can't believe Hollywood never dared to xenafy The Aeneid yet. Ah, stupid spelling checker thingy red-waved xenafy; I forgot I haven't yet smuggled it into the dictionary...

Matt Damon was Cap in my head...

God, you almost hit it on the head with Phillipe, but then you have to remember that all he can do is lower his voice and breathe heavy.

Christopher Egan?
Ian Somerhalder?
Garrett Hedlund?