Have you ever seen a movie and were amazed at how the producers chose the actors for the various parts? Performances that range from pathetic to outlandish are rare, but they do happen.

Take "Camelot," that dream of a stage show with Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet and Richard Burton. Then it went Hollywood and we had to endure Vanessa Redgrave and Richard Harris croaking out those great songs, and Franco Nero just standing around looking pretty.

And who can forget "Paint Your Wagon," starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin. And these guys SANG...several songs. It wasn't pretty.

Any others?

I thought that Tommy Steele would have been a better choice for 'Bert' in Mary Poppins. Dick Van Dyke was good for the part ...but that cockney accent?

I thought that Robert Redford, who I respect as an actor, was pretty much out of his element in "Out Of Africa". And, of course, both Neil Diamond and the great Laurence Olivier didn't quite fit well into that "The Jazz Singer" remake.

I still can't handle Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell in Peter Pan!

This one's easy, the cast of Batman and Robin. I've never seen worse movie, from the actors to the director it is just plain bad.

• Keanu Reeves in Much Ado About Nothing
  
• Kevin Spacey in The Shipping Forecast
  
• Everyone in Phenomenon, In and Out and Indecent Proposal... ooh no, hold on, that is probably me just hating the films....

Natalie Portman as Amidala in Attack of the Clones and thet kid who played Anakin (?) Skywalker

H.B. Warner and Sam Jaffe
Lost Horizon - 1937

Nearly everyone in Braveheart as there aren't many real Scots in it, and it was just an excuse for Mel Gibson to Brit bash .......again.

Everyone in the Jean Reno Joan of Arc film - pure poo if there ever was, but it might have been improved with a different cast.

And I still think that Jimmy Stewart would have been better as Atticus in the film of To Kill A Mockingbird, rather than Gregory Peck.

And Michelle Pfeiffer in Franky and Jonny! The whole point was that Franky was supposed to be plain - not one of the most beautiful women around.

I really disliked Tom Cruise in 'The Interview With the Vampire'. They should've picked someone more ... I don't know. Tommy just didn't suit for the part!

Nooooo! I thought he was perfect for the role of Lestat! Cold and unforgiving... I always thought Mr T. Cruise had those qualities... he was good in Magnolia too...

I thought Tom was too American and full on for the role, but as you say Flapjack he was fantastic in Magnolia.

Has anyone mentioned Kev Costner as Robin Hood and Mary Elizabeth Frizzy Hair Rubbish Actress as Maid Marion as the worst casting of all time????? Hello?

BTW Flapjack - I will get around to writing a film review soon, but the other half keeps whisking me off to beautiful parts of the country for un-romantic weekends!!

Val Kilmer as The Saint - how to destroy a character in one easy lesson!

In reply to:

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Mary Elizabeth Frizzy Hair Rubbish Actress as Maid Marion as the worst casting of all time????? Hello?

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- it may be so, amberg, but she is really nice to look at! (sorry, my chauvinism is showing)

Nicolas Cage as an action hero... Con Air and The Rock come to mind.

This one is quite famously bad but mercifully short:

John Wayne as the Roman in The Greatest Story Ever Told. If you havent seen it you have to check him out post crucifixion saying in true John Wayne style saying "Truly this was the son of God". Hilarious.

One that springs to mind is Ashley Judd as Lexie Coop in "Where the Heart Is". In the book, Lexie was a plus size woman who was always battling her weight with one diet or another. I don't know why Hollywood feels the need to change such details when making a movie from a book. In the book, the main focus of her character was fighting her weight problem.

I totally agree w/what you said about Ashley Judd, I loved the book, I didn't even see the movie, it was so wrongly cast (Natalie Portman as white trash? no.)
Another one that comes to mind is Barbara S. as Dr. Lowenstein in "Prince of Tides", she did a good job directing, but I thought she was wrong for that character.
I also HATED Mia Farrow as Daisy in "Gatsby".
On a positive note, some of the BEST castings ever were:
Harry Potter
LOTR

True, it was hard to imagine Natalie Portman (and Sally Field) as white trash.

I can't decide if it was because of a miscast role or done by the writers, but I didn't like the way Rusty was a blithering idiot in "National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation". In the other movies of the series, he was a lovable dork, but he had some intelligence to him. Then all of a sudden his character was transformed in to a brainless idiot.