Actors in roles that weren't all that convincing

[Blahbie]

And this is not an actor/actress bashing thread, an actor can be hit and miss depending on role,dialogue and other factors. And it's ok to agree to disagree.

Michelle Keegan in Ten Pound Poms.

Her face is too modern looking, it didn’t fit the era, beautiful as she is.

Nooooo! I loved that production! Thought it was much better than the one at the Globe at the same time.

Ben stiller is a bit bland in any film I've seen him in.

Okay...... it just seemed so labored - and zero I chemistry

I watched him in a film about training a youth team /maybe young offenders. He acted in that, it wasn't bad.

Hugh Grant in About a Boy. Toni Collette and Nicholas Hoult were awesome and then there’s Hugh being… Hugh.

everybody in 50 shades looked embarrassed-the acting was awful

I agree he's badly cast in that film, but thank God they cast him.

Juliet Binoche in Wuthering Heights. I was cringing at her accent the whole time.

Billie Piper, woefully miscast as a blowsy version of Fanny Prise in a terrible production of Mansfield Park.

Which film? There's a hell of a difference between some of his movies. I’m surprised you never bothered again after one (there are several actors I cant stand but I've gone on to watch films with them in and been able to appreciate the bigger picture), but I suppose the true answer lies in which one.

LOL I was going to mention Dracula, but thought it'd be overkill! I only saw The Lake House once, thought he was quite good (well, for Keanu) in it. But Shakespeare, no, just no. Woeful bit of casting, especially alongside so many really good actors.

Elijah Wood in any horror film. He was such a perfect, convincing hobbit that I can’t see him as anything else.

I only saw Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire and thought he was awful - but I thought the whole film (and the book) was awful, so it didn't matter much.

True, one thing Keanu is very good at is being decorative! 😄

YES! 😍

Yes, I'd agree that's one of the roles he just didn't work in.

I have a soft spot for the book, but it is really heavy and purple and turgid in parts.

But I thought he was great in Seven and Fight Club. And perfectly cast in Thelma and Louise, although he didn't have much to do!

An obvious one: Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins - should have been Tommy Steele.

Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park

Donald Sutherland as Mr Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005)

So badly cast...

Rightly so, tbf. I’d have looked embarrassed too.

So agree with you @Ellmau about Billie Piper in Mansfield Park! I do like BP in the right role, but this was not one. Have you seen the BBC 1983 version? Sylvestra Le Touzel is very good as Fanny -- pale, reticent, unsexy, a bit traumatised by her awful early life.
As a feminist, I am not a fan of remaking Austen heroines as "feisty modern women". I think it is very useful to understand how women lived and adapted themselves to those times, as JA showed us. Have you seen Persuasion, with Amanda Root as Anne? It is such a sensitive adaptation, depicting the times yet with the psychological heft that engages us.

Nicole Kidman in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan 2011.
a very good book but a lousy film rendition.

Turgid's the word, I never liked Anne Rice's writing. The casting in Interview was such a joke all round. Never mind Tom Cruise as Lestat, choosing Antonio Banderas to play Armand, who was a 17 year old, short, auburn-haired kid when he was turned, was bizarre.

Nothing will ever excuse or improve that godawful film of the Dark is Rising, but casting Ian McShane as Merriman Lyon added insult to injury.

Tall, deep voice, white haired, commanding presence?
It should have been Christopher Lee, clearly born to be Merriman.

If they ever remake it, properly this time, Charles Dance could do a good job.

The Rock can actually act (as a PP said) but he's such a star, he obviously doesn't feel the need to, most of the time!

Having said that, he's excellent playing a nerd in Jumanji (Welcome to the Jungle). Jack Black also knocks it out of the park in that film.

Thanks to PP for the Keanu pictures 😁