Films that should have had someone else in the lead role

[SecondClassReturnToDottinghamPlease]

I've got The Beach on in the background, and having read the book before it came out I was never convinced by Leonardo Di Caprio as Richard. I seem to remember Danny Boyle wanted the part to go to Ewan McGregor, who I think would have been much better. But it was felt LDC was a bigger actor who would have made the film more successful. It made me wonder about other films which would have been different if another actor was the lead role. Anyone got any examples?

Also Heath Ledger as The Joker.

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice just seemed all wrong to me. However, Jennifer Elle and Colin Firth set a high bar in the TV series.

Damn autocorrect - Jennifer Ehle not Elle

Same here. When I heard the casting I thought wtf, but he was imo fantastic as Lestat.

Loads where the male lead is middle aged and the female lead is in their 20s, and they are supposed to be a couple and he looks like her dad.

Just middle aged studio executives kidding themselves really.

Kevin Costner in Prince of Thieves was just awful. So wooden, he ruined that film.

Kiera Knightly in pretty much everything she does.

Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana in Troy.

I understand why you say this but I find Nicolas Cage so incredibly watchable, and a born superstar. But he needs parts where the character is faintly ridiculous or out there, definitely not anything as subtle as CCM

I think the opposite - JE was too old to be Elizabeth, whose wilfulness is supposed to be partly because of her youth.

Yeah Kevin Costner is not a patch on Michael Praed. It was just so annoying that they had to fill the film with Americans and Canadians generally, when it is a quintessential English story. And Bryan Adams can fuck off too with the torture of that song for half a year. It was bad enough being 15 years old without having that to contend with.

It doesn't work with relative ages but Michael Praed as RH, Richard Armitage as Guy of Gisborne and Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham would have been the dream casting.

Andi Macdowell in four weddings. Just doesn’t work, not sure why.
agree with pp, Emma Thompson seemed way too old as Eleanor in sense and sensibility, and v wrong as Hugh Grants live interest.

keira knightley as Anna Karenina, argh I nearly had to walk out of the cinema due to the gurning! And that really young chap who played her love interest and looked about 12 and (obviously) completely unsexy.

also (on a roll now) I always felt that Sirius in HP films should have been played by Vigo Mortesen a la Aragorn style. And Lupin was dreadful, should have been much cooler.

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In the book, Holly Golightly was a curvy, blond teenager. Not a slim, elegant, dark-haired woman in her early 30s.

George Peppard played Paul as the strong silent type, which wasn’t quite right IMO.

Also, the director came to regret casting Mickey Rooney as Mr Yunioshi…

The film Breakfast at Tiffany's is absolutely iconic. Different from the book but good different.

Audrey Hepburn in almost anything is better than almost anyone else.

Especially Julie bloody posh school mistress voice Andrews. Perfect for Mary Poppins.

They were all a good deal older than the characters, especially Julia Sawalha. I hardly think it would have been better with actual teenagers in the parts.

I was about 20 years old at the time and particularly identified with Lydia.

Me too, I suspect Dan Brown was thinking of Harrison Ford when he wrote it!

Although he was too old by the time the films were made.

Tom Hanks is great in almost everything but he wasn't right for Robert Langdon. It needed a more Harrison Ford vibe, a bit more rugged and sexy.

She was, and she knew it - she mentioned it in her diary.

Absolutely! I thought Rebecca Hall would have been perfect in that role.

I read some where that they wanted Tim Roth for Snape, but he turned it down for Planet Of The Apes. Big mistake. Huge.

Oh he would have been good ! I think jk Rowling had Alan Rickman in mind I'm sure I read that somewhere.

Agree with Nicholas Cage in Captain Corelli. Wrong wrong wrong.
Olivia Colman was miscast in The Crown in my opinion.

I realise The Crown isn't a film - just needed to get that off my chest

I think Olivia Coleman is miscast in a lot !

Harry Potter. Daniel Radcliffe is a totally charisma-free zone in all the films. The Director must surely have been a family friend and thats how he was cast.

He's a charisma free zone in anything he's done since! As is Emma Watson.

Agree with Olivia Coleman in the Crown. I love her in almost anything but it didn’t work.

I feel a bit mean but Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hamilton. Absolute genius writing but he should have cast someone else to play Hamilton.

Titanic. Possibly alone given how successful it was but I thought Leo diCaprio and Kate Winslet were a really odd match.

Donald O'Connor should've been Bing Crosby's sidekick in White Christmas, like he was the sidekick in Singin' in the Rain. Apparently he was going to do it but got ill. Danny Kaye was OK but the part would have definitely suited O'Connor better.