In your opinion, which roles were miscast?

[Lonoxo]

I’ll start off with musicals:

Russell Crowe in Les Miserables
Piers Brosnan in Mamma Mia

I don’t think their singing was strong enough. There were enough star names so I wished the producers had been braver and cast unknowns who could act and sing.

Stephen Tompkinson in DCI Banks. (TV). He was nothing like the character in the book.

Tom Hanks in Bonfire of the Vanities.

Ben Whishaw as Michael in Mary Poppins Returns. Too young, too weedy. Really annoys me when I watch it.

Gary Oldman as George Smiley. Just no.

All the HP kids, especially Harry and Ginny (although Luna and Neville not bad)

And yes to the HP adults ages being messed up. Snape/Sirius/Lupin are supposed to be early 30s. Harry’s parents are supposed to be 21 when they died yet look middle-aged in the photos.

@jakeyboy1

Jamie Dornan in Fifty Shades. Too young.

Isn’t Christian grey supposed to only be 27ish in the first book?

Keanu in Much Ado About Nothing

Another for Amy in Little Women.
Also Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell. Completely wrong physically.

Paul Rudd as Phoebe's love interest in Friends.

Their physiques just didn't match. Maybe it's because he has a Jon Bon Jovi-like large head and Lisa Kudrow is willowy with delicate features? Anyway zero chemistry and not believable.

And Toni Colette in the Paltrow Emma. Great actress but lacks the obvious Barbie doll beauty which is a key feature of the character. The plot makes zero sense unless Harriet is the prettiest girl Emma has ever seen. This. It has always annoyed me.
Also I don't think I've ever seen Jane Bennett properly cast. In every version I've seen, she has been, well "strapping" is the only word I can think of. And that is not right.
Who should play Jane? I'm not sure, but someone graceful and a little serious.

I thought Renee was excellent as BJ.

I really liked her too. Having said that, I've read a bit of the books recently and, as another poster mentioned Kate Winslet, I think Kate would've played the character more how the author Helen Fielding originally envisioned her.

@DelphiniumBlue, I thought that one of the very few merits of the Keira Knightley P and P was casting the much more obviously pretty Rosamund Pike as Jane.

Martin Freeman. He plays exactly the same bloke in every role. Sort of whispers then sort of shouts. Purses lips. Weird seeing Dr Watson playing Bilbo Baggins.

Also, the bloke who played Mr Weasley in HP. Can't be bothered to Google, but the line delivering was so stilted, it was horrific.

I can suspend belief long enough to enjoy the films and ignore a lot of child acting (which IMO is usually awful) but Weasley brings me snap back to reality!

Ginny Weasley in HP - she is supposed to be a feisty redhead and a bit of a tomboy but they cast someone drippy and laconic. Also her hair is not fiery enough - missed opportunity to cast someone properly ginger!

Also Sirius - supposed to be dangerously charismatic and gorgeous. Just wasn’t.

Helen Baxendale as Ross’ English girlfriend in Friends.

David Jason as Rincewind in the Discworld adaptations. I love him but I've invested a lot of time reading Discworld and he just isn't right!

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher.

Toby McGuire in Spiderman

@ScammedOrWhat

The Weasleys aren't ginger in real life I don't think.

Really? Then their only qualifying feature was they were twins? Jeez, the casting folks must have been desperate.

I think compared to some of the planks of wood in HP, the twins aren't that bad really!

I agree most of the children in HP are terrible but I think the twins are head and shoulders above them as the most atrocious actors in the entire thing!

It beggars belief that this already hugely popular book adaptation couldn't find better child actors.

Oh god that reminds me... the kid who played Roger in the Golden Compass was also atrocious. Surely there are children out there who can act?

I sometimes get the feeling an email just went around Warner brothers HQ- "right anyone got kids between 11-15 for the HP film doesn't matter if they cant act a bean, we have a stellar cast of adults" The woodenness of the 'main lot' is awful. I would say some of the more supporting kids are aeons better, Draco, Luna, Neville so much more actual acting than the blandness of Watson and Radcliffe!

In my opinion Tom Felton was the only decent child actor in Harry Potter. Apparently he originally went for Harry so I don't get how he got turned down for Daniel Radcliffe, guess there is a lot going on behind the scenes with casting.

snuggly Radcliffe's mother is a casting agent, so may have helped!

Daniel Radcliffe’s mother is a casting agent. Although I did once hear an interview with JKR in which she described the struggle to cast the HP role until they saw Radcliffe & thought he was perfect for the role, I bet she regrets that now.

Cross posted with TitianaTitsling

Who are the great child actors I wonder who you gals would id?

I dislike actors who are physically the wrong type.
Spacey as Quoyle in The Shipping News, William Hurt as Richard Feynman. I can handle race change without blinking but little skinny guys playing big fat guys... neah. Or tall handsome guys playing little skinny plain guys: Just don't. Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility (too old) was also awful.

I enjoyed the HP films, so It would appear I can't distinguish bad from good acting, all good for me.

Well, the child actors would probably be unknowns, as most of the HP actors were before they were cast. Look at Anna Paquin, who was brilliant in The Piano aged 9, and who’d only ever played a skunk in a school play before she went to an open audition. Sarah and Emma Bolger were astonishing in In America.

LivingDeadGirlUK I completely agree! He was so perfect as Albert in Hogfather, I have no idea why they then decided to bung him in as Rincewind as well. I can't watch it because he's so badly miscast!