Mis-casting: Which actor did you feel did NOT best represent the book character?

[chipmonkey]

Mine are:

Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart
Winona Ryder as Jo from Little Women ( she did a nice job but I wouldn't have cast her!)

Oh, how could I forget Nicholas Cage in Captain Corelli?.....what a waste of an opportunity that was. He was bloody terrible.

Nicholas Cage is just wrong in general.

gary oldman as sirius - I know he is a staggering actor but I just so wanted the sexy dark gaunt sirius in my head.

Lots of the HP ones don't quite hit the mark.

Oh - and johnny depp as willy wonka - no.

Meryl Streep in Mama Mia - should have been Goldie Hawn IMO.

I totally agree with Nicholas Cage re Captain Correli's Mandolin.

Nicholas Cage was great in Leaving Las Vegas.

He is odd though, in general.

Liv Tyler was crap as Arwen Evenstar.

Emma Thomspson as Elinor Dashwood was just playing herself and was waaaaaaaaaaay too old (I do still like it though).

I can never quite believe that Toby McGuire makes a very convicing Spiderman.

remember bonfire of the vanities? not one single cast member was right there. tom hanks as a master of the universe, bruce willis as a journalist? no no no.

when i saw the poster for 'the other Bolyen girl' I thought Scarlett J. and Natalie Portman were inspired casting. Then I saw the film, and thed'd cast them THE WRONG WAY ROUND!!! Natalie Portman was apparently the foxy cunning sister, while Scarlett Johansson tried to deflate her pout to come across as the demure self-sacrificing sister.

Russell Crowe - muscle-bound bonehead - didn't really wor as a nobl prize winning mathematician

however, I thought Toby Maguire was fantastic casting for the role of Spiderman. Enough Clark Kent nerds with Hollywood perfect features and rippled physique and token glasses to give a clue that they're meant to be geeky and weak.

But meryl streep was fab in mama mia.

Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge in the Order of the Phoenix - looked wrong and played it wrong. V. disappointing.

That's so funny - I was thinking about this topic today. Agree wholeheartedly about Nicholas Cage in Captain Correlli's Mandolin. Soooooo wrong!
For me - the most perfect piece of casting ever was the girl they cast to play Anne of Green Gables. For a girl who just loved those books when she was little - she was Anne.

She was kif, but Goldie Hawn looks much more like the tiny child playing Sophie
Nicolas Cage was v. bad as Captain Corelli...but it was kind of them to warn us all in this way that the film was going to be such a turkey
Billie Piper as Fanny, that Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliott - there have been some clunky Austen castings lately.
I thought Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy was absolutely perfect, and to give him credit he rose above the rather pointed casting and smarmed and twinkled brilliantly.

Now I was prepared to HATE Tom Cruise as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire but was astounded by how well he pulled it off.
The biggest miscast in that film was the delectable Antonio Banderas as Armand! Armand was a auburn haired, 17 year old Russian boy when he was made!

John Hannah for Rebus. Whoever thought that one was good casting had clearly not read any of the books. Ken Stott was a much better choice.

Totally agree BIWI. Ken Stott is perfect IMO.

When I watched the first HP I thought Daniel Radcliffe was wrong - he was too sweet and angelic looking ....
But he's

(sorry) grown on me

Agree with Imelda Staunton as Umbridge, couldn't believe it when I found out it was going to be her, and when I saw it! She was far too attractive, the woman was supposed to resemble a toad, in ALL ways!

Most of the Golden Compass cast, though the film was a pile of shite anyway so I shouldn't be surprised. In fact, Nicole Kidman in anything she does is awful miscast.

Hobbits and Tyler in LOTR. Various others.

Agree about The Other Boleyn Girl, but that was shitty as well.

Probably the worst for me would be Tom Hanks in the Da Vinci Code.

Changed my mind, the worst piece of casting ever, literary or not, would have to be Kevin Costner in Robin Hood.

a third vote for Billie Piper as Fanny Price - far too modern and Renee Zellweger when being English is just too clipped.

I agree that Tom Hanks was wrong for the Da Vinci Code.

All through the book I was picturing Liam Neeson, who would have been much better!