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Actors who were seriously mis-cast as villians. Who get's your vote? (1 Viewer)

AlexCremers

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That's almost like saying Darth Vader is a terrible villain.
 

Henry Gale

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Everyone has their opinion...but I can't second some of the nominees here.
As Agee has already said, "A Face In The Crowd" (1957).
For those of us of a certain age, this was the first time we saw Andy Griffith. He was unforgettable and you'd never forget the good ol' boy had an edge. It was displayed again in Savage (1974) and Murder in Coweta County (1983).
It was that rare thing, to see a complete unknown actually surprise you by acting. Edward Norton did it in Primal Fear (1996).
And now to Atticus Finch....Gregory Peck made me forget all about To Kill A Mockingbird when he gave us a terrifying Dr. Joseph Mengele (there's a redundancy) in 1978's The Boys From Brazil.
I'd like to contribute in a positive way by coming up with someone who sucks at being evil, but evil is so much fun to do that people usually rise to the occasion.
I could mention Drew or Pamela but they're just of no consequence
 

Drew Mertz

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I'm not sure of the name of the main villian in the movie "Snatch" but he looked just like Austin Powers. I couldn't figure out how people were supposed to be threatend by him.
 

CarlosGH

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A vote for Stephen Dorff (sp?) from Blade. He looked like a pathetic heroin user. It was even worse when he became the "blood god."
 

Shawn_KE

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Well, at least Uma was pretty hot in Avengers ;)

Maybe not a miscast, but mistake on the actor taking it, Deniro in Rocky and Bullwinkle.
 

Lynda-Marie

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Hmmm... this is a reverse miscast, but a miscast just the same:

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Alan Rickman shamelessly stole the movie from Kevin Costner. And Rickman was the villain!

Let this be a lesson to Hollywood: DO NOT make your movie's villain more interesting or entertaining than your hero!

:D
 

John Spencer

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Well, let's see. There's Batman (1989), Night of the Hunter, Cape Fear (both versions), etc.

I always thought a movie's quality was defined by how interesting the villain was.
 

Lynda-Marie

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That is, in part, true, John and everyone else. However, the villain being interesting is that the hero has to struggle to overcome him, and make you want to cheer for the hero. Not in the example I gave, where I recall several folks in the audience rooting for the evil Sherriff of Nottingham to kick Robin Hood's ass.

I was not meaning to complain about Alan Rickman's performance as the villain - far from it, the man was fantastically wicked.

But when the villain has more personality, is more interesting, or is even more likeable than the hero, then problems with the story can come about.

Another case where I felt the villain far overshadowed the hero was in the original Highlander movie. Clancy Brown's Kurgan was wickedly funny as well as evil incarnate. More than once, I caught myself cheering for the Kurgan, and his defeat was disappointing to me.
 

Yee-Ming

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If you're talking about Brick Top, played by Alan Ford, the only similarity was maybe the glasses, and to some the fact that both spoke with British accents, and even then Brick Top's was far more working class.

Personally I thought Brick Top was quite menacing, even without having to raise a hand himself.
 

CoreyII

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I have to agree. What I found interesting was that shortly after Blade was released back in August of 1998, John Carpenter's Vampires came out. The movie starred Thomas Ian Griffith as the head vampire Valek. I thought Griffith was far more intimidating than Stephen Dorff, plus he knows martial arts. I always thought Dorff and Griffith should have switched roles. Griffith would have been great as Deacon Frost.

My next comment is definitely going to set off some waves, but I've never cared for Ian McKellan as Magneto, I still would have preferred Rutger Hauer in the role. McKellan is just too scrawny to be the master of magnetism. BUT I DO LIKE HIM AS GANDALF.

Other not so great villains

Juaquin Phoenix in Gladiator and Robert Carlyle in The World is Not Enough
 

Gordon McMurphy

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Good thread.

On a different tangent, what about against-type villains that are effective:

Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West.

Leslie Nielson in Creepshow.

Yul Brynner in WestWorld.

Micheal Keaton in Pacific Heights.
 

JonZ

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"Tom Hanks in "Ladykillers""

I thought he was great. My second fav Coen Bros character, after The Dude.
 

Holadem

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Funny, he alone made the movie watchable for me, I felt he was by far the best thing about it.

--
H
 

Neil Joseph

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For some reason, John Travolta comes to mind for his role of Maj. Vic 'Deak' Deakins in Broken Arrow.
 

Inspector Hammer!

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Oh God yes! With the exception of Face Off, he just can't pull off a villian role. And the only reason he was good in that was because he was acting like Nicolas Cage. :)
 

Kevin M

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Well that and the fact that the man is roughly six foot five or so....Dorff looks like an OompaLoompa next to Griffith.;)


I can't agree with you about Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator as well, he pretty much stole the show from Crowe....but not quite from Richard Harris.:)
 

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