Boxer is hosting a Movie Clip Wednesday Meme where everyone picks a clip from their favorite movies based on a weekly theme. This week's theme is WORST CASTING. There is a fine line between a bad performance and a miscast role. They don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. For example, I think Michael Keaton was miscast as Batman but did a good job with the role (people will disagree with that conclusion).
What I'm looking for is a well-known actor (or actress) that is famously good but is just completely out of their element. One of those, "What were they thinking roles?" And again, this is a fine line because a lot of actors/actresses will take roles that stretch their acting abilities. I'll use the Batman franchise again as an example. Never in a million years would I have cast Heath Ledger as the Joker but he was absolutely incredible in the role (the role of a lifetime as it turns out).
An example of a bad performance is a properly cast role would be Keanu Reeves in The Devil's Advocate. There's probably a dozen actors that could have played Kevin Lomax better than the stiff-as-a-board-botched-southern-accent way the Reeves played it (Brad Pitt or Alec Baldwin come to mind). I watch this movie because Charlize Theron and Connie Nielsen get naked in it.
So after much research, I came up with the worst miscasting of everything that I viewed on YouTube. And I hate to do this to the Duke, but John Wayne in Howard Hugh's The Conqueror is just plain awful. He plays Genghis Khan the Mongrel and there's just no way on his best day he could pull off this role. I actually saw this movie many years ago and still remember how weird this movie seemed to me. This is an interesting dance scene that has a little bit of Wayne in it. Enough to get the cringe-worthy performance I'm talking about.
And to be fair to the guys, I selected the worst miscast female role. Rosie O'Donnell in Exit to Eden featuring Rosie in a corset - 'nuff said.
If you want to see more really miscast roles, then head on over to Boxer's.
12 comments:
**shudder** EXIT TO EDEN. What a strange movie.
and you dug really deep to find this John Wayne movie. Remember when they used to make white actors into ethnic characters?
That dancer in this scene is fascinating. Love the costume and love that you picked this. I'd never seen. I doubt I'll see it after this, but still... clips like this is why I enjoy this doing it. Thanks.
This was the one that came up again and again when I was researching the theme. And I do remember how bad it was from my youth - I was a sucker for anything historical :)
Same experience as J-Cake. I LIKED the dancer's outfit and found it amusing that the Duke didn't even attempt a Foreignish accent. Great choice!
Couldn't bring myself to see Rosie's clip.
Hey, you and I blog jinxed with the same distinction between a bad performance and one that's miscast. Although, I picked a totally different movie. Dude, where DID you find that John Wayne movie? That's priceless. And spot on. Happy MCW!
isn't Dan Aykroyd miscast 90% of the time ?!?
Do you know John Wayne WANTED to make this film. The other notable thing about this movie is that it was shot in the Utah desert downwind from the government's nuclear weapons test site in Nevada. So they were working in a contaminated area but they also shipped dirt back to the studio for reshoots thus compounding their exposure. Of the 220 person crew, 91 had developed cancer and 46 had died from cancer. Of course it didn't help that most of them smoked like chimneys but still this movie was definitely a bomb in many ways.
As for Rosie in Exit to Eden, she knew immediately it was a stinker. I remember her saying that to avoid talking about it on the press tour she deliberately took her chihuahua with her to interviews and talked about the dog to avoid talking about the movie.
Loved the dancers! All of them. You know all the anatomy is home grown. Is it just me or should Wayne have said. "All other women are like the second pressing of the grape, Pilgrim." Just sayin. Didn't watch Rosie. Just had a ham sandwich its settling nicely. No need to see what it looks like on my desk.
Great choices BK. Happy MCW
wow. I like some John Wayne, too, but I'll agree with you on how terrible this clip is. I'll pass on ever seeing this movie.
Now, Exit to Eden - how can you hate this classic? I kid. That was a horrible movie. Horrible.
I remember trying to get through the John Wayne movie when I was sick in bed once. I always laugh (though it's not too funny) when I see old movies with white guys playing native Americans, Asians, etc. I DO love that nudie lookin' costume the dancer was wearing with the fringe, wonder if its available at Frederick's of Hollywood?
Can't believe what Sham said about the filming, Christ they were so irresponsible back then.
I love the writer Anne Rice and never understood the casting for Exit to Eden. Although that is the thinnest I ever remember seeing Rosie, she looks great!
Boxer
The dancer certainly is mesmerizing. I gotta believe the Duke was wondering what the hell he was doing in that flick. Maybe he had contractual obligations.
Exit to Eden was just a T&A movie with semi big names. Dana Delany was pretty hot in it though. Glad I was able to show you something you hadn't seen.
J-Cake
This was the time of biblical movies like the ten commandments and Ben Hur. And biblical equals ethnic, so all of your white actors and actresses had to suck it up and do these roles. Most not very successfully.
Troll
I almost wish the Duke had tried some kind of accent. That would have been interesting.
Moi
Where I find them all - on Youtube. When I started researching, like you I realized there is bad acting and bad roles and the line can really blur. This role really needed a character actor and the Duke wasn't it.
Heff
Come on, he has some good movies. Trading Places and Dragnet come to mind.
Shamu
I got to believe that at the time, no one really understood the long term afects of radiation. I'm pretty sure Rosie was still in the closet at this point, so the movie was as uncomfortable for her to make as it was for us to watch.
Madamn
The Duke will always be a westerns kind of guy. He just couldn't help himself. And I was going to put a "lunch spoiler" warning on the Exit to Eden clip but I forgot. Sorry.
Kym
The Conqueror wasn't that bad of a movie. It had some pretty good cinematography and decent battle scenes. They just needed someone else to play Genghis Khan. Exit to Eden had some great gratuitous nudity and Dana Delany looked real good.
Diva
Chuck Connors, Charles Bronson, Charleton Heston all had to do the ethnic roles. And so did the Duke. Part of the business I guess. If you do find that dance outfit, please share?
Ok, I'll give him Trading Places,lol.
I don't know how I missed buzzing by here on MCW to get a gander at The Duke in this stinker. I usually like these kinds of cheesy movies, but O.M.G. dreadful is the word. Now, about Exit to Eden -- I had read that book and it was nothing like the movie (surprise)... but right now I'm not remembering what was different about it. I think the book was full-on steamy and the movie tried to be funny?
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