Insert Actor Here Please



 

One of the more underrated roles in making a movie is casting. Many movies have been made because of a stellar performance given by an actor and many have become flops because of the lack of care or favors that had to be done in the casting process.

 

With comic book fans, especially before the comic book movie frenzy, they would debate who would be best in particular roles of their favorite heroes. Who would be best as Batman? Who would be the best Wonder Woman? So many opinions and yet, someone in Hollywood actually gets to play that role. Casting directors along with the movie director themselves get to play that almost fun role (although sometimes due to politics, might not be fun). Imagine if the Superman movie in the 1990's that was being led by Tim Burton, actually cast Nicholas Cage as Superman himself? A balding Superman with the personality of a door nail? No please.

 

Fans of novels get into the same debates, although not to the levels that comic books usually get. In the 2000's, Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" had such debate before Tom Hanks was chosen. Tom Hanks is a great actor and from a connections stand point, made sense as well since he has worked with director Ron Howard many times. Being a fan of the Robert Langdon character, I thought Johnny Depp would actually be a better Robert Langdon (he played a similar character in "The Ninth Gate"). The debate raged on recently as well for the "50 Shades of Grey" book series. Who would be the two stars brave enough to be open to play the kinky roles? Which guy would be the one to bring in the "mommy porn" lovers out of the home and into the theater?

 

Imagine how different "Godfather" would have been in Jack Nicholson played Michael Corleone instead of Al Pacino. Nicholson was offered the part first, but turned it down. How different would Don Vito Corleone was played by the movie studio's first two choices, Danny Thomas and Orson Wells? I bet it doesn't become the classic that it did.

 

On the vice versa side, imagine almost any movie Keanu Reeves played in. Now how much better is each one of those movies instead of Keanu Reeves? Keanu Reeves' only perfectly casted role was Ted from the "Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure" movies. He wasn't even a top five choice for Neo in the "Matrix" movies. Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner (not kidding), Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Val Kilmer, and David Duchovny were all casting director's choices before they settled on Keanu Reeves. It's even rumored that before Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine, Keanu Reeves was the first choice. Horrible.

 

Movie casting doesn't get the recognition that a star actor, screenwriter, or director get, but it is one of the roles that can make or break a movie and should be recognized in a big, bad way, especially when it almost seems that a movie is perfectly cast.

A Whole Different Movie

Some movie storylines are so epic, that even if you have never seen the movie, you know what the movie is generally about through some weird form of entertainment osmosis through friends and family. Because of a clever idea and/or a carefully thought out process of writing, legendary movies take the best route to make them extremely memorable to their fans. In some cases, fans become so entrenched in this world of fiction, it's as if nothing else matters to them.

But as with many movies, you can ask, "What if," questions that would dramatically alter the storyline. Something that would suggest that if the movie went another route, it might not as be epic.

1. Star Wars IV: A New Hope: There are several routes that can be taken here. What if Luke Skywalker follows through with his with to join the Imperial Academy with his friend Biggs Darklighter to become a pilot? Instead of flying an X-Wing and taking out the Death Star, he could have been defending it. Maybe he would become closer to his father Darth Vader. It could have been a, "boy meets long lost father," movie instead. Or even what if Luke picks another android instead of R2D2? Would he still remain a moisture farmer for his aunt and uncle?

2. Back To The Future: At the end of Back To The Future when Marty goes back to the eighties, his mom all of a sudden remembers kissing Calvin Klein (i.e. Marty McFly) at the night of her big dance? How disturbing would that be? Would the whole family need counseling? If so, how would you tell the therapist what happened without sounding like you need some time in the looney bin? Would George McFly be angered at his future son? Who knows?

3. Matrix: Well, actually for this one, I'll jump to Matrix: Revolutions which was the third in the trilogy. After leaving the matrix, Neo seemingly has many of his computer world created powers still. What Neo, Morpheus and the other humans never left the matrix? What if it is revealed that the computers pulled an Inception like move and really created a second matrix within the matrix. Meaning Zion would be a computer created city, rather than the last hold out for the humans against the computers. Also, I guess the obvious "what if" scenario that could be, what if Neo picked the wrong pill when choosing between the red or blue pills?

4. The Crow: What if after avenging the death of his fiancee and himself, Eric Draven doesn't return to Heaven? What if he were to become an undead being? A zombie perhaps. No spiritual being actually gave him a rule book of what would happen when the crow brought Draven's soul back to Earth. Draven technically chose the revenge route, but nothing said that the revenge route would be the end of his journey.

5. The Godfather: What if Sonny was never killed? Would he take over the Corleone empire still? Probably since he was next in line and was the son that Vito was grooming to take over. Michael would have never had to kill The Turk and the cop, which means he would have never had to go to Sicily to hide out, which means he would have never have developed an appreciation for his father's lifework, which means he would never taken it upon himself to learn the family business. He would have been a college professor in a small New England town. This was what he was studying to do in the book.

6. Sin City: What if instead of being hot for Dwight still, Gail is angry at Dwight for going away and hooking up with Shellie? She initially is and after Dwight slaps her across the face, they make out so hard that it looks like their in a battle. What's missed is that the movie is based on the graphic novels of the same name and are almost scene for scene the same as the graphic novel. The movie was based on several of the books and even though there are hints of a past relationship with Dwight and Gail, it's not said in the movie how exactly their relationship formed. In one of the other graphic novels, Gail nursed a nearly dead Dwight back to health, despite the fact that old town is supposed to be only resided by hookers. The other hookers were angry at Dwight's presence, but Gail fell hard for him. After healing up, he leaves and hooks up with waitress Shellie, which is where the movie picks up.

7. Field Of Dreams: What if Ray Kinsella is scared of ghosts? After seeing the appearance of Joe Jackson, he is so freaked out, that he bulldozes the precious land that he really needs for his corn crop. Or on another "what if" scenario, what if he loses his farm to the bank? Would he still have run into his father's ghost somewhere?