Controversial casting in movies

I don't remember even being aware that acting was not her primary vocation.

 

Besides height, Jackman was way too much of a pretty boy to be Wolverine, someone who should not be exceptionally handsome. By way of reference, John Byrne has said that when he draws Wolverine, he thinks of Paul D'Amato from Slap Shot:


That said, I thought Jackman's performance was good, in spite of the fact he looks nothing like Wolverine.

 

I remember there was some backlash, but it's worth noting just how awful superhero movies were at the end of the nineties (Batman and Robin; Spawn; Steel). Expectations for X-Men were pretty low, so fans didn't get as worked up about the casting as they otherwise would have. The first X-Men movie being pretty good was a pleasant surprise, and after that few fans were going to second guess Jackman in the role.

 

Not all the era's comic book movies were bad - 1998's "Blade" was pretty good!

 

Only if Paz Vega plays Zachary Taylor.

 

It definitely was, but it's almost like it snuck in through the side door as a "vampire movie," instead of as a comic book movie.

 

Yep. I loved him in that role.

 

Not to me. Reacher was not a martial arts champ and size really does matter in the real world when street fighting is concerned.

 

Perhaps so, but even that film was hugely changed from truth to make it a hip Tom Cruise vehicle, good for his persona. The real Barry Seal was a middle-aged fat guy, careful and calculating.

 

That movie was derided from the get go. It is actually quite enjoyable if you view if as pure camp. Everybody is so over the top and absurd that it makes you laugh.

 

I'm done discussing this...IMO, Tom was great...you don't think so...we agree to disagree... so be it. : )

 

It needs to be said: Jack Reacher was a terrible film with or without Tom. I didn’t bother with the sequel.

 

Agree - and it was "R"-rated, which further reduced its potential audience.

Some credit "Blade" as the start of the comic book movie's path to cinematic dominance that we still experience, but I don't.

I think "X-Men" was really the first film to open that door, though I view "Spider-Man" as the one that showed just how big comic book movies could be in the 21st century.

"X-Men" did well but wasn't a major smash, whereas "Spidey" was huge!

It set the template for the comic book dominance we've witnessed for almost 20 years!

 

The sequel was pretty meh, but I really liked the first movie:

Jack Reacher [4K UHD] (2012)

 

So whom should I blame? Sam Raimi? The producers? Toby Maguire?

 

If you want to "blame" anyone, blame the millions of moviegoers who bought/buy tickets to the films...

 

Just want to remind everyone that the thread is about controversial casting and not the history of comic book movies.

I remember the debate about Tom Cruise not fitting the description of Jack Reacher. Valid complaints and I’d probably would have been annoyed too if I was a fan of the source material. Since I never heard of it until the movie, I just saw it as another Cruise action flick and loved it as is. (The sequel? Well, loved the opening, after that, ehh.) If nothing else, the movie brought attention to the property so it’d be interesting to see it get a reboot that’s closer to the source. I’d like to see it.

 

Gotta be Vanessa Redgrave in Playing For Time

 

I think that's a factor with many of Batman's enemies: With many of them it's a battle of wits rather than of muscle.

An example of this is The Riddler, who is one of Batman's most intelligent opponents. Part of the challenge with The Riddler is that he is psychologically incapable of lying (due to abuse when he was growing up) and he is compelled to leave a clue at the scene of his crimes, so his only option is to make the clue as difficult to figure out as possible (via his riddles). In the "Hush" story arc, it turned out The Riddler was the one ultimately behind everything that Batman had gone through for 12 issues, playing with Batman's friends and foes like chess pieces. It was all to prove that he was still someone to respect.

 

Well, expect that to be an issue because comic book fans probably raise the biggest stink when they think an actor that's been cast is "wrong" for a character they've been reading about for X number of years

 

That’s fine and on topic!

 

Being short is a defining characteristic of Wolverine but I never got an impression that Hugh Jackman was too tall or anything. I really liked him in the role. About the only thing I didn't like in X-men was them swapping Rebecca Romjin for whatserface as Mystique, but that's my old school prejudice probably.

If you are a fan of the books it was very hard to accept Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher - he wasn't just too short - he was too little all around. Reacher is an imposing figure. It's baked into the character.

Now Keaton as Batman was too short. I know he has his fans but I never got over that one. The first time I saw him looking up at a criminal I was done. Short Batman, like Little Reacher just doesn't work for me personally.

I also thought it was a huge missed opportunity that they didn't cast Milla Jovovich as Aeon Flux. Nothing against Charlize but Milla looks JUST LIKE the character!!! That movie had other problems to be sure but I think that would have helped.

 

You don't like Jennifer Lawrence? She's clearly a more talented actor the Romijn, and given the nature of the "First Class" generation of movies, they needed a better actor for the role since Mystique would play a much bigger part.

Mystique was a minor character in the original trilogy, but she became much more important in the later movies - I don't think Romijn had the acting chops.

She also was too old. Yeah, I get that Mystique could be literally any age since she shape-shifts, but given that "First Class" wanted a young crew all around, it would've looked weird to toss then 38-year-old Romijn in there.

It also would've been hard for audiences to swallow a "younger X-Men" with an actor they'd already seen so much in the role...

 

Yes, I’m just old enough to remember that controversy. I was young, but it seemed to me the majority was for Andrews and thought it wrong she was not cast in the movie.

 

The Michael Keaton as Batman was a bit off physically. He was to short, but he did a good job with the character.

However, bring short didn’t hurt a number of very guys actors. Alan Ladd was very good as Shane. Humphrey Bogart was good at any role. He was especially good as Sam Spade or any PI.