book -> movie casting

I was reading the "any book worms?" thread and somebody mentioned reading a book and casting the characters in your head.  Does anyone else do this?  I sure do!  And then they actually make the movie and I get annoyed when they completely (IMO) mis-cast the roles.

For instance, (and yeah it's an old one) Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire.  The casting in that was so bizarre.  I would never have picked Tom Cruise to be a 6' tall blond blue-eyed vampire.  I also would never have picked Antonio Banderas as Armand who in the book was a 16 year old boy. 

Anyone else have any "casting" ideas?

I also do this.

As far as Interview with a Vampire... originally when Tom cruise got the part of Lestat, I was like WHOA no way. I just couldn't see it. However after watching the film, I think he did a great job in the movie.

IMO:

Tom Cruise(Actor) - very good.

Tom Cruise(Real life)- nut job.

I think in "The DaVinci Code", Tom Hanks was the wrong choice for that role. He didn't fit the description of Robert Langdon at all in how he was described in "The DaVinci Code" or in "Angels and Demons".


Tom Cruise(Actor) - very good. Debatable...


Tom Cruise(Real life)- nut job. So true... haha

I love Mos Def as a musician, actor, and poet, but I think he was miscast when he played Ford Prefect in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Edit:  Unless I missed some of the details in the book.  I listened to it audiotape rather than read it.

I agree ali, I didn't like Tom Hanks for that role AT ALL.

and Tom Cruise has played some great roles.. uhhh hello... Frank T.J. Mackey! haha best ever. Did you forget about Cocktail and Days of Thunder? pffft just kidding.

I would say that he has been really awesome in some... not so much in others.

 

hahaha He just isn't in movies I ever find interesting so that's going to have an affect on my opinion on his acting ability.
I didn't mind him in "Vanilla Sky".

My dream Lestat  -- in a perfect world where time-travel exists -- would be Rutger Hauer as he looked in Blade Runner.   Gorgeous!!!

Still while I like some of Tom Cruise stuff, I did NOT like him as Lestat.  He and Louis (Brad Pitt) were supposed to have *chemistry* and it was sooo not there.  I even think it would have been better with Brad Pitt as Lestat and Tom as Louis.  I think it would have been easier for me to see Tom Cruise in the whiney self-absorbed Louis character rather than the flamboyant Lestat character. 

If while watching ANY Tom Cruise flick you forget that he is a nutjob maniac=good actor.

Hahaha, I do this too - and once I actually experienced the casters seeing the same as I did. I had read Stephen King's "The Tommyknockers", and couldn't help but picture this actor who's name I didn't know (and couldn't google, since this was pre-google :-)) - but when I saw the movie some years later, there he was : Jimmy Smits!

there are no more Rhett Butlers wandering around on the big screen - except maybe George Clooney. :)

When I read Stephen King's Misery.  I pictured annie wilkes exactly the way she appeared on screen with Kathy Bates playing her!!  It was eerie!!

Misery was the same way for me also, so dead on.

I dont know if anyone knows the Twilight Series but the movie is coming out this nov for the first book and when I reread the series I pictured all the characters from the movie. I usually never picture the characters in the book im reading its hard to get them just right.

i'm a huge potter fan and while michael gambon is doing his best to replace the irreplaceable, richard harris WAS the perfect dumbledore.  i know they had to replace him since they had no choice, but i also don't like his performance as dumbledore.  harris had it.  it's so sad...  and while i think alan rickman plays the part of snape really well, the original pick of tim roth IS much better (physically anyway, since we can't know how he would have played it).

i agree with tom hanks in the da vinci code.  should have been harrison ford.  or someone of that type (the older and ruggedly handsome man).

the golden compass (which is a GREAT book and series) made a mistake in casting nicole kidman: the characters has long dark curls.  at least put a wig on her!  but they got lyra right.

i don't really «cast» books as i read them though, but i do see distinct people.  until they make a movie though i don't really think about actors...

I love harry potter, and i completely agree about dumbledore.  I also very much agree with the da vinci code.  I was very disappointed in their choice...and i hated his hair and the movie.  My friends and i read that book while we were studying abroad in spain and we ended up going to paris after finishing it and looking around the louvre for everything in the book and naming off who we'd cast in the movie...i think my top was harrison ford but i can't really remember.  Anyone ever read white oleander?  I was so ticked about the girl they had chosen.  I like the girl in other movies like matchstick men but she was just the wrong person for the role in white oleander.  The mother was perfect though!

I agree.  I think Tom Hanks was a horrible choice, especially since they are now filming Angels and Demons and there is so much action in that one.  I think that book was so much better than the DaVinci Code. 

Maybe Peirce Bronson or George Clooney would have been better.  I can picture what he looked like in my head but no one famous really pops out who is familar.

 

I think the best casting of all time was Misery.  I loved that book and I think it is the only time the movie was as good as the book.

I hate tom cruise. He was good in minority report, and thats about it. He totally ruined The Last Samuri for me.

I think Sir Ian did a great job as Gandolf in TLOR movies. However, a long time ago, before there was going to be a movie, I thought about Gandolf being played by Patrick Stewart from Star Trek the Next Generation. I think he would have done a good job too!

I didn't really mind Tom Hanks in The Davinci Code.

 

patrick stewart would've been an excellent gandolf! and that girl from white oleander was too meaty. the way her mother raised her, she should have looked like an emaciated, ethereal waif, and a platinum blonde wig ain't gonna cut it. that girl was too normal-looking. but i think the mom could've been better played by the mom from sleepwalkers. that woman was a certified nut-job. but gorgeous.

Alan Rickman IS Snape in HP movies, and Maggie Smith makes a perfect professor McGonnagal.

In LOTR Elrond was imho a mistake... Every time he appeared on the screen I was half-expecting him to put on sunglasses and hiss "Mr Anderson..." to whoever he was talking to at the moment.

In Narnia series the kids are all right (especially Lucy, though Edmund is my favourite, even in the book ), but the four from an old BBC series were equally good. Tilda Swinton rocks as the White Witch, no doubt about that.

As for books that haven't been adapted for screen yet, I'd LOVE to see Terry Pratchett''s discworld novels, especially featuring the Watch, with none other than Hugh Laurie as Sam Vimes.  but this is one of these dreams which will never come true...

Jeeze, I must be the only one that LOVES the new dumbledore! I was disappointed with the old one, because, well I thought he was too old... Dumbledore is old, but has alot of life left in him, hoping around and all.  I think the new one is great!  Snape is PERFECT!  ALL of Ron's family is perfect... Luna is AMAZING pick... when I saw her big empty eyes, I got goosebumps! 

Misery was also SOOO perfect! 

I thought Tom Hanks was OK, but it could have been cast better, however I am a HUGE Hanks fan. 

Sir Ian as Gandolf was perfect

I did think that interview with a Vampire was just ALL wrong! and I read the book AFTER I saw the Movie!

Original Post by dove2424:

Jeeze, I must be the only one that LOVES the new dumbledore! I was disappointed with the old one, because, well I thought he was too old... Dumbledore is old, but has alot of life left in him, hoping around and all.  I think the new one is great!  Snape is PERFECT!  ALL of Ron's family is perfect... Luna is AMAZING pick... when I saw her big empty eyes, I got goosebumps! 

Misery was also SOOO perfect! 

I thought Tom Hanks was OK, but it could have been cast better, however I am a HUGE Hanks fan. 

Sir Ian as Gandolf was perfect

I did think that interview with a Vampire was just ALL wrong! and I read the book AFTER I saw the Movie!

 I love the new dumbledor too!! I honestly couldnt tell the difference till the 4th movie then I realized they replaced him. lol. But I think he does a fine job.