Casting call

[laughingrat]

Every so often I'll hear someone say, "That movie would have been so much better if X was cast in it instead." I'll admit it, though: I'm terrible at envisioning that sort of thing (although I am pretty happy that George Raft turned down The Maltese Falcon), although it's always interesting to hear others' thoughts about it. Are there any classic films you think would have been better with a different cast?

Comments

[laughingrat]

but there's nothing wide-eyed about Orson Welles

Too true. He sort of radiates sleaze, just involuntarily. Amazing, really. I watched The Stranger recently and was stunned that the Good Townsfolk didn't immediately pick up on the fact that he was a bad guy, because Orson Welles. You know?

[themis]

It is amazing! It really works in some instances - The Third Man, for example, where he is sleazy and dangerous. And I'll confess to sort of loving how that quality plays out in Jane Eyre, because it makes the whole Jane/Rochester relationship sort of kinky. (And also like you're supposed to add "in my pants" to all of his lines.)

But other times . . . it holds back the film.