Who Would You Have Liked to See in the Role?

[K.D. Lightner]

There are always those movies that are perhaps miscast or there are audience members who would rather have seen someone else play the lead role.

What movies can you think of in which you would have enjoyed seeing someone else play the part?

I'll start.

When I was a teenager, the movie South Pacific was made and played for weeks in major theaters. I liked the film, saw it several times, loved the music, the cast, etc., but was bummed that my favorite actress at the time, Doris Day, did not get the part of Nellie Forbush.

That is not to say that Mitzi Gaynor did a bad job, and she was certainly younger than DD and therefore closer to the age of Forbush.

It seemed to me Day would have been a natural for the part. I heard at the time that someone felt Day was too old to play the part. Later, I read that she was in negotiations to play it, but that her husband and agent, Marty Melcher, was holding out for more money. The studio finally gave up on it and brought in Gaynor.

Anyway, I will always wonder what Doris Day could have done with that part.

Another was the film Shane. I liked the film, a classic western, one of the best and thought Alan Ladd was fine in the film. However, I concede I would have loved to see Gary Cooper play the part, except he really was too old by the time the film was made.

Maybe a Gary Cooper 10 years younger?

There are others, but I wonder who FL members would have enjoyed seeing in some major movies.

karol

 

[Fletch]

Not Made Yet

I am racking my brains for "shoulda beens" and not getting anything but "should stills."

I want to see Sam Shepard and Kathy Bates play Abe and Mary Todd Lincoln.
I want Kevin Costner to play Joe Chapin in a remake of Ten North Frederick. I want Katherine Heigl to play Anna Banana and Quentin Tarantino to play her musician boyfriend.
I want to see The Farnsworth Invention hit the screen, with Leonardo diCaprio as Farnsworth and Liev Schreiber as Sarnoff.
I want Hal Holbrook to do a one-man show as - wait for it - Frank Lloyd Wright.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

OK, here's another one I would have liked to see. When My Fair Lady was made into a movie, I was bummed out when Julie Andrews, who played the role on the stage, did not get the part of Eliza Doolittle, was not even screen tested for it.

This is to take nothng away from Audrey Hepburn, who was one of my very favorite stars of all time. I thought she did a marvelous job (outside the singing, which was done, I believe, by Marni Nixon), but I guess I just felt that Andrews owned the part. Like her co-star, Rex Harrison did Henry Higgins.

Fletch -- your Lincoln characterizations sound intriguing. There are also a lot of "should stills" out there.

karol

 

[Lusti Weather]

I recall reading that Geraldine Fitzgerald was considered for the part of Brigid in The Maltese Falcon ('41 version), and I can't help but wish she would have gotten the role. Mary Astor has never been a favorite of mine, and Ms. Fitzgerald played such a superb femme fatale in Three Strangers that I think she would been brilliant in The Maltese Falcon. Oh well -- it's still one of my favorite movies regardless!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Should've been made but never was -- Jack Lemmon in "The Harold Lloyd Story."

Wasn't made and shouldn't have been -- Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan in "Casablanca."

 

[HadleyH]

I have always wondered how Gary Cooper would have looked in the role of Rhett Butler!

lol lol lol

 

[Naphtali]

Steve McQueen or James Coburn as Inspector Harry Calahan -- in most action/antihero roles accepted by Mr. Eastwood, one of the few actors who, by comparison, makes Charles Bronson appear expressive.

 

[Fletch]

You're forgetting that Eastwood was meant to be the unthinking man's McQueen.

 

[Paisley]

Someone other than Glenn Ford as Julio in The Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse. He was 20 years too old for the part.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Bette Davis – Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind

Bette Davis turned down the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind. The role went to Vivien Leigh. Davis decided to pass on the role when she thought Errol Flynn would by playing the part of Rhett. She had refused to work with him earlier.

I am glad she did.

Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard or Merle Oberon would have been interesting to see at least their screen tests.

 

[conrad5157]

I hear Anthony Quinn was one of the actors considered for The Godfather. I think this would have been a Perfect match.

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[WH1]

I have always thought Sean Connery was the definitive Bond although Craig is catching up. Hated Roger Moore with a passion, smarmy twit. But I have often thought that Cary Grant would have been an interesting James Bond.

 

[Naphtali]

You're forgetting that Eastwood was meant to be the unthinking man's McQueen.

Whoever was the casting director/executive producer responsible for placing Andrew Robinson in the villain's part should be receiving half of Eastwood's income. Robinson was so nearly perfect in his portrayal that few noticed how unfortunate was Eastwood's portrayal. . . . But, of course, the bozo was also responsible for not casting Coburn. I understand McQueen was offered the part -- and passed.

 

[NicknNora]

Should've been made but never was -- Jack Lemmon in "The Harold Lloyd Story."

Wasn't made and shouldn't have been -- Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan in "Casablanca."

Boy do I agree with you about Casablanca with Reagan and Sheridan. lol Talk about bad casting. Yikes!

 

[Carlisle Blues]

I have always thought Sean Connery was the definitive Bond although Craig is catching up. Hated Roger Moore with a passion, smarmy twit. But I have often thought that Cary Grant would have been an interesting James Bond.

Ian Fleming modeled the James Bond character partially with Grant in mind. Turned down the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962), believing himself to be too old at 58 to play the character.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000026/bio

 

[Feraud]

I recall reading that Geraldine Fitzgerald was considered for the part of Brigid in The Maltese Falcon ('41 version), and I can't help but wish she would have gotten the role. Mary Astor has never been a favorite of mine, and Ms. Fitzgerald played such a superb femme fatale in Three Strangers that I think she would been brilliant in The Maltese Falcon. Oh well -- it's still one of my favorite movies regardless!

I always thought Mary Astor was terrible in the role!

 

[LizzieMaine]

How about Lon Chaney as Dracula? Tod Browning had always intended to make the picture with Chaney, and there was a lot of talk in the fan press during 1930 about the project -- but Chaney's health and his reluctance to work cheap at Universal prevented it from happening. If it *had* happened, however, Bela Lugosi would likely be a dimly-remembered stage actor from the twenties, and our pop culture image of vampires would be very very different.

 

[Barrelhouse]

How about Lon Chaney as Dracula?

I have often wondered what Chaney would have done with this role. Would he have focused on the makeup and physicality of the part or stuck more with the straightforward drama of the text as Lugosi did. Chaney was certainly capable of playing it both ways. I am always distracted by the stills from London after Midnight, I don't think that approach would have "benefited" Dracula.

But on the topic of Dracula what ifs...how about Conrad Veidt in the title role? I know Paul Kohner lobbied heavily for his casting. Veidt certainly knew how to play sinister, had all of Lugosi's Mephistian elegance, and I think might had brought a more world weary, tragic note to the part. Well, at least in my imagination he would have.

 

[The Wolf]

There are two Hammett adaptations where I really like the casting but would be curious to have seen alternate versions.
Bogart was physically wrong as Sam Spade but when you read the book the mannerisms and weariness make Bogart a good fit. I still wonder how Alan Ladd might have been as Spade. Btw, I believe Ladd did get to play Rick in "Casablanca" (on radio).
I love William Powell and him teamed with Myrna Loy is always great but he got the part as Nick Charles because the studio knew he play a detective since he played Philo Vance. However Nick Charles in the book and Vance are very different characters. How about Bogart as Nick?

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[WH1]

I would question whether Bogie could have played Nick as light as Powell was able to, which is really one of the most important aspects of the Thin Man movies. It would have brought a much feeling to the series and I wonder how Myrna Loy would have played off of him.