DC detective Alex Cross was once played by Morgan Freeman; now, the role’s going to Tyler Perry, the cross-dressing comedian and Madea star. The Daily Beast recalls 10 other embarrassing casting decisions:
- The Da Vinci Code: Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. He’s no “Harrison Ford in Harris tweed”—and he has no chemistry with his love interest.
- The Scarlet Letter: Demi Moore as Hester Prynne. Moore had a sexy reputation, but the novel’s all about old-school “virtuousness.” And her accent was terrible.
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker. Reeves looks “like a deer in headlights” and plays an 18th-century Englishman with a “surfer-dude persona.”
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi. Rooney plays “a howling, screeching, squinty-eyed Asian caricature: all the more troublesome when played by a Caucasian.”
See the rest of the top 10 at the
Daily Beast. (More
casting stories.)