Movies

5 Times Great Actors Were Surprisingly Bad Choices For Iconic Roles 

5 Times Great Actors Were Surprisingly Bad Choices For Iconic Roles 
Image credit: Legion-Media

Not everyone can be great in every role, and these five are living proof of that.

Sometimes it feels like an actor or actress was born to play a certain role, but the opposite is also true.

Not everyone is capable of being great in literally every role, so sometimes an otherwise great actor or actress feels completely miscast, despite being quite good in other projects.

So here are five examples where decent actors and actresses somehow ended up being completely wrong for their roles.

Jesse Eisenberg — Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Zack Snyder's highly anticipated superhero movie was criticized for many things, from Batman having no problem killing criminals to the dumb "Martha" plot point, but perhaps one of the most controversial points was Eisenberg's portrayal of Lex Luthor.

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The smart and calculating nemesis of Superman turned into a quirky Joker- rippoff with questionable motivations, and fans believe that even Jesse's role in The Social Network was closer to Lex.

Keanu Reeves — Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

It was a dark time when the now almost universally beloved Keanu was delivering hit and miss performances. And while The Matrix, which came seven years later and further boosted his fame, didn't require much, his portrayal of Jonathan Harker was rather bland and felt a bit out of place in this dramatic story.

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Dane DeHaan — The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

While the actor is not without talent, judging by his roles in Chronicle or Kill Your Darlings, choosing him to portray the tragic character of Harry Osborn in the second film starring Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man may not have been the best decision. Instead of feeling sorry for him, many fans felt rather weird and wanted to punch him in the face.

5 Times Great Actors Were Surprisingly Bad Choices For Iconic Roles - image 3Emma Watson — Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Following Emma's portrayal of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, the actress hasn't had much luck with her career.

Although her performance in The Perks of Being a Wallflower was decent, she felt completely miscast as Belle in a live-action remake of the Disney classic, as many viewers felt she lacked the charisma that is essential for a leading role.

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Tom Holland — Uncharted (2022)

Much like Watson, Holland seems to have no luck with his roles outside of the MCU. And while much of this is due to the generally underwhelming quality of his movies rather than him in particular, the situation was different with the big screen adaptation of the Uncharted video games.

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While the movie itself wasn't terrible by any means, Tom just didn't feel like the Nathan Drake that fans have come to know and love over the years.