Actors Who Were ‘Devastated & Furious’ After Being Controversially Recast In These Sequels
It could be anything. From a shoddy script to creative differences or just plain apathy, these actors who were recast where utterly shocked the movie studio went to such drastic measures to keep them at bay. Hollywood is a pretty ruthless place but never did we know it could be so cold and brutal. Most of the actors who were recast did not deserve it.
They had done a commendable job till now and the franchise had no business meddling in their affairs like that, taking the joy right out of the fans’ hearts. Do you agree? Did the studios do wrong??
The Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor – Rachel Weisz
From what is the word on the street, Rachel Weisz was not at all happy with the way the script for The Mummy 3 was shaping up. She even voiced it to the writers and the Director. It’s not like we have anything against her for not coming to this movie though. The 2008 Mummy movie is by far the poorest and weakest link in the franchise, even worse than Tom Cruise’s 2017 Mummy reboot. Rachel Weisz also did not like her her character was portrayed as the mother of a grown-up, fearing that she would be typecast into such roles in the future. Maria Bello, who replaced Weisz in the threequel, had this to say:
“I think Rachel is so brilliant, and she was beautiful in that part, but they wrote my character so differently, I felt like it was a totally different woman.”
The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas – Rock Moranis & John Goodman
John Goodman and Rick Moranis did a commendable job in the first Flintstones movie. But the studio never had a contractual agreement with them vis-a-vis the franchise. So when the next Flintstones prequel was being planned, the studio ditched the pair for the more low budget acting duo – Stephen Baldwin and Mark Addy to play Barney Rubble & Fred Flintstone instead. The movie ended up a major box office bomb and ended an up and coming franchise. All because the studio wanted to save a few bucks, it ended up losing potentially millions.
Back To The Future Part II – Crispin Glover
The one actor who made a significant impression on the audience other than Michael J Fox in the original film was Crispin Glover. When his turn came to play his role in Back To The Future Part II, Crispin Glover decided not to show up. He was not happy how the studio had tried to lowball him into taking a lower salary. After he left, the studio was on the lookout for similar actors and found Glover’s replacement in John Weissman. Of all the actors who were recast, Weissman may have had the most shameful legacy as a replacement. He was forced to wear makeup and prosthetics to look as similar to Glover as possible. They even hung him upside down at one point just to fool the viewers into thinking he was Crispin Glover.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) – Robert Englund
For the first time in the history of the franchise, the 2010 movie replaced Robert Englund with Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley. When news broke out that one of the actors who were recast in the franchise was Englund as the nightmare chasing Freddy Krueger, the fans revolted. Haley’s grave tone was nowhere near as good as the eccentric acting chops of Robert Englund. Englund played the dream chasing psychopath to manic perfection. Being a good sport that he is, Englund praised Haley’s Freddy Krueger, claiming:
“It was a little cold. But Haley made Freddy his own.”
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince – Jennifer Smith & Kathleen Cauley
Kathleen Cauley and Jennifer Smith have something in common. Both of them played the same character in early Harry Potter movies. But they were soo recast. Considering the actor was already recast before, fans should not have had an issue. The issue began when Warner Brothers cast Jessie Cave, a white actor for the role. Lavender was traditionally a black character. And the actors who were recast along with the Harry Potter fans believed casting a white actor for a role right when the character was starting to have actual dialogue in the movie and not as a background character, was really bad timing. Up to this day, Warner Brothers has never explained why they did what they did with Lavender Brown.
