Discuss: When Do You Recast a Character?

He should stay.

The problems that were with Returns were nothing to do with him & he really looked & sounded the part.

A couple of years ago I would have wanted Tom Welling to be involved, but Smallville has gone so far off (& should be retrospectively renamed as "that bloke called kal el from some other universe that never became Superman") that it would be wrong to link the movies with that series.

As for in general - there are some definitive performances, but they're mainly characters that started on the screen (Indiana Jones being a prime example) & not ones that started in comics (I'm not in the "Ledger should be the last Joker" Club)

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as much as i'd hate to see the joker replaced, i think i'd rather see that happen than have the character excluded altogether.

But when it comes to replacing characters the biggest thing to consider in my opinion is how well the actor/actress embodies the character. I think someone other than Hugh Jackman playing wolverine would be the worst replacement, because he brings so much to the character, as well as the legacy that he holds as the character. Even though the second and third film fell a little bit on the corny side, i still thought Jackman played the character with all the emotion and effort that he had, and that is something that i highly respect.

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They should have buried the Crow after Brandon Lee. Everything that followed (and apparently will still follow) is an embarrassment.

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Star Trek is another example I guess. I'm not really into this new cast. I LOVE the 90210 trailer remix btw.

Has Batman been recast the most of any comic character? Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale. Maybe Drakula has had more coverage but that doesn't really count, does it?

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A character should be recast when Directors and producers feel it needs to be done. they pay the bills they work with the actors and they call the shots, They reap the rewards and feel the backlash from fanboys when they make the wrong decisions

its not always a bad thing to recast. peirce brosnan could have continued as bond and i am sure people would have still gone to see the newest movie, but then again people will go see the characters they love Batman for instance wether it be Clooney Kilmer Bale or Keaton

as the movies you listed No one goes to see the incredible hulk movies because of bruce banner anyways they should save 15 million dollars cast a little known actor and put more hulk less banner in the movies any way. I feel the casting in fantastic 4 was good but the characters kinda suck yet it still is a bankable franchise bring them back

as for the joker you HAVE to recast him. sure heath was amazing but I think it would be a little hard for him to reprise his role.

If an actor can't play the role they should be recast.

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Well, they recast Alan Arkin as "Inspector Clouseau" only three years after "A Shot In The Dark" came out. A dreadful movie, by the way. He actually admitted he was clumsy.

Personally, I liked Brandon Routh enough that I hoped he'd stay for another one, that wasn't so slavishly reminiscent of the Reeve films and characterization. I'd like to see him get a chance to make the role truly his own.

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I say, if you want to show the audiece you're taking the franchise in a whole new direction, recast. It worked for Hulk, Batman, James Bond, and should work for Superman. Sure, will there be sites dedicated to condemning the new guy? Sure. But if the audience embraces the new actor, then they'll quickly forget their grievance.

If it's a sequel...it's tricky, and I'd rather they avoid it. In sequels it takes you out of the movie that the character is a completely different person. It has to be perfectly recast.

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A lot of it really has to do with the part's origination. Why do you think people still get passionate about how Connery is the-only-James-Bond? For most people think of Superman as Christopher Reeves (or George Reeve, but that was a while ago), so fan acceptance of Routh is pretty tepid. Similarly, I don't think people were all that bothered by Eric Bana being ousted because we still think of the Hulk as Bixby/Ferrigno.

Angelina Jolie's an interesting exception, because Lara Croft's existence was pretty well carved-out prior to that. I think it became a big hairy deal because it's Jolie and the press simply can't help themselves.

People would be up-in-arms about recasting Wolverine because a) Jackman is damned good at it, b) he looks like Logan from the comics, and c) he originated the live-action role. Ditto Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier.

Remember that there was a big to-do over Ledger replacing Jack Nicholson's Joker, but we got over it because Ledger was tragically stellar and because Nicholson's interpretation was NOTHING like the comic creation. And speaking of the Batman-verse, that character started for most viewer's with Adam West's ham-fisted take on the character (it's easy to make fun of, but it worked in the context of that show). Since then no actor has played Batman in more than two consecutive films, and no one seems to cry about it.

A caveat to all this is that the power of the performance will inform our attachment to that actor's interpretation from an audience perspective, just as it does from a director's perspective. If Bana's Banner were all that fabulous, nobody would think twice about bringing him back. Ledger, on the other hand, is so indelibly "The Joker", that even though the character was included in the third movie conceptually, Chris Nolan has said that he plans to write him out.

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Personally I HATE recasts. I think that all sequels should have the same actors in the same roles or they shouldn't be done. Now if the original actor is dead or too old (however I think they should try writing the movie for an older character if possible to keep the original actor like they did with Die Hard 4 and Indy 4) then I'd be more open to a new actor IF they choose the best actor for the role and don't just shove a Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise into the role cash in on the name.

Now, as for remakes/reboots I don't think they should be done until at least 15-20 years after the last core movie in the series. (by core I mean a sequel to the original, like Friday the 13th Part 8, not Jason X or Freddy vs Jason) The last Tomb Raider movie was released in 02 I believe and there should not already be a reboot in the works.

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Tho I liked Brandon Routh as Superman I think anytiime you reboot a francise that you MUST recast. Otherwise it confuses people. Keeping the same cast members audiences know also locks in abit of expectation from past material. Its hard to reinvent the character if the audience is seeing someone they already know. In a way it limits how you can reboot.

I hope and prey the Wachkowski Bros arent behind the reboot. They start off good but then they get into those off the wall tangents they seem compelled to explore as an artistic excersize that just destroys the flow of the movie.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain the architect scene to me from Matrix 2. They complicated something that didnt need to be complicated andjust confused the hell out of everyone

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They need to recast mary jane as someone who isnt so busted

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I agree that actors should be recast with a "reboot" but a series should only be rebooted when the films start sucking. No one minded Edward Norton as the Hulk because Eric Bana/Ang Lee's version was not good. People would be pissed if you recast Tony Stark because Robert Downey Jr. embodied the character so well. I would hope they keep Hugh Jackman as Wolverine - he made me really enjoy X-Men - but feel free to recast Routh (and Kate Bosworth - please!). Superman Returns was not a great version of Superman franchise and neither were at all memorable in the film

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Hey, why not think about it this way. How many artists have circulated through the comics industry to draw the same character, and how many of those characters drawn by different artists look exactly the same? I mean, what's the big deal, if you've got someone good enough to play the character and not some guy/girl to bring in demographics, why not give him/her a shot.

Recast the Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman if they're making another which I doubt.

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I don't have anything real intelligent to add but I wanted to say that I love the idea of Jon Hamm (or someone similiarly older) playing Superman. Routh is great but making Superman a little older is a great idea. Nolan's Batman is supposed to be in his late 20's at the start of his career and everything. I always think of Superman in his 40's.
Of course, I think recasting Lex Luthor is far more critical.
For what it's worth, I think you recast when the character has potential beyond what the actor captured (Catwoman, Bond, etc). When the actor captures the best possible incarnation of the character, then you can't recast until the actor can no longer play the part (like Harrison Ford's Indy and Reeve's Superman). If Heath Ledger was still alive, he would be the only person who ever could play the Joker.

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First off, Nicholson's Joker was much more molded to the confines created within the Batman comic books of the time. The Joker was a character that did majic tricks and was incredibly over the top and was more creepy than actually crazy on the level which Nolan made the new Joker. In fact I think that the only book that truly had a Joker character that was even similar to The Dark Knight was Brian Azzarello's new book Joker.

Second, I think it's funny that nobody has mentioned the recasting of Rachel Dawes from Katie Holmes to Maggie Gyllenhaal. Granted, I liked Gyllenhaal's performance more, Nolan nonetheless recasted the character only to have her killed in the same movie. Some would say that she was needed in the movie to show Two-Face's origin, but Nolan not only changed the origin story so that she would be needed, but he also killed off Two-Face (one of Batman's most prominent villains) in the same movie in which he was introduced. So is Nolan willing to recast characters? Absolutely. Is he willing to recast the Joker? Luckily, with his hesitance towards even doing a third film it is looking as if Ledger's Joker will remain unscathed until the next Batman reboot comes along.

Lastly, if you look at the Wachowski brothers back catalog, it seems as if they are capable of fitting any actor into the character they want them to be. Keanu Reeves was fantastic in The Matrix movies whereas most people view him as one of the worst actors still getting work, Emile Hirsch was absolutely brilliant in Speed Racer in a year where he received an Oscar nod for Into the Wild (two completely different characters), and Natalie Portman was astounding in V for Vendetta and she managed to break free of the Star Wars stigma that was attached her. So really the question is, if the Wachowskis are the ones to reboot Superman, does it really matter whether Superman is recast?

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Of course, one character who shouldn't be recast is the Joker. But that only goes for Christopher Nolan's series. I'm sure somewhere down the line, say in maybe 20 or 30 years, we'll get another Batman reboot. That's when it would obviously be safe to cast a new Joker, seeing as how a Batman series without the Joker would be stupid. The Joker is the best Batman villain, arguably even the best comic-book villain, ever created. So for now, the Joker is untouchable.

There is really only one character that I think is untouchable and should never be recast. And that is Jack Sparrow. No one would be able to embody that character the way Johnny Depp did. I never want to see anyone else take that role, even if it's 50 years from now.

As for Brandon Routh, I actually liked him in Superman Returns so I'm hoping they keep him for the reboot.

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Interesting subject. They definitely should retain Routh. He did a great job in SR, and he looks even better now. I will be very disappointed if they replace him.

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I think Brandon Routh was amazing as Superman. He was the best thing in the movie, and I also dig the movie. He absolutely embodies the character for me. I definitely want him back in whatever Superman movie they do next.

People will be confused any way no matter what WB does, unless they wait like 10 years or so, but if the movie is awesome, people will come.

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brandon routh didnt do a terrible job. the movie just sucked.

the problem with superman is while hes probably the most famous hes the most boring also.

aside from lex luthor i couldnt name u one villain that i always saw go up against superman. and lex luthor didnt have powers how is his nemesis a regular guy he can kill with super breath, heat vision or just his strength.

i watch smallville and while i agree it does need to end i still think tom welling should play him in any movie. it would be nice to finally see PROGRESSION for once. smallville basically doesnt move forward they have stupid freak of the week still 8 seasons in or 9. the show needs to grow up and so does he. lets put him in a superman movie and see him finally become superMAN

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