WTF Moments in Casting
A salute to some wonderful moments in movies when the least expected person ends up on screen.
 |
By Jordan Hoffman July 6, 2010 |
Zombieland
Who Is It: Bill Murray
Who's He Playing: Himself
What's The Disconnect: The face of defiant 1980s comedy spent the bulk of the last decade in the gilded arthouse films of Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola. To see him goofin' around (as himself, no less) in last year's energetic horror-comedy Zombieland took everyone by surprise.
Star Trek
Who Is It: Tyler Perry
Who's He Playing: Admiral Richard Bennet
What's The Disconnect: The mogul of stage, screen and television had heretofore stuck only to his own properties. To think of a parallel universe with Madea at the head of a Starfleet Academy tribunal caught many of us off guard - though true Trekkies knew to accept Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
The Hangover
Who Is It: Mike Tyson
Who's He Playing: Himself
What's The Disconnect: As you'll see, the "where'd that come from?" character has become more common in recent broad comedies. But rarely have they included convicted sex offenders. Many of us thought it more appropriate to see Iron Mike in irons rather than yukking it up with Ed Helms.
The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford
Who Is It: James Carville
What's He Playing: Governor Thomas Crittenden
What's The Disconnect: The political consultant and Sunday morning blowhard has played variations of himself in various TV and film comedies a number of times, but it was still somewhat arresting to see him as the bloodthirsty and corrupt Missouri governor in Andrew Dominik's 2007 arthouse western.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Who Is It: Chuck Norris
Who's He Playing: F*&$in' Chuck Norris
What's The Disconnect: You must keep in mind that the writing, casting and shooting of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story occured well before the explosion of Chuck Norris as a pop culture meme. It was a full year later that Chuck Norris facts began popping up on the internet. Don't think his thumbs up was solely responsible for his renaissance, however. A month before D: ATUS was released in June of 2004, Conan O'Brien began his Walker Texas Ranger lever. Consider this, then, a Newton/Liebniz moment. (Thanks, knowyourmeme, for the assist on this one.)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Who Is It: George Lucas
Who's He Playing: Baron N. Papanoida
What's The Disconnect: Is it a coincidence that of all the places the creator/murderer of Star Wars picked to appear, Lucas chose the Mon Calamari Ballet's performance of Squid Lake at Coruscant's Galaxies Opera House? Clearly, he is asking us to hurl tomatoes at him.
The Matrix Reloaded
Who Is It: Cornel West
Who's He Playing: Councilor West
What's The Disconnect: Radical political theorist and ivory tower philosopher Cornel West's truly WTF-worthy appearance as a Councilor of Zion sums up, for many, what is wrong with the Matrix follow-ups. Here are the Wachowski Brothers bending over backwards to show us how intellectual they are, instead of making a movie that is, you know, fun.
Zoolander
Who Is It: Billy Zane
Who's He Playing: Zoolander's friend Billy Zane
What's The Disconnect: A hundred thousand random name generators working for a hundred thousand years couldn't have picked anyone more strangely perfect than Billy Zane to declare it "a walk off."
High Fidelity
Who Is It: Bruce Springsteen
Who's He Playing: Dream Bruce Springsteen
What's The Disconnect: Wow, it's The Boss in a movie! And, wow, he can't really act! This kinda explains why he's never done this before.
Traffic
Who Is It: Senator Orrin Hatch
Who's He Playing: Himself
What's The Disconnect: The disconnect, this time, is the effectiveness of how much it isn't a disconnect! Steven Soderbergh's sweeping socio-political masterpiece Traffic takes a gutsy position on the War on Drugs, that's why it is all the more shocking actual people in positions of power appeared.
Yeah, we could've included Barbara Boxer or Harry Reid in this entry, but how many of them wrote and recorded a Hannukah pop song?
