Stunt Casting: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'': In the original 1982 Japanese release, the character Lynn Minmay was voiced by [[Mari Iijima]]. When ADV Films translated the series in 2006, Lynn Minmay was voiced by ... Mari Iijima, speaking English.

 

* The various ''[[Star Wars]]'' movies have played with Stunt Casting:

** [[Peter Cushing]] and Sir [[Alec Guinness]] in ''[[A New Hope]]''.

* [[Geoffrey Rush]] gets third billing in ''Intolerable Cruelty'' for a character seen a grand total of ''three'' times, for maybe two minutes of screen time, whom an audience member might easily mistake for three separate characters on the first viewing.

* Much was made of [[Drew Barrymore]] appearing in the first ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'' movie ([[Billing Displacement|top billing]], appearing on the poster and other promotional materials) {{spoiler|despite the fact that she is killed off in the first scene.}}

* One of the most bizarre examples: Sean Connery in ''[[Highlander]]''. The Scottish actor plays an Egyptian/Spaniard mentor, while the French actor Christopher Lambert plays the heroic Scotsman. Lambert even explains some of the finer points of Scottish culture (i.e. haggis) to an astonished Connery.

 

* ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' is famous for this, particularly in casting musicians in roles as immortals. These include Joan Jett, Roger Daltrey of the Who, Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals, Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet and Sheena Easton. Also notable are Marc Singer, Roddy Piper, and Nia Peeples.

* [[Sitcom]]s, such as ''[[Friends]]'' and ''[[Will and Grace]]'', often cast famous actors to play the stars' parents.

** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'': [[Jason Alexander]] and [[Dwayne Johnson]] both guest starred.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has always done this, but the revived series generally makes more publicity out of it. Stunt Cast actors in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' are not usually heavyweight actors, but are well-known soap actors, comedians, quiz show hosts and other more minor celebrities. Oh, and Sir [[Derek Jacobi]]

** Don't forget [[James Bond]], evil mastermind of ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'', and overall smug bastard actor [[Timothy Dalton]].

*** Speaking of ''Hot Fuzz'', [[Simon Pegg]]!

** When John Nathan-Turner was producer during the 1980s, ''Doctor Who'' also had a tendency towards Stunt Casting; however, whereas most of modern attempts to do this at least try to match the character to a vaguely appropriate character, many of the earlier efforts ended up being spectacularly miscast, resulting in some truly [[What the Hell, Casting Agency?|WTH Casting]]. For example, [[Beryl Reid]] as [[Alien|Ellen Ripley]]-esque space freighter captain in "Earthshock", a role that was... not quite what you'd expect to see Beryl Reid playing (although [[Your Mileage May Vary]] as to whether it works or not).

*** Another Nathan-Turner example; 1950-1960s Broadway star Dolores Gray shows up in the middle of "Silver Nemesis" as Mrs. Remington, a wealthy American lady. She's not exactly miscast; the WTH factor comes from the fact that there is literally ''no point whatsoever'' to her being there. She shows up, gives two of the characters a lift somewhere, and buggers off again. It's also a bit of a WTH moment in that it seems to have been intended as a Stunt Casting moment despite the fact that relatively few of the watching audience would actually have any idea who she even was.

* [[Britney Spears]] in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' is a prime example. For two episodes, no less. The show does this a ''lot'', though, and Britney just got the most hype about it.

** Since [[Neil Patrick Harris]] publicly frowned on the practice, it's become much less common though.

* [[Leonard Nimoy]] as William Bell in the season 1 finale of ''[[Fringe]]''

* NBC's ''[[Chuck]]'' started doing this heavily in season 2, though season 1 had its moments. Some, like [[Scott Bakula]] and [[Jordana Brewster]] appeared in multiple episodes, while others, like [[Robert Picardo]] and [[Fred Savage]], were only in one. Granted some NBC shows have been known to do this, but Chuck also tends to [[Lampshade]] it with the actors referencing their famous roles, such as Bakula uttering, "Oh boy."

** [[Olivia Munn]], Isaiah Mustafa ([[The Man Your Man Could Smell Like]]), [[Stacy Keibler]], and [[Summer Glau]] as "Greta," secret agents working at the Buy More at different times. Mustafa and Keibler were later given character names and appeared in another episodes

* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' sometimes casts unsubs with this method. Most, however, are either unrecognizable ([[James Van Der Beek]], [[Jamie Kennedy]]) or so creepy that the [[Hey, It's That Guy!]] factor is the last thing on the viewer's mind ([[Keith Carradine]], [[Jason Alexander]]).

** Often, the recognition of the unsubs (generally played by supremely benign actors, when this trope is in play) only serves to make the roles creepier, or more tragic. [[James Van Der Beek]]'s character is a good example of that, as is [[Frankie Muniz]]'s.

*** Although ''Criminal Minds'' fans have become critical of this method of casting guest stars as unsubs, even when they are good, because it had been used too often during a weak sixth season. They feel that guest-star unsubs are showcased to the expense of the original cast and story suspense (by showing the unsubs's from the very beginning of the episode, rather than keeping them obscured). By giving more time to the unsubs and their evil deeds, it makes the profiler characters look like stupid slow-pokes, and possibly glorifying the serial killers (which is NOT the point of the show).

* ''[[Big Brother]] 13'' brings back three "Dynamic duos". It becomes pretty obvious that they just set it up so that one of the six returnees would win, given how, when it was reduced to two, a [[Sarcasm Mode|mysterious stroke of luck]] bailed them out.

* Most [[Game Show]]s tend to do this in the form of "Celebrity Editions" in their waning years in a last-ditch effort to round up some bonus viewers before they inevitably sink into the drain. Most notable are ''[[Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?]]'' and ''[[The Weakest Link]]'', whose final primetime seasons were almost nothing ''but'' celebrity editions.

 

* When a Broadway show becomes a [[Long Runner]], it's likely to fall victim to a revolving door of Stunt Casting. The stage version of ''[[Chicago]]'' is the most notorious example.

* The 2007 Las Vegas staging of ''[[The Producers]]'' cast [[David Hasselhoff]] as Roger De Bris, the [[Flamboyant Gay]] director, and even gave him top billing.

** Hasselhoff had previously become a bit infamous for playing the title roles in the musical ''[[Jekyll and Hyde (theatre)|Jekyll & Hyde]]'' on Broadway, and one performance was filmed and released on video and DVD. [[Your Mileage May Vary|YMMV]] as to how he did.

* Toward the end of its run, the Toronto production of ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' cast [[KISS|Paul Stanley]] as the Phantom. He was generally well-received and got some [[KISS]] fans interested in musical theatre as well.

 

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' does this a lot with voice casting. Blurr is voiced by the original Blurr's voice actor [[John Moschitta]] (the world's fastest-talking man), Master Yoketron is voiced by [[George Takei]], and Wreck-Gar by [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] (who did the original Wreck-Gar's theme song).

** ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]'' took this to an extreme in '86. Almost all the new characters had big name voice actors. [[Leonard Nimoy]] was Galvatron, [[Eric Idle]] was Wreck-Gar, [[Robert Stack]] was Ultra Magnus, etc. Most impressive of all, [[Orson Welles]] (in his last performance) was absolutely ''awesome'' as Unicron. [[The Other Darrin|None of them stayed]] [[Poor Man's Substitute|on for the]] [[Transformers Generation 1|TV series]] though.

*** That last bit was rather justified with Orson Welles, of course, being that he [[Author Existence Failure|died about a month after recording his lines for the movie]].

* Most, if not all [[Dreamworks Animation]] films are riddled with stunt casting.

* The educational kids' series ''[[Liberty's Kids]]'' is known for this. [[Walter Cronkite]] had a recurring role as [[Benjamin Franklin]]; other celebrities playing revolutionary heroes included [[Dustin Hoffman]] as Benedict Arnold, [[Annette Bening]] as Abigail Adams, [[Billy Crystal]] as John Adams, and [[Michael Douglas]] as Patrick Henry, as well as General Norman Schwarzkopf, [[Sylvester Stallone]], [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], [[Ben Stiller]], and [[Whoopi Goldberg]].

 

 

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