View source for What the Hell, Casting Agency?

{{Useful Notes}}
[[File:6 johnwayne.jpg|frame|And featuring [[John Wayne]] as [[Genghis Khan]], pilgrim.]]

We've all seen it. Sometimes, when watching a movie or TV show, you see an actor portraying a character and you can't help wondering how the hell he wound up in that role and/or entire production. A subtrope of [[Hey, It's That Guy!]], [[What the Hell, Casting Agency?]] happens when you know quite well who the actor is - you just can't understand why he/she's in ''this''.

This can range from really bad to [[One-Scene Wonder|completely awesome]], depending on the actor, the part and the production. On the bad end, an actor might be horribly miscast for the role, or out of place in the entire show/movie. When done right, that dissonance can make the character or the whole production a lot better than could be expected without them. They might even [[He Really Can Act|do far better in the role than expected.]] There is certainly a lot of possibility for [[So Bad It's Good]] as well.

This is, naturally, a subjective thing. What will make one person sit back and say "Why did no-one stop this?" might make perfect sense to someone else.

Sometimes the result of [[Fake Nationality]], [[Not Even Bothering with the Accent]] or a combination of the two. [[Race Lift]] and [[Dawson Casting]] are also sometimes factors.

Not to be confused with [[Money, Dear Boy]] (though often the effect is the same); sometimes, the actors involved just did it for the heck of it and [[Doing It for the Art|not necessarily because they were paid very much]] or that they're trying to show that they can be versatile and [[Playing Against Type|not be in]] the [[Typecasting]] trap; which can be bad for actors. Which makes for a great work but still does nothing to reduce the surreality of their presence in it. Can also occur when an attempt at [[Stunt Casting]] comes ''waaaaay'' out of left-field. But there are cases where the odd casting actually ''worked'' [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]]. See also: [[Black Sheep Hit]], a hit song that doesn't sound anything like the band's other songs and [[Playing Against Type]], when an actor or director makes a project outside of their usual character type.
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{{noexamples|we don't need the page filled with [[Complaining About People You Don't Like]].}}

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters and Casting]]
[[Category:YMMV Trope]]
[[Category:What the Hell, Casting Agency?]]
[[Category:Example Sectionectomy]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]