Look is usually thought-about when casting characters who beforehand appeared on web page, be it a piece of literature or a comic book e book. Having somebody embody the character past bodily look is a unique matter altogether, and typically, an individual adapting a pre-existing work would possibly need to do one thing completely different. However when you don’t need to annoy folks, not less than initially, then discovering actors who appear like characters is an efficient place to start out, casting-wise.
Or not. Typically, it won’t matter, or it doesn’t actually matter to the casting administrators and/or the filmmaker connected. These are among the most noteworthy casting decisions the place the actor settled on actually didn’t appear like their e book or comedian counterpart (once more, not saying these are all examples of dangerous casting, since loads of the actors talked about under turned in good performances).
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Marisa Tomei as Could Parker
The MCU ‘Spider-Man’ Films (2017–2021)
Okay, she technically first exhibits up in Captain America: Civil Struggle, as does Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man, however Marisa Tomei’s Could Parker (AKA Aunt Could) is most prominently featured within the first three Spider-Man motion pictures Holland starred in. She is, fairly clearly, a good bit youthful than how the character normally appears, with Tomei being 52 the yr Captain America: Civil Struggle got here out, Rosemary Harris being 75 the yr Spider-Man (2002) got here out, and Sally Discipline turning 66 the yr The Wonderful Spider-Man (2012) got here out.
Harris and Discipline are a little bit extra in keeping with how the character normally appears within the comics, however Tomei’s nonetheless superb within the position, and it finally ends up working, as a result of Holland’s Peter Parker additionally feels a superb bit youthful in his first film than Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield did of their respective first motion pictures in the identical position.
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James McAvoy as Invoice Denbrough
‘It Chapter Two’ (2019)
Picture by way of Warner Bros. Photos
It Chapter Two is an efficient deal much less compelling than the fabric it adapts from Stephen King’s It (and it’s not so simple as saying it adapts the second half, for the reason that e book’s construction is extra attention-grabbing and non-chronological). So, there are issues with the movie past the casting, and truly, the casting is usually good in terms of having the grownup actors line up with the kid actors who performed their characters in 2017’s It.
Like, the thought of Jaeden Martell rising as much as appear like James McAvoy is conceivable, however the character, Invoice Denbrough, is alleged to be bald within the e book, and not in fairly as good condition as McAvoy (who can also be very a lot not bald) is within the film. It doesn’t actually impression the movie itself, and as talked about earlier than, there are larger issues with It Chapter Two, but this character stands out as trying notably completely different from how he’s visualized within the novel.
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Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre
‘On line casino Royale’ (2006)
Picture by way of Sony Photos Releasing
Whether or not or not the varied actors who’ve portrayed James Bond line up with the literary counterpart is a dialog that may definitely be had, simply not right here. As an alternative, it’s finest to concentrate on the casting of a specific villain: that of Le Chiffre in the 2006 model of On line casino Royale. Mads Mikkelsen appears, in virtually each manner, way more engaging than how Le Chiffre is described within the unique novel, revealed in 1953.
The one manner Mikkelsen is made to look much less engaging than regular is the scar over his left eye, and even then, it doesn’t do a lot to make him not good-looking. At the least he’s scary in different methods, past his appears, making the casting work. Mikkelsen is true at house taking part in villains (not solely, however he simply brings the correct vitality), and so that you in all probability gained’t discover too many individuals upset that this movie model of Le Chiffre is completely different in look from the e book counterpart.
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Bela Lugosi as Depend Dracula
‘Dracula’ (1931)
In Dracula, the novel, the titular Depend is described as being older and creepier in look than how he’s depicted within the 1931 movie adaptation. And now the 1931 film is type of what many individuals take into consideration once they hear the title “Dracula,” so possibly a extra correct depiction is seen in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the place Gary Oldman’s look is an efficient deal extra unsettling than Bela Lugosi’s.
Nonetheless, when you depend Nosferatu as a correct adaptation of Dracula, then any model of that one goes in the wrong way, making the vampire on the story’s middle uglier and extra horrifying than the novel’s counterpart. And Lugosi is iconic in his personal manner, it ought to be careworn, and he’s an enormous purpose why this model of Dracula is so ubiquitous in popular culture, even when it’s not technically very book-accurate.
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Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance
‘The Shining’ (1980)
An honorable point out is so as in terms of Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, since Jack Nicholson, as Jack Torrance, doesn’t actually line up with how the character’s purported to look within the novel, and he’s older than Jack in King’s supply materials. Kubrick didn’t actually appear too involved with King’s supply materials, although (in numerous methods), with Shelley Duvall being solid as Wendy additionally breaking from the e book’s description.
Nicholson and Duvall are each nice for this model of The Shining, although, they usually flip in among the most iconic performances in horror film historical past, so everybody wins, proper? Nicely, not likely. Not everybody likes The Shining (1980). King himself doesn’t like this tackle The Shining, and was closely concerned with one other adaptation, in 1997, the place issues had been extra book-accurate, together with with the casting, as each Steven Weber (as Jack) and Rebecca De Mornay (as Wendy) appeared extra like how these characters had been described within the 1977 textual content.
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Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock
‘The Graduate’ (1967)
The most effective anecdotes about The Graduate, or possibly relating to casting and filmmaking usually, has to do with Robert Redford wanting the central position in The Graduate. Redford insisted he may efficiently play a loser, however director Mike Nichols rejected him saying that, asking Redford: “Okay, have you ever ever struck out with a lady?” In response to Nichols, Redford then requested, “What do you imply?”, and didn’t intend that as a joke.
However, to Redford’s credit score, Benjamin is described as being extra good-looking within the e book than he was within the film, although it labored for the film model to solid somebody who wasn’t distractingly good-looking and athletic, like Redford. Dustin Hoffman wasn’t bad-looking, by any means, however he was nearer to plain and likewise shorter than Redford, so that you consider his desperation and listlessness a little bit extra, and likewise straight away (and the visuals are vital within the storytelling, casting included, what with this being a film adaptation and all). And all that does make it funnier that the pair ended up starring in an iconic film collectively virtually a decade on from The Graduate: All of the President’s Males.
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Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb
‘Madame Internet’ (2024)
Picture by way of Sony Photos Releasing
To the credit score of Madame Internet (and there is not so much to credit score right here), if it had been profitable, and Dakota Johnson had stored going within the position for numerous sequels and follow-up motion pictures, possibly she would’ve finally resembled the comedian e book character a little bit extra. Madame Internet, within the comics, is blind, paralyzed, and aged, whereas within the film, she’s not… till the very finish, when she is blinded and seemingly left with lasting accidents.
She’s nonetheless younger, although, and so it might be some time earlier than Dakota Johnson was sufficiently old to be Madame Internet, not less than how she normally appears. And given Madame Internet (2024) was not very profitable, to place it mildly, the possibilities of the character – and Johnson – sticking round look unlikely. So, she’ll stay an instance of questionable casting; the film’s reception has basically doomed it to be so.
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Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff
‘Wuthering Heights’ (2026)
One of many best examples to incorporate right here, Jacob Elordi being solid as Heathcliff within the 2026 model of Wuthering Heights did certainly elevate fairly just a few eyebrows. There was an try to stress that this wasn’t Wuthering Heights totally, and was as a substitute “Wuthering Heights” (the poster consists of the citation marks), so you possibly can argue that mitigates the casting to some extent (additionally they actually solely tailored half the novel, if that).
Jacob Elordi very a lot is not dark-skinned, or of any ethnicity apart from Caucasian.
Nonetheless, Heathcliff is mentioned to be dark-skinned within the e book, and there are another much less politically appropriate (by immediately’s requirements) phrases used to explain him, and then Jacob Elordi very a lot is not dark-skinned, or of any ethnicity apart from Caucasian. The 2011 model of Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold, is one the place Heathcliff – as each a baby and an grownup – appears extra in keeping with how he’s described within the unique e book.
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Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
The ‘X-Males’ Movie Sequence (2000–Current)
To maintain going with some casting that may’ve appeared questionable, and with an Australian on the middle of the drama, right here’s Wolverine, who’s synonymous with Hugh Jackman, for the reason that solely different actor to have performed Wolverine in live-action (and as an grownup) is Henry Cavill… form of. And that was a one-off joke/cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine. Jackman is, as of 2026, the definitive Logan/Wolverine.
And but he actually doesn’t appear like how Wolverine is normally depicted within the comedian books, and he’s a widely known comedian e book character (distinctively a lot shorter, stockier, and fewer good-looking than Jackman), so that claims one thing about how good Jackman is within the position, past “simply” look. It’s a bit like how folks had been skeptical of one more Australian actor being solid in a high-profile position: Heath Ledger’s efficiency as the Joker in The Darkish Knight (the place he does arguably look a little bit completely different – particularly, scarier – to how the Joker normally appears in most – however not all – Batman comedian books).
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Sissy Spacek as Carrie White
‘Carrie’ (1976)
Maybe probably the most dramatic instance of a personality in a Stephen King adaptation not trying like their e book counterpart is Sissy Spacek because the titular character in Carrie, which additionally occurred to be the primary Stephen King film, appropriately primarily based on his first-published novel. In that novel, Carrie White is described as being brief, not in form, and with darkish hair and zits, with none of these descriptors making use of to Spacek.
Additional, Spacek turned 27 the yr Carrie got here out, and she or he performs an adolescent, which technically makes her casting a extra dramatic instance of not trying just like the e book’s character than Chloë Grace Moretz being solid within the 2013 film (she additionally doesn’t appear like the model of Carrie described within the e book, however was not less than an adolescent taking part in an adolescent). Nonetheless, Spacek is superb within the position, and she or he’s nice as this specific model of Carrie (plus, even within the books, Carrie is alleged to look noticeably completely different – and extra putting – as soon as she clothes up for that fateful promenade).
