Since the dawn of Twitter, people have been able to voice their opinions with impunity. Well, obviously not within these borders but elsewhere. And everytime an actor is cast in a role that people find themselves really drawn to, said actor has to go through a ton of hate even before the film releases.
1. Ben Affleck as The Batman.
When Zack Snyder picked him to play the Caped Crusader in Batman Vs Superman, he was met with tens of thousands of angry fans who did not see Affleck ever donning the black. A general hangover over Bale’s Batman might have also triggered these emotions. And while Affleck’s tenure was short-lived, his Batman has since developed a very dedicated folllwing.
2. Heath Ledger as The Joker
It’s the curse of being in Batman films. Ledger was hated by fans in the beginning. People simply didn’t believe a handsome romcom actor like him could ever play the clown prince of Gotham, even though Ledger did have a plethora of nuanced performances to boast about. And now, we can’t help but compare every actor who plays The Joker to Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight, for which he posthumously won an Oscar.
3. Daniel Craig as James Bond
Even Craig, who is now widely considered to be the best James Bond of all time was met with a lot of scepticism. Apparently, the British actor lacked ‘sex appeal’. Also, there was this big problem of his hair being blonde.
4. Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
At the time it imagining Damon in an action movie was not very common for the actor had only been part of intellectual, artsy movies, the Oscar winners so to speak. But 20 years later, the name Jason Bourne is synonymous with action.
5. Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele
People didn’t think that Dornan and Johnson had any chemistry to be able to pull off playing characters that were supposed to be overcharged with sexual chemistry. Fortunately, once the actors were seen on screen, those concerns were put to rest.
6. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises.
Nobody actually believed that the young princess from The Princess Diaries would be able to portray a character as complicated or grey as Catwoman, especially the nerds. Well, let’s just say Hathaway’s Catwoman was the only good thing about that film.
7. Henry Cavill as Superman in Man Of Steel.
This was probably just Americans. You know, they are prone to doing stupid things, like eating too many burgers and selling guns at stationery stores. The point being, they didn’t want to see a British actor play the ‘American’ superhero, which is weird because I don’t think Supes is racist. Anyhow, once they watched him in Man of Steel, their opinion changed and now we are all busy abusing DC and Warner Bros for not having Cavil back to play the Kryptonian.
8. Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher in Jack Reacher.
The character being 6 ft 5 inches in the books meant that Cruise had to go through some very sceptic fans. But the film was still a success, making $218 million on a production budget of $60 million. Everybody loves Cruise. Well, except all the women he’s married, and people who believe in science and everybody else who thinks Scientology is just a bunch of crackheads worshipping a guy called Ron… probably.
9. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in Hunger Games.
In the Hunger Games books, Katniss is described as a brown-haired, olive-skinned girl but Lawrence at the time was a 20-year-old blonde-haired blue-eyed woman. So, that didn’t sit well with the fans. Fortunately, she had the acting chops to pull it off effortlessly and now, we all associate Hunger Games with Jennifer Lawrence.
10. Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones’ Diary
There was no way a Texan was going to play a Brit, right? Also, Zellweger was relatively not that big a star at the point. Now Bridget Jones’ Diary is considered a classic, Zellweger is Bridget Jones.
11. Robert Pattinson As Bruce Wayne In The Batman
It’s still early days for the film but if the reviews are to be believed, Pattinson has hit a home run and fans couldn’t be happier. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case when the actor was cast as the billionaire vigilante, with people being unable to move on from his role in the Twilight movies.
So, let’s maybe watch the film first, then judge the casting.