10 Actor Replacements That Actually Improved Movies
Mads Mikkelsen should've played Grindelwald from the very beginning.
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00:00One of the key things filmmakers absolutely hate doing, above almost anything else, is
00:04having to recast an actor for a sequel.
00:07Even when the casting fundamentally works, audiences generally hate change and will endlessly
00:12compare the new actor to the prior portrayal.
00:15And while there are certainly many examples where recasting doesn't quite fit or is clearly
00:20inferior to what came before, there are also those rare winning cases where the recast
00:25ends up improving the new movie.
00:27So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture and here are 10 actor replacements
00:32that actually improved movies.
00:3410.
00:35Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight
00:39In Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, the role of Bruce Wayne's primary love interest
00:44Rachel Dawes was played by Katie Holmes.
00:46Holmes' totally fine performance nevertheless slides into the periphery while up against
00:51top shelf work from the likes of Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson,
00:56Cillian Murphy and Morgan Freeman.
00:59Holmes opted not to return for sequel The Dark Knight however, preferring instead to
01:03shoot the crime comedy Mad Money with one of her idols Diane Keaton, a film unfortunately
01:08which bombed both critically and commercially.
01:11Holmes was ultimately replaced with Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Dark Knight and while Holmes
01:15is far from an incapable actress, Gyllenhaal was just a much better fit for this character
01:20in every fibre of her being.
01:22Holmes seemed a little too young and fresh-faced to fully convince as Gotham's assistant
01:26district attorney while Gyllenhaal carried herself with an inherently more mature and
01:31sophisticated air.
01:32This is evident from the first time we see Gyllenhaal's new take on Rachel and to boot
01:36she also has far more persuasive chemistry with Christian Bale than Holmes ever did.
01:42This series would have been absolutely fine if Holmes stayed on board but Gyllenhaal probably
01:46should have been cast in the part from the very beginning.
01:499.
01:50Dave Schreiber as Sabretooth in X-Men Origins Wolverine
01:54Iconic X-Men villain Sabretooth made his first cinematic appearance in 2000's X-Men where
02:00he was played by professional wrestler-turned-actor Tyler Mane.
02:03There's no denying that Mane brings a heft and physicality to the part, though his Sabretooth
02:08isn't much more than a hulking brute, a blunt object who tussles with Wolverine and
02:13ultimately gets disposed of a little too easily.
02:16In 2009's prequel film X-Men Origins Wolverine, a younger Sabretooth is portrayed by the great
02:22Liev Schreiber who, while lacking Mane's massive stature, is nevertheless a lithe force
02:27of nature in his own right and one who matches it with his sheer charisma.
02:32Schreiber gets far more of an opportunity to crack wires and show off his easy chemistry
02:36with Jackman's Logan.
02:38Mane did the best with what he had but Schreiber took the character to another, more entertaining
02:42and nuanced direction that Mane, hardly an actor of Schreiber's calibre, would have
02:47struggled to.
02:488.
02:49Don Cheadle as James Rhodes in Iron Man 2
02:53In the original 2008 Iron Man, the role of Tony Stark's good pal James Rhodey Rhodes
02:58was played by Terrence Howard.
03:00Howard, a recent Oscar nominee at the time, commanded the highest salary on the entire
03:05set, far more than even Robert Downey Jr., but was reportedly offered less money to return
03:10for Iron Man 2, prompting him to bulk and be replaced by Don Cheadle.
03:15Terrence Howard's acting skills certainly isn't in doubt here, and he did a solid job
03:19as Rhodey in the first Iron Man, but Don Cheadle's more affable and gently sarcastic demeanour
03:25instantly made him much easier for the audience to warm to.
03:28Cheadle really helped take the Rhodey-Tony dynamic to the next level, and it's difficult
03:33to picture Howard bringing quite the same to a deceptively tricky role, a part that
03:37requires the actor to be both stern and likeable.
03:41As with the Katie Holmes-Batman situation, there's no way Howard would have sunk Iron
03:45Man 2, but one suspects Rhodey wouldn't be nearly as well-regarded by fans had Cheadle
03:50not taken over.
03:517.
03:52Moira Kelly as Donna Haywood in Twin Peaks' Fire Walk With Me
03:57Donna Haywood was a significant character in David Lynch's series Twin Peaks, though
04:02also one of its more divisive major players, in part because Lara Flynn Boyle's performance
04:07as Lara Palmer's troubled best friend split audiences right down the middle.
04:12When Boyle couldn't return for the 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks' Fire Walk With Me due to
04:17scheduling conflicts, she was replaced with Moira Kelly, who many fans maintain gave a
04:22far more vibrant and persuasive performance in a single film than Boyle did across 30
04:28episodes of the show.
04:29Granted, the two actresses are in many respects playing two starkly different versions of
04:34the same person on separate sides of a traumatic, life-changing event, but even so, Kelly's
04:40portrayal feels more well-thought-out, while Boyle's is more skittish and ultimately irritating.
04:46Kelly had the advantage of only performing the part for a comparatively short time, while
04:50most fans agree that Donna's characterization veers off a cliff in the show's second season
04:55and Boyle's performance with it.
04:586.
04:59Antonio Banderas as El Mariachi in Desperado
05:03The curious case of El Mariachi might well be the biggest no-brainer on this list.
05:08In Robert Rodriguez's 1992 feature debut El Mariachi, the part of the title character
05:13was portrayed by Rodriguez's friend and co-producer Carlos Gallardo, who had scarcely little acting
05:19experience prior to taking the role and likely played it himself in order to keep the budget
05:23down.
05:24After the film became an indie hit, Rodriguez was approached to make a sequel and soon enough
05:28came up with Desperado.
05:30However, now armed with a larger budget and having to answer to major Hollywood studios,
05:35Rodriguez had Gallardo replaced in the lead role by a more recognizable actor, Antonio
05:40Banderas, while Gallardo remained on board as a co-producer.
05:44It was certainly the right call, 99.8% of the people alive today couldn't compete with
05:49Banderas's rugged handsomeness and infectious charisma, so it's difficult to argue with
05:54the replacement of Gallardo, who all things considered did a totally respectable job in
05:59El Mariachi.
06:00But when you're presented with a studio budget and all the resources to make a bigger, more
06:04successful movie, you'd be silly not to play ball.
06:08Rodriguez did, and Desperado was a massive commercial success, enough that Rodriguez,
06:13Banderas and Gallardo all returned for the again-successful 2003 sequel Once Upon a Time
06:19in Mexico.
06:20Number 5.
06:21Carole Kane as Grandmama Adams in Adam's Family Values
06:26This is a piece of recasting subtle enough that more casual fans of the Adam's Family
06:30movies might not even notice.
06:32In Barry Sonnenfeld's original 1991 film, Grandmama Adams was played by the late Judith
06:37Molina in a relatively small supporting role.
06:40For 1993's sequel, Adam's Family Values, however, Sonnenfeld replaced Molina with Oscar nominee
06:46Carole Kane.
06:47Beyond the fact that Kane was given far more memorable dialogue to work with, Kane's more
06:52expressive, over-the-top rendition of Grandmama simply left Molina's more subdued version
06:57in the dust.
06:59Sonnenfeld had never stated publicly why he decided to recast the part, but given that
07:03Kane is a whole 26 years younger than Molina, it's entirely possible he wanted an actor
07:08who could more easily bring a lively physicality and vibrancy to the part.
07:13Number 4.
07:14Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood
07:20Friday the 13th's iconic serial killer Jason Voorhees has been played by 10 different actors
07:25over the years, though there's undeniably one who is far and away the most closely associated
07:31with the role, and also the best.
07:33Friday the 13th Part 3 is where the classic hockey mask-wearing Jason we all know and
07:38love came into being, as played by Richard Brooker, before the part was taken over by
07:42Ted White, Tom Morga and CJ Graham in each of the next three films.
07:48Before Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood, however, Kane Hodder took the role of Jason
07:52and categorically made it his own through his intensely intimidating, wordless performance.
07:58Hodder brought a subtle physicality to Jason, which implied a lot without actually saying
08:02anything, enough that Hodder became a distinct fan favourite and returned to play Jason in
08:06the series' 8th, 9th and 10th entries, more than any other actor.
08:12While each Jason performer has in some fashion put their own sly stamp on the character,
08:16Hodder quickly established himself as the definitive portrayal of Jason.
08:213.
08:22Patton Oswalt as Max in The Secret Life of Pets 2
08:25Illumination's 2016 smash hit animated comedy The Secret Life of Pets starred Louis C.K.
08:32as Max, our Jack Russell Terrier protagonist.
08:35C.K. was widely expected to return in the role for the sequel, but was dropped after
08:39being accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in late 2017, ultimately being replaced
08:45with Patton Oswalt.
08:47Beyond the fact that Universal effectively had to recast the role in order to avoid a
08:51massive PR headache, they actually settled on a much better suited actor for the part
08:56anyway.
08:57C.K.'s deadpan, even hangdog, pardon the pun, vocal delivery really doesn't measure
09:02up to Oswalt's more expressive, jovial voice when it comes to casting the protagonist of
09:07an animated movie who needs to appeal to kids.
09:10Even though Max is supposed to have a bit of an edge to him as a character, C.K. always
09:14felt a bit miscast in the role, even if it clearly didn't hurt the box office bottom
09:19line.
09:20The original made $875.5 million worldwide.
09:25And though the sequel didn't crack even half that number, Oswalt makes Max a far more endearing
09:29character kids and adults alike will actually want to spend 90 minutes with.
09:34Number 2.
09:35Mads Mikkelsen as Gerlert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts The Secret of Dumbledore
09:40The world was left with their jaws on the floor when Johnny Depp made a surprise cameo
09:45appearance at the end of the first Fantastic Beasts film, revealing himself to be the true
09:50visage of the evil dark wizard Gerlert Grindelwald.
09:53Though many lamented that Colin Farrell, who played Grindelwald disguised as Percival Graves,
09:58didn't simply play Grindelwald also, some fans nevertheless warmed to Depp's full-on
10:02portrayal in the otherwise highly divisive sequel The Crimes of Grindelwald.
10:07But the franchise was thrown into a tailspin when, mere days into shooting his role in
10:12threequel The Secrets of Dumbledore, Depp was asked to resign after losing a libel case
10:17against a newspaper that characterised him as a wife-beater.
10:21Mads Mikkelsen was swiftly subbed in to take over the part.
10:25While The Secrets of Dumbledore was ultimately a mixed bag of a movie, critics were near
10:29unanimous in agreement that Mikkelsen's more mannered, menacing and less campy performance
10:34in the role was considerably more effective.
10:371.
10:38Felicia Rashad as Mary Ann Creed in Creed
10:42Throughout the Rocky franchise, Apollo Creed's wife Mary Ann has appeared five times, first
10:48in the original Rocky as played by Lavelle Robey, and then by the late Sylvia Means in
10:52Rocky 2 and 4.
10:54Though Robey and Mills did fine enough work with what they had, neither of their Mary
10:58Ann's had much dimension at all as characters, and so there was only so much they could do
11:02with the part.
11:03Rashad's Mary Ann was given significantly greater bite when she reappeared in both Creed
11:08movies and also its upcoming sequel, as now played by Tony Award winner Felicia Rashad.
11:14Rashad brings soul and dignity to the fore as the adoptive mother of Apollo's son, Donnie,
11:20serving as an indispensable well of wisdom even when Donnie doesn't heed her advice.
11:25Instantly sympathetic as a concerned parent and further elevated by Rashad's authoritative,
11:30compassionate performance, this is a textbook example of a brilliant recast that worked
11:35in perfect tandem with superior writing.
11:38And that concludes our list.
11:40If you can think of any other examples, then do let us know in the comments below, and
11:43while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:47Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias
11:51just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:53I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you real
11:57soon.