The news that Jessica Biel would replace Elisabeth Moss as the titular character in Candy(that’s the Candy Montgomery series that doesn’tstar Elizabeth Olsen) raised eyebrows at Best Evidence HQ, not because we think the vaccination opponent will certainly bring a different energy to the role than the Scientologist will. It’s a recasting that will change how Candy plays far more than if they had, say, replaced Moss with, say, someone like Chloë Sevigny.
It was a big enough switch that I started wondering, how might other true-crime tales been improved* if they’d been recast before the cameras started rolling? Would Zodiac have been better if Sam Rockwell had replaced Jake Gyllenhaal as cartoonist Robert Graysmith? Would The Loudest Voice in the Room have been more compelling if they cast anyone besides Russell Crowe in a fat suit? Does David Tennant need to take a break and let some other skinny from the UK play a murderer for a change?
If there’s a true-crime adaptation that you think could have been better, grabbier, or just wilder with a pre-production recasting, let’s hear it. No project is too big or too small. — EB
*Not saying Biel is in improvement, not saying she’s not — she’s just the inspiration for this thread.
I have been wondering since the late 90s why people like Jessica Biel (as an actor, I mean -- I don't know much about her as a human being). But I guess some people like plain white rice and plain egg noodles, too, so it's the same kind of thing, I suppose. Chloë Sevigny would have been such a cool choice for Candy!
The People vs. OJ Simpson, I would recast Travolta and Schwimmer. Not because I dislike them or think they're bad actors, but because they are too closely associated with other roles in my mind, and they took me out of the story. But I am terrible at knowing middle aged male actors, so I don't know who I would have chosen instead. Anybody want to help me out and choose replacements for the roles of Roberts Kardashian and Shapiro?
This has nothing to do with true crime unless you make it so, but has anyone else been playing with the site artflow.ai? You describe someone and the AI generates a picture for you. I have had some incredible successes and some hilarious failures. If this had existed when I was 9 to 14 years old, I would have blown all my allowances on ink cartridges for the printer so I could hang things like "Ben Feldman with bedroom eyes" on my wall. Not that Ben Feldman was famous when I was that age, but you know what I mean. (What I mean is that I'm considering hanging this on my wall now, at age 47.)
I’d swap Chad Michael Murray in American Boogeyman for Jensen Ackles, who can totally bring it to literally any role. As stupid as the plot twist in My Bloody Valentine 3-D is, Ackles plays the *hell* out of it.
I'm worried about Joe Exotic starring Kate McKinnon. Maybe it's the role she needs to finally breakout of SNL, but I can't help but think she'll do another Weekend Update impersonation. That said, McKinnon in Joe Exotic is a better fit than The Dropout, where she was slated to play Elizabeth Holmes before Amanda Seyfried took over. Seyfried stepping in gives me hope for the project elevating above a long-running joke about a blonde woman wearing turtlenecks and speaking in a deep voice. But we haven't heard anything else about casting and I think that series needs another key star or two to make pop. That said, Seyfried still has to compete with whatever comes of Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal in Adam McKay's film.
When it comes to Jessica Biel replacing Elisabeth Moss, that to me signals that Lizzie wouldn't be able to complete hers before Elizabeth Olsen and didn't want to come in second to her. So now production is taking the best name they can get last minute before production starts. Otherwise that would have been two potentially, equally delicious portrayals coming out back to back.
I have been wondering since the late 90s why people like Jessica Biel (as an actor, I mean -- I don't know much about her as a human being). But I guess some people like plain white rice and plain egg noodles, too, so it's the same kind of thing, I suppose. Chloë Sevigny would have been such a cool choice for Candy!
The People vs. OJ Simpson, I would recast Travolta and Schwimmer. Not because I dislike them or think they're bad actors, but because they are too closely associated with other roles in my mind, and they took me out of the story. But I am terrible at knowing middle aged male actors, so I don't know who I would have chosen instead. Anybody want to help me out and choose replacements for the roles of Roberts Kardashian and Shapiro?
This has nothing to do with true crime unless you make it so, but has anyone else been playing with the site artflow.ai? You describe someone and the AI generates a picture for you. I have had some incredible successes and some hilarious failures. If this had existed when I was 9 to 14 years old, I would have blown all my allowances on ink cartridges for the printer so I could hang things like "Ben Feldman with bedroom eyes" on my wall. Not that Ben Feldman was famous when I was that age, but you know what I mean. (What I mean is that I'm considering hanging this on my wall now, at age 47.)
I’d swap Chad Michael Murray in American Boogeyman for Jensen Ackles, who can totally bring it to literally any role. As stupid as the plot twist in My Bloody Valentine 3-D is, Ackles plays the *hell* out of it.
I'm worried about Joe Exotic starring Kate McKinnon. Maybe it's the role she needs to finally breakout of SNL, but I can't help but think she'll do another Weekend Update impersonation. That said, McKinnon in Joe Exotic is a better fit than The Dropout, where she was slated to play Elizabeth Holmes before Amanda Seyfried took over. Seyfried stepping in gives me hope for the project elevating above a long-running joke about a blonde woman wearing turtlenecks and speaking in a deep voice. But we haven't heard anything else about casting and I think that series needs another key star or two to make pop. That said, Seyfried still has to compete with whatever comes of Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal in Adam McKay's film.
When it comes to Jessica Biel replacing Elisabeth Moss, that to me signals that Lizzie wouldn't be able to complete hers before Elizabeth Olsen and didn't want to come in second to her. So now production is taking the best name they can get last minute before production starts. Otherwise that would have been two potentially, equally delicious portrayals coming out back to back.