10 'Creatively Different' Film Castings

Poor Tom Cruise. The man now faces his third divorce and a battle for sole custody of his daughter with Katie Holmes. He's hit a few obstacles in his recent movie career with a string of underwhelming titles - Lions of Lambs (2007), Valkyrie (2008), Knight and Day (2010) before retreating to the comforting safety in the M:I franchise. And he's 50 years old. Yep, Maverick is half a century. Ouch. Don't worry about Tommy though. You don't carve out a thirty year career as a Hollywood leading man by folding every time the going gets rough. He's already taken the helm as another iconic action hero for an upcoming December release. Jack Reacher. Can you think of a better way to soothe a savaged ego than casting yourself (5' 7") as a 6' 5", 250 pound, ex-Marine protagonist? Sign me up. And in the spirit of creative casting, WhatCulture brings you 10 more characters that have been creatively chosen compared to the source material. Note: This is not an article on miscasting. We already posted that yesterday. This is just 'different' casting.

10. Magneto (Ian McKellan)

Casting Sir Ian McKellan as the mutant terrorist Magneto was certainly not a crime against cinema. In fact, you could cast the venerable actor in just about anything and I'd stand to applaud at the end credits. But you have to admit ... there is a stark difference in the portrayal of the two characters in the two mediums. Well, except the white hair. That part is spot on. Yes, Magneto is a 90 year old Jew. So casting our favorite pensioner makes some sense. I'm just saying this: Wolverine is 130 years old and they didn't cast George Burns to play his part. The mutant gene apparently has a preserving effect that gives geriatric superheroes washboard abs and a back bigger than Arnold. But if Oompa Loompa Tom Cruise gets a 10 inch height mulligan to play Reacher, then I am certainly willing to give Sir Ian McKellan a pass on 75 pounds of shredded muscle.