Just being cast in a movie nowadays is enough to provoke an all-out war between those who have faith in you to deliver a good performance, and those who think you are literally the worst thing to happen to whatever is you've been cast in. Like, ever. Of course, for every controversial casting decision, there are Heath Ledger Jokers, and there are Ben Affleck Daredevils. Two opposite ends of the spectrum, and two castings which proved to be hugely diverse when they were first announced. And for all anybody knew, they both could've gone the other way entirely. Recently, it seems as if Hollywood has started making casting decisions by throwing darts at a list of randomly generated actors. It kind of feels as though the people at the top of the tower have either gone balls to the walls insane, casting the mostly seemingly inappropriate actors in roles because they are either genuinely clueless or because controversy creates hype, and hype creates more money at the box office. Even if you disagree with that glib analysis, it's hard to disagree that - recently - we've encountered a whole lot of "out there" casting decisions. But if screenwriter William Goldman is right, and "nobody knows anything" offers the best window into the way Hollywood actually operates, then it's perhaps truthful to admit that any one of the following casting decisions could, in fact, turn out to be brilliantly shocking in that Heath Ledger kind of way. Right now, though, looking at the following 8 and judging them on a purely gut level, it's really, really difficult to imagine these working based on what we know of them already...