10 Actors Who Will Definitely Ruin Upcoming Movies
2. Liam Neeson - Marlowe
On paper the idea of a movie centered around an older, more grizzled version of legendary private detective Philip Marlowe - most famously played by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep - has a ton of potential.
But as great an actor as Liam Neeson might be - when he wants to be, at least - the trailer for his new film Marlowe doesn't sell him as a particularly inspired choice to play the detective.
And even if the rather uneven, cheap-looking trailer didn't fully dissuade you, Variety's review from the San Sebastián International Film Festival last year declared Neeson "wildly miscast," while noting that his performance couldn't hold a candle to Bogart's iconic rendition.
Raymond Chandler's characters are notoriously tricky to realise on-screen, and it's not at all surprising that Neeson's more severe, restrained screen demeanour is a bit of an awkward fit for Chandler's hard-boiled, quick-witted creations.
Though it sounds like Marlowe isn't a particularly good movie from the ground-up, clearly with a more inspired central casting choice it'd be a far more interesting piece of work.