10 Horror Movie Casting Choices That Shouldn't Have Worked (But Did)
These actors played hugely against type - and pulled it off.
Though no good horror movie - or any movie period, really - can succeed without a compelling script or solid direction, the art of casting is also a massively underappreciated one.
After all, finding the right actor for a main role can help elevate a movie from good to great, but if those in charge get it wrong, an ill-placed actor can also end up sinking the entire movie.
Yet often when an actor is cast for a given movie, it's easy for us as viewers to turn our noses up and scream "miscast!" at the top of our lungs.
But as Hollywood has proven time and time again, actors can end up surprising us all with their unexpected range.
That's certainly true in these 10 horror movies, each of which made casting choices which left many observers less than optimistic, only for the end result to silence just about all the doubters.
It was so easy to picture a scenario where these casting decisions just didn't pan out, but all of us who doubted these edgy and unexpected casting picks were ultimately humbled in the end...
10. Adrien Brody - Predators
When the casting for Robert Rodriguez's Predators was first announced, many questioned the decision to hire Adrien Brody for the lead role of mercenary Royce.
Brody's wiry frame seemed to make him a strange fit to play the action hero role in a series previously led by certified badasses such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Glover.
Simply, nothing we'd seen from Brody before this seemed to suggest he had what it took to play a tough guy the audience would both believe and root for.
But Brody proved just about everyone wrong.
Now sure, he was never going to be Arnie, and that's fine, but Brody nevertheless packed on 25 pounds of muscle to become well-built soldier Royce, and absolutely convinced in the role.
Beyond the physical requirements, Brody brought a charisma to the part that made him wholly persuasive as a ruthlessly pragmatic anti-hero, in turn proving himself to be an even more versatile performer than many already knew.