10 Movie Casting Choices That Should've Worked (But Didn't)

Because Michael Shannon is so naturally charismatic, it seemed sensible for him to play one of the mesmerising men to ever live – The King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley. Even though Shannon doesn’t physically resemble the legendary singer, we thought his performance in Elvis & Nixon could be Oscar-worthy.

But not only is this the worst performance of Shannon’s career, it’s one of the worst portrayals of Elvis. Hell, Bruce Campbell nailed The King’s mannerisms better in Bubba Ho-Tep, and that was a movie about a mummy who sucks souls out of anuses!!

You could argue that Shannon's performance doesn’t work, simply because he’s miscast. But there are a lot of scenes where he looks like he’s not trying. Instead of emulating Elvis’ unmistakable voice, Shannon speaks in a generic Southern drawl. When he performs the iconic dances moves and karate kicks, he doesn’t act like Elvis. He acts like an Elvis impersonator (and a bad one at that).

Because his character is obviously supposed to carry the story, Shannon is the main reason Elvis & Nixon doesn’t work as a whole.