10 Movie Casting Choices That Were Total Misdirection

1. Steven Seagal - Executive Decision

What Everyone Expected

Back in the mid-90s, Steven Seagal was at peak popularity as a rising action star, hot off the success of Under Siege.

And so, when he was cast opposite Kurt Russell in the 1996 action-thriller Executive Decision, as well as receiving top billing and having his face plastered across most of the posters, audiences anticipated a Seagal-led genre romp.

What We Got

Hilariously, Seagal doesn't even make it inside the hijacked aircraft, with his Lieutenant Colonel Austin Travis sacrificing himself at the end of the movie's first act, much to most viewers' slack-jawed surprise.

The death of Travis came so abruptly that fans have theorised ever since that a production or scheduling issue resulted in Segal's role being reduced last-minute, yet more recent reports suggest that he simply did the role as a favour to the studio.

Either way, with the film releasing at a time when Seagal was an untouchable, on-the-rise badass, him being ejected from a plane so unceremoniously was a major shock.

Thankfully the rest of the movie is still trashy fun, even if those who turned up largely on the basis of Seagal's presence - likely a significant portion of the audience - were surely left baffled.