10 Seemingly Awful Movie Castings That Ultimately Paid Off

Movie fans sharpening their pitchforks at the news of an actor they evidently don't deem worthy of stepping into a genre or the shoes of a character they hold dear to their hearts is not exactly anything new in this increasingly surreal industry of show.

And neither is said often excessive reaction regularly ageing like a pint of full fat milk, for that matter, with a whole host of once laughed at or wholly rejected big-screen casting decisions going on to become some of the most inspired filmmaking calls of their time in the end.

Sure, there have definitely been a few moments when those at home have undoubtedly got it right when it pertains to smelling trouble out of the gates; look no further than the trepidation that accompanied Jared Leto's Morbius casting, for example.

But, from Hollywood action legends wandering into more dramatic waters and unexpectedly excelling, to a seemingly anything but intimidating rising star being handed the keys to the Sith kingdom, each of these castings looked like they had bad news written all over them out of the gates... but, oh, how wrong fans and critics were when all was said and done.

Long before he was Hollywood's go-to daredevil when it comes to all things action spectacle, Tom Cruise found himself acting as the industry's most tried-and-tested leading heartthrob, stealing the hearts of fans the world over with his work in everything from Risky Business to Top Gun.

But that still wasn't enough to convince fans of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, or the author herself, that Cruise had it in him to bring the commanding vampire Lestat de Lioncourt to life in the 1994 big-screen adaptation of her novel.

Rice would even go as far as to state:

"I don't think I've ever fallen under the spell of an actor when the voice wasn't a big component, and of course the very sad thing about Tom Cruise is he does not have that kind of distinct voice,"

However, despite Rice's hopes of Cruise perhaps dropping out of the role during production, the bona fide movie star only went and delivered the goods and then some with his portrayal of the famous blood-sucker. So much so, that Rice herself ended up dramatically changing her tune upon taking in the flick, eventually calling to apologise to the Lestat star and later noting "from the moment he appeared, Tom was Lestat for me."