10 WORST Actor Replacements In Movies

It is difficult to think of The Matrix (1999) without Hugo Weaving's 'Mr. Aaaaaaanderson' echoing in your mind. As Agent Smith, Weaving frequently stole scenes from the chronically bland Keanu Reeves, whose everyman-Jesus Neo left plenty of room for more colourful characters to enter the frame.

Given Smith was destroyed in The Matrix Revolutions (2003), it would have made total sense to leave him out of the 20-years-later soft reboot, The Matrix Resurrections. But no, Smith survived because Neo survived, and on the tumbling chaos goes.

Fair enough, we may say, for what is a high-concept sci-fi action thriller without its snarling villain? But when Weaving turned the role down, owing to an unworthy script and scheduling conflicts, this may have been the time to rethink including the character at all. Instead, writer-director-producer Lana Wachowski and her team decided it was time to recast. Enter musical theatre wunderkind Jonathan Groff.

It's not just that Groff was a poor fit for the role to begin with, it's that he was stuck trying to balance the essence of the character with a desire to make the part his own and not just do a Hugo Weaving impression. The outcome is a character that feels like a bad imitation of the original and at the same time not like the character at all. He's not elastic enough, not sinister enough, and it would have been so much better if Smith had just sat this one out.