The Role: Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz) Why Nic Cage Would Have Improved It: Nicolas Cage was originally cast to play the villain in Michel Gondry's Green Hornet, though at that stage in production, the villain was called Mr X and differed somewhat from the eventual bad guy, Benjamin Chudnofsky, played with tongue-in-cheek aplomb by Christoph Waltz. Though Waltz clearly has a lot of fun in the part and gets to enthusiastically spout lines such as "I'm ungassable!", it sounds like Nicolas Cage had something altogether more interesting to offer. Cage reportedly insisted on giving his character a Jamaican accent, and when Cage quit, Gondry stated, "I was quite relieved when he announced he no longer wanted the part." Still, the movie completely blew without Cage, and at least seeing him sport a ridiculous Rasta voice might've made the film a little funnier and less boring. As for Cage's take on the situation, he said that, "I think Seth Rogen and Michel had a different take on the character...I had to have some humanity and to try to give it something where you could understand why the character was the way he was but I dont think there was enough time to develop it." Still, all we're hearing is "Jamaican accent". That alone has us sold on Cage being a better choice for the villain than, well, anyone else.
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