20 Great Movie Remakes With One Miscast Role

Denis Villeneuve wowed global audiences with his take on Dune in 2021, introducing us to the Atreides family, the desert planet Arrakis, giant sand worms, and spitting at royals. The director then doubled down with last year’s Dune: Part Two, which made his universe even larger, as Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) rises through the ranks as a warrior, mystic, and leader in order to avenge his fallen household against the beastly Harkonnens and the literal Emperor of the universe.

With a large cast and a multitude of nuanced parts, every cast member put their shoulder to the grindstone and gave it their all, delivering a film that is precisely the space spectacle author Frank Herbert always intended (no shade, David Lynch!). But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t at least one miscasting among the bunch.

Christopher Walken plays Emperor Shaddam IV, and while he’s not chewing the scenery or even doing a bad job with the material, he just doesn’t fit in. The problem is that he just can’t not be and act and talk like Christopher Walken; it’s his trademark. But it sticks out more than usual when everyone around him is doing their best to really become someone and something else.  

Fortunately, the Emperor has precious little screentime, leaving the villainy to be meted out by the Harkonnens, with Austin Butler, Stellan Skarsgard, and Dave Bautista in range-testing, nigh-unrecognisable roles.