50 Huge Movie Characters That Were Completely Miscast

With remaking, or at least re-adapting popular movies and stories that have already enthralled audiences, sometimes for decades, comes the challenge of recasting beloved characters. They may be different versions, or in different eras, but there will always be expectations set from the very beginning.

Filmmakers can either live up to them, or deliberately go in an opposite direction, but with James Franco as the eventual Wizard of Oz in 2013's Oz: Great and Powerful, he was as unremarkable as it gets. Certainly not the right casting, but not so radical as to subvert expectations.

If there is one thing a character like the Wizard should never be, it is forgettable, and that is exactly what Franco's performance was. There was no wonder or magic to it, no feeling that he was a part of the world that has enchanted audiences since 1939's The Wizard of Oz. The character became a boring, charisma vacuum, which ultimately undermined the entire thing.

It will always be a difficult casting, but 2024's Wicked was certainly a lot closer to the mark with Jeff Goldblum. The actor is wonderfully eccentric, and believable in such a world as Oz, while also being able to play the serious scenes when called upon. James Franco brought none of this in 2013, so much so that he almost made Mila Kunis as Theodora look good.