8 Biggest Casting Mistakes In Upcoming Movies

The most underrated cog in the moviemaking machine is far and away the casting director. The actors are front and centre, so they're an audience's first port of call for praise and derision, and everyone knows (or thinks they know) what a writer does. Producer's a hefty word, so everyone respects them (even if it's a very flexible category depending on the level of film). And the director winds up taking the credit for everything anyway.

But casting directors? Maybe it's because they don't have a specific Oscar category to honour them once a year, but nobody ever talks about them. And they really, really should; these are the people responsible for managing the specifications of the writer, director and producer to bring together that much-discussed cast in the first place. Without them, every movie would be like a Seth Rogen comedy, where the casting process is seeing who's in your recent contacts.

Although being under-appreciated does also mean that casting directors can escape criticism easier than most. After all, sometimes they mess up and pick someone who is totally unsuitable for a role. Here are eight of the biggest, most potentially ruinous casting choices in upcoming movies.

Honourable Mention - Anyone But Keira Knightly As Cable In Deadpool 2

OK, this one is so knowingly dumb I just can't include it in the list proper, but it is something I still genuinely wanna see.

In the post-credits scene for Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth pulls a Ferris Beuller, then drops the massive news that Cable will be in the sequel, with potential actors including Mel Gibson, Dolph Lundgren and Keira Knightley. Now just how awesome would it be to have Knightley actually cast as Nathan Summers, playing it straight in the greatest superhero movie in-joke of all-time?

If I'm being serious, Steven Lang would be a fair shout (he's starting training already), but there's no way I won't be disppointed if anyone other than Elizabeth Swann is cast.