9 “Perfect” Casting Decisions That Went Horribly Wrong

7. Tom Hanks As Professor G.H. Dorr - The Ladykillers

It was always going to be questionable as to whether or not remaking The Ladykillers - the classic Ealing Studios comedy about a gang of incompetent crooks who move in with a sweet old lady so they can plan and execute their next heist - was going to be a good idea. But if anyone was going to pull it off it was the Coen brothers, who had already made great comedies exhibiting the same quirky sensibilities as the original's director, Alexander Mackendrick.

Alec Guinness was an Ealing regular and his performance as Professor Marcus in The Ladykillers surely ranks as one of the all-time great comic villains, and if any American actor stood a chance of filling his shoes it was Tom Hanks. Hanks shares the same broad appeal and lovable nature as Guinness, and the chance of seeing him twist this persona into something comically sinister - complete with crooked teeth and insincere smile - was one many fans of the original hoped would be worth the wait.

Unfortunately, renaming the character to Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr wasn't the only significant change the Coen brothers made in their remake of The Ladykillers, which accounts for the miserable 55% rating currently held on Rotten Tomatoes. The lowbrow humour ran against the subtleties of the original and the whole thing felt far too cartoonish for its own good - and that goes especially for Hanks's performance, which was a missed opportunity to shine in a comedy role if ever there was one.

That said, he's still funnier in The Ladykillers than he is in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal, which is a film most people would rather forget completely.