9 Terrible Casting Decisions That Ruined Great Movies
5. Robert De Niro - Frankenstein
Casting the world's greatest actor to play the most famous monster in literature is a stroke of genius on paper; the fact it went so wrong in the final product is still kind of baffling. Frankenstein was intended to be a big, glossy update of the story for modern audiences, and while the film has tonal issues - deathly serious one moment then super campy the next - there's no faulting the ambition.
De Niro being the weak link was an early sign of the actor's decline, where he plays the monster with a gurning New York accent and make-up which fails to inspire any fear. The character is portrayed as a gentle giant who is gripped with terrifying rages, but these scenes come off hilarious instead scary. The moment he rips out a characters heart is meant to be shocking, not giggle-inducing.
It's certainly not De Niros worst performance - check out New Year's Eve for that - but it does spoil an otherwise solid adaptation of a great book.