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The 11 worst casting decisions in film history
May 7, 2025
Great casting can turn an average film or television show into a spectacular one. Try to imagine The Terminator without Arnold Schwarzenneger, Iron Man minus Robert Downey Jr, sans Renée Zellweger – it’s impossible.
On the other hand, bad casting has the potential to sabotage even the most promising project. Here is a countdown of some of the worst casting choices in recent(ish) screen history – actors whose performances are so awkward, off-key or misguided that they ruined an otherwise great film.
Emma Watson as Meg March
Little Women (2019)
Greta Gerwig’s take on Louisa May Alcott’s tale of the four March sisters and their journey to womanhood boasts an all-star cast, with Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh and Timothée Chalamet all operating at peak movie star powers.
Surrounded by such interstellar talent, Emma Watson’s Meg seems to have wandered in from the straight-to-Netflix version of the same story. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that Emma Stone was originally cast but had to withdraw as she was contractually obliged to promote . We’ll never know how exactly she would have played it – but we do know that Watson audibly struggles with the New England accent.
Worse than that, as an outspoken campaigner for gender equality, she has no idea how to get a handle on Meg, the most traditional of the siblings, who yearns for the life of wife and mother.
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