The Persian shopkeeper is nominated because his arc is difficult to understand. — Joanna Robinson
The blanks objection is rebutted: he explicitly cannot read English, and the claimed explanatory packaging cartoon is disputed. — Bill Simmons
The family simply returning indoors after the shot is questioned; a response notes they could call police offscreen. — Bill Simmons
The language barrier seems too extreme for a man capable of running a store; his angel explanation is criticized.
Phillippe is miscast because his face is already untrustworthy, and the murderous turn needs another transitional beat. — Joanna Robinson
Tate is too visibly mature and established for a wide-eyed young man; actors from The Wire are suggested, including Bodie’s performer and Omar’s performer.
Phillippe receives agreement: this film positioned him to headline subsequent movies, even though those films were disappointing. — Juliet Litman
Gellar receives agreement on the combination of Buffy’s popularity, a spin-off signaling influence and her admired Saturday Night Live hosting.
Witherspoon is rejected without hesitation. — Bill Simmons
Counting Crows are rejected despite this soundtrack’s impact; the earlier album era and the singer’s high-profile Friends-star relationships are preferred, while Dawson’s Creek exposure is also recalled. — Bill Simmons
Cocaine crosses receive an affirmative nomination for this conspicuous use. — Bill Simmons
Cheating with someone of a different nationality might feel like an 80 percent cheat; another white guy would have hit Gere harder. — Bill Simmons
Jennifer Lopez was offered the role and turned it down because the script was not all the way there, and after Lane's nomination said she wanted to shoot her toe off. — Bill Simmons
Speaking as a J.Lo actor truther, one participant says she made the right choice: it is a particular movie-star part that works with Diane Lane or Foster, and J.Lo in the suburbs married to Gere would never stop being J.Lo. — Wesley Morris
The film never shows how the couple met; audiences may know Gere and Lane worked together before, and there is a wish to see Gere pick someone up without paying. — Wesley Morris
Lyne cast Lane after seeing A Walk on the Moon, calling her sympathetic when so many sexy women are tough and hard. — Bill Simmons
Renaming the award after Stephen Tobolowski's Ned Ryerson, raised on the Groundhog Day pod, gets support; a George Dzundza Award is also floated, with a pronunciation debate. — Bill Simmons
Matt Craven as Zimmer is offered, though NCIS may have lifted him past that-guy status. — Bill Simmons
Danny Nucci, the Silver Surfer guy, is called a better pick: he has been in a lot but is known only as Danny. — Bill Simmons
Casting what-ifs are knocked out fast because the movie cannot be imagined with anyone else; Harvey Dent is called secretly very good casting because the part needed someone who thought he was a big deal but actually was not, which is perfect for Aaron Eckhart, a shot another host, who loves Eckhart, pushes back on with a joke about a Gulf Coast condo built on Eckhart stock.
Actors who expressed interest or auditioned for Harvey Dent: Josh Lucas, not heard from much since Glory Road; Liev Schreiber, judged a little too dark and stormy for a Dent who has to start as a golden boy, though he could have been a good Two Face; Mark Ruffalo, rejected as way too cerebral and neurotic; and Matt Damon, which prompts the question of why Damon just wants to be in a Christopher Nolan movie.
Young, Courage Under Fire-era Matt Damon would have made a great Robin.
Christopher Nolan is quoted as never really having considered anyone but Heath Ledger for the Joker, which is dismissed as what they say after the fact; actors rumored for the role were Paul Bettany (fine), Steve Carell (no), Robin Williams (maybe in a Tim Burton movie, a little too ghoulish), Adrian Brody (as transcribed; 'I can see it') and Ryan Phillippe, who is said to turn up more than anyone in lists of roles he did not get and to have been in the final three for Captain America with Krasinski and Chris Evans, which usually means great publicist, bad agent.
Ledger's performance is so legendary, arguably the most iconic movie performance of the 21st century, that nobody can be put in the role; an actor rumored for it would be wise to scrub that from the internet.
William Fichtner's bank manager is said to have been offered to Dwight Yoakam, who was busy recording Dwight Meets Buck, prompting the question whether that is a Buck Owens cover record; the hosts love Yoakam as a movie actor, a legend in Panic Room and Wedding Crashers with a quiet malevolence on screen, though he would not have been right for this particular role.
