MovieChat Forums > The Betsy (1978) Discussion > Olivier was totally miscast

Olivier was totally miscast

posted 14 years ago by poohgp
6 replies | jump to latest

What keeps this movie from being totally enjoyable trash is the miscasting of Laurence Olivier. I mean, did anyone read the book? His character is supposed to be masculine, virile, macho, and hirsute. None of which describe Olivier, especially in his 70's. Not only is wrong for the part, he is too old for the flashback scenes when he supposed to be in his 40's.

Who should have been cast? Perhaps Charlton Heston?

"If I'd been a ranch, they would have named me The Bar Nothing"

[–] preppy-3 14 years ago

I agree. Olivier IS too old for the part but his merciless hamming is fun to watch. I think he was only hired because they needed a big actor to sell the movie. Didn't help though--I think this movie bombed.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Harold_Robbins 12 years ago

It was a paycheck, and Lord Olivier liked getting those - many of the films that he did were done mainly for the salary, which he in turn fed into his theatrical ventures.

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."

[–] Prismark10 12 years ago

The pay cheque helped and I think he enjoyed hamming it up.

Its that man again!!

[–] carthur27 11 years ago

When Laurence Olivier died, he left an estate that was considered relatively small. The reason given was that he did not take jobs for their salary. If you think he took jobs like narrating the 26 episodes of The World at War because of the money, you'd be seriously wrong. On paper, this looked like a movie with definite potential even if Olivier wasn't right for the part from the book's description.

[–] intuitsteve 11 years ago

Not Charlton Heston.