It's not acting that is bad - it's the casting!

Out of all the characters in the book, in my opinion, there were only 2 actors who fit the characters:

Gary Siniese - I would never have thought of him, but he was perfect
Bill Fagerbaake - I thought of him as I was reading the book back then. I'm glad they picked him

I thought no one else fit the characters as described in the book. Molly Ringwold was too old. Fran was supposed to be 21. Corin Nemec was way too thin (should have been someone like Phyllip Seymour Hoffman). Matt Frewer was all wrong for the Trashcan Man - should have been someone heavier - another Phillip Seymour Hoffman type. I always thought that if Trash hadn't had such an abysmal childhood, he would have been a fairly insightful, intelligent person. They played him like a complete nutjob. I didn't get that from him in the book. Jamey Sheridan was all wrong as Flagg. He doesn't have a menacing bone in his body. I didn't find his interpretation of Flagg the least bit scary, and he should have been.

That's just my 2 cents.

I agree with the choices that you liked, Sinise and Fagerbakke were good choices, in fact, just about perfect picks for their roles. And while I didn't think that Molly Ringwald was well-cast as Fran, her age has nothing to do with it.She was born in 1968, so she was at most 26 when the film was made. I just thought that she was mis-cast; I couldn't see her as Frannie.

Also, I thought that Frewer was a very good choice as Trashy, as Frewer tends to play oddball characters, and he does this very well. He has been in at least two other adaptations of SK stories and I liked him in those, plus as the screwball USAF officer in the film The Fourth Protocol. And in the book, I did picture Trashy as a complete whackjob. A genius in his narrow field of expertise, but totally nuts otherwise. Even Flagg came to the conclusion that he was too dangerous which was one of the reasons he decided that Trashy had to go. I'll concede Jamey Sheridan to you, except to say that I thought he did OK. Not really scary, as you point out, but OK.

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I saw the series live on ABC after having read the book two times, the original and uncut editions. Even after all my rewatches, I still think the casting was pretty good for the major characters except for Harold and Fran; they are the oddballs who never did fit with the image I had of them.

While Nemec did what he could, I completely agree someone in the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman would have been perfect to play Harold. From what I remember of the book, he looses weight during the story, something which could not have been possible in the shooting timeframe, so my guess is the production chose someone who was slim outright instead of a dirty, chubby guy who could have cleaned up as the story went on.

This is completely non-objective but I think that in the case of Frannie, the hairstyle chosen for her has a lot to do with it. I don't remember if the book gives an extended physical description of Frannie, but I simply can't recognize her on the screen, what I always see is a short-dark-haired Molly Ringwald. Maybe casting a then-unknown actress, while less bankable, would have given better results. Then comes the limit in scope of the character which didn't give Ringwald much room; had Garris instructed her to play Fran with a small hint of country charm, I think that many here would have liked her more.

I wasn't sure about Sinise the first time I saw him. I recall Stu worked in a calculator factory, so while not being a blue collar type I still imagined him as someone a little more unkempt with a Coors baseball cap, if you know what I mean. But nevertheless, Sinise managed to play the character pretty good and now, I can only see him playing Stu.

Trashcan man. I never liked the character in the book and didn't like how the series showed him as a complete nut. Matt Frewer played him like if he was acting in a summer theater comedy and that just didn't work for me. He ruins every scene he's into, thank heavens there aren't that many. Enough said.

Many won't be with me on this one but I liked, and still like, Jamey Sheridan's portrayal of Randall Flagg VERY much. Never mind the cheesy morphing effects and the washed out 80s rockstar look... If we put this aside, it looks to me like Sheridan decided all upon himself to play Flagg as a Hannibal Lecter-like psychopath instead of delivering his lines for a paycheck. Considering the overall lack of direction some of the actors seem to have had, he went way over what was asked of him and in my opinion, he gets much less credit than he deserves.

I could go on and on but I think most of the others were spot on as well.

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I agree with you about Sinise and Fagerbaake. Perfect choices and if a remake is done it will be difficult for me to see anyone else play them.

The miscasting though, for me, was limited.

Molly Ringwald was HORRIBLE as Fran. It couldn't have been worse if they'd tried to do it wrong.

Laura Sangiacomo wasn't a good Nadine.

Corin Nemec was absolutely the wrong choice for Harold.

Having said that, when I re-read the book every once in a while now, I can picture others as the characters as the actors who played them.

Larry is Adam Storke. I actually liked Jamey Sheridan and Matt Frewer.

I was apathetic about Miguel Ferrer as Lloyd.

And I can hear Ray Walston's voice as Glenn and I don't see or hear every actor who played the character in the movie when I read it though, so he must have been ok.

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I will agree that Corin Nemec was completely miscast. Harold in the book was not a stereotypical geek, which is what he ended up being in the miniseries, and I hated that. Molly Ringwald was also completely miscast and I thought she was awful, but she was only 25 when this was filmed. That's not a huge gap, considering that Judd Nelson was 25 playing 17 in the Breakfast Club or that Sissy Spacek was 27 playing 16 in Carrie. I also felt Rob Lowe was the wrong choice for Nick. Much too pretty, and Nick was no pretty boy.

However, I liked Frewer as Trash. I don't know how long it's been since you've read the book, but Trash was a complete loon, so I don't know what you mean. He was an idiot savant, basically. I pictured him younger than Frewer, if anything, but he wasn't bad in the role.

Miguel Ferrer didn't look the way I pictured Lloyd - older, again, and Lloyd was a blond in the book - but I thought he was phenomenal in the role. Also liked Ray Walston as Glen, again, he was just older than Glen was in the book (I believe Glen was supposed to be 60 at most).

I will agree that Fagerbakke was pitch perfect (although he was actually younger than Tom was supposed to be, Tom was supposed to look younger than he was). As soon as I heard they were making a miniseries I thought he would be a perfect Tom Cullen, and he really was.

The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.

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