One miscast threw the entire movie


Had another actor other than Sam Rockwell had been cast as Zaphod, this'd be a much better movie. All other actors/actresses did a superb job, but Sam made it weird and hokey.

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Zaphod is meant to be weird.

GoonGirl for Hire

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I thought they were all brilliant aside of Martin Freeman.

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To be fair, Arthur is meant to be an everyman and is written very broadly.

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WHAT ?!? I thought Martin Freeman was simply fantastic. 

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A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

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The whole time I was watching the movie, Zaphod reminded me of George Bush.

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Sam Rockwell says he based Zaphod on a combination of Elvis, Vince Vaughn, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

http://movieweb.com/sam-rockwell-gets-two-headed-in-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/

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I just hope the OP was trying to either joke or troll.

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he's really annoying i'll give you that. Most of the film happens with all the actors acting/talking at the same time, which makes it impossible to comprehend most of the time. Sad, bit of a waste. Had they gotten a capable director such as Gilliam it would have been much better...

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If there's anyone who was miscast, it was Mos Def.

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totally.

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How so ? He gets like, well, hardly any dialogue at all. They could have casted a lamppost and nobody would have noticed.

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They could have casted a lamppost and nobody would have noticed.


That was probably out of necessity. Ford should have as many lines as Arthur Dent and be twice as interesting based on the book I read.

Mos Def probably should have been fired on the first day and replaced with an actual professional actor with more to offer than superficial affability and this movie might have had a fighting chance. Still, the problems with the movie go beyond a couple of miscasts (the adorable Zooey Deschanel was also miscast). This is one of those book adaptations where I think the director didn't actually get the appeal of the original material.

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ford should have been played by richard ayoade or someone similar to the actor in the tv series. both routes would have worked.

IMHO zoey was the perfect trillian though.

"This is one of those book adaptations where I think the director didn't actually get the appeal of the original material. "

100% sure

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Sam Rockwell is generally a good actor but my GOD is he annoying as Zaphod. I heard they were originally trying to get Jim Carrey on board but, honestly, that doesn't work either. What Zaphod needs is to have comedic timing and delivery, sure, but he also needs to show a form of wit to it all. The comedy of Hitchhikers Guide comes from the witty delivery. When your reading the book, you imagine it like that because of the way its written. I know many of the changes were insisted upon by Douglas Adams himself but Zaphod just doesn't work the way Rockwell plays him.

If you want my dream "Zaphod Beeblebrox"...if this movie was made 10 years earlier, I would've insisted on Colin Baker. I'd also suggest Sylvester McCoy as Ford...I have a weird fascination with making Doctor Who actors take part in this.

Don't get me wrong, I actually really like this movie. Its not groundbreaking and even in its own internal logic it has problems and it IS a childhood favourite of mine but way to ruin Zaphod that way.

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I never read the books, but I really liked Rockwell's Zaphod.

Carrey would have been a huge turn off for me. I've not really liked his over-the-top comedic roles since The Mask / Dumb & Dumber Days / Ace Ventura days.

A little of him goes a long way, and I think he would have ruined this movie.

Sort of like how The Rock makes any action movie he is in a "Rock action movie" and therefore lesser, I think the same thing with Carrey in overt comedic role does the same thing.

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If you want my dream "Zaphod Beeblebrox"...if this movie was made 10 years earlier, I would've insisted on Colin Baker. I'd also suggest Sylvester McCoy as Ford...I have a weird fascination with making Doctor Who actors take part in this.


Totally agree .. man that would have been cool .. :D I didn't like the movie's take on the 2 heads either, ie. one under the other.

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Regardless, I do actually think this movie got three roles absolutely perfectly cast. Stephen Fry as The Book, Alan Rickman as Marvin and Bill Bailey as The Whale. I can TRY to think of other people who could fit in the role better, I just don't see the point.

While I like the film in general, I do agree that it has a lot of problems.

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