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Misused: Creator Chosen Casting

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To-do list:

  • It was decided to expand the trope to include other creative figures such as directors and producers and remove the requirement that the casting choice be for an adaptation. Sandbox.Creator Chosen Casting is being used to rewrite the description to account for this.

    Original post 
Note: This thread was proposed by MatthewWayne and Ayumi-chan.

Problem: Creator-Chosen Casting is supposed to be about casting choices that are made by a creator for an adaptation of their original work. However, the wick check shows that it's primarily being used for any instance of a director/showrunner picking somebody to star in their work, even if it's not an adaptation of anything, or if the actor wasn't chosen by the work's original creator for the adaptation.

Possible solutions:

  • Expand the trope to include other creative (directors, producers etc.) and remove the adaptation requirement.
  • Keep the old name and rewrite to make it about creatives (directors, producers etc.) choosing an actor to be casted in a role and rework the "original author of something chooses the cast for an adaptation" into its own trope.

Wick check:

Creator-Chosen Casting is about the original creator of a work (like the author of a book) choosing the cast for an adaptation. But some of the examples simply involve someone on any creative writing team choosing who plays/voices a part.

Side note: A good chunk of the examples were deleted after I finished the wick check.


(50/50)

  • Chosen for adaptation - (13/50)
  • A creative choosing a cast for something that is not an adaptation - (33/50)
  • Other - (4/50)


     Chosen for adaptation 
  1. Trivia.To Kill A Mockingbird/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Harper Lee was on set for the first day of filming and was reduced to tears by how well Gregory Peck embodied Atticus Finch.
  2. Trivia.The Bad Guys 2022/ Creator-Chosen Casting: With the exception of Marc Maron as Mr. Snake, the rest of the actors chosen came from the books' author, Aaron Blabey's, own cast list for the film. Some notable examples include Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf and Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark.
  3. Trivia.The Disaster Artist/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Tommy Wiseau believed that only two actors could play him on film - Johnny Depp or James Franco.
  4. Trivia.Good Omens 2019/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Neil Gaiman insisted on having David Tennant play Crowley.
  5. Trivia.Nyaruko Crawling With Love/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Manta Aisora explicitly said he wanted Bin Shimada to play Nodens; this was apparently the only specific casting choice he had in mind.
  6. Trivia.One Piece/ Creator-Chosen Casting: As one of the executive producers, Eiichiro Oda had extensive control over the casting as well as the scripts.
  7. Trivia.Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Hunter S. Thompson met with Johnny Depp and declared that nobody else could play Raoul Duke.
  8. Trivia.Dr No/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Lois Maxwell was cast after Ian Fleming thought she was the perfect fit for Miss Moneypenny.
  9. Trivia.Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation Mo Dao Zu Shi/ Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's favourite Japanese voice actor is Tatsuhisa Suzuki, and this is what influenced the latter's casting as Wei Wuxian for the Japanese dub of the audio drama.
  10. Trivia.The Boondocks/ Caesar, Huey's best friend and foil in the original comic strip, was Adapted Out from the animated series specifically because Aaron McGruder couldn't think of a good voice actor for the character and wasn't happy with any of the choices he was given.
  11. Trivia.The Hunger Games/ Suzanne Collins approved of both Jennifer Lawrence and Elizabeth Banks' casting.
  12. Trivia.You Cant Take It With You/ Frank Capra cast James Stewart after seeing him in Navy Blue and Gold to "[fit] his concept of idealized America".
  13. Trivia.The Wild Geese/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Euan Lloyd had Richard Burton and Roger Moore in mind from the beginning.

     A creative choosing a cast for something that is not an adaptation 

  1. Trivia.The Big Lebowski/ Creator-Chosen Casting: The Coen Brothers wrote the script with Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro and Sam Elliott in mind.
  2. Trivia.Tactics Ogre/ Creator-Chosen Casting: On Twitter, Matsuno said that his choice for Deneb nearly thirty years ago was Fumi Hirano, who now voices her in the Reborn remaster.
  3. Trivia.The3rd Birthday/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Square Enix specifically cast Yvonne Strahovski as Aya in the English dub after impressing them for her work in Chuck.
  4. Trivia.The Whale/ Creator-Chosen Casting: After struggling to find a Charlie for years, Darren Aronofsky watched the trailer for Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) and offered it to Brendan Fraser.
  5. Trivia.All Too Well/ Creator-Chosen Casting: According to Swift, stars Dylan O'Brien and Sadie Sink were the two actors she had in mind from the earliest of planning stages, and she didn't have backup ideas in case they said no.
  6. Creator-Chosen Casting: Oliver Stone cast Val Kilmer after seeing him in Willow.
  7. Once The Daniels wrote the main character of Everything Everywhere All at Once as a middle-aged Asian woman who becomes an interdimensional martial arts heroine, they downright named her Michelle hoping Michelle Yeoh would sign. She did, but asked them to not name the character after herself (it became Evelyn). example was deleted
  8. Trivia.Sergeant York/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Alvin C. York thought he should be portrayed on the screen by Gary Cooper. Samuel Goldwyn, who had Cooper under contract, wouldn't release him. Henry Fonda, James Stewart and even Ronald Reagan were considered. Goldwyn finally gave in when Warners agreed to lend him Bette Davis for The Little Foxes.
  9. Trivia.The Sixth Sense/ Creator-Chosen Casting: M. Night Shyamalan wrote the role of Malcolm Crowe with Bruce Willis in mind.
  10. Trivia.The Ghost And Molly Mc Gee/ Creator-Chosen Casting: According to this Twitter post by co-showrunner Bob Roth, no one else was up for consideration to play Scratch other than Dana Snyder.
  11. Trivia.The Ten Commandments 1956/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Cecil B. DeMille cast Charlton Heston after noting that the actor bore a resemblance to a statue of Moses.
  12. Trivia.The Shape Of Water/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Guillermo del Toro wrote the role of Elisa Esposito especially for Sally Hawkins after seeing her in Fingersmith and Happy-Go-Lucky.
  13. Trivia.The Truman Show/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Peter Weir cast Jim Carrey after seeing Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, because his performance reminded him of Charlie Chaplin.
  14. Trivia.A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Fred Rogers' widow Joanne claimed that her late husband would have been thrilled to have been portrayed by Tom Hanks, as his favorite film was Forrest Gump.
  15. Trivia.Air 2023/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Michael Jordan requested that Viola Davis be cast to play his mother Deloris in the film.
  16. Trivia.The Invisible Man 1933/ Creator-Chosen Casting: James Whale cast Claude Rains, whom he met at a London performance of The Insect Play in 1923.
  17. Trivia.The Incredible Hulk 2008/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Louis Leterrier cast William Hurt because "Ross is more physical, more explosive in this movie, and no actor goes from zero to 100 as well as William."
  18. Trivia.The Third Man/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Graham Greene had Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten in mind for the roles of Harry Lime and Holly Martins respectively, after he saw them in Citizen Kane.
  19. Trivia.The Simpsons S 7 E 9 Sideshow Bobs Last Gleaming/ Creator-Chosen Casting: The role of Col. Leslie "Hap" Hapablap was written especially for R. Lee Ermey. Much of his dialogue was difficult to write.
  20. Trivia.The Cotton Club/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Francis Ford Coppola personally telephoned Bob Hoskins to offer him the role of Owney Madden. Coppola introduced himself, to which an incredulous Hoskins, assuming it was a hoax, replied, "Yeah, and this is Henry the fucking Eighth", and hung up.
  21. Trivia.Slow Damage/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Fuchii Kabura (the director and scenario writer for Slow Damage) specifically requested that Yuki Ono be cast as Towa, expressing that only he can pull off Towa's scenes in a certain bad ending, namely Fujieda's. note that this was deleted
  22. Trivia.Flowers In The Attic 1987/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Virginia Andrews met with Kristy Swanson just before filming, and said she was exactly how she'd pictured Cathy.
  23. Trivia.You Only Live Twice/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Lewis Gilbert cast Tetsurō Tamba as Tanaka having worked with him on The 7th Dawn.
  24. Trivia.Wise Guys/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Brian De Palma cast Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo because he loved Johnny Dangerously, laughing hysterically through an advance screening.
  25. Trivia.Wild Strawberries/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Ingmar Bergman wrote the role of Professor Isak Borg especially for Victor Sjöström, his silent film idol and early counselor at Svensk Filmindustri. He had previously directed him in To Joy.
  26. Trivia.Feud/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Bette Davis gave Susan Sarandon her nod to play her in a hypothetical film adaptation of her life. After several projects that never got off the ground, she got her wish here.
  27. Trivia.The Thing 1982/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Although Kurt Russell was involved with the production very early on, he was actually the last actor to be cast. John Carpenter was leaning towards him but, having already worked with him previously, he felt he should consider some other actors for MacReady. Carpenter relented after several choices fell through. Carpenter's initial concern was that his and Russell's working history, combined with Russell's fame as a leading man, would telegraph to the audience that MacReady was The Hero, while Carpenter wanted to keep suspicion high that no one can be definitively trusted, even by the audience.
  28. Trivia.The Maltese Falcon 1941/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Peter Lorre was John Huston's first and only choice for Joel Cairo. note that this the director of the film, not the author of the book the film was based on
  29. Trivia.The Elephant Man/ John Hurt was cast after David Lynch, Mel Brooks and producer Jonathan Sanger saw his breakout role in The Naked Civil Servant.
  30. Trivia.The Lost World Jurassic Park/ Steven Spielberg had to attend an early screening for Swingers in order to give approval for the use of the Jaws theme. He was so impressed by Vince Vaughn that he offered him the part of Nick Van Owen.
  31. Trivia.A Bronx Tale/ Chazz Palminteri's father was a big fan of Robert De Niro and was thrilled that he was cast as the character based on him.
  32. Trivia.The Wicker Man 1973/ Anthony Shaffer and producer Peter Snell both wanted Edward Woodward for Sgt. Howie.
  33. Trivia.The White Lotus/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Mike White wrote Tanya specifically for Jennifer Coolidge.

    Others 
  1. One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda was so fascinated by Kazuki Yao's portrayal of the Jango and Bon Clay / Mr 2 characters that he specifically created the character Franky, the crew carpenter, to make Yao a permanent character in the voice cast. unsure; note that the example was deleted
  2. Trivia.The Forty Year Old Virgin/ Creator-Chosen Casting: Catherine Keener was always the first choice to play Trish Piedmont. borderline ZCE
  3. Trivia.Cutey Honey/ Go Nagai chose Jessica Calvello as Honey Kisaragi's voice actress for the English dub of New Cutey Honey. unsure because I don't know how dubs count
  4. According to Inger Nilsson (Pippi in the 1968 show), the director Olle Hellbom's first pick for Pippi's Big Fun Disappeared Dad Efraim Longstocking was actually a short and skinny, somewhat stoic German actor, most likely in an attempt to invoke Ability over Appearance. However, said actor turned out to have terrible chemistry with the kids and Astrid Lindgren herself even exclaimed at a point: "I want someone who is big and warm and sensitive - I want Beppe Wolgers!", which led to Wolgers pothole


Possible Solutions:

  • Expand the trope to include other creative (directors, producers etc.) and remove the adaptation requirement.
  • Keep the old name and rewrite to make it about creatives (directors, producers etc.) choosing an actor to be casted in a role and rework the "original author of something chooses the cast for an adaptation" into its own trope.


Edited by GastonRabbit on Sep 4th 2023 at 11:26:32 AM

Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#51: Aug 21st 2023 at 11:25:58 PM

Made some edits to the description sandbox to take out references to adaptations.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Ayumi-chan low-poly Shinri from Calvard (Apprentice) Relationship Status: Serial head-patter
low-poly Shinri
#53: Sep 3rd 2023 at 11:13:19 PM

[up] I think the description is ready to be swapped unless anyone else wants to chim in. Once that's done, we can do the reverse wick check.

She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
MatthewWayne The Man Outside Reality from TVA Headquarters Since: Oct, 2014
The Man Outside Reality
#54: Sep 3rd 2023 at 11:54:20 PM

I've been doing some re-adding of wicks whenever I come across them, so hopefully the reverse wick check won't take as long.

Trust no one.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#55: Sep 4th 2023 at 9:22:25 AM

I don't see any problems with the sandbox, so I have no objections to swapping it in. While the amount of changes was small, I don't think too many changes were needed. I checked and the parts referencing restrictions we got rid of were removed, and I think the current text accounts for the revised definition in its current state.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Sep 4th 2023 at 11:23:33 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#56: Sep 4th 2023 at 12:01:13 PM

I realized my first sentence said the word "casting" twice so I rectified the redundancy.

As I'd said on the first page, the mass wick removals happened ~ Apr 30/May 1. Time has passed since I'd quoted the specific page numbers, so now that's equivalent to gjjones's 26th page of edits here and PaulA's 6th page here.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
Ayumi-chan low-poly Shinri from Calvard (Apprentice) Relationship Status: Serial head-patter
low-poly Shinri
#57: Sep 4th 2023 at 9:34:30 PM

Swapped the description.

Anyways, should we ping [up] to help with the reverse wick check?

She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#58: Sep 5th 2023 at 12:21:30 AM

What exactly is this reverse wick check that's being discussed, and what is it supposed to be used for?

Edit: Oh, right, it's because of the overzealous unilateral removals that were done before this was brought to TRS. Yeah, no objections to gathering those wicks and reinstating them if they fit the revised definition. (Also, I got confused by the use of the phrase "wick check"; the phrase originally used in this post from a month ago on the previous page was reverse wick cleanup, since this is about undoing removals of valid usage instead of analyzing usage.)

Edited by GastonRabbit on Sep 5th 2023 at 2:25:05 PM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Ayumi-chan low-poly Shinri from Calvard (Apprentice) Relationship Status: Serial head-patter
low-poly Shinri
#59: Sep 5th 2023 at 3:15:15 AM

But should we ping Paul A and gjjones to help out?

She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#60: Sep 6th 2023 at 9:44:38 AM

I don't think that would be a problem.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
gjjones Musician/Composer from South Wales, New York Since: Jul, 2016
Musician/Composer
#62: Sep 6th 2023 at 5:39:49 PM

So, about the removed Creator-Chosen Casting entries, I'll see what I can do about re-adding them.

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#63: Oct 14th 2023 at 11:15:58 AM

I cut the sandbox that was used to rewrite the description since it was already swapped in.

How's the progress on wick cleanup?

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#64: Oct 21st 2023 at 8:19:51 PM

Judging by the expansions, we're clearing out the low context examples and outright misuse, right?

Luckily we don't have much to check; wick count's below 200 and there are a few outside of Trivia/.

Edited by Berrenta on Oct 21st 2023 at 10:20:08 AM

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
number9robotic (Experienced Trainee)
#65: Oct 21st 2023 at 9:23:47 PM

Began some wick cleanups in the related page, currently stopped at My Dad the Rock Star, New Jack City onward still left, presently 182 remaining wicks. Had to trim a lot of examples that were just "someone approves of casting after the fact"), but otherwise everything above My Dad the Rock Star checks out as correct usage.

Edited by number9robotic on Oct 21st 2023 at 9:27:44 AM

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Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#66: Oct 22nd 2023 at 5:30:22 AM

Checked N-R; they seem to be correct, but if anyone wants to double check, that would be fine.

Edit: I did remove the low-context entry that was on the wick check, so we're at 181 now.

Edited by Berrenta on Oct 22nd 2023 at 8:15:22 AM

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
number9robotic (Experienced Trainee)
#67: Oct 22nd 2023 at 3:37:52 PM

Hmm, here's an interesting example from The Boondocks:

  • Creator-Chosen Casting: Caesar, Huey's best friend and foil in the original comic strip, was Adapted Out from the animated series specifically because Aaron McGruder couldn't think of a good voice actor for the character and wasn't happy with any of the choices he was given.

I don't think this properly counts? But at the same time, the original creator did have a say regarding the casting, or rather the decision to not cast anyone for a role that they felt could be written out.

EDIT: Woo! Got through all the rest of the wicks! Aside from this potential example, the 176 remaining wicks appear correct.

Edited by number9robotic on Oct 22nd 2023 at 4:04:08 AM

Thanks for playing King's Quest V!
number9robotic (Experienced Trainee)
#68: Oct 23rd 2023 at 3:11:04 PM

So, what's left? Wicks have been all checked, description updated, anything else?

Thanks for playing King's Quest V!
Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#69: Oct 23rd 2023 at 4:50:28 PM

That's about it, I believe. Closing.

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