What other true crime adaptations might benefit from a recast?
the true crime that's worth your time
The news that Jessica Biel would replace Elisabeth Moss as the titular character in Candy (that’s the Candy Montgomery series that doesn’t star Elizabeth Olsen) raised eyebrows at Best Evidence HQ, not because we think the vaccination opponent will certainly bring a different energy to the role than the Scientologist will. It’s a recasting that will change how Candy plays far more than if they had, say, replaced Moss with, say, someone like Chloë Sevigny.
It was a big enough switch that I started wondering, how might other true-crime tales been improved* if they’d been recast before the cameras started rolling? Would Zodiac have been better if Sam Rockwell had replaced Jake Gyllenhaal as cartoonist Robert Graysmith? Would The Loudest Voice in the Room have been more compelling if they cast anyone besides Russell Crowe in a fat suit? Does David Tennant need to take a break and let some other skinny from the UK play a murderer for a change?
If there’s a true-crime adaptation that you think could have been better, grabbier, or just wilder with a pre-production recasting, let’s hear it. No project is too big or too small. — EB
*Not saying Biel is in improvement, not saying she’s not — she’s just the inspiration for this thread.