Fantasy Casting: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
When I was young, my parents showed me Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World. I mostly enjoyed it. Recently, the film was released on Blu Ray by Criterion. My friend purchased it and we watched it last week. Going in, I was a bit worried that the film- with its pratfalls and mugging- wouldn’t hold up, neither to today’s standards of comedy nor my own grown-up comic preferences.
I’m happy to say that I was wrong on both counts. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and thought it would be interesting to do a fantasy casting of it. This proved to be particularly challenging, as I felt an obligation to mimic the original film’s conceit of having a vast ensemble of the most respected comic performers of the time.
Nonetheless, it turned out to be a lot of fun. Here’s what I came up with.
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Written by: Adam McKay
Starring:
Captain Culpepper- Bill Murray
J. Russell Finch- Ben Stiller
Melville Crump- Jason Bateman
Benjy Benjamin- Cedric the Entertainer
Mrs. Marcus- Kathy Bates
Ding Bell- Kevin Hart
Sylvester Marcus- James Franco
Otto Meyer- Danny McBride
J. Algernon Hawthorne- Steve Coogan
Lennie Pike- John C. Reilly
Monica Crump- Kristen Bell
Emeline Marcus-Finch- Alison Brie
Tyler Fitzgerald- Kevin Kline
Smiler Grogan- Bill Cosby