What were they thinking?

I don't know about you but I hate it when a movie is made from one of my favorite books and they pick the wrong actor to play the part.  Today I got an email from Dan Brown (author of The DaVinci Code and The Lost Symbol).  He has written a new book and was promoting it (I believe it is titled Inferno).  I have not been able to read a Dan Brown book since Tom Hanks played Robert Langdon in the movies based on Dan Brown's books.

Now I know that many people are saying " Oh my gosh, they are fictional characters, get over it!" To me when I am reading a book, and especially a series I get a picture in my head what the main characters look like.  Sometimes that comes from the description of the characters in the book and sometimes it is just my imagination.  One of the discussions my friends and I often have about a popular book is "Who should play the lead character?"

Now Tom Hanks is a great actor but he is not the person I pictured in my head playing Robert Langdon.  I would have chosen Brendan Fraser or possibly Orlando Bloom.  The same is true of Denzel Washington (who is also a great actor) playing Lincoln Rhyme (the lead character in Jeffrey Deaver's series).  The casting in the movie version of The Bone Collector was way off base. 

Again, most people would say "So what, its a fictional character!"  Yet once the wrong actor has been cast in a role that is based on one of my favorite books I just can't get past it when I read the next book.  The latest in this type of fiasco is Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher (from the series of books by Lee Child).  In the books Jack Reacher is described at 6 foot 5 inches tall, blond, blue eyed, weighing over 200 pounds.  Tom Cruise does not even come close.  Tom Cruise is also much older than Jack Reacher.  I have not seen the movie and do not plan to see it.  Others may say that he did a good job in the part (just as Tom Hanks playing Robert Langdon) but it's just not right.

Of course no one talked to me about who should play movie parts based on characters in books.  I'm not a movie goer anyway, just a reader.  Sometimes it is just so far off base that you wonder "What were they thinking?"