Recasting Fletch (PART 1 - 1985)

EPISODE 22: RECASTING FLETCH (with New 1985 actors).

The FletchCast boys attempt to re-cast an already PERFECT movie with different actors from 1985

0:00 - Intro
0:45 - Recasting special begins
4:02 - Irwin M. Fletcher Recast
7:48 - Alan Stanwyk Recast
9:19 - Gail Stanwyk Recast
11:13 - Frank Walker Recast
13:44 - Larry Recast
16:00 - Marvin Gillett Recast
18:02 - Fat Sam Recast
20:38 - Gummy Recast
22:43 - Creasy Recast
24:08 - Bud & Willy Stuntcast
27:20 - Stanton Boyd Recast
28:46 - Chief Karlin Recast
30:55 - Marvin & Velma Recast
33:48 - Ted Underhill Recast
35:00 - Dr. Dolan Recast
36:52 - Jake Casts Bobbi
37:22 - Ryan Novak, FletchCast Fan of the Week Recasting
41:12 - Recast Wrap Up

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FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Bob West


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P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. 
All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible 
publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters created by both Gregory McDonald and Universal. 

FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

... making sure Fletch Lives forever!

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Robert "Big Bob" West


Follow Us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imfletchcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imfletchcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imfletchcast


P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. Confess, Fletch is Copyright of Miramax with Paramount distribution. All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters or intellectual property created by Gregory McDonald, Universal or Miramax and is used for educational purposes only. 

Transcript

FletchCast Intro 0:02

Broadcasting live and around the world from BA One, the only podcast with all ball bearings, your ultimate source for everything flat. Take it up. What's your time? Laker Jim and its beat reporters will stop at nothing to make the door flat. Live forever, forever. They don't shower much.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 0:40

This is Fletchcast. Thank you, Sammy, and welcome back to Fletchcast. I'm your host, Laker Jim. Along with me are two guys I had a very tough time recasting. Jake and Big Bob. Boys, it's a recasting episode that we've all been waiting for.

"Big Bob" West 0:57

I have been losing sleep over this. Uh going back, changing things, picking the best person, then realizing that's a terrible pick. It's been so much fun, but I'm so excited for this episode. This might be the most excited I've been for an episode yet.

Jake Parrish 1:10

I spent about 20 minutes, went down the list. I'm like, yeah, that sounds good. That looks good. That looks good. So uh I appreciate the effort, Bob. And you'll probably see it in my list versus your list.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 1:22

There are some parameters to recasting Fletch. And let me just start at the top by saying I think we can all agree it's a perfectly casted movie. From top to bottom. Oh, sure. Yeah. So we're just here to have a little fun. Okay. Try to clear your mind, erase your memory, and open up your imagination to a fletch world with different actors. What we're gonna do is we're gonna recast the 1985 Fletch with new actors from 1985. Then what we're gonna do is take a little break, and then we're gonna recast the same movie with actors from 2022. Now, the only real parameters are there are no parameters. The person has to be alive or freshly dead. You can gender bend, you can switch races, you can go up and down with age if you want. Where appropriate, you wouldn't have a younger Stanton Boyd and an older Gail Stanwick because that's her father. So where appropriate, you could do what you want with the age. You can you can use your imagination and your creativity to recast Fletch.

"Big Bob" West 2:23

You boys ready? Oh, I'm excited. So I have a question for you guys. Did you guys consider any kind of film budget for the characters, or did you just say unlimited money? No, no, no, no.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 2:35

I never thought about that once. Yeah. I thought about that too, in the respect that like I cast a hell of a lot of stars in my movie.

Jake Parrish 2:43

Oh, every one of mine is a well-known, I think. All right. I'm glad I'm not alone with that. Oh no, yeah.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 2:49

Yeah, if we would have gone like DraftKings style, where we had a$50,000 budget and we had a, you know, you spent all your money on Fletch and you really had a budget actors. Yeah, DraftKings is a great way to put it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

"Big Bob" West 3:02

Uh, if it was that way, LJ would be playing Stanwick. Oh my god, if it was that way, I would have literally blown the uh the whole uh allotment on Stanton Boyd.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:12

Hey, and before we get started, hats off to Patricia Mock. She was the casting director of Fletch, and she knocked this cast out of the park. There's no way we can come close to her cast. So just before we get started on this sacrilege task, uh, we just wanted to pay homage to her. Jake, is there anything else we would know her from, Patricia Mock? Heaven Can Wait. Oh, okay.

Jake Parrish 3:36

With uh Warren Beatty, the blue and gray mini TV miniseries, The Golden Child. Oh, one of my favorites. She's no slouch. So she did Fletch and Fletch Lives.

"Big Bob" West 3:45

Ah, perfect. Fantastic.

Jake Parrish 3:47

Yeah, so she did both of them.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:49

Oh, I did not realize that. Hey, listen, when you're great, you're great, right? You go back to the well, you hit one more out of the park. All right, guys, let's get started on the Fletch cast. Recast. 1985. All right.

"Big Bob" West 4:03

Who do you think is the best person to start with, Laker Jim? Well, let's start with Fletch.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 4:06

Okay.

"Big Bob" West 4:06

He's our lead. He was the he would be the person that we would cast first. Virtually impossible to find somebody other than Chevy to play this role. He's iconic. He's he's our Fletch. But if we had to, we have to. Bob, why don't you start us off? All right. So in my 1985 recast, keeping it in the 80s, I had a this is one of the hardest, most difficult choices I had to make. Another 80s movie that was so popular with the Naked Gun series. So my original choice was Leslie Nielsen, believe it or not. Surely you can't be serious. It would totally change the the tone of Fletch. It would be more of a uh kind of a slapsticky kind of movie, but I realized, you know what, that's that would change it too much. So my final choice was Michael Keaton.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 4:46

Oh my god. That's a great pick. I cannot believe you have that. That is my pick as well. Get out of it. No, are you? I cannot believe we we have the same person.

"Big Bob" West 4:55

I I I think it's gonna happen quite a bit, actually.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 4:58

I didn't think it would happen at all. I could just picture Michael Keaton in the newspaper office situation. Yes, and I'm talking Michael Keaton from Dream Team. I'm talking Michael from Night Night Shift, you know, right? Mr. Mom. That he was a he was huge. I mean, he's still huge, but in the 80s. I could picture his sarcasm with with Frank. I could picture his, you know, his double talking, his fast talking, but also like kind of being a bum slouch, sitting at his desk with his feet up. Like Frank, listen, you know, you'll get the story. You'll love it. You know, I could just see Michael Keaton in that role. And and plus he's got that that ladies' man quality to him, you know. Yes, yeah, which is so important. I cannot believe, I cannot believe we both have Michael Keaton.

"Big Bob" West 5:38

I can't believe it.

Jake Parrish 5:38

How about you guys?

"Big Bob" West 5:39

I can't believe it. I can't believe it.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 5:42

We have very uh very similar brain cells. My two runners up that I had in consideration also was Ted Danson and John Ritter.

"Big Bob" West 5:50

Oh, okay. My other runner-up, my other runner-up was Steve Gutenberg. Hopefully, Jake doesn't have any of those.

Jake Parrish 5:55

Well, I had Steve Gutenberg in my final couple too. In fact, he was my other pick. Okay. Uh he was he it was between him and my pick. So Gutenberg was there too, because I thought he could he could probably pull it off too. Yeah. But my pick is a little bit more handsome, but I think he's got the comedy chops to do it too. Roblo. Oh, wow.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:16

Good guy. That is a fantastic pick. And Roblo's a Fletch fan. Listen to this. Give me one second. Okay.

"Big Bob" West 6:23

Uh Fletch. Hello. When I when I we used to check into hotels under fake names, I often used John Cocktoon.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:32

God, it's so great to hear stuff like that. That is a really good pick.

Jake Parrish 6:36

Because he was huge in the 80s. I mean, he's still big today, but you know, he was young, like mid-20s, good-looking guy, but he's he's really funny. He could play that shtick, I think. And I just think for a young Fletch, which is absolutely you, you know, with the book, he is only in his mid-late 20s. I just think he would have been perfect in that role.

"Big Bob" West 6:57

Yeah, you know, he he could have played that or he could have played uh Stanwick, but I don't think I think you know the way he played uh in in Austin Powers, I think it was the second Austin Powers movie. You know, he he showed that he could kind of have that range. And we know Rob Lowe has range.

Jake Parrish 7:13

Parks and Rec. I mean, look how great he was in Parks and Rec. I mean, he's hilarious.

"Big Bob" West 7:17

Yeah, Parks and Rec, the range he has on these shows, yep, to be that kind of uh you know, heartthrob yet, you know, comedic. Yeah, absolutely great. These are all great picks. We're off to a great start.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 7:28

Yeah, I considered Rob Lowe for a couple different parts, but I also was thinking just like if you had to go with the slapsticky, kind of Chevy physical comedy, I was just thinking maybe John Ritter could have pulled that off. Yeah, his uh three company type of you know, fall around and that kind of thing. I could see it. Yeah, right. If we were casting next next, we would cast Stanwick next.

Jake Parrish 7:49

Okay, so Stanwyck, I have a young Michael Douglas.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 7:54

Oh my god, I cannot believe this. Look at look at my list. Are you serious? Oh, yeah, you got it. I also I also have Michael Douglas, and as a backup, I had Patrick Duffy, a young Patrick Duffy in the suit on the beach as well.

Jake Parrish 8:10

I can see both, yeah. But you know, Michael Douglas is menacing, you know. I mean, look at Wall Street. Um, I just think him and Lowe, I thought would play off each other really well. So yeah.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 8:23

I can't believe you had him too. You know what? This wait, this this happened only because last night we all were we nobody disclosed anybody's picks to each other. No, but what I said to everybody is I bet my life nobody has the same actors. And right off the bat, I have the same topic. I I I saw this coming.

"Big Bob" West 8:42

Uh, I have a uh a very evil Stan Gable style Ted McGinley. There's something fishy about these pies. I could see that. I've I've I've said, you know, I thought that in the past I've said I thought Ted McGinley would have been a good mahoney in the police academy series. But I think that Ted McGinley can play that asshole character like he played with uh Stan Gable. And uh yeah, I think it might have been a little bit different of a of a tone, but probably not too far off from the way uh Tim Matheson played the character. But I think he's the guy that that could have done a great job, and he has uh you know the right build from the waist up. Yeah, I would imagine.

Jake Parrish 9:18

Who do you want to do next, LJ?

"Big Bob" West 9:19

Let's go with Gail.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 9:20

Yeah, I was gonna say stick in the Stanwick family. I wasn't crazy about this casting, but I was a little stuck, and I just couldn't get this person sort of out of my out of my head. I casted Farah Fawcett in the role. Okay.

Jake Parrish 9:33

That I had thought of that too, you know, blonde, good looking. Yeah, absolutely. I that was up there too for me.

"Big Bob" West 9:40

At the time she wasn't young, like I mean, Dana Wheeler was what, like 19, 20, something.

Jake Parrish 9:45

Yeah, she was in her early mid-20s, I think.

"Big Bob" West 9:47

So so so that that's that's gonna make uh Gail a little older, but still a perfect cast because desirable, you know? So yeah, I agree. I think that's a great one. What do you got, Big Bob? Uh, this is gonna be obscure. Um, somebody in the 80s who was a big growing popular star, but really never peaked into the 90s. Uh, was a woman who played uh in a lot of roles in the 80s. Secret of my success, ruthless people, legend of Billy Jeans, Supergirl.

Jake Parrish 10:15

Oh, Helen Slater Slater. Yeah, that's a good pick. I like her. I always thought she was she's hot, she's good looking.

"Big Bob" West 10:22

I you know, when you think of uh 80s kind of blonde, kind of that kind of role, I think that I'm surprised that she didn't get considered, or I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she was considered for the casting because she was in a lot of 80s movies in that time, 80. She was red hot in in in the mid to late 80s. And yeah, I I think that you know she would have been uh an easy, easy slam dunk for the character. What about you? I have Daryl Hannock. Behold the mermaid!

Jake Parrish 10:49

How could you forget Daryl Hannah? Yeah, I thought Daryl Hannock, she's she's uh I always thought she looks good. I mean, from Splash, so she was you know, she was getting there in the early mid 80s, you know. Absolutely.

"Big Bob" West 10:59

I think she would have been a good Wall Street, yeah.

Jake Parrish 11:01

Yeah. Wow.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 11:04

All great picks, all blonde. Really good. We're on a roll here. Why don't we go in order of the list that was put out there by Jake? And let's let's continue with Frank. Okay. This is this is an important one. He's the antagonist at work. Who do we got for Frank?

"Big Bob" West 11:18

Uh well, originally, originally played by Richard Libertini, you know. You think to yourself, oh, only one man can play Frank. So in that case, of course, I have two. Uh my first choice, which I didn't finalize on, was George Carlin. I think that I can just picture him and we've talked about that. Yeah. With that, with that neurotic shaking the uh shaking the coffee pot. But he wasn't the guy that I decided was gonna get my nod. My final choice was a guy who was huge in the 80s, Dabney Coleman.

Jake Parrish 11:50

Oh, that's a good pick. Yeah, I never even thought about him.

"Big Bob" West 11:53

Yeah. James, I know sometimes the names don't really help, so I'm gonna give you an idea. Uh yeah, modern problems, short time, nine to five, war games, dragon, hot to trot. He's got the mustache. Yeah. I think that he could play just from war games alone, the way he's so neurotic in that movie, the way he's constantly worried about you know, the nukes going off and everything. He could play that, you know, I need a deadline. He showed in that movie he could play that character so well. And he was the guy that I thought would just be perfect. Now, who do you guys have?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 12:23

I was trying to think of somebody now, like my lead is Michael Keaton. So somebody who I thought would be a good person to work off Michael Keaton was Eugene Levy.

Jake Parrish 12:33

Oh, that's a great pick. Yeah, I love Eugene Levy.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 12:36

Eugene like yelling, you know, at at Fletch and you know, demanding, demanding the story. Um, I pictured Eugene. Absolutely. I also gave a um I also took into consideration maybe Howard Hessman. Oh, yeah, that's another great pick.

Jake Parrish 12:51

Yeah, yeah, that's a great pick.

"Big Bob" West 12:53

Yeah, yeah.

Jake Parrish 12:54

Well, I've got someone that had a little newsroom experience back in the 60s and 70s, and I thought he would be great. Ed Asner. Oh, yes. I thought of him. Yeah, I just thought Ed was a great Ed Asner would be a good Frank, and you know, he's he's funny, and he definitely can be. He was Lou Grant. I mean, I just think he he would have been really funny.

"Big Bob" West 13:14

I think that we're gonna see in some cases on this list, certain characters are picked for certain roles by someone, and then they might come back to play someone else in a different role later. Right. It's happened a few times, but yeah, those are great picks. I mean, I think all around you have a theme of thinning hair, and you have a theme of uh neural that borders on the psychotic.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 13:38

My guy has a very, very full afro though.

"Big Bob" West 13:40

Yeah in age. Yeah, absolutely.

Jake Parrish 13:42

Is Larry next? I think we move right to stay in the office on the Larry. All right, my Larry is a young Sigourney Weaver. Wow, that's a good pick.

"Big Bob" West 13:52

Yeah, I I I I see I saved a little money on this pick, and you, you know, that Sigourney Weaver is a very expensive actor. Yes, but remember, here's where I thought there's no budget. There's no budget, but if there was, I would have saved a little here. I went with uh someone who uh is really not that well known, but definitely somebody you know from the 80s, Joyce Heiser from Just One of the Guys.

Jake Parrish 14:14

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. I love her. Yes, she was the main character. Yeah, yeah. I had a crush on her. Wow.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:22

Everybody didn't need to.

Jake Parrish 14:23

Do you remember her, LJ?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:24

Oh my god, she had the most perfectly shaped tits I've ever seen.

Jake Parrish 14:28

Where do you get off having tits? I know. She had that flash scene. Oh my god. She had she walked around in that bikini in the beginning of the movie.

"Big Bob" West 14:36

The way I thought about this, uh the way I came to this was who was a huge 80s crush of mine. Oh, yeah. And that's and that's how I landed on her. She was a huge 80s crush of my friend.

Jake Parrish 14:43

Well, Helen Slater probably still is. I thought Helen Slater was a good pick, too.

"Big Bob" West 14:47

But yeah, she was the one I landed on.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:48

What about you, Laker Gim? Who'd you land on? I wish I would have thought of Sigourney Weaver because I really do like that pick. I went with Janine from Ghostbusters. Okay. I don't know what her real name is.

Jake Parrish 14:57

Oh, Annie Potts.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 15:00

Yeah, I went with her as a as a real good assistant and sidekick. Absolutely. I went away from the look of Gina Davis and just like who could really help Fletch back in the office. And I just could picture Janine from Ghostbusters making the calls, looking things up.

FletchCast Intro 15:16

Hello, Ghostbusters. We got one.

"Big Bob" West 15:22

Absolutely. And when you're when you're doing this, she has such such a thick New York accent. Are you keeping that accent or are you having her do her stutter accent? She could do, she could do either. I'm not crazy about the accent. I know I know you have the accents. So maybe she's gonna have to do some sort of non-committal, non-regional dialect for you to get through that.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 15:39

But I also considered like a comma, uh, kind of a tomboyish Meg Ryan.

Jake Parrish 15:43

You know, Meg Ryan was there for me too, and I and I thought about that as well. Um, I thought she was really good because she was in the 80s, she was getting big, uh, you know, like inner space, and she was in Top Gun. She played Goose's wife in Top Gun. So yeah, she that would have been a good pick, too.

"Big Bob" West 15:56

I almost selected Meg Ryan for uh Yale Stanley, but I went elsewhere. All right, let's do let's cast Gillette next, okay?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 16:03

I can't wait to hear these picks. You want me to start? Yes, you start. Much like anything I do. Once something sticks in my head, I can't get rid of it. I cast Sweet Chuck.

Jake Parrish 16:15

Oh, yes, that's a great pick. Yes, love him.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Right. What if we were to oh I love him?

"Big Bob" West 16:24

I really like that pick. Shit, I wish I thought of that. What about you, Dick?

Jake Parrish 16:28

I went with someone again who's a little bit well known, but I think you know, has that nerdy aspect, which is funny. I casted Harold Ramus.

SPEAKER_07 16:37

Wow, very cheerful. My parents didn't believe in toys.

Jake Parrish 16:41

And and I almost went Rick Moranis. Oh man, that would have been good too. So either of those I thought would have been really good, but I went with Ramus there.

SPEAKER_07 16:49

You never even had a slinky? We had part of a slinky, but I straightened it.

"Big Bob" West 16:54

I went a different route. I went with somebody who's not really known for their acting, at least uh not in front of the camera. Um, but but but has the look. I thought this guy had the look, and he's only really been in two movies that I love him for. And those two movies are Trading Places and Blues Brothers. I went with Frank Oz. Oh, yeah, Frank Oz, voice of Yoda.

Jake Parrish 17:16

Yeah, of course.

"Big Bob" West 17:17

Yeah, you know, I I think that he's got the right look, and he can, you know, just the way he always he always like us.

Jake Parrish 17:24

So yeah, yeah. Remember, he was the he was the exam administrator.

FletchCast Intro 17:29

You hold my wallet while I take the test, please. There's a thousand dollars in there. Or maybe there isn't.

SPEAKER_07 17:36

You know what I mean? Are you saying I can take this money if I help you pass the test? What do you think?

"Big Bob" West 17:44

Yep. Sit down. And the way he could play somebody who's so disgusted with your behavior, I think.

Jake Parrish 17:50

Oh, that's pretty funny.

"Big Bob" West 17:52

Yeah, it would have been a little different than the way George Wynner played it, but I think he would have played that role well. The way he's just disgusted by the way you act and the way you behave.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 18:00

Very good, very good casting. All right, now we're gonna take it to the beach a little bit. You're some luck. We're gonna cast Fat Sam next. Why don't you go first, LJ? I didn't think too long on this one. Try to think of somebody that would look good sitting in a beach. Okay. Yeah. I cast John Goodman. That's a great pick. Wow. He's great in that. Yeah.

"Big Bob" West 18:20

He's gonna come back later on this list.

Jake Parrish 18:22

Oh, okay. I think Goodman would have been great.

"Big Bob" West 18:25

Yeah.

Jake Parrish 18:26

So funny.

"Big Bob" West 18:27

Yeah, I I agree. I agree, you know, and and and I could picture him playing that Revenge of the Nerds coach sitting there, like when it comes, it comes, and just having no patience for your for your impatience, you know, kind of a deal. Wow. That's a great one. Uh, I went with the I went with somebody who could probably, you know, you you think about fat Sam, you know, the person has to be portly. Uh you went with Portly and tall. I went with Portly and short. I I have uh Danny DeVito.

Jake Parrish 18:55

Oh, that's a great pick. Yes. That's a great pick.

"Big Bob" West 18:58

You know, a a lightly bearded Danny DeVito who kind of like throw in Throw Mama from the Train, which I recently watched, for the most part, he just is kind of dismissive towards everything around him. And and that's and I can picture him doing that same kind of acting in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

You killed a person, you're a murderer, you took a life. You're right, you're right. I'm no good. How could I do that? I'm a sick, sick person. Cows.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 19:21

Yeah, I could picture Danny DeVito perfectly. Now, listen, but this is one character that if we've wiped our memory clean of the original Fletch, and you were just going by the script and you were just going by the book. It could be totally different. He's a skinny guy, yeah, with a beer. Yep.

Jake Parrish 19:38

So so you can go that direction. You really could go any way with this character.

SPEAKER_09 19:41

Yeah.

Jake Parrish 19:42

I picked someone again a little bit more well-known. I picked John Candy. Oh, I thought of him. Wow.

"Big Bob" West 19:51

He he, I'll be honest, I didn't pick John Candy for any of the 80s characters, and now when Sal upset, I didn't.

Jake Parrish 19:56

Yeah, I thought John Candy would have been really good as Fat Sam.

"Big Bob" West 19:59

Candy is so good in everything. I'm picturing Candy and Blues Brothers with that kind of hair where it's like, you know, like the mustache, the hair. Oh god, he's so great.

Jake Parrish 20:07

Orange whip, orange whip, three orange whips. Yeah.

"Big Bob" West 20:14

I could picture James has already changed that sound bite in.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Who wants an orange whip? Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 20:24

Yeah, does John Candy also have the summer? Summeretto.

Jake Parrish 20:27

Yes.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 20:28

Another movie.

"Big Bob" West 20:31

Oh my god. It's a good bass. Good bass. That's a good visual. Are we staying on the beach? You want to go with Gummy? Let's stay on the beach with Gummy, Bob. Who do you got? I went with uh someone who uh isn't the traditional gummy. Uh I went with Big Trouble in Little China, Revenge of the Nerds 2, James Hong. Oh he played Lopan and Big Trouble in Little China. He played like, I think his name was Snotty or Snot or something. Just I think that the the visual, it has to be someone who's frail and it has to be someone who is unkempt. And when you picture him in Revenge of the Nerds 2, I think that him kind of lumbering up to Fat Sam's Burger Shack and uh you know handing the drugs off and you know the way you know cops are always beating me up, you know, and and everything, you know. This room is a pig style.

unknown 21:17

Thank you.

"Big Bob" West 21:18

I think that it's now he's not a black character, which a lot of people, you know, think, oh, you have to stay. If you're thinking that you have to stay within sex or race or anything like that, I I don't think we have to do that at all, you know. And and I think that uh you can easily make a female character male or male male character in your own list as well, and something you should consider doing in a lot of cases. But I think that uh I think that he would work really well, you know, in that in that character. Just someone who's frail, who's easily taken advantage of. And that's why I landed on him. Who do you guys have?

Jake Parrish 21:48

I picked a skinny and I kept with that thin I can't uh Michael Winslow from Police Academy. Wow. You know, no sound effects, but you know, I

"Big Bob" West 22:00

Yeah, but I thought he would have been really good. Shit. And we could have gotten we could have gotten sound at that, though.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 22:06

Wish I would have thought of him. Damn. That's a great call. What do you got? I went I went with Bruce Leroy from The Last Dragon.

Jake Parrish 22:15

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. He was good. Oh. It's a great movie.

"Big Bob" West 22:21

I feel like the world is divided between people who have seen Last Dragon and people who haven't. If you have, that's a great pick. If you haven't, you have no clue. But you should see it.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 22:29

All right. If you if you don't know who that is, my backups were on bridges. Okay. And uh and Larry B. Scott, who played uh Lamar Latrell from uh nerds.

"Big Bob" West 22:41

Oh my god, you've got to be kidding me. I have Larry B. Scott as creasy, Ralph Seymour's character. Oh wow, you're not gonna isn't that crazy again? Keep him with the the frail and the tired and everything. I can picture Larry B. Scott playing that so well, but but listen, this was the hardest character I had to choose out of the entire list. So I don't want to just say, oh, I just landed on Larry B. Scott and that was it. No, I also had two other people who I couldn't decide on. One was uh the guy who played Chainsaw in summer school.

Jake Parrish 23:14

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

"Big Bob" West 23:16

And he was good, and the and the other one was the guy who played Damon in uh oh past times time at Past Time. Yeah, that's a good thing. But I did I did ultimately land on Larry B. Scott.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 23:27

What about you guys for for creasy LJ? Well, I could I can prove this to Jake. I stayed in the nerds family as well with with Creasy, and I picked Booger.

"Big Bob" West 23:37

Oh yeah, oh we were all in the nerds family. Man, nerds is really popular for this casting.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 23:44

I just I could picture I could just picture Booger sitting there perfectly.

Jake Parrish 23:49

So I went completely in the opposite direction, completely, and I picked a young teen actor, a young Will Wheaton, as Crazy. Yeah, a very young, yeah, very young, like late teens, you know. So I thought he would be. That's a good pick. So let's go to the airport. We're recasting Bud and Willie. Oh, I can't wait to hear these. You have to start, LJ.

"Big Bob" West 24:14

Man, you have to yeah, this is gonna be this is gonna be huge. I cast Tom Wopat as take that, Gilliam.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 24:24

Tom Wopat from from uh The Dukes of Hazard. He stole another role from Gilliam, and then uh for Willie, for Willie, I cast Andy Kaufman. Oh, that's pretty funny. Yeah, kind of sticking with the whole mechanic look uh from taxi. So ideally, those actors should probably be swapped, but for the sake of the Gilliam joke, I did a little stunt casting and reversed a little bit.

Jake Parrish 24:47

Little dig. Jake, how about you? So for Bud, I picked Jim Varney. Hey, Mar. Ernest. Wow, that's a great pick. Ernest himself. Great pick. That's perfect. I just thought, you know, he's goofy, you know, he kind of looks like him a little bit. He kind of looks like so so Jim Varney, and then for Willie, I picked Michael McKeon.

"Big Bob" West 25:11

Great actor. Love him. I don't want to get off your Jim Varney bud yet. He can make the great faces the same way that Burton Gilliam can.

Jake Parrish 25:20

Yeah, that that's why I picked him. Great, great pick. And who do you? I'm sorry, who did you say you had for Willie? Michael McKeon from like, you know, he's been around forever, Laverne and Shirley. Um you don't have to tell us from.

"Big Bob" West 25:31

Yeah, we love him. Bob, who do you got? You're gonna like my butt. You're gonna like my Willie. I think you're both gonna be impressed with my Willie. It shows I put thought out of this. I went with Ed, I went with Ed O'Neill, Al Bundy himself.

Jake Parrish 25:42

Oh my god, that's a great pick.

"Big Bob" West 25:44

Yeah, I think that he could love Ed O'Neill. What the hell do you need ball bearings for? You know, like I yeah, yes, that's a great.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 25:52

This is married with children, Ed O'Neill.

"Big Bob" West 25:54

Four touchdowns in one game. Yes, kind of playing almost almost playing it like the character he played in Wayne's World, where he plays uh the coffee shop owner and he's psychotic. You know what I like to do?

SPEAKER_03 26:04

Yeah, I know what you'd like to do. You'd like to find the guy that did it. Rip is still beating hard out of his chest and hold it in front of his face so he can see how black it is before he dies. Actually, I was thinking about filing agreements with the union. Well, the world's a twisted place.

"Big Bob" West 26:23

You know, very easy to anger. That kind of that kind of my bud, I mentioned earlier that we were gonna have people that would repeat, and you know, since then we've seen it a dozen times. But my bud is actually, I went with Eugene Levy, and and mainly because somebody who could emote facially, and that guy could do the eyebrows better than anybody in the the only person that that could beat him in eyebrow work is maybe the rock. Um, but but he, I mean, he is the I I could picture the eyebrows the whole time, you know, like I guess it could be the factor. And almost like the Lou Glutz version of Eugene Levy, you know, where he's kind of like a used par salesman. I I guess it could be that, you know, not really wanting to commit to what the problem is.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

I know what must have happened. It didn't come in.

"Big Bob" West 27:06

I can picture everybody that we mentioned, yeah, perfectly in those roles. So man, those those are all those that was a that was a great casting for the for the three of us because we all had great people for those two, and that's such an iconic scene. No, that's perfect. Let's let's let's stay, let's stay within the airport, you know, kind of universe here. Let's let's go with Stanton Boyd next.

Jake Parrish 27:26

So I picked for Stanton Boyd Wilfred Brimley. Perfect, good, good casting. No nonsense. Yeah, I just thought he would be good. You know, how are you doing in my office? I just think the old man. Exactly. Yep, perfect.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 27:39

So that's who I had. I wanted somebody that would be super annoyed if fledge's allegations could deliver the Jesus Age Christ on a popsicle stick line. Might be a little old to be Gail's father, but maybe he had her late in life. Jackie Gleason.

Jake Parrish 27:54

Wow. Oh, yeah. He was still around the age for about it. Yes, absolutely. Honeymooners, and yeah.

"Big Bob" West 27:59

So that's a great.

Jake Parrish 28:01

I love that pick.

"Big Bob" West 28:02

Now I went a totally different route. This is where my list starts getting a little, I think I started getting sleepy one night when I was putting this together. Uh, I thought, I want to go away from the Kenneth Barr's series, and I want to really make this a more memorable scene. Uh, in a lot of cases, I wrote the you know, what would make this person, you know, the movies that would maybe the portrayals they've had in other movies that would make this person kind of write for the role. And and under this, I wrote before I say the person's name, I wrote, and the character goes in a completely different direction. And I chose Roddy Dangerfield.

Jake Parrish 28:33

Oh, that's funny.

"Big Bob" West 28:35

The same kind of scene where it would be a serious scene, it would be just those two riffing off each other. And and and I just think that it would have been a different way to do the scene. So different, different, but but still good.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 28:45

Yeah, let's keep the momentum going. Let's go with the chief next. Chief Carlin with a K. Okay, now I can add a couple people in consideration here. Okay, I I considered Larry Miller. You know, Larry Miller from Yeah, yeah, yeah.

"Big Bob" West 29:00

Oh, he would have been he would have been a great uh Gillette.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 29:03

I can I considered Rip Torn. Okay, yes. But I in the end, I cast Charles Napier from Blues Brook. Wow, great call. Yes, great, great. That's a good pick. That's like a gritty guy you wouldn't mess with from the south. You knew a guy that looks like he would do some stuff, you know, like yeah, you're gonna have murder.

"Big Bob" West 29:23

You're gonna have a rough time writing your Jane Doe column with no fucking teeth. Yeah, yeah.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 29:29

So I I I I went with more gritty guy and and cast Charles Napier. I love it.

"Big Bob" West 29:35

Uh, I went with someone who really didn't survive more than one movie franchise in the 80s, but really should have. Uh, Thomas F. Wilson, Biff from Back to the Future. Oh, yeah. I think he's got the the right build for the you know, tall kind of muscle. I don't even know if you just a big guy and uh you know, just just a bully. I thought who's who's the best 80s bully other than Johnny from Karate Kid? Well, he's too young. I'm going Thomas F. Wilson. I'm going Biff from Back to the Future. You went young with the character too, because in '85, I mean, listen, uh Joe Don Baker was probably in his 40s, but probably looked in his 60s in that role because that's just the way he is. But uh, but but Biff was probably uh in his 20s to 30s, but looked in his 40s, right? Right. You know, when you think of Back to the Future, he played three different uh incarnations of himself. And yeah, I I thought that he was uh a good call. Who do you got, Jake?

Jake Parrish 30:33

So we talked about this character last night or this actor. I actually uh casted Ned Beatty.

"Big Bob" West 30:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a good call.

Jake Parrish 30:41

Yeah, he's he can be very evil, and he looks kind of like a police chief. So I was like, and you know, Beatty was huge in the eighth, so I hadn't uh had Ned Beatty.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 30:51

Different tone, but still works. Let's head on over to Utah now. Oh, we have two okay, we have two castings over there.

"Big Bob" West 30:58

Marvin and Velma. Listen, I'm gonna uh I'm gonna go first here because mine are nonsensical. Okay. What I did with these two characters is I took somebody who was already in the movie and recasted them in this role. Just because I love this this I love the character I chose for Marvin Stanwick with all my heart. Rest in peace, Chick Hearn.

SPEAKER_07 31:20

Hey, how about Fletch?

"Big Bob" West 31:23

And for his wife, for his wife, Velma Stanwick, I went with his real life wife, who has no acting credits under her belt, Marge Hearn. Just because I thought, why break up the pair?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 31:34

Oh, Bob's trying to earn some brownie points with me. Great casting. Don't call him Laker Jim for nothing. Now, listen, I had I had I didn't know where I was going with this one. Me neither. Mine are also some semi-nonsensical. I cast the old man from Teen Wolf, the old liquor store man from Teen Wolf.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Sonny. You little bastards just won't give up, will you? Listen, no ID, no goddamn beer. Can't you get that through your thick skull? Hang on, I gotta stop you right there.

"Big Bob" West 32:06

When Laker Jim and I were talking about doing this a couple weeks ago, he said, listen, there's a lot of cases where I'm not gonna know who the actor is. I'm just gonna say what they're from, and you'll know. This is what he meant.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 32:18

But you all know who I'm talking about.

"Big Bob" West 32:20

That old man was legitimately scary the way he was such a gamekeeper and so mean. No goddamn. Could you get that?

SPEAKER_07 32:28

I can picture him saying that the flip. I want a keg of fear, right? No goddamn wedding photos. I love it.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 32:37

And then for Velma, I was again kind of clueless. I was, I must have checked out this day, and I cast uh the woman that plays George Costanza's mother on Seinfeld. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I pictured the two of them. I guess picture her kind of push and flesh to look at the uh album and stuff like that. So those are the two oldies that I went with.

Jake Parrish 32:57

So I had an oldie who was uh an old actor that was still around. For Marvin, I picked Jimmy Stewart. Damn it. You guys are good. And and then for Velma, a little younger, but I went with Betty White.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 33:12

Damn it. Damn it, Jake. He nailed this one.

Jake Parrish 33:16

Yes. Marvin and Velma, Jimmy Stewart and Betty White.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 33:20

Perfect. Perfect casting. Uh okay. Let's now here's another one that's very close to our heart.

"Big Bob" West 33:27

I think that those two from Jake are win the casting for all our choice. Betty White just I can just picture her saying Judas and Button and the Jimmy Stewart cadence, you know, the way he speaks. Those, yeah. I think Jake won the day with the Stanleyx. All right, let's move on.

Jake Parrish 33:46

He dropped two big ones away. All right, I'll start. I'll start with Underhill. Oh okay. So I went back and forth. So I went with someone who was I thought could pull it off. Underhill Christopher Lloyd.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 33:58

Oh wow, very interesting. Interesting.

"Big Bob" West 34:01

Yeah. Very interesting. Different take on the character. Licker Jim. I have a feeling you and I are gonna have the same person here. You think so? You go, yeah, you go first.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 34:09

I went with Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller, Jeffrey Jones. That's a great pick. I thought Jeffrey Jones could pull it off. Yeah, yeah. Just the just the just the way he can explode. Yeah. You know, in Bueller, in easy money. Howard the Duck. Howard the Duck. I went with Jeffrey Jones as that really annoyed. So we didn't have I also had Robert Stack as my backup.

"Big Bob" West 34:33

Oh man, that would have been a good one, too. Robert Stack. Now, for me, there's only one person I feel like that could play Ted Hunter, Underhill, with the same kind of hatred and passion that William Trailer brought to the character, and that's Ted Dyke. That's a great pick, too. I could just picture him just being furious and seeing the bill and freaking out and banging on the door. I think he's the guy. That's a good one.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 34:58

He certainly would have uh done the character justice. Let's go with one of our last guys, Dr. Jellyfinger, Joseph Dolan.

"Big Bob" West 35:05

All right, when I did Jellyfinger, um, I thought who in the past I could picture playing a doctor. And for some reason, Ghostbusters 2, small role in Ghostbusters 2, jumped in my head. I went with Brian Doyle Murray.

Jake Parrish 35:21

Oh, that's a good pick. I like Brian Dorle more. Well, he's in Caddyshack just like that night. Absolutely, yeah.

"Big Bob" West 35:27

I think I was on a little bit of a caddyshack kick. Uh, but just uh the way he plays in Ghostbusters 2, he has a bit part playing the psychiatric ward doctor. And uh I think the way he played that doctor would have been translatable to the way he played the way he would play uh Dr. Dolan. That's a good pick. That's a real good one.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 35:46

LJ? I had Ned Beatty and he came up with four. Oh, okay. But uh that's a good picture of Ned Beatty, sort of like semi-perfect, actually.

"Big Bob" West 35:56

I'm not gonna lie, Ned Beatty was my other pick. Uh just because the way he could the way he, I mean, listen, in back to school, the way he plays Dean Martin is just perfect. And I think that's so good. The kind of backhanded nervousness he has in that character would translate well to jellyfinger. I I don't see anything down here, but I'll look again, you know. Yeah, who do you got, Jake? I'm satisfied. I'm outraged.

Jake Parrish 36:26

I went totally different. I went John Lithgow. Wow. You know what? I considered him for Underhill, actually. That's a good pick. Yeah, yeah. I just think he would have Trinity. Yeah, he's funny and and can be kind of serious. I just thought he would be really funny.

"Big Bob" West 36:40

Yeah, no, I agree. I think that'd be a really good pick. I love him in Harry and the Heatherston. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 36:47

All right, now the now our last sort of bonus casting, we threw this bone to Jake. Now, in the book, there's a character named Bobby, as you know, she's a 15-year-old drug-addicted prostitute. Jake, if we inserted this character into the movie, who would you cast as Bobby?

Jake Parrish 37:06

I picked a young Allie She's a fantastic choice. Fantastic. Now she played the Basti for Breakfast Club. Yes, Breakfast Club. And I just thought she cut she looks a little, she can look stronger, and I thought she would be really good.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 37:21

All right, boys. Let's head over to the voicemail for our fan of the week. Fletchcast fan of the week. Go to Ryan Novak, who called in with his list. So let's see how his recast matches up against ours.

SPEAKER_04 37:33

Hello, Laker Jim, and the crew of Fletchcast. This is Ryan Novak. Calling from Arizona on Twitter at TheEducator because I'm a school teacher and Jewish, so all right. For the 85 recast, I thought, why try to do comedy? Because it's already perfect with comedy and you can't improve upon perfection. So I thought about doing as more of a drama that has some comedic moments. So for the recast, I went with Flesh, played by Jeff Ridges. Uh, I think he could handle that balance of being a reporter but also being kind of rye and kind of funny. For Stanwick, I thought Dennis Quaid, kind of a similar man to uh Jeff Bridges, so it would fit in with the uh similar body type thing. And also Quaid just looks like a guy that could be sinister if he wanted to. For Gail, I went with Daryl Hannah, uh some kind of flash, he would have been perfect. Uh for Frank, I was trying to think of somebody uh kind of a veteran character actor who would play that kind of uh newspaper publisher, so I wanted Jack Warden. For Larry, I was trying to think of for young comedian actresses, and I wanted Julia Louis Dreyfus, who was on FNL, uh, uh for Gillette, James Cromwell, he was around, he was acting a lawyer. For Fat Pam, I thought somebody who uh strikes that balance of uh a guy who is uh fallen on hard times and has kind of the weight of uh bad decisions. I thought uh Paul Winfield, great character actor from the 80s. Uh Paul Winfield. Uh Gummy, I was trying to think of somebody uh young who could sort of embody that uh headed down the wrong path and all that. And I thought Don Cheadle, he was already active stuff. Uh for Preacy, I thought of uh Downey Jr. Um this was two years for lessons, but I think having into that kind of part of his career, playing uh a guy with addiction issues who's uh headed towards a dark ending. Now, for uh Bud and Willie, since this part is still uh gonna be kind of funny, I thought uh Judge Reinhold uh just plays uh Judge Reinhold just plays a good cadufus guy for Willie, you want something a little bit uh more serious. And I thought Michael Madsen uh just looks like a guy doesn't take a lot of crazy questions what he's being told. Uh Carlin Paul Tervino. Paul Trevino has that kind of uh could be tough. Oh yeah. And uh looks like somebody that you know would kill you. A small role, but uh play Errol Hannah's dad. Uh for Marvin and Velma, James Garner and Dorothy, just older characters. Oh my god, I love that Garner pick. Oh Bob. There's your Ted Night Pick.

"Big Bob" West 40:27

Another man of culture.

SPEAKER_04 40:29

Bobby, Lisa Bonet, years for Angel Heart, but kind of a more serious role. Uh drug addicted, runaway. Thought should be great. Dr. Jellyfinger, Wilfred Bremley.

Jake Parrish 40:39

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 40:40

Yes, the Wilfred Brimley. Yes, I could see him in that. I love the podcast. Uh, you guys are doing great work. I look forward every week. Take care. Be good. Bye.

"Big Bob" West 40:48

Man, that was awesome. Thank you so much for calling in. Great call for sharing that with us. I thought that he had about 95% were perfect. Wonderful work. Wonderful.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 40:56

We gotta send this guy a shirt. Yes. Send in your send us your address. We're gonna send you a fledgcast shirt for that. That was amazing. This guy had a lot of good picks. And and oh my gosh, excellent. Really functions. Excellent. He actually nailed a couple of ours uh as well. Yeah. All right, boys, why don't we split this into two episodes? Originally, I thought we were gonna get this all into one episode here, but we're about 45 minutes right now. We had a lot of fun. We we talked a little longer than I thought. So why don't we make this part one of the recast? Let's take a little break, gather our thoughts, read reorganize our list.

"Big Bob" West 41:32

And if you're listening at home, take this time now to reflect and make your own picks.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 41:38

We pause. Guys, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for listening. Hey, let us know how we did. You know, hit us up on social media and uh let us know what your favorite recasts were, where we really missed the boat. Look for part two to drop very soon. Thanks, guys. See ya.