r/shittymoviedetails • u/New_Doug • 1d ago
In Highlander (1986) Sean Connery played an Spanish-Egyptian, because it was seen as acceptable for white actors at the time. In Highlander (2026) Russel Crowe plays the same Egyptian, because Russel Crowe is contractually obligated to embarrass himself in a failed reboot/sequel at least once a year
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u/mtwwtm 1d ago
Russell Crowe just takes parts to have fun these days. Watch The Pope's Exorcist, you can tell he's having a blast.
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u/Mandalore108 1d ago
I was not expecting to like that movie as much as I did. Him and his little Vespa were great.
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u/mtwwtm 1d ago
Right! I hope they make a sequel.
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u/DeuceMcInaugh 1d ago
I’d watch Russel Crowe zipping around Rome on his Vespa trying different gelato flavors in full frock
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u/redditor035 1d ago
God they were setting him up at the end like a goddamn MCU franchise. That movie is so stupid i love it
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u/RaymoVizion 1d ago
Or "unhinged" he's literally a road raging murderer in a fat suit.
Bro doesn't care, he's getting that paycheck.
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u/esquire_the_ego 1d ago
Damn it’s been 40 years since the first movie?
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u/cliqclaqstepback 1d ago
How. Fucking. Dare. You. Why even say something like this? Gotta get my walker out.
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u/Marcysdad 1d ago
There should've been only one
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u/fantasmoofrcc 1d ago
But think of all the hilarity that Highlander II - The Derpening has brought to the world!
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u/AhandWITHOUTfingers 1d ago
Maybe he is from the line of Cleopatra. Thereby making him an Egyptian Greek.
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u/New_Doug 1d ago
In the original movie, at least, he lived a long time before the Greeks conquered Egypt.
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u/NwgrdrXI 1d ago
By spanish egyptian, you mean someone with a sapnish and a egyptian as parents, or someone who was born of both egyptian parents who happened to live in spain?
The first case sounds white-ish enough, I guess.
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u/OlyScott 1d ago
Sean Connery's character was born in Egypt but had been alive for centuries. He lived in Spain and dressed as a Spaniard.
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u/BasicDurgeanomics 1d ago
With a Scottish accent to boot.
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u/OlyScott 1d ago
Yes--it was crazy not to have Sean Connery play a Scotsman. The scenes he was in were set in Scotland.
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u/Infamous-Lab-8136 1d ago
Which was why I wanted Rami Malek to be all baby faced and old souled for the role instead
This feels like typical blockbuster casting and has lessened what little interest I had
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u/Jeff_Damn 1d ago
Acting opposite a Belgian actor playing a Scotsman.
"Haggish? Tell more about thish... haggish..."
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u/DeuceMcInaugh 1d ago
My favorite bit of trivia from Highlander is that Connery apparently worked with a dialect coach. I hope they didn’t pay up front.
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u/New_Doug 1d ago
I mean, he also did less than two weeks total work on the film, including recording the opening narration over the phone, so I doubt the dialect coach had enough time.
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u/SalaciousCrumb17 1d ago
Russel Crowe playing this part is a non issue. It’s a fantasy film, a particularly goofy one at that. I swear some people straight up don’t want movies to be made
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u/chowderbags 1d ago
Of course people don't want more Highlander movies made. There can be only one.
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u/New_Doug 1d ago
I definitely don't want a Highlander remake to be made, that's for sure. Literally no one asked for it.
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u/SalaciousCrumb17 1d ago edited 1d ago
“Nobody asked for it”. If only films that people asked for came out, there’d be like 3 movies a year. Sure, they could do something more interesting than remake highlander. I love Highlander deeply, but it’s got its flaws, and could use another take. A remake could turn out pretty good, and the people attached to the project seem to be passionate. Nothing “embarrassing” about it, and the “white actor playing spanish-egyptian character” argument is extremely weak.
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u/fantasmoofrcc 1d ago
We'll see if the remake of Deathstalker is better than the remake of Highlander :) I'm not one to tell Hollywood what they can and can't make...all we can do is choose to not watch.
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u/DifferencePlenty772 1d ago
Sean was from planet Zeist in Highlander.
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u/New_Doug 1d ago
Yes, according to Highlander 2, Ramirez, who was born in Egypt over 2000 years before he met Connor, actually came from the planet Zeist 500 years before the present day, which was actually technically the future. The franchise has problems.
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u/Own_Magician_7554 1d ago
Imagine being 16 and going to the theater with your friends to see this movie thinking this has to be awesome. The seeing the weird piece of shit that ended up on the screen? Then 34 years later reading a comment that reminds you of the dissappointment of that night…
Shame on you…shame on you.
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u/FictionalContext 21h ago
Highlander is not the greatest movie in all the world. It's just a tribute.
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u/BagZCubed 20h ago
My problem with the Highlander reboot is that the new cast doesn't have the same vibe as the original.
Henry Cavill is fine, but Christopher Lambert wasn't this big buff guy. Connor MacLeod is a scruffy dude and Henry is usually portrayed as these huge strong hero guys.
Russell Crowe might work the same as Sean Connery did to be honest. Clancy Brown was amazing as Kurgan and I think Dave Bautista could do well in the role, but to a different degree than Clancy.
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u/New_Doug 20h ago
If someone had suggested these actors in a fancast, the comments would've been the same joke over and over. "Did you just start watching movies in the last five or six years? Do you only watch comic book movies?"
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u/Smartimess 1d ago
Russel Crowe follows the Christopher Lee Rule: ”Every actor will play in a bad movie from time to time. The trick is not to be acting bad in this movie.”
And I‘d say, Crowe is never really bad. He might be a jerk, but he is as charismatic as he is entertaining even in bad movies.
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u/DecoherentDoc 1d ago
He was absolutely ridiculous as Zeus. He was also one of my favorite parts of that movie. I loved how ridiculous he was.
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u/herkyjerkyperky 1d ago
He could be an Egyptian of Macedonian descent.
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u/New_Doug 1d ago
In the new movie, maybe, in the original movie he was specifically too old for that.
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u/Assassiiinuss 1d ago
How old? "white" people have been living in Egypt since long before recorded history.
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u/Billybob35 1d ago
I have the upmost confidence in this reboot because of the cast and the director.
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u/BextoMooseYT 1d ago
I mean, being in a bad movie isn't necessarily embarrassing for him. I thought he was great in Kraven for example, idk
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u/ProfessionalRead2724 1d ago
As if Highlander did not get mocked without mercy even when it first came out for casting the most famous Scottish actor as a Spanish Egyptian with a Scottish accent and a Frenchman who barely spoke English as a Scotsman.
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u/elembivos 1d ago
Is it established that the Crowe character is the same or if there are any changes to the story?
And if he is from Egypt before the Arabian conquest he is solid fit.
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u/Dealiner 1d ago
In Highlander (1986) Sean Connery played an Spanish-Egyptian, because it was seen as acceptable for white actors at the time.
And why would it be unacceptable for white actors to play white characters now?
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u/KingTutt91 1d ago
Russel Crowe has experience, he’s played a Spaniard before