Starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan: Hollywood’s All-Time Worst Casting Blunders
By: Damien Bona
Publisher: Citadel Press
Year of Publication: 1996
Genre(s): Film, Film History, Humor
🎬 A Rollicking Ride Through Hollywood’s Casting Catastrophes
What separates a “good” film from a “great” one? The answer is delightfully complicated. A truly great movie needs a sturdy story structure, a script that flows with precision and punch, a director whose eye for detail rivals Eisenhower planning D-Day, a production team firing on all cylinders—from lighting to sound design—and a producer who dreams big but budgets smarter than a deficit-prone administration.
And of course, a cast worth its weight in Oscars and audience affection.
Back in the day, audiences didn’t flock to the theater to marvel at the vision of a director—they came for the star on the marquee. You went to see Gable and Lombard, not Curtiz and Fleming. John Wayne didn’t just play roles—he embodied archetypes: the tough cowboy, the indomitable Marine, the weathered patriot. The man could fill out a uniform with the authority of a seasoned general and convince even skeptics in the back row.
Which is why casting matters—and also why when Hollywood gets it wrong, it gets it spectacularly, sometimes hilariously, wrong.
Bona saves particular affection (and critique) for Gregory Peck—a commanding presence whose voice sometimes betrayed his character’s authenticity. Whether speaking like a California professor while playing a Russian partisan or dialing up the drama as a heavy-accented Josef Mengele in The Boys from Brazil, Peck’s gravitas could only carry him so far.
Alex Diaz-Granados
Damien Bona’s Starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan is a gleeful autopsy of casting gone awry. The title itself nods to one of cinema’s most baffling decisions: Wayne as the Mongol warlord Temujin in 1956’s The Conqueror. The costume alone is enough to trigger disbelief, but it’s the dialogue—lines written for Brando yet barked by the Duke—that seals its legendary status as a misfire of epic proportions.
Bona doesn’t hold back. Among his targets:
- 🎭 Marlon Brando masquerading as an Okinawan in Teahouse of the August Moon
- 🔪 June Allyson playing a lesbian murderer in They Only Kill Their Masters
- 🎤 Crooner Tony Bennett somehow ended up in The Oscar
- 🎩 Robert Redford as a posh, bald British lord in Out of Africa
- 🦇 Michael Keaton donning the cape and cowl in Batman
But Bona saves particular affection (and critique) for Gregory Peck—a commanding presence whose voice sometimes betrayed his character’s authenticity. Whether speaking like a California professor while playing a Russian partisan or dialing up the drama as a heavy-accented Josef Mengele in The Boys from Brazil, Peck’s gravitas could only carry him so far.
With punchy chapter titles like “Mongol Cowboy” and a tone that’s more witty than withering, Bona’s book keeps readers entertained while making them ponder Hollywood’s obsession with star power over suitability. It’s a breezy, brainy read for anyone who’s ever scratched their head and thought, “Wait…they cast who?”
A Certain Point of View, Too 
Comments
10 responses to “Book Review: ‘Starring John Wayne As Genghis Khan: Hollywood’s All-Time Worst Casting Blunders’”
I know it’s unpopular to say it nowadays, but I enjoy many John Wayne movies. But in my youth, when I first stumbled across the cover of Wayne as Khan, I didn’t know whether to laugh or be sick!
–Scott
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‘The Conqueror’ is not only a truly bad movie; it’s also one which proved fatal to many in its cast and crew. It was filmed in a place where nuclear weapons had been tested, and the environment was contaminated by elevated levels of radiation. The number of cancer-related deaths among the folks who made the movie, including those of Wayne, director Dick Powell, and supporting cast members such as Susan Hayward and Agnes Moorehead, is astoundingly high.
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The pain of being associated with that movie is bad enough. I had no idea it had ‘real world’ consequences along with it! I also didn’t know Powell, who I like, was the director. I’m definitely more sad than I was prior to knowing this. Ugh.
–Scott
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Dick Powell also directed one of my favorite films, The Enemy Below (1957). That’s one of the best WWII films of its era.
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I had no idea! I love that one as well. Ok, good deal; I feel much better about all this knowledge now. I was pretty disappointed earlier!
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As a director, Powell made five films:
Split Second (1953)
The Conqueror (1956)
You Can’t Run Away From It (1956)
The Enemy Below (1957)
The Hunters (1958)
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I think, maybe, I was vaguely aware he tried his hand at directing. I know I had no idea he did anything as bad as The Conqueror or as good as Enemy Below. That’s definitely my favorite trivia today. Thanks, Alex!
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Here you go, Scott:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0694090/
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My goodness. I didn’t realize he was married to June Allyson either. There’s even a local tie to Louisville. You’ve given me an idea to work on, Alex. This has been very fun for me…… other than the John Wayne-as-Ghengis Khan nightmare part! 😆
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Glad to have been of service!
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