- I like him, he's great looking.

(jabbering)

Throw her in there, Snoop would approve.

- You can't recast "Trading Places", don't even try it.

- You could try.

(typewriter clicking) (upbeat music)

- Hi everybody, welcome to "The Recast".

My name's Ian Fidance.

- And I am Reggie Conquest.

- And today we are recasting "Trading Places"

which in my opinion

is the greatest Christmas movie of all time.

- And it's still funny to this day.

1983.

- It still holds up. - It still holds up.

- It's still so funny, man.

- It's here to stay.

- That's what I'm saying. - It's like the

Mount Rushmore of movies. - Mount Rushmore

of comedies. - Comedies, yes, yes, alright.

- Eddie Murphy was unstoppable in the 80s.

Anyway, anyway, let's go to the recast.

- [Reggie] Let's do it.

- We're gonna recast Louis Winthorpe,

originally played by Dan Aykroyd,

and my choice for it is, the amazing, the talented,

Robert Downey Jr.

(funky music)

Dan Aykroyd, in the movie, he loses everything,

he becomes a degenerate alcoholic

and then wins it all back

and that's basically the Robert Downey Jr. origin story.

I mean the 80s and 90s, he was like

the bad boy of Hollywood, he woke up in a stranger's house,

he had an incident at Burger King

and, you know--

- [Reggie] Yeah, he was like a alcoholic.

For like a long time. - Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And Dan Aykroyd turns into like an alcoholic in the movie

so he could just be like, "I'm gonna go back and really,

"I did method for this for like years."

And he's redeemed himself.

And that's what Dan Aykroyd does in this movie.

Robert Downey Jr., my pick, beat it.

- [Reggie] I also went with a superhero in 2020.

I went with Ryan Reynolds.

(funky music)

- [Ian] Oh.

- I didn't put that much thought into it.

I think he's good lookin, he sounds like Deadpool

in everything he plays and I love him.

I think he'd be good. - Uh-huh.

- Everything he does, I just see Deadpool

so a rich Deadpool and I think he'll be great

as Louis, what's his last name?

(Ian laughing)

Winthorpe. - Winthorpe.

(both laughing)

- Every time I see Ryan Reynolds, he's the same guy,

"Just Friends", "Deadpool"-- - Oh, that was

such a good movie.

- Yeah, it just was. - Like snarky, like--

- Yeah, snarky, quick, like, you now,

snappy. - Gorgeous abs.

- Yeah. - I like him.

(laughing) - That's it.

I like him, (laughing)

he's great looking.

- Okay, alright, go for our pick.

Who, if we had to pick one, like rock-paper-scissors,

final round, ready? - Okay.

- [Both] One, two, three.

- Robert Downey Jr. - Robert Downey Jr.

- I'll agree. - Yeah.

- [Reggie] I'll agree with you on that.

- [Ian] Put him on the board.

- [Reggie] Robert Downey Jr. is a great pick.

- [Ian] Thank you.

All right, second character.

Billy Ray Valentine, originally played

by the iconic Eddie Murphy and I choose the recast

as Lakeith Stanfield.

- I know who that is.

He played in,

He just played in something.

He played in - He played in a lot, buddy.

- [Reggie] He played in "Get Out."

- Yeah. - In the opening scenes.

Yeah, I remember, I remember.

- [Ian] Yes, and who else?

What else has he been in?

- I don't know. - You're about to lose

your black card. - No, no, no, I don't know.

But go ahead,

why would you pick him. - "Atlanta"?

- Oh shit.

- Yup. - He raked that.

I don't want that in there.

I know he's from Atlanta.

Okay, okay. - Uh-huh, yup.

"Uncut Gems".

I think he would be great.

He's hot right now, he's new on the scene.

He could really channel crazy Eddie Murphy

and be a wild character and play somebody

who's like this wild, obnoxious, homeless guy

and then really own the part of being like

this smart business acumen of planning this master plan

to get back at the evil brothers.

- But I don't think he does much

like comedy. - Comedy?

Well see, that's why it's great

because you wouldn't expect it.

- [Reggie] I'm a go with Billy Ray Valentine,

none other than Idris Elba.

- [Ian] I knew it.

- Yeah.

He's a gem.

He's underrated.

He plays-- - Underrated?

Everybody knows how good he is.

- No, no, no, no, no, no.

- He's Mr. James Bond.

- Yeah, he should be James Bond.

- How can he be underrated?

- 'Cause he's not James Brown.

James Bond. (laughing)

James Brown. (chuckling)

♪ Get up now. ♪

- [Reggie] He's funny, he's tal--

And he got that accent, ah-la-la, like he's just

all around-- - So you think

Billy Ray Valentine should be an English guy

in Philadelphia? - Yes, yes.

Idris Elba's a gem.

Alright, so let's pick.

- [Ian] On three.

One, two, three, shoot. - Idris Elba.

- [Ian] Idris Elba.

- He's seasoned, he's funny, he's a DJ. He's--

- But do you think he could do comedy?

- Yes.

Absolutely.

He was in "The Office".

- No he wasn't. - Yes he was.

- Was he?

- [Reggie] Yeah.

- Oh, he was.

- Oh, you lost your white card.

(laughing)

You lost your white card.

- Dammit!

I got nothing left.

Alright, next, we're gonna recast Ophelia,

originally played by Jamie lee Curtis.

The best Christmas gift is Jamie Lee Curtis's tits.

They're just so glorious and like perfect

and 80s and perky.

She plays the role so great, I think it would be hard

to recast her but my recast choice is Helena Bonham Carter.

(funky music)

- Mm. - Do you know who that is?

- Absolutely.

- Who?

- Helena Bonham Carla.

Wait, what did she play in.

- Oh my god.

"Fight Club".

You never saw "Fight Club"?

- I have but I just remember

Brad Pitt (voice drowned out) - Remember, she's like

every girl in Tim Burton movies?

- [Reggie] Okay, why would you pick her?

- Okay, I think she would be great

because she would play like a real deadpan--

Basically her character from "Fight Club" is Ophelia.

- All right, look. - Who would you pick?

- [Reggie] Yeah, nobody's gonna know who that girl is,

so my pick was none other than Madea.

(laughing)

I got a little silly on it.

And not even Tyler Perry 'cause

when Tyler Perry is Madea he is Madea.

That's it.

She carries a pistol in her purse,

if you are familiar with her, and she's a rider.

You know, like this lady was.

- [Ian] I've feel like Madea would like really take away

from it 'cause she's such a big character,

I feel like she would then be the focus

and it wouldn't be "Trading Places",

it'd be like, Madea does bad by herself.

- I think your pick was awful, I think my pick was better.

Point blank.

- Okay, well I'm gonna pick mine to spite you.

- Okay, well. - Okay, on three.

- Madea'll beat this little

white girl up. - One, two, three.

Helena Bonham Carter.

- [Reggie] Whatever, Helena Bonham Carla,

I can't even say her name.

(laughing)

- [Ian] So our final two characters

are the iconic Randolph and Mortimer Duke,

those old racists, originally played

by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche.

I would recast them as (jabbering)

Eddie Murphy in old, white-guy face.

Like, remember in "Coming to America"

when he plays the old Jewish barber

and like another white guy?

- I didn't know that.

I didn't know that. - See, he's so good,

you don't even know it.

So wouldn't that be great and it's a throwback

to the original, to Eddie Murphy in the original movie.

Recasted, have him as the old racist white guys

and it would be great to have him play

alongside himself.

- Your pick is like my

Madea pick. - Madea?

- Yeah, just silly, just like.

Okay, so I went with Betty White and Martha Stewart.

- [Ian] Wow.

- [Reggie] I just figured Betty, she's older now,

she's not gonna be with us too much longer.

Give her a job. - Throw her one last hurrah.

- Yeah, and there's two women, you know.

- I think Martha Stewart and Betty White

would be a good combo because the original

Randolph and Mortimer Duke,

there was like one really bad guy,

and the other was kinda had like the softer heart.

- [Reggie] Yeah, I think Martha Stewart

can be the really bad one

and then Betty can be, yeah. - Betty White would be like

the kinder, like foil to her evil whiteness.

- I think they would be perfect.

Betty White and Martha Stewart for sure.

- [Ian] Wow,okay, if we were to pick one,

I think Betty White and Martha Stewart would be great.

- [Reggie] Hey man, I know my old whites.

- Alright, so let's recap our new cast

For Louis Winthorpe, originally played by Dan Aykroyd,

we picked Robert Downey Jr.

(laughing) - For Billy Ray Valentine,

played by Eddie Murphy, we agreed on

Idris Elba. - Idris Elba.

For Ophelia, originally played by Jamie Lee Curtis,

we picked Helena Bonham Carter.

- [Reggie] And for--

- [Ian] Randolph and Mortimer Duke.

- [Reggie] We went Betty White and Martha Stewart.

- Okay, final word, you can't recast "Trading Places".

It's iconic, it's incredible, don't even try it.

- You can try.

You can try. - But you'll fail.

(typewriter clicking) (upbeat music)