Hollywood casting and Hodgdon's "Replicating Richard"

"How does this 'actor's body' become the bearer of texts, of social as well as theatrical histories? How does it become susceptible to meanings? How does 'character' get revisited in relation to the body of a specific actor, inviting spectators to engage in a negotiation between actor and character? And how does that double body function as a locus for a spectator's imaginative desire to reperform the role?" -Barbara Hodgdon, "Replicating Richard: Body Doubles, Body Politics"

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Spock

http://www.eonline.com/news/364526/

Today I'm mostly interested in this question as it might apply to casting decisions for film, which are becoming more and more a topic of online debate as the casting process becomes more public for big films and remakes have also suddenly popped up everywhere. How much is our perception of the character tied to the actor's body, and how is that complicated when a famous movie role (which, unlike a role in a play, is strongly associated with one particular body) is remade using another actor? The publicity of the casting decision for Katniss in The Hunger Games, for instance, results in a ghosting of different actress who might have been chosen instead of Jennifer Lawrence, and the character of Spock has subtly changed for me because the body representing him is now that of Zachary Quinto rather than Leonard Nimoy.

Nine Actresses Who Were Almost Katniss:
http://www.hollywood.com/news/Hunger_Games_9_Actresses_Who_Were_Almost_Katniss/21459748