Sports nuts have fantasy sports right? So I got to thinking wouldn't it be fun to start a new feature about Alternate Casting. Once a week I'll take an existing book, movie, TV show, comic, etc. and write up my alternate casting ideas for the property. It's totally masterbatory but who cares, it's great fun! So here is Alternate Casting #1: Star Wars Trilogy (Star Wars, Empire, Jedi).
Star Wars Trilogy today:
Luke Skywalker: Heath Ledger (I like Heath Ledger as Luke because Luke starts off as a whiny bastard and grows up very quickly. Ledger can play both.)
Princess Leia: Anna Paquin (I picked Anna Paquin because I wanted to choose someone young who can portray a very naive -as in lack of worldy experiences- and textbook moral outlook on the Empire's current political structure.)
Han Solo: David Boreanaz ( I picked David Boreanaz because I wanted someone al little older than Luke and Leia. Someone who could deliver a wide range of emotions not just the snarky jabs. Not to mention he's damn foxy.)
Obi Wan Kenobi: Rutger Hauer (Wouldn't it be awesome to see Rutger Hauer wield a light saber against Darth Vader.)
Grand Moff Tarkin: Tom Wilkinson
Voice of C-3PO: Orlando Bloom (I wanna keep that gay robot theme going so who better than Orly?)
Voice of Darth Vader: Frank Langella (You could never beat James Earl Jones but Langella has a great voice even if he did date Whoopi Goldberg, cringe.)
Lando Calrissin: Louis Guzman (Lando is the coolest character in the movie so you have to go with someone equally as cool and since Samuel L. is in the prequels I've decided to go with Louis Guzman.)
Admiral Piett: Ricky Gervais (This isn't a role with alot of dialogue so it would be great to see someone play it with alot of humorous physical reaction.)
Emperor Palpatine: Derek Jacobi (Okay I really wanted to pick Christopher Lee but since he was in the prequel trilogy as well I ruled him out. I like Jacobi though and think he'd lend an eerie calm to the part.)
Voice of Yoda: James Hong (I had a very hard time with this one and while James Hong is slightly Frank Ozish, with Yoda's crazy backwards speak it's hard to picture any other kind of voice.)
*I figure characters like Chewbacca and Jabba The Hutt could be just about anyone in a suit so I refrained from casting.
Please feel free to comment, it would be great to hear your casting choices as well.
Becca
Monday, May 23, 2005
Alternate Casting 1: Star Wars Trilogy
Posted by Becca at Monday, May 23, 2005
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4 comments:
Interesting casting. So, here are my own choices. You seem to have eliminated anyone who was in the prequels, so I'll skip my instinct to cast Ewan McGregor in everything. I'll try to cast different people:
Luke Skywalker: Christopher Masterson
Princess Leia: Anne Hathaway
Han Solo: Taye Diggs
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Ken Watanabe
Grand Moff Tarkin: I want to pick Wayne Pygram, but he was in the prequel, dammit... so I'll go with Jason Isaacs.
Voice of C-3PO: Rene Auberjonois
Voice of Darth Vader: Michael Clarke Duncan
Lando Calrissian: Matthew McConaughey
Admiral Piett: Your logic is the same reason I'd cast Simon Pegg
Emperor Palpatine: Lance Henriksen
Voice of Yoda: John Lithgow (although I'm cheating here, because he was the voice of Yoda in the radio version of "The Empire Strikes Back"--he was excellent, too)
That was fun.
Aghhhh…. Becca! I’ve been thinking nonstop about recasting Star Wars I have come up with so many possibilities. I even concluded that you could recast the cast of Lord of the Rings in the old Star Wars trilogy. Instead of Eijah Wood to play Luke, I would pick Sean Astin as Luke. As for other characters I think its obvious how they would fall into place. Except I am torn if Liv Tyler or Orlando Bloom should play Leia. Heck, I would even cast Peter Jackson as the new director.
Oh okay… I keep drawing blanks on recasting some parts. So far I have Michael Pitt as Luke. The role of Leia calls for a strong yet soft woman. I am leaning towards Carly Schroeder (Mean Creek) but she is still too young. I like Uma Thurman too but she is too old and not sexy enough. As for Han Solo I am also torn, I think Boreanaz is an excellent choice, cuz he has a cockyness to him. But there is a part of me that wouldn’t mind seeing Billy Crudup give it a try but he is almost too smart for the role. Or Jason Lee as Han Solo but the voice isn’t right. Possibly Patrick Stewart as Obi Wan but physically he doesn’t fit. As for the rest, I am still blank on.
Then I started to think of an Asian cast. With Ziyi Zhang as Leia. Jet Li as Luke.
Oh the possibilities are endless.
And I will stop rambling on now, because I can’t make any solid decisions.
Merna, the asian cast is a great idea, considering George Lucas basically ripped Star Wars off from Kurasowa anyways. Wouldn't you love to see a light saber battle like the artistic fight scenes in Hero and House of Flying Daggers?
Hey Becca, Star Wars is hardly a Kurosawa ripoff as much as it is a hodgepodge of King Arthur, Greek myth, ancient Rome, the Bible, and various other legends. The light saber battles in the original trilogy are great because they are believable. "Artistic" fight scenes just call attention to themselves and take you out of the drama so you're too aware that you're watching a choreographed ballet.
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