Just saw the teaser one-sheet for The Count of Monte Cristo, starring Antonio Banderas. Does anybody else think this is a huge mistake? don’t get me wrong, I like to watch the man work. But this seems like poor casting to me. Any thoughts?
I just read The Count of Monte Cristo for summer reading in the fun that is high school. At any rate… yes. I disagree with that casting choice by all means. Edmond came out of Chateau D’If all pale and crazy. Not Hispanic… sorry. French does not equal Antonia Banderas! Oh! Just like Antonio Banderas does not equal a 17 year old boy, Armand the Vampire, in Interview with the Vampire! Desperado: Yes. Count of Monte Cristo: No.
~ARose
I think it’s a good choice. Who cares what the actor’s nationality is? A Spaniard can play a Frenchman, an Englishman can play an Americian, and Americans play everybody. Heck, I think Denzel Washington would make a good Edmond.
Edmond is describes as “a handsome fellow . . . tall but slim, with beautiful black eyes and ebony hair . . .” I think Banderas is a very capable actor, and I think he can capture both the passion and the pain of Edmond. His age is not a bar, the majority of the story is when he is older, and the paleness after his prison stay is easily acomplished with make-up. Banderas is certainly a much better choice that Richard Chamberlin! (And, hopefully, the writing will be better in this adaptation!)
I love the novel. And while I feel that Dantes looks more like me than Banderas (generlly I feel all fictional heros: Scaramouche, James Bond, Tom Sawyer, all of the Sacketts and whomever else, look more like me than anyone they ever get to play them in movies), I think there is a quality of mystery and outsiderness (well, it should be a word) that both Banderas and Dantes possess that could work.
I might worry about the accent though.
TV
I wasn’t merely commenting on appearance, though that is one factor. There’s also a question of style: a number of AB’s roles have been leaning towards the smoldering, sexy action hero type lately. The feeling I got from the poster was that the filmmakers are going to roll AB’s success as Zorro into this movie, whether it fits or not.
I’m not saying he can’t succeed as Dantes; after all, actors are supposed to be able to handle a variety of roles. I just think that there must have been better first choices.
Banderas is a good actor - and in his interviews (in any language) he comes across as an intelligent man. If you doubt that he can really act see some of his films directed by Almodovar.
-There he often had parts that were light years away from his current image, for instance in “Women on he Edge of a Nervous Breakdown” he plays a bit of an awkward nerd. He even played (a young) Benito Mussolini in one Italian movie.
I read an interview he did a few weeks ago, in which he said that he was basically tired of the “Latin hearthrob” roles. I’d like to see him have a role in which he really breaks out.