Cast the new Flash Gordon movie

Apparently Stephen Sommers (director of The Mummy and Van Helsing) has purchased the movie rights to do a remake of Flash Gordon. Projected release in 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Gordon#Future_Films

Who should play Flash? Dale? Zarkov? Ming? Aura?

And – how can Sommers possibly improve on the 1980 version? I mean, that film was perfect high camp, and it seems inconceivable to do Flash Gordon in a non-camp way.

I think that it should be done with a cast of midgets, to match Sommer’s own directorial stature. :rolleyes: :wink: :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

Actually, I think CGI ala Advent Children would be the way to do it. Try to capture the look and feel of the newspaper strip. As camp, the 1980 version can’t be improved on and trying to do it straight in live-action is asking for disaster.

He can’t. Simply can’t be done.

But if he’s bound and determined, I hope that instead of going for camp or trying to emulate either the 1980 movie or the earlier serials, he goes for something a little darker. I have some memory of a late 80s/early 90s comic mini-series from DC that took an interesting turn with the character. Much more world-weary (or is that worlds-weary).

From what I’ve seen of Angel in the new X-men movie ads, the FX for the Hawk People should be pretty stunning.

I think that, like the 80s version, the music should drive the style, and I agree with Otto that they should go harder and darker. maybe they should contact a good alternative band to do the whole soundtrack a la Queen, maybe Trent Reznor, or maybe Radiohead could do something dark and somber (rather than hard).
Maybe I’ll come back in after a while and actually answer the OP.

A 2007 release? They should be well into principal photography by now shouldn’t they?

Well, the IMDb entry doesn’t mention any casting. Maybe 2007 is too optimistic (or pessimistic, as the case may be).

I think it is entirely possible to do one hell of a riproaring Flash Gordon adventure without it being camp or as cheesy as the old serials.

Just takes the right writer and director. I take it that this guy Sommers is not he.

Sir Rhosis

The problem with a Flash Gordon movie is that it will be the same basic story many of us remember from the 1980 movie. Ming tries to conquer Earth; Flash Gordon, accidentally transported along with Dale Arden in Dr. Zarkov’s spaceship, stop hims.

I’d much prefer it as a continuation of the story. Not a part II to the 1980 movie, but a movie about Flash, stuck on Mongol, continuing the struggle against Ming the Merciless. Perhaps Ming’s hold on Mongol has been reduced, but he is still strong and the story is about revenge, not conquest.

I’m tired of movies based upon old stories always having to tell the origin, no matter how many times it has been (re)made.

To be fair, the first Mummy movie was actually a lot of fun. No, I’m not talking about the mess that was Van Helsing, or The Scorpion King, but the actual first Mummy. It was very pulpy and influenced by old adventures serials, as well as the modern films that have best captured that spirit, the Indiana Jones trilogy. Scoff if you will, but I’ll defend The Mummy to anyone, and rank it alongside The Princess Bride and Pirates of the Caribbean for adventure thrill-rides with lots of action and humor. As a result, I haven’t written Sommers off just yet.

I think it should be done entirely with Muppets. Everything is better with Muppets.

I’s kinda like to see this done as a rock musical. I think Tim Curry would make a marvelous Ming the Merciless, and I’d cast Owen Wilson as Flash, Kristen Bell as Dale, and John Rhys-Davies as Dr. Zarkov. I’d ask Mark Mothersbaugh or David Byrne to write the songs.

Well, he could always try for an updated version of Flesh Gordon.