# Cast the new Flash Gordon movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763 "2006-05-22T15:38:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/1 "2006-05-22T15:38:55Z")
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. > **[Flash Gordon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Gordon#Future_Films)** > > Flash Gordon is the protagonist of an American space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. The Buck Rogers comic strip had been commercially very successful, spawning novelizations and children's toys; King Features Syndicate decided to create its own science-fiction comic strip to compete with it. At first, King Features tri... [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421201/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421201/) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/2 "2006-05-22T15:43:05Z")
I think that it should be done with a cast of midgets, to match Sommer’s own directorial stature. :rolleyes: 😉😛😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/3 "2006-05-22T15:48:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/4 "2006-05-22T15:50:19Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] And – how can Sommers possibly improve on the 1980 version? [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/5 "2006-05-22T16:27:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/6 "2006-05-22T16:38:04Z")
A 2007 release? They should be well into principal photography by now shouldn’t they? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/7 "2006-05-22T17:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=adam yax] A 2007 release? They should be well into principal photography by now shouldn’t they? [/QUOTE] Well, the IMDb entry doesn’t mention any casting. Maybe 2007 is too optimistic (or pessimistic, as the case may be). ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/8 "2006-05-22T20:44:52Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/9 "2006-05-22T21:05:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/10 "2006-05-22T21:06:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/11 "2006-05-22T21:48:18Z")
I think it should be done entirely with Muppets. Everything is better with Muppets. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/12 "2006-05-22T21:56:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-the-new-flash-gordon-movie/357763/13 "2006-05-23T00:50:11Z")
Well, he could always try for an updated version of Flesh Gordon.