The movie versions of **Sandman ** and Death have been kicked around almost as often as Good Omens and Confederacy of Dunces , but someday they’ve gotta be made. Who would you cast?
My dream cast for the Endless:
Dream- Johnny Depp- period. End of discussion.
Death- Angelina Jolie
Destiny- Patrick Stewart
Destruction- The Rock
Despair- Kathy Bates
Delirium- Tori Amos (since, IIRC, she inspired the character)
Desire- this is a hard one- ideally I’d cast a beautiful androgynous actor (ala Jaye Davidson) and not reveal whether s/he is fe/male in real life, though if I had to go with current actors I’d opt perhaps for Chloe Sevigny or Queer Eye’s Jai Rodriguez.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARACTERS
No way Angelina Jolie does Death. Death is a gamine, slight thing. Angelina Jolie is all wrong.
Kathy Bates is fine as Despair, as is Torie Amos for Delirium. Johnny Depp for Dream is perfect. Stewart for Destiny does well.
You have Christina Ricci misplaced; she should do Death.
I would have Russell Crowe as Destruction. He is much more than a muscle bound airhead. Jonathan Frakes could do this part as well, if Crowe wants too much money.
That’d be cool; they’ve just signed to shoot Producers-the Musical-the Movie , incidentally. A pity that John Rhys Davies has lost so much weight or he and Ian McKellen could do the roles as well. Also a pity that Charles Nelson Reilly is too old or he could play Lucien the Librarian.
I always pictured Trent Reznor as Dream, in my mind. No idea if he can act or anything, and Siouxsie Sioux as Death, which probably wouldn’t work anymore, or a young Winona Ryder, in her Beetlejuice days. kd lang as Desire seems rather obvious too.
I kinda hope that unless Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton or Unknown Director With Heaps of Talent and Artistic Independence (that mythical figure, y’know) do the movie — I sincerely hope it’ll forever rot in the unfilmed-screenplay hell of hollywood.
Having said that. Some random cast ideas:
Johnny Depp is damn right.
Death - I’d see Christina Ricci, too. Not because she’s a reknowned gothette but because death does have something girlish, “timeless” to her. Casting a dark female sex-bomb won’t do.
**Delirium **- As much as I am a manic-fan of Tori Amos, I don’t think she could act to save her life. My suggestion is to dress up Bjork in a rainbow wig and give her contact lenses - the audience will either faint on run screaming. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
But seriously, how about Lilly Taylor?
I’d see Cain played by Geoffrey Rush - he’d be absolutely perfect.
Hob Gaddling - I think actually Robert Carlyle would be great in that role. He does the “tormented” just as good as “careless and vivacious”.
The kindly ones - could be played by Cate Blanchet, Cathy Bates, and…um , I’m at a loss with the eldest sister…let’s dress up Eric Idle, he was always so cute as old ladies.
Ricci as Thessaly is one of the few I agree with in the OP. There’s a major physical match and I think she could do the character justice as an actress. (There could be worse castings for Gilbert or the Corinthian. I think Tori’s a touch too old to be Del, who’s always seemed to be in her early teens to me.)
Jaye Davidson would be a great choice for Del.
Much as I like Depp, Stewart, Bates and the Rock, none of them seem RIGHT for the characters you have them as.
I think Brian Blessed would make a good Destruction, personally.