Casting and recasting comic book movies

Cafe Society
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I apologize in advance for the geekiness of this thread, but some people got into a good conversation in the Ghost Rider movie thread about the casting of certain actors in comic book movies, and I thought the discussion was worthy of its own thread, for wider feedback. Here are some random thoughts:

Halle Berry was a horrible choice for Catwoman, but that movie was doomed by the bad script and direction, a “sexy” costume that didn’t really turn out to be sexy at all (even with a normally-beautiful woman wearing it), and completely changing the character from the comic book version. Sadly, Ed Brubaker was writing a terrific Catwoman comic at the time, maybe the first time she was ever portrayed as more than just a vampy, gimmicky thief. I would have loved a noir-style Catwoman movie with Selina Kyle as an antihero, wearing the costume designed by Darwyn Cooke in the comics, and preferably played by Gina Gershon or Rosario Dawson. (As an aside, I didn’t care for Michelle Pfeiffer’s portrayal of Catwoman in Batman Returns either.)

Constantine is not an awful movie. The first two-thirds are actually a decent horror-noir pastiche, but I thought it fell apart by the end. Keanu Reeves, however, was an awful choice for a character that was based physically on Sting, and always portrayed as a blond, working-class British con man and mystic. I think any of the following actors could have made an awesome John Constantine: Daniel Craig, James Marsters, Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany, and (if they insisted on not having a British-accented actor) Kiefer Sutherland.

More necessary (IMO) recasting:
Invisible Woman (Fantastic Four): Gretchen Mol (instead of Jessica Alba). Perfect sexy, WASPy MILF for that role.
Storm (X-Men trilogy): Angela Bassett (instead of Halle Berry). She has a majestic, goddesslike quality that Halle lacks.
Daredevil: Guy Pearce or Matt Damon (instead of Ben Affleck).
Elektra: Monica Bellucci (instead of Jennifer Garner).
I also thought Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch looked way too close in age in Fantastic Four, as they were both played by generically-handsome actors (Ioan Gryffud and Chris Evans). Add in generically-handsome Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom, and you’ve got three important characters who look too similar at a glance.

Best casting ever:
Batman: Christian Bale. Ever since I saw him in American Psycho, I thought he could be perfect not only as Batman, but also as Bruce Wayne.
Lex Luthor: Kevin Spacey. Too bad the script was so weak – I would have loved a Superman movie with a truly brilliant, machiavellian Luthor who posed a credible threat.
Wolverine: Hugh Jackman. An unknown at the time, he wowed everyone after a decade of names from Robert DeNiro to Glenn Danzig being thrown around to play the most popular X-Man.
Spider-Man: Tobey Maguire. He captured the lovable nerd vibe perfectly, although I suppose Jake Gyllenhaal or Topher Grace could have been able to pull it off.
V (from V For Vendetta): Hugo Weaving. An inspired performance, considering we never saw his face. But dammit, that’s exactly how I always heard V’s voice while reading the book!

Also, I think he’s too old and out-of-shape now, but in the '90s, around the time he made Army of Darkness and Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., I think Bruce Campbell would have made an excellent Superman and an equally-excellent Clark Kent.

On that note, maybe a decade back, John Cusack would have made a perfect Starman, based on James Robinson’s wonderful comic about the ultimate reluctant superhero. (It’s my favorite series ever – I highly recommend the trade paperbacks.) There had been rumors about a Starman TV series produced by the people who did Smallville and Birds of Prey, but Birds of Prey bombed and that was the last I heard about any Starman project. Tony Harris, the artist who co-created the character, once mentioned Justin Theroux as his own choice for everyman Jack Knight (Starman) – Theroux played the Irish punk villain in that second Charlie’s Angels movie, and was also in The Baxter with Michael Showalter and Elizabeth Banks.

Any other thoughts? Anyone care to cast their favorite comic series, or second-guess overpaid Hollywood hotshots? If not, then maybe this thread will die a quick death and nobody will hold it against me.

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I think Angela Basset would have been perfect as Storm if the movie had come out 10-12 years earlier, but she was a little too old for the role when the movie was finally made. I’d say Nona Gaye or N’Bushe Wright.

As I said in the ghostrider thread, I think Damian Lewis (he was Major Winters in HBO’s Band of Brothers) would have been perfect as Matt Murdock.

As for perfect casting, I don’t think you can do much better than Wesley Snipes as Blade.

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Best casting-Definately Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man… and whoever played J.Jonah Jameson in that movie was wonderful.
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

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I was thinking of starting a thread of movie rules; to wit:

Robot Arm’s First Law of Superhero Movie Casting: Do not cast an actor to play the hero; cast an actor who can convincingly play the secret identity.

Tobey Maguire was great as Peter Parker, Christopher Reeve was great as Clark Kent, and their movies worked because of it. Cast someone who’s believable in the secret identity and they’ll be believable as the hero, too.

Jessica Alba as an astronaut, not so much.

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I wouldn’t recast Constantine, just retitle it and rename some characters to remove the Hellblazer references. Keanu did a good job of playing the character in Constantine, even if the character wasn’t really John Constantine.

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That is the multitalented J.K. Simmons.

Psycho. Psychologist. Cop. Newspaper editor. The man can do it all.

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Yellow M&M.

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Ron Perlman was perfect in Hellboy, Stewart and McKellen in the X-franchise.

If they ever do a Watchmen flick (heaven forbid), I’d like William Macy for Rorschach, but I have no clue who’d be Dr Manhattan.

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Alternate 1983: Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, The Osterman Weekend) is brilliant in the long-promised Batman movie, critics agree…

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I was intrigued by early rumors that George Clooney would play Reed Richards in the FF movie – I think he’d have been great. Reed is a little older than the typical superhero – in his 30s when the ship went up, if I’m not mistaken. Then his friendship with Michael Chiklis (well cast) would’ve made more sense, age-parity-wise.

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You know who would have been great in the “Sheena: Queen of the Jungle” TV series other than the actress who got the role?

Anybody.

Seriously, you need a robust actress to play a robust jungle queen. That’s why Lucy Lawless worked so well as Xena. The woman from ‘The Lost World’ TV series would have been perfect.

But I just noticed, this is about movies, not TV series, though it’s pretty much the same thing. So I’ll chime in on Ron Perlman being dead center perfect for “Hellboy.”

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Agreed on J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and Ron Perlman as Hellboy. (The only other actor who could possibly play Hellboy well, but nowhere near AS well, would be Tom Waits.)

Did anyone ever see the hilarious superhero mockumentary The Specials? It stars Rob Lowe as a hero called The Weevil (right before his huge West Wing career comeback), and he looks an awful lot like Nightwing with the mask on. Ten years ago, Lowe would have been the perfect Nightwing (and could possibly even still pull it off today.)

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Heck, if the guys who made Grayson get a big picture deal, maybe they could hire him.

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When they make a Flash movie, Ryan Renolds is perfect for it. Perrfect.

Casting dead people I would have picked Brandon Lee as Nightwing and William Marshall as Martian Manhunter.

Wonder Woman is a pain to do.

Daredevil…Affleck wasn’t terrible, it’s just that everyone else in that film was so perfectly cast IMHO that he stood out.

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Oh, good choice!

I’ll second Paul Bettany (in his more gaunt mode) as John Constantine.

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Storm: Naomi Campbell [NSFW Link]
Has the necessary exotic look with piercing eyes. Though I typically hate “models-turned actresses,” I believe she actually did study acting growing up.

Invisible Woman: Charlize Theron
Can play the entire range from heroine (Aeon Flux) to devoted mother (North Country). (A close second would be Big Bad Voodoo Lou’s Gretchen Mol)

Though there hasn’t been a Doctor Strange movie yet, A Ninth Gate-version ofJohnny Depp would be well suited for the role, delivering it with a requisite balance of seriousness and strangeness.

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At least the rumored “zany comedy” version of Green Lantern, starring Jack Black as ‘Jud Plato,’ a slovenly slacker who gets the GL ring, fell apart before it made it into preproduction.

For the adaptation of Death: The High Cost of Living that is supposedly finally going to get made (with Neil Gaiman directing), I’ve always liked Rachael Leigh Cook for the part of Death.

Anyone read Preacher? These would be my casting picks for an adults-only HBO series:
Jesse Custer - Timothy Olyphant
Tulip O’Haire - Jaime Pressley
Cassidy - Gary Oldman or Ewan McGregor
Saint of Killers - Clint Eastwood or Lance Hendricksen
Herr Starr - John Malkovich
Featherstone - Joan Cusack
Hoover - Orlando Jones

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“Betty Page: Queen of the Nile” should be played by Rose McGowan, if Rose can dance. It’s a deal-breaker if she can’t dance, because the “raise the dead mummy” dance has to be spectacular.

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I always saw a Bettie Page/Rose McGowan similarity too, and really like both. Incidentally, how was Gretchen Mol in The Fabulous Bettie Page?

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Although I really didn’t like Ang Lee’s Hulk (what was Nick Nolte smoking?), I thought the casting of Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly was perfect. Later on I realized the pair would also make a great Superman/Lois Lane. I thought Brandon Routh was okay in Superman Returns, but he still looked too boyish. Bana has more of the chiseled, classic Superman look, and I think he could pull off Clark Kent just as well. And Jennifer Connelly has a maturity about her that would have made her way more believable than teeny-bopper Kate Bosworth.

Come to think of it, pretty much the only thing I wouldn’t have changed about the *Superman Returns * casting is Kevin Spacey. With a better script he could have done much more with Lex Luthor.

As far as *Fantastic Four * goes, I second Charlize Theron as Sue Storm – she would have been darn near perfect. I hadn’t thought of George Clooney as Reed Richards before, but now that you mention it, he could probably do a good job. For some reason I always thought Gary Sinese would make a good Reed, although I’m not sure why. He just has a cerebral air about him.

Going back even further, after seeing Alec Baldwin in The Shadow, I decided he should have been the one to play Batman in the first Tim Burton movie. That was one case, IMO, where the “cast the secret identity, not the hero” rule failed; Michael Keaton nailed the character of Bruce Wayne about as well as the mediocre script allowed him to, but he just wasn’t physically intimidating enough to be Batman. Christian Bale, on the other hand, was an excellent choice for both personas.

I also second Johnny Depp as Dr. Strange – I’ve never been a big fan of the character, but I would love to see Depp’s take on it!