“Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dadar!
Iar Wain, jolly wain, Iarwain Ben-adar!”
I think Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Henry from The Tudors) could work. That same sort of scary intensity; well-meaning, thinks he’s the s***, but could fly off the handle at any second.
But the whole thing is ridiculously unwieldy. It would be like filming the Bible. (“All right! Second Kings! My favorite…”) I think Children of Hurin would be doable, though nearly too ridiculously convoluted for any non-supergeek audience to grasp.
Re-read the OP. The tale of Beren and Luthien, or the downfall of Numenor, would especially lend themselves well to movies, I think. If not live-action, then in Pixar-style animation.
Some more casting possibilities:
Manwe: Patrick Stewart, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Ungoliant (voice): Julianne Moore, The Big Lebowski
Hurin: Christopher Eccleston, Doctor Who
Huor: Andrew Garfield, The Amazing Spider-Man
Turin: Chris Hemsworth, Thor
Nienor: Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Tuor: Chris Pine, Star Trek
Idril: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Ar-Pharazon: Tom Hiddleston, The Avengers
Oh, I do like the idea of Jude Law as Sauron.
Thingol - Liam Neeson
Ar-Pharazon - Bradley Cooper
Eöl (the Dark Elf) - Johnny Depp
Maeglin (his dark son, called the wickedest elf ever) - ??
Faenor - Joel McHale, if only I thought JM had the chops for it. The look is about as good a fit as I think we can get, maybe not though.
I could definitely see Bradley Cooper as Ar-Pharazon. I was very impressed by his range in Limitless, playing, by turns, a schlub, an on-task writer, a junkie in withdrawal, a schmoozer, a Wall Street titan, and a polished political candidate.
I don’t have much other than Rufus Sewell as Feanor.
I have a suggestion or two.
Maeglin wasn’t the wickedest. He was the Benedict Arnold of the first age is all. I’d say the wickedest was Caranthir (a bunggler though.)
Why not turn The Story of Beren and Luthien into an action movie.
Sylvester Stallion as Beren
Mandy Moore as Luthien
[Rocky] Luthien! [/Rocky]
Do they have to be in wigs and makeup as animals?
How about Jeremy Irons as Eöl and Johnny Depp as Maeglin? And Paul Bettany could play an Elf pretty well, I bet.
Some other prospects for any of the hero roles: Gerard Butler, Russell Crowe and Clive Owen.
Johnny Depp needs to be in it somewhere.
Doctor # 10, too.
And some really hot chicks.
After that, I got nuthin
I was going to joke that Billy Connolly and one of the sons from Boondock Saints should play Hurin and Turin, so you could make a reference to Hurin being imprisoned for decades. But now I’m thinking that Billy would indeed make a good Hurin.
Hmmm, and looking at the casting for of one of The Hobbit films, it looks like they’re thinking the same thing as he will be playing a dwarf in it. He should be pretty good except that I’m getting tired of dwarves with scottish accents.