Tag Archive: casting


“And now for something completely different.” Theatre. I love theatre. Correction: I love directing. I love pulling together an artistic whole by bringing out the technique and profession those performers, artisans, and techies can do when pushed.

Since I don’t get to step into a theatre very often. I occasionally satiate this desire by casting. For those who have lived inside a box, casting is finding the right performer for a part.

I think I picked up this from my father who was a HUGE Stephen King fan. About every few years he’d re-read “{en:The_Stand|The Stand}” and then tell me whom he would cast in it. (All of this is a rehash from an early post on LiveJournal)

But to do a casting session for my new blog I have decided to not merely push the envelope but send it into the next dimension. (Fortunately, C.O.D. is a thing of the past)

So this post’s casting session asks:

What if we were making a Live-Action “Teen Titans” film that was inspired by the recent Saturday Morning Cartoon?

Image from the Saturday Morning Cartoon: The Teen Titans

Teen Titans

Pict Actor Role Comments

Actor Role Comments

Thomas Decker

Robin
Decker has that steely-eyed look that says that eventually I will control whatever situation I’m in. He’s still got a youthful look about him and can easily play surprise as well as he can disdain.

Collins Pennie

Cyborg
Collins was actually one of the inspirations for this list. I’d done a casting a little while ago with actors from any time period, but I couldn’t find a good Cyborg. Then I saw the recent remake of Fame. Pennie has both strength as well as heart. He also has the most charismatic eyes since Levar Burton. So like Geordi LaForge, we immediately cover one of them.

Kay Panabaker

Starfire
Well, while I was stealing from Fame, I had to take Panabaker. She was marvelous both in the stage as someone young and awkward and stunning as she found her absolute inner strength. Her innocence couples wonderfully for Starfire.

Ellen Page

Raven
Out of makeup these two actresses look very similar. Granted anime girls often become interchangeable. In makeup it works, trust me 😉 And who could not fall in love for the razor sharp delivery as Juno for Page to make Raven so biting, yet adorable.

Jimmy Bennet
Beast Boy This role was one of those, “No clue… No clue… No Clue… No clue” when all of a sudden I thought about Star Trek. I thought about the kid going over the cliff, climbing up, and saying, “Is there a problem officer?” and I KNEW I had my Beast Boy.

In my head they all fit.

So, in a fit of complete fool heartiness, I edited the pictures. I wanted to get a rough look and see how I did. And now you can too. I actually ‘Photoshopped’ well, “Acorned” the photos.

Do they work? How would you cast it?

Addendum : If anyone is good at WordPress/CSS, drop me a line. No clue why my table text is so off kilter above. :-/

Now.. there are still no confirmed stories that David Tennant has no intention to leave at the end of series 4, or at the end of the 4 specials.

Statements have been made that he has a commitment to being in the 2009 specials.

But eventually, The Doctor will regenerate. (Because I refuse to see the show go away again)

So… now we start looking for potential actors.

Right now I have two front runners.

The first is Chiwetel Ejiofor
Which everyone on my reader list with the exception of s00j should easily recognize.

But I think my front runner is Alan Davies. Alan is best known in Britain as Jonathan Creek. He’s got a very subdued humour which gives him a very Steven Wright quality. He delivers comedic moments in a manner that I often describe as “Joke Grenades” He also has a very Heath Ledger look about him which I think has that ‘sex hook’ that the Doctor always naturally carries. Despite his subdued nature he has an amazing range.

My only concern is that he looks TOO much like Tom Baker. And it may be viewed as treading backwards on the series.

Judge for yourself:

Many of us had hoped for it.. It looks like it is actually going to pass.

Heroes’ villan Sylar (Zachery Quinto) to play young SPOCK in new Star Trek Series.

My undergraduate study (well one of them) was directing for stage. This of course was complimented by classes in Musical Theatre, Radio/TV Production, Film theory…

Directing is my first love. Once I get a cast into a rehearsal hall I am in ecstasy. I can pummel 15 minutes of a show for 3 hours and find driving emotions from a performer. I can buzz thru 45 minutes of material in 5 minutes and not lose the quality of a scene. It’s all a question of focus.

But enough threats to people I will soon work with 😉

One of the things that is rare to most of us in theatre, tv, and non-professional film production is ‘pre-casting.’ Pre-casting is where one can take the media and say, “I want X to play the role.”

I actually learned the process from my father (who had pretty much 0 contact with media). His favourite book was “The Stand” {i’ve never been able to make it thru anything by King}. He’d re-read the book every 2 years to then talk about ‘who should be in the movie.’

Many people like to play the pre-cast game. Certain media begs for it. Among my favourites that are (were) continually pre-cast by the public are: “Wrinkle in Time”, “The Endless/Sandman Series”, “X-Men”… and so forth. (Note: I’ve given up on Annie Lennox playing Desire.. She’s too old now. I guess I’ll just have to go with Tilda Swinton)

Of course then you get into “Hell-casting” where you pick the worst coupling of Director and Media and then decide how they’d cast it. “Spike Lee directs The Music Man with Eddie Murphy as Harold Hill and Chris Rock as the annoying kid with a lisp that Ron Howard played.”

Try a few of these Hell Castings if you like
Stanley Kubrick directs Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
M. Night Shyamalan directs Gone with the Wind
Tim Burton directs Cats (hrmn.)
George A. Romero directs Rent
Oliver Stone directs The Crow
and of course
Steven Speilberg and George Lucas co direct Mary Poppins
But I digress.

DaVinci Code was a stickler for me. I knew before I even read the book that Tom Hanks was hands down the absolute worst casting ever done.

Well, this is if we define casting as “Who is the best actor to represent the character in the book” If we define casting as, “In the hollywood political substructure, which name will counterbalance our budget with a guaranteed return to make this an instant blockbuster in the first few weeks until the word of mouth kills our revenue flow”

But to be honest… I couldn’t find an actor that worked for me. I was happy with one choice from the film. I was begrudgingly okay with another… but I wanted my perfect cast. Who would have made the film scream for me? When I do this kind of casting I do not think of budgets, name quality, politics. I put actor vs. actor based on what I’ve seen them do.

While ranting about tDvC last night I finally got my answers:

oh yes… and before you read…
Yes, virginia. There are spoilers.

How would Andrei Cast the Davinci Code?