Let's cast the Silmarillion

[Nogrod]

How about making it really radical? So forget al the "fan-poster"-idols and those more "beautiful than life" and cast a film with actually ordinary looking people? Well as they would be elves (and the Valar, the Maiar and the baddies) in the case of Silm as most, they should share some characteristics of them, but anyhow. So dissing all the "supermodels" and the fan-magazine -guys. Just making it for real in a sense?

Why Frodo is somewhat unbelievable in the films but Sam is believable? Because the first is the "poster boy" to gain the teen-audiences, and the other is the comical (fat) helper (which he is not) who actually does some real acting.

I've just been looking at a couple of "independent" films and the thing that struck me in them, was that the roles were not given to those who'd be perfectly beautiful / handsome (ready for the covers of the top magazines), but to those who were looking real and acted as they were the people they acted.

I mean, c'mon. The Pirates of the Caribbean vol.2 (or one to that matter). Yes Johnny Depp and Orlado are model-kind of guys (and Depp is also a good actor) and Keira is a very sexy. No doubt about these. But should those kind of persons - with our century's ideals of "being hot" - have been around the time of these pirate adventures? Probably not...

It might be just in vain to call for "real people" to act on Silmarillion, but surely, we could have some real-looking Elves around in the film (like those appearing shortly in the PJ film where the Fellowship is caught in Lorien - in the theater version - unhappily the best Elves were cut out from the extended version...and the most unelflike were given the lead roles, at least the males)? And anyhow, real personas, not just the cover guys and gals' who normally can't do anything else but look pretty / handsome?

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

How about making it really radical? So forget al the "fan-poster"-idols and those more "beautiful than life" and cast a film with actually ordinary looking people? Well as they would be elves (and the Valar, the Maiar and the baddies) in the case of Silm as most, they should share some characteristics of them, but anyhow. So dissing all the "supermodels" and the fan-magazine -guys. Just making it for real in a sense?

I agree to some point. I think Elves should be cast with some really unhuman-looking people (yeah, like the few scary looking archers in Lorien and the elf-guy who was accompanying Arwen to the West in the movies). But they shouldn't look like commoners, no way! They should be special. And they should be beautiful in some way at least, because surely there has never been anything like ugly elf?

As to the Men, I agree with you. We really should see normal people in these roles, as long as it isn't in contradiction with what they are described to look as in the books. For surely it can't be a very normal looking person who plays someone who is said to look e.g. noble and elf-like. I mean, the descriptions of the characters would pretty much ruin the commoner-looking -cast. Too many of them are described with words you can hardly use for every second guy you see. (And this is not to mean that filmstars'd be any better for these roles...)

The third point is that before we should cast the Silm, we should consider whether we'd like to have a pure fantasy tale, a legend or would we try to add some depth and make the story more human (which could ruin it; in the end, Silm's main merit is nobleness and high beauty and the feeling of a legend) and make the people look like real people. If we want to see the Silm as a legend, we shouldn't maybe have commoners in the main roles. A legend tale where e.g. Túrin is 170cm tall, a bit plump and has a potato-shaped nose slips over the edge to comedy. And surely that's not what we want. If we'd try the "more human" version, I'd be warmly recruiting a bit more commoner type actors. For I'm too a bit bored to se the same botox-faces all the time...

So, it depends on the viewpoint.

[Macalaure]

Good points, Nogrod and Lommy.

Originally Posted by Lommy

The third point is that before we should cast the Silm, we should consider whether we'd like to have a pure fantasy tale, a legend or would we try to add some depth and make the story more human (which could ruin it; in the end, Silm's main merit is nobleness and high beauty and the feeling of a legend) and make the people look like real people.

Well, I 'hope' for both. Surely it should be made to look like an ancient legend, but does that exclude depth? Interesting that you say adding depth and making it more human are the same (if I understand you right). I think it would be crucial for (a) Silmarillion movie(s) to have some "Elvish depth". In the LotR-movies we barely scratched the surface of the elvish soul and way of thinking. It is a great task to make the general audience understand why these elves are so obsessed with these three little stones, and that there is much more to them than their material value.

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Why Frodo is somewhat unbelievable in the films but Sam is believable? Because the first is the "poster boy" to gain the teen-audiences, and the other is the comical (fat) helper (which he is not) who actually does some real acting.

Frodo is unbelievable because he does not fit into his role and his acting ability, though more than decent in my mind, is not enough to compensate for that. Since the Silmarillion would take a budget of maybe more than 100 Million it can, of course, hardly be called independent. So you need some known actors/actresses in it. It's important to choose these in a way that they fit. Of course the main part of the roles will be played by more or less unknown actors. But, since nobody knows them, it's no fun to discuss about them.

Another idea: Tommy Flanagan
Good-looking, but not in a magazine-cover way. I can imagine him as some battle-hardened Edain of Beor's or Haleth's house. Hunthor, maybe?

[Brinniel]

Glorfindel = Hayden Christensen

Oh, please no. I hate that guy. He's a terrible actor (and in my opinion ruined Star Wars).

When I read the story of Turin, I could help but imagine Heath Ledger as Turin. I don't know why....

I think in order for The Silmarillion to work as a movie, a mostly unknown cast would be necessary (plus a really, really good director).

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I agree with you. Hayden Christensen should be banned from any movie production from this moment forth!

Heath Ledger might work. I am definitly not rejekting the idea, but I always pictured Mads Mikkelsen playing that role.

Well my judgement might be influenced by the fact that he is Danish.

[Gorthaur the Cruel]

So does anyone else agree that Adriana Lima would be perfect for the role of Luthien Tinuviel?

[Luinilwen]

Alright, this is only slightly better than the Chuck Norris idea.

Tulkas - John Cena Ok, so on Friday we get to see how bad he is at acting (The Marine) , but he's sure got enough muscle for the role