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Old 12-27-2007, 03:48 PM   #1
Thenamir
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Originally Posted by STW
How many picked Ian McKellen for Gandalf?
Actually, back in the day, my two top picks for Gandalf were Christopher Lloyd and Tom Baker...but I was hooted out of the board by the Connery faction.
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Old 12-28-2007, 10:06 AM   #2
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I've been giving this some thought, though apparantly not as much as some...however, provided that the principals from the LOTR movies are used as appropriate (Weaving/Elrond, McKellan/Gandalf, etc.), I offer these ideas as conversation-fodder, as most of them have not yet come up:

Mayor of Lake Town - David Bradley (Filch from the HP movies)
Thranduil - Marc Warren (or Johnny Depp, if you've got the budget)
Fili and Kili - For some reason James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley) keep popping into my head -- properly made up, of course.
Voice of Smaug - Ian McDiarmid
Voice of the raven Roac, son of Carc - Gilbert Gottfried
Bard - James Purefoy
Thorin - Dadgummit, I can't get the voice of Hans Conried (from the Rankin-Bass version) out of my head.
Bombur - Mark Addy (Roland from A Knight's Tale)
Beorn - Timothy Spall
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Old 01-02-2008, 06:10 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thenamir View Post
Voice of the raven Roac, son of Carc - Gilbert Gottfried


Ahahahahahahahaha! Are you serious? His voice on another bird (be it animated or CGI, I don't care which!) would take all of the seriousness out of it for me! Everyone coming out of the theater would be saying, "A movie with a talking bird I can stand, but another one where HE does the voice is just wierd..."
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Old 01-02-2008, 07:18 PM   #4
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Who's been watching too much Pirates of the Caribbean ...?

I have been lurking here for a while, but the time has come to reveal my hand. I have shamelessly borrowed some of the ideas previously put forward, where they appeal to me. So, here it is, my dream cast:

Director: Terry Gilliam

He would be my first choice, though he would be unlikely to get it as he is not the most popular director in Hollywood. I love his films, and I think that he would get the right mix of fantasy, whimsy and darkness. I see a film of The Hobbit as being similar in tone to the likes of Baron Munchhausen and The Brothers Grimm. If not him, then Tim Burton might well provide the right touch. Jackson, while I am a fan of his, would be too unsubtle and has too much of a tendency to the epic for this project (as director, that is).

Bilbo Baggins: Martin Freeman

Ian Holm always will be THE Bilbo for me, as for many others. But, with the best will in the world, I can’t see him being cast, nor particularly wanting to do it, now. Lal has, however, suggested an ideal substitute. Martin Freeman is an excellent character actor and excels at these ‘everyman’ characters. Bilbo is, in many ways, quite similar to Arthur Dent. A quintessentially English bachelor drawn somewhat reluctantly into an adventure and rather bemused by it all.

Gandalf: Ian McKellen

Unlike Holm, McKellen is both capable and willing to reprise his role. There simply is no other choice.

Thorin Oakenshield: Geoffrey Rush

The role of Thorin requires a strong character, but not a heartthrob. Geoffrey Rush would be capable of combining majesty and prickly stubbornness in the right measures, while still making him a sympathetic to audiences (if he can make an Elizabethan spymaster with a nice sideline in torture sympathetic, then he can do the same with Thorin).

As for the remaining Dwarves, I fear that their number may be cut back in the film version, to save time and make it easier for the audience to pick up quickly who is who. I have assumed, however, that we must cast the full complement.

Balin: Bill Nighy
Dwalin: Stellan Skarsgard

Of the Dwarves, the role of Balin would probably be the most important, other than Thorin himself, and so merits a major actor. Bill Nighy fits the bill for me as the kindly but serious Balin. I have liked Stellan Skarsgard in most things that I have seen him in and he comes across as a natural Dwarf. With make-up, he could look sufficiently similar to Bill Nighy to play his brother.

Dori: Jeremy Renner
Nori: Ray Stevenson
Ori: Michael Klesic

Other than Fili and Kili, I see these three as the youngest of the Dwarves, so the actors should be younger than the likes of Rush and Nighy. I picked three actors who I have seen recently, who aren’t ‘big names’, who look relatively Dwarfish and who could be made up to look quite similar. I am not sold on them though.

Oin: Kevin McNally
Gloin: John Rhys-Davies

I like the idea of John Rhys-Davies playing Gimli’s father. With a sufficiently different make-up job, the family resemblance could be caught, without him being identical. Kevin McNally is another refugee from the Pirates series who I can see making a good Dwarf (it’s the ‘craggy-faced’ look I’m going for, when casting my Dwarves).

Fili: Oliver Phelps
Kili: James Phelps

Hmm, I am not sure that Fili and Kili are identified as twins in the book, but I like the idea. Thena suggested the Phelps twins, so I have gone with that as I couldn’t find any other suitable actors who are twins. OK, they are not ‘craggy-faced’, but Fili and Kili need to look younger than the others, to my mind. I wonder, however, whether they are sufficiently strong actors. Fili and Kili have to make an impression for their deaths in the Battle of Five Armies to be moving enough. I should imagine that there are other good, relatively young actors who could be made to look sufficiently similar, so remain open to suggestions.

Bifur: Bill Bailey
Bofur: Gordon Kennedy
Bombur: Robbie Coltrane

I like Lal’s idea, inspired by Hookbill, to have comedy Dwarves. But to have comedians play all of them would be too much. I see these three as the comic relief (ideally cleverer and less unsubtle than Jackson’s variety), particularly given the scrapes that Bombur gets himself into. So, three comedians to play these three roles. Bill Bailey is a natural Dwarf and Robbie Coltrane is the right - er - dimension. Kennedy, who started in comedy shows, feels right too.

William Huggins: Richard Ridings
Bert: Mackenzie Crook
Tom: Lee Arenberg

What is it with the Pirates series, that its actors keep popping up in my ideal cast? Arenberg is Crook’s sidekick in the Pirates films and Ridings his sidekick in The Brother Grimm. All three specialise in grotesque characters, although some CGI enhancement might be necessary to turn them into Trolls. Comedy Trolls? Well, I think that the chapter is rather funny, if darkly so. These three would be perfect.

Elrond: Hugo Weaving

I am not entirely sold on Weaving. I thought him rather too grumpy in Jackson’s trilogy, and he needs to be even lighter in this film. But, if he can manage that while not playing the character completely differently, I could live with him for the sake of continuity.

Goblin King: Timothy Spall

Another actor who can play grotesque characters well. Perhaps too small a role for him, but he could make a great cameo out of it.

Gollum: Andy Serkis

Who else?

Beorn: Ray Winstone

Brian Blessed looks the part, but I am not sure that he is ‘serious’ enough for the role. Ray Winstone would bring out well the ‘geezer’ bear inside the man.

Thranduil: David Tennant
Galion the Butler: Dylan Moran

I like the idea of casting David Tennant, and think this role would suit him best. To my mind, he would capture the right combination of lightness and gravity, and he looks Elvish to me. Hookbill’s suggestion of Dylan Moran for the drunken butler was an inspired one. That could provide another great comic interlude.

Bard: Daniel Craig
Master of Laketown: Jonathan Pryce

Although he doesn’t come into it until the latter half, Bard is the ‘hero’ role and requires a heroic actor. Daniel Craig was the first name that came to mind, although I can also see Clive Owen or James Purefoy in the role. The common quality is that none are ‘pretty boys’ in the Orlando Bloom mould, but can give the role the brooding, dignified power it requires. Jonathan Pryce has always been my pick for the Master of Lake Town (although a younger Pryce would also have made a great Bilbo). He has the corrupt dignitary role down to pat in films such as Baron Munchhausen and The Brothers Grimm.

Smaug (voice of): Alan Rickman

With Jeremy Irons as my second choice. Both can get across the sheer, malign intelligence and arrogance that drips from Smaug’s words.

Dain Ironfoot: Brendan Gleeson

Another natural Dwarf and, since the other Dwarfish roles were taken, I have put him here.

Note, I have gone with the cast as it is in the book. If I had my way, there would be no young Aragorn, no Legolas and no Arwen. They simply do not feature enough in the story to make it worth including them without a major (and unwelcome) rewrite. I would not object to the inclusion of the White Council’s attack on Dol Guldur, if the story itself is to span two films, but the roles of Saruman and Galadriel would not be an issue, provided that Christopher Lee and Cate Blanchett were prepared to reprise their roles.

Indeed, Cate Blanchett might be essential, to provide at least one strong female role. I would not be happy with a rewrite to provide a love interest for Bilbo. A female Bard? Perish the thought!
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Old 01-02-2008, 09:05 PM   #5
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Beorn: Ray Winstone

Brian Blessed looks the part, but I am not sure that he is ‘serious’ enough
You missed Blessed's star turn as Exeter in Henry V? Grim, intimidating, and horrendously strong. (When, on the verge of Agincourt, his squire hands up his weapon and it's a mace, not a sword, one can only think "Of course!")
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Old 01-03-2008, 09:54 AM   #6
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Brian Blessed would be terrific as either Thorin or Beorn. After thinking about it, I would much rather see him as Thorin due to the much larger part and he can really do some serious acting - providing the Dwarves will be allowed to be serious and not buffoons.
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Old 01-03-2008, 12:23 PM   #7
Thenamir
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Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Thenamir has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!
I'll have to admit, Alan Rickman as the voice of Smaug could work very nicely, but like James Earl Jones, I hear his voice in my head already for too many characters, from Severus Snape to Marvin the Paranoid Android. Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious, in case you've been living in a cave for the last 30 years) is a classically-trained stage actor, and as long as he doesn't go into that "Sidious croak" I think he could pull off a similar quality of sneering disdain, as he did playing the doctor in Sleepy Hollow.

Just my two cents worth.
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Old 01-03-2008, 06:46 PM   #8
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"Tennis balls, my liege."

Christian Bale would be good as Bard, too, but I think we should try to stick with obscure British actors and avoid the really popular fellows, though I have a great deal of respect for Christian Bale (who was also good in Henry V).
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Old 01-03-2008, 07:20 PM   #9
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"...that if requiring fail, he will compel.
So much his claim, his threatening, and my message.

Unless the Dolphin be herein?

Dau: The Dauphin- I stand for him.
What to him from England?

Exe: Scorn, contempt, slight regard, and aught else that
might not misbecome the mighty sender:
That doth he prise you at.

[from memory, so I don't vouch for every word. But a great scene greatly played, esp. by the redoubtable Paul Scofield. And Blessed.]



_____________________________________________

Whoooooaa! Just had a lightbulb moment: what about Sir Derek Jacobi as Bilbo? Christ, he'd be brilliant! Of course, I can't see him taking that much time away from the stage.
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