A Classic Era LOTR Movie

[Archaic Elf]

You're right, Dwight Fry would be a great Wormtongue. Fry is excellent at behaving rather bold and being full of himself when he is dealing with the orderlies and security guard, but he turns sedate and cowardly whenever Lugosi appears before him. It's fantastic the way his persona shifts in certain scenes in Dracula, and that's a talent that's necessary for depicting Gollum, especially in scenes when Golllum loses his temper with Sam.

Karloff would be better in another role...Treebeard? I like the way Karloff and Lugosi interact in the few movies they worked on together, which is particularly cool since they weren't close in reality.

Alec Guinness as Gandalf would be great to see. Guinness and Karloff squaring off against Lugosi and Fry at Orthanc would be brilliant.

[Mister Underhill]

Well I had to reach all the way back to the long-defunct but still hanging in there EZBoard incarnation of the Downs to find it, but I still think my late 60s era all-star action extravaganza cast is pretty good:

Bilbo -- Sir Alec Guinness
Frodo -- Peter O'Toole
Sam -- Gene Hackman
Merry -- Michael Caine
Pippin -- Donald Sutherland
Gandalf -- Sir John Gielgud
Aragorn -- Clint Eastwood (or you could go William Holden)
Legolas -- Robert Redford
Gimli -- Telly Savalas (or George Kennedy)
Denethor -- Yul Brynner
Theoden -- Carroll O'Connor
Boromir -- Charles Bronson
Faramir -- Steve McQueen
Wormtongue -- Robert Vaughn (or Dennis Hopper)
Arwen -- Raquel Welch
Saruman -- Henry Fonda
Gollum -- Don Rickles
Galadriel -- Jane Fonda
Éomer -- James Coburn
Orcs -- Eli Wallach, Ben Johnson, Bruce Dern, Strother Martin

I note some overlap with previous posters -- great minds and all that.

Follow the link if you dare for other variations, including a black cast (Denzel as Aragorn ) and a made-for-TV cast (Hasselhoff as Aragorn ).

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Britney Spears as Éowyn

Underhill, you're a sadist! How could you even dare to introduce a thought like that into the collective consciousness?!

"Gollum = Urkel", on the other hand, amuses me.

Thanks for the link to that old thread - very amusing to read, and very nostalgic to see names that are now legend...

[Morthoron]

AN UNPRECEDENTED TECHNICOLOR EXTRAVAGANZA, PRODUCED BY DAVID O. SELZNICK (UNDER JOINT AGREEMENT WITH MGM/WARNER BROS.), DIRECTED BY VICTOR FLEMING, MICHAEL CURTIZ & CECIL B. DeMILLE.

Bilbo -- Charles Laughton
Thranduil -- Paul Henreid
Elrond -- Robert Donat
Gandalf -- Walter Huston
Beorn -- Victor McLaglen
Thorin -- Monty Woolley
Smaug -- George Sanders

Frodo -- James Cagney
Sam -- Thomas Mitchell
Aragorn -- Errol Flynn
Legolas -- Leslie Howard
Gimli -- Alan Hale
Denethor -- Claude Rains
Theoden -- Ralph Richardson
Boromir -- Cary Grant
Faramir -- James Stewart
Arwen -- Vivian Leigh or Merle Oberon
Saruman -- Sidney Greenstreet
Grima/Gollum -- Peter Lorre
Galadriel -- Greta Garbo
Éomer -- Tyrone Power

[Archaic Elf]

Clint Eastwood as Aragorn? Hmm. I think he would be a cool Strider, but once he declares himself to be Aragorn son of Arathron, it would be kind of weird. Eastwood is so gritty, I couldn't see him as a king. He could pull it off, but it would be surreal.

Carroll O'Connor as Theoden would be funny if he called Pippin a 'meat head' just one time. I don't think anyone would complain when he goes off to his funeral pyre.

Thanks for the link Mister Underhill. There's some hilarious stuff in there. I would have to say that Samuel L. Jackson should be Aragorn and Denzel Washington should be Saruman instead. Jackson would not be easy on the hobbits at all. That would be great.

LionPixie said the Mouth of Sauron should be Kurt Russell
RKittle said Butterbur should be Meat Loaf
Both those ideas are can't miss, especially if the Prancing Pony turns into a huge musical. Kurt Russell would own that role. Hopefully they give him an eye patch just for theatrics.

The Devo soundtrack idea would be funny for a LOTR John Hughes type teen flick. We have to destroy the ring or there won't be a Spring Break in Hobbiton. No way! Molly Ringwald for Eowyn. Maybe Patrick Swayze can be Boromir. Andrew McCarthy as a very, very unlikely Aragorn. Now I want to see Bill and Ted (Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves) as Frodo and Sam. I have to say though that a metal soundtrack would just be too cliche, so keep it New Wave.

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Frodo -- James Cagney

Now that would be something to see.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Frodo -- James Cagney

Originally Posted by Archaic Elf

Now that would be something to see.

Hey, they were trying to make Cagney take the Robin Hood part that Errol Flynn eventually turned into the classic adaptation. Cagney as Frodo makes more sense than as Robin of Loxeley. Cagney was very short, after all.

[skip spence]

How about Charton Heston as Boromir?

He would be perfectt for the scene when Boromir tries to take the ring from Frodo. No-one can despair in the gravel quite like old Charton Heston...

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Underhill, you're a sadist!

I aim to please.

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Aragorn -- Errol Flynn

I was thinking more like Macbeth-era Welles:



Something about that wild look in the eyes and the nerve it takes to wear a crown fashioned out of a cigar box with such swagger. Laughton as Bilbo is spot on however.

How about Spencer Tracy as Frodo?

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Perhaps James Stewart could double as Treebeard. He has that slow... way... of... talking...

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

I aim to please.

I was thinking more like Macbeth-era Welles:



Something about that wild look in the eyes and the nerve it takes to wear a crown fashioned out of a cigar box with such swagger. Laughton as Bilbo is spot on however.

How about Spencer Tracy as Frodo?

I had Errol as Aragorn merely to have his sidekick, Alan Hale, as Gimli. Great chemistry. The effete Leslie Howard would be a dainty Legolas.

Welles would be a good choice, although a bit more diabolical role seems in the offing for him. Have you ever seen the movie Prince of Foxes starring Welles as Caesare Borgia? He played that role to a tee, and might be a good candidate for the ill-fated Boromir.

Sepncer Tracy is an interesting choice for Frodo. We could add Frederick March and the character actors Henry Daniell and Conrad Veidt to the list somewhere as well.

[Mister Underhill]

Ah yes, of course, I completely overlooked Hale. But now that you mention it, Flynn-Hale as Legolas-Gimli would be a good combo. Flynn has that superhuman athletic ability that would translate well -- you imagine that if he shield-surfed, he would really do it, and it wouldn't be so bad. And of course he was a beautiful man, if you think of elves in that way, but he was a man, not a boy. He could rescue Legolas from that pretty-boy vacuousness that Bloom brought to the role.

Leslie Howard does have a mopiness that generally fits the gloomy side of the Eldar, but he always comes across as impotent too. I think he'd make a good Celeborn.

Mention of Conrad Veidt makes me think, of course, of Casablanca, which makes me think of Paul Henreid as a possible Aragorn, especially if you saw him more as a supporting player than in the central role that he assumes in Jackson's version. He has that sort of uncompromising righteousness down pat. Eh, but he could never stand up to Welles as Boromir. Speaking of which, "diabolical" is the perfect word for that quality that Welles has, not only in Prince of Foxes but in most of the roles he played. He'd make a great Feanor.

I'd say Olivier for Aragorn, but I always thought he was overrated. It's a tough role to cast. I could almost see Clark Gable in the part (think Mutiny on the Bounty), but he's such his own thing. Still, he could do the sly wit as well as the pathos. What about John Wayne?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

I'd say Olivier for Aragorn, but I always thought he was overrated. It's a tough role to cast. I could almost see Clark Gable in the part (think Mutiny on the Bounty), but he's such his own thing. Still, he could do the sly wit as well as the pathos. What about John Wayne?

Clark Gable does not seem too Aragornish to me. Too much of a smart-aleck and doesn't have a regal look (more like a knave bedding the court wenches ). Although, Gable would have been a huge box office draw, which is really all the studios cared about at the time.

John Wayne? That is funny. I still crack up at his portrayal of Genghis Khan in The Conqueror. Talk about miscasting!

How about Ronald Colman? He can be a rogue (Francois Villon in If I Were King) and lordly (Prisoner of Zenda). And let's not forget one of the greatest of character actors, Basil Rathbone!