Casting Call!

Posted: 6th March 2012 by Jeff Bouley / Deacon Blue in Ruminations

Given how phenomenally big a critical and commercial hit “The Watchmen” was as a comic book mini-series and graphic novel…and how long it took to get to the big screen…I certainly think I can expect that my Whethermen characters should see motion picture adaptation treatment in, oh, about 80 years.

Probably in an alternate-reality version of our own Earth.

But hey, a guy can dream, right?

So, in a totally frivolous fill-in while you wait for the next chapter of “The Gathering Storm,” how about we fantasize about who should play the various characters in my tales on the big screen.

Query: Played by Laurence Fishburne, acting like a 50/50 combination of the “traditional” stylings of Samuel L. Jackson and Forest Whitaker. Alternately, could be played by a moderately slimmed-down Forest Whitaker instructed to act around 50 or 60 percent like he thinks Samuel L. Jackson would in the role.

Underworld: Salma Hayek, instructed to channel quite a bit of Angelina Jolie, or Gina Torres.

Mad Dash: John Cho, though some slight digital de-aging might be required, given Mad Dash’s relative youth.

Loc-Down (Zoe Dawson): I like the idea of Zoe Saldana or possibly Rosario Dawson, though both are technically too old to convincingly play a college student, so the character and plot may have to be tweaked to make her an older character. I’m not familiar enough with young Afro-Latina actors to be able to come up with someone who could play a woman in her early 20s. Vanessa Hudgens might be able to pull it off. In any case, whomever has the role wouldn’t even have to loc her hair, as digital effects would be needed for those anyway, and for non-action sequences I’m sure a convincing wig could be produced.

Solstice: Brenda Song could probably do it if she were able to Goth herself up a bit.

Of course, those are just a few characters, but it’s a start.

Agree? Disagree? Ideas for other characters?

Well, then…hit that speech bubble button at the top of the post and comment. 😉

NOTE: I just realized Loc-Down’s civilian name is actually a mashup of the two actresses I picked to play her. Weird. I mean, I like Rosario Dawson, and that’s where I got that last name, but Zoe was picked because it was one of the names on the short list for my own daughter (though we didn’t choose that name, ultimately)

  1. Deacon Blue says:

    Incidentally, if you’re unsure of racial profile of any characters, their civilian names in most cases give a pretty good clue, at this page:

    http://whethermentales.wordpress.com/about/whos-who-among-heroesvillainsetc/

    Some last names, of course, could invite Black or White interpretations, and I haven’t been explicit (yet) as to the races of many of those characters (though a racial breakdown of everyone will come in the future). But, it will trend more toward Black than White given the genetic dynamics of transhuman powers.

  2. mimgodfather says:

    As far as Mad Dash goes, if age is a concern I think that Harry Shum Jr (apparently he’s on Glee, so he can appear younger than he is) would work: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1484270/

    For Ladykiller/Honeybadger, since her surname appears to be of Canadian descent (thank you, Wikipedia), I think Canadian actress Erica Durance (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1570568/) would work although she’s a few years older than Shum (not sure on your ideal age range between the two characters). If not her, Lena Headey (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372176/) can look much younger than she really is based on imdb pictures.

    For Janus, I can’t help but feel that Hugo Weaving would be perfect for the character. Or possibly even Tim Curry (in a different but equally powerful way).

  3. Deacon Blue says:

    I like all those choices. Think your first choice for Ladykiller works well, particularly since I just determined (as I update character and story notes) that she’s got auburn hair and occasionally dyes it strawberry blonde. Looks like Durance could wear either shade well, particularly the former.

    Glad to see you chime in on Janus. I purposefully left him alone in my post thinking you or someone else might have some good ideas for him. Both guys you picked would be good at doing a quietly (for the most part) menacing guy and projecting plenty of personality even from behind a mask all the time.

  4. Deacon Blue says:

    Via tweet, mimgodfather noted that Zoë Kravitz could be a good choice for Loc-Down (another Zoe to play Zoe…how interesting…)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zo%C3%AB_Kravitz