I've added a poll with everyone's name! You get to vote on the cast list you prefer the most. In the event of a tie, I'll edit the poll to be the villains! Cool, huh? The way I see it, is you vote on the main heroes cast - the group of actors who appear in each film. But in a tie, we'll use the villains, and because some of you decided to, extras, such as Mole's Younger Phoenix and Proj's casting for Merlin, will be added to the tie-breaker!
Here's the cast lists;
ULTIMATE HOUDE
Captain Britan - Channing Tatum
Meggan - Kristen Bell
Nightcrawler - Ray Park
Shadowcat - Rachel Bilson
Phoenix - Laura Prepon
SSJMOLE
Captain Britain - Christopher Eccleston
Meggan - Alyson Hannigan
Nightcrawler - Crispin Glover
Shadowcat - Summer Glau
Phoenix - Erin Cahill
BLUEBEAST
Captain Britain - Jonathan Rys Meyers
Meggan - Bryce Dallas Howard
Nightcrawler - Alan Tudyk
Shadow Cat - Rachel McAdams
Phoenix - Claire Danes
MARVELMAN
Captain Britain - Matt Salinger
Meggan - Liv Tyler
Nightcrawler - n/a (Alan Cumming isn't allowed)
Shadowcat - n/a (Ellen Page isn't allowed)
Phoenix - Famke Janssen (technically a different character)
COMPOUND
Captain Britain - Paul Bettany
Meggan - Audrey Tautou
Nightcrawler - James McAvoy
Shadowcat - Jena Malone
Phoenix - Clea DuVall
PROJECTX2
Captain Britain - Simon Pegg
Meggan - Ashley Jensen
Nightcrawler - Christopher Eccleston
Shadowcat - n/a (none chosen)
Phoenix - Nick Frost (voice)
THOR
Captain Britain - Clive Owen
Meggan - Isla Fisher
Nightcrawler - Alan Tudyk
Shadowcat - Missy Peregrym
Phoenix - Bridget Moynahan
WADE_WILSON
Captain Britain - Daniel Craig
Meggan - Kim Raver
Nightcrawler - Tony Jaa
Shadowcat - Natalie Portman
Phoenix - Vera Fermiga
That's the cast lists!
And now, for a little bit of fun. I feel as the winner of the previous round, it's unfair that we pick the property but can't cast it. So, I present something I hope each winner does from now on - making a cast list out of the actors chosen by those who've entered! That's right, I could only cast actors in the roles you've already cast them as, I just pick the ones I think work the best together. Now, because this is me, it's rather holistic so a selection doesn't mean I think it's the best actor for that part, but rather the best actor for that part in a film with this cast.
And onward we go;
Captain Britain -
Simon Pegg
ProjectX2's choice and I went for it for a couple of reasons - firstly, Captain Britain isn't the leader of the team; Nightcrawler is. Casting someone like Daniel Craig would be great if he's the leader, but he isn't. Instead, Captain Britain has to be a somewhat brash, off-kilter lunkhead. Simon Pegg, I think, would have so much fun doing it. Which also plays into another reason - Captain Britain wears a mask, much like Batman, and thus, needs a lot of physical acting to work and Simon Pegg, being a comedian, is used to medium shots where he'd use his entire upper body to act. He'd have to bulk up a
little (he shouldn't be a muscleman). Captain Britain shouldn't be Captain America wearing a different flag, speaking in a different accent. (By the way, looking for a pic, I did a google image search on him. The first page has pictures of him on a toilet reading the financial times, wearing women's lingerie as he gives a presentation, and on a football pitch with Nick Frost pulling down his shorts...) This take on Captain Britain immediately makes the film a much more surreal action comedy which is exactly the right vibe. A bewildered Captain Britain in Wonderland is what Simon Pegg would bring to this. It would work brilliantly. Just imagine this shot in Wonderland with the Excalibur cast behind him and you get what I mean.
Meggan -
Liv Tyler
Meggan has a number of things to do - firstly, she has to be an appropriate romantic partner for Captain Britain, and secondly, she's got to be the most gorgeous woman on the team. For the first, I picked one of the Meggan choices that fit age-wise with Simon Pegg. I also liked the idea of a balding comic geek (which what the wonderful Mr Pegg is) next to the daughter of Aerosmith. I think immediately we get the idea that Meggan's power is to be your fantasy woman. I picked Liv Tyler because she can do the 'alien wonder' element of Meggan's character, and she knows how to laugh, which I think would be a big part of the character's relationship with Nightcrawler. But the main thing is - her demure grace. She's very engaging but very soft and subtle. She speaks and moves with a soft grace that allows her to appear somewhat otherworldy and imaginary - which is great for an elf, and it's great for Meggan.
Nightcrawler -
Alan Tudyk
I saw the Tony Jaa clip.
Amazing. I thought about Alan just doing the voice. I decided against it. For this reason - Nightcrawler is the leader. He has to be able to order the rest of the group around. Alan with his loud, bombastic voice, and very distinctive face, can do that - plus with the German accent and in the costume - he'll be very engaging indeed. Just look at how he stole every scene in DODGEBALL just because he put on a pirate voice. If Alan Cumming can be Nightcrawler with all the acrobatic CGI, so can Alan Tudyk (Nightcrawler = an Alan it seems). See, while Tony Jaa's amazing, Nightcrawler
has to have CGI - his tail. I see most of Nightcrawler's action scenes being swashbuckling with a healthy use of his tale as a fifth limb, and thus, a natural acrobatic isn't too required for
this movie (i.e. the one I'm pretending to cast). Another thing is that Alan Tudyk is a terrific comedy actor, having been in SPAMALOT and genuinely funny in FIREFLY. This means the two male leads of this film are
both comedy actors which makes for great synergy - especially when you consider the idea of the male action heroes of this story being continually caught unawares...
Shadowcat -
Jena Malone
I have to say, I picked her through process of elimination. I had to pick a woman who was young, looked very "normal" (since being very mundane is part of Shadowcat's unique identity in this cast of characters), was young, and couldn't, in any way, upstage (this sounds mean) Phoenix or Meggan in the galmour department. I've never seen her act to my knowledge, but that's okay, I suppose.
Phoenix -
Clea DuVall
I almost went for Claire Danes, but I didn't want another glamourous Hollywood beauty in the film. We've got Liv Tyler. But she had to be visually different to Shadowcat. Clea DuVall has a somewhat rugged and ominous toughened look to her, that makes her extremely different to Jena's down-to-earth prettiness and Liv's otherworldly grace. Winner. Phoenix I think is actually one of the terrific roles in this cast, because she has to go from enjoying this crazy utopia world that we all take for granted, to haunted by terrible dreams of her future home. I think that darkness is going to be a casual trait of the character, and she's rather cathartic, giving her a very dark sense of humour. Whereas Shadowcat would add humour through adding a mundane viewpoint to what's going on, Meggan would be the laughter, Captain Britain would be the surrealist, and Nightcrawler the slapstick, Phoenix would add a black comedy to the cast.
As for some sidekicks, I can't help but put this in;
Merlin -
John Cleese
*ahem*
But the villains!
Gatecrasher -
Judi Dench
If you can order about James Bond, you can order about Excalibur. I think this is brilliant. She would actually make the villain and the film better with her presence. Gatecrasher is incapable of being a dull villain if Judi Dench is playing her. She will spin gold out of such a role. What might be interesting is to LOTR-her, in that make her giant-sized compared to the rest of the cast. Not sure, because there's something to be said of Gatecrasher being shorter than Captain Britain and him not taking her seriously as a villain until she knocks him out with one punch.
I pick Gatecrasher as the villain because I like the idea that the first film involves a reality creeping into ours, threatening to overwrite it. And I like the idea that it's actually, on the surface, a happy fairy tale land and not a terror-world. And I like the idea of Excalibur going in to solve the mystery, only to get lost and winding up stuck in a family squabble of otherworldly princes and princesses, branded as outcasts, having to deal with an insane world filled with insane citizens and laws of physics, all under the rule of an insane villain, in an adventure that will give them no glory, no money, and no fame. I just love the idea of them trying to see if something innocuous is a threat, and then coming completely undone by their own lack of grace. An alternative is that Meggan somehow comes from this realm and asks Excalibur for help. My thinking is that this stupid, insane, idiotic, fantasy world allows each character to get what they want - a transcendent experience. Nightcrawler gets to be a swashbuckling daredevil hero. Captain Britain finds complete contentment and bliss and adoration of the people. Meggan gets to become a beloved, integral part of a society (I imagine her being crowned Queen when Gatecrasher is toppled). Phoenix gets to glimpse at heaven. Shadowcat has a wild adventure through time and space (I imagine she is forced by Gatecrasher to wed her ugly troll prince).
And it'd be directed by
Guillermo Del Toro, because it would kick ***.
Ahab -
Sam Neil
In part setting up the sequels, I think in the brief glimpses of Phoenix's terrible future we'd see Ahab. It would be very, very innocuous, but it would be there. And thus, for this small cameo, I'd cast the terrific Sam O'Neil; he's commanding enough to totally dominate the wills of the heroes, and because he'd be able of making a genocidal, mass-murdering monster like Ahab enigmatic and likable with a wink and a smile.
At the end of the film, I'd do something special. I like how at the end of old James Bond films it'd say, "James Bond will return in... THUNDERBALL". I like how we get a glimpse of the next film at the end of the first. So when this film ends, I'd have one of two previews;
Mojo -
John Goodman
There was a temptation to make this Nick Frost, but no one picked him for this. In any case, John Goodman would be a great Mojo. I can imagine Mojo watching tapes of Excalibur trouncing Gatecrasher, and Mojo decided to defend his lover's honor by enticing them into one of his murderous reality tv show (I think Mojo and Gatecrasher being on-again off-again lovers would be hysterical). I think Mojo would be a lot more active and in the public-eye than normally depicted. I think his ego would clash wonderfully with Captain Britain. Mojo's always hogging the camera.
or...
Sat-Yr-9 -
Michelle Pfeiffer
I picked Michelle Pfeiffer because I thought it would be cool if she was older than Captain Britain, and thus, had a more of a Mrs Robinson element to their relationship (which would be as funny as it was sexy). Also, it continues my theme of casting powerful star actors as the villains, since the heroic cast doesn't have such actors really. It's the kind of Christopher Reeve/Brandon Routh alongside Gene Hackman/Kevin Spacey approach, but to a lesser extreme. Basically, the reason for this is that the one villain, on their own, has to have more dramatic weight than the entire cast of heroes in order to be a true, effective threat. So casting name actors in these roles helps do that. As for the cameo ending with Sat-Yr-9, Sat-Yr-9 would actually have a cameo in the film. She was once Captain Britain's lover and such, there'd be a picture of her somewhere in Captain Britain's belongings. So we would've seen her face for sure. Then, at the end of the movie, after the credits, we see Wonderland - razed. It's pillaged, strip mined, and gorged. And in the destruction, we see it's architect, Sat-Yr-9. She just looks, with pride, at the destruction. Never says a word. Curtain.
So that's what I'd do if I could pick and choose from your terrific cast lists. Kinda fun, no?
Okay - poll's up. Let's get voting on who's cast you liked the best. We're going to have to play fair - don't vote for yourself, okay?
Poll closes in THREE days - that's the 10th.
Get to it!
