Anyone remember "Wizard Casting call"

[Johnny Drama]

Anyone remember Casting Call?
Or even how awesome Wizard USED to be?
I miss the casting calls, the home made heroes (where fans would make superheroes action figures), Jim Mcglauclin (sp?) and all the weird pie references.

While going through back issues of Wizard dating back to 1993,
nostalgia set in as I read casting calls,
and as A child I thought these casting choices were spot on.

but man were they crap. some good choices tho. They predicted Ray Park for Snake Eyes 7 years before his actual role in GI Joe and they also predicted Patrick Stewart for Professor Xavier. Then again they also suggested Fabio as Thor and Glen Danzig (yes, the singer) as...Wolverine.
Heres an example: X-Men. I bolded the choices I thought were decent/good (for it's time) and everything un-bolded is just garbage.

X-men

Xavier-Patrick Stewart
Bishop-Michael Dorn
Colossus-Dolph Lundgren
Cyclops-Michael Biehn
Gambit-Jean-Claude Van Damme??
Storm-Iman Bowie???
Psylocke-Tia Carrere
Sabretooth-Clancy Brown
Magneto-Rutger Hauer
White Queen-Rebecca de Mornay
Juggernaut-Vader???
Jean Grey-Nicole Kidman
Wolverine-Glenn Danzig????????
Cable-Clint Eastwood??????

 

[JackBauer]

Oh yeah, I remember those... And yeah, I definitely liked those as a kid, but looking back, they're pretty crappy. Maybe that's why they stopped it. It was fun and all, but the guys at Wizard were just rubbish at it.

I remember their casting call for Young Justice:

Robin - Tobey Maguire
Superboy - Freddie Prinze Jr.
Impulse - Seth Green
Arrowette - Sarah Michelle Gellar
Wonder Girl - Selma Blair
Secret - someone from Dawson's Creek, IIRC

They're supposed to be in they're early teens, chrissakes!

 

[Johnny Drama]

Hahaha wow..
Tobey as Robin???
Was this before or after Spiderman?

 

[Chris Wallace]

Before.
They still do them from time to time, actually. I find it goofy for the most part. I can count on one hand the # of castings that actually came to be & most of their suggestions were ridiculous.

 

[Addendum]

I never saw them pick Danzig for Wolverine. That must have taken place when I stopped buying it monthly. I do remember them picking Robert DeNiro of all people, for Wolverine. The accompanying headshot was from the remake of Cape Fear

 

[newwaveboy87]

to be fair, Casting Call was based on looks. not who was a decent actor for the role.

X-Men 2/3 included:

Spoiler

Tia Carrere as Psylocke
Jon Favreau as Beast
Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
Natalie Portman as Shadowcat
Dermot Mulroney as Gambit
David Chokacki as Angel
Scott Speedman as Iceman
Roland Kickinger as Colossus
Carrot Top as Arcade
Mel Gibson as Sebastian Shaw
Gabriel Byrne as Proteus
Brian Thompson as Apocalypse

the best in sheer WTF?-ness was when they recast the Batman franchise shortly after Batman & Robin. bolded ones are my WTF? choices.

Spoiler

Alec Baldwin as Batman
Kyle Gibson as Robin
Jason Gedrick as Nightwing
Anthony Hopkins as Alfred
Robyn Lively as Batgirl
John Mahoney as Gordon
Willem Dafoe as Joker
Joe Pesci as Penguin
Mel Gibson as Two-Face
Julie Strain as Catwoman
Kevin Spacey as Riddler
Julia Roberts as Poison Ivy
Patrick Stewart as Mr. Freeze
Steve McMichael as Bane
Marcus "Buff" Bagwell as Killer Croc
Jeff Goldblum as Scarecrow
John Malkovich as Ra's Al Ghul

 

[K.B.]

99% of the casting calls blew goat balls.

 

[newwaveboy87]

oh but they were entertaining!

 

[Chris Wallace]

After a while they ceased to be anything but filler. All too often Wizard runs stuff that, IMO, serves no purpose other than to occupy pages. Like when they ran this goofy strip about who should direct Spider-Man. Utter nonsense, w/no entertainment value whatsoever.
Plus, they're the stuff that inspires the endless casting threads we find on these boards.

 

[PLAS]

I stopped reading it in 04-05, but I bought it religiously from 97-03, I would never miss an issue
then the writers I liked left to Toy Fair and eventually made Robot Chicken
then Jim left
and they ****ed the price list
and became less funny
then I lost interest

but there were some very cool features
as for the Casting Calls, they made some really cool ones, like one for Astro City
methinks the advent of The Comic Book Film made the section redundant, I mean, why make a "wishlist article" on who'd look cool or play a great Batman when on the film news section they had an item on Christian Bale getting signed for the part?

 

[Johnny Drama]

^True.
When Jim left everything went way downhill...

 

[Artistsean]

They weren't always that good, but they were fun. And maybe they could bring it back and actually try harder at who they would cast. Not just based on looks.
Since comic films are all the rage now, it would be a smart move and they could base some of their choices using movies that are out or being made right now.


I also think they should doing voice casting,
Like Animated Casting call:
Who they would get to animate it, Warner, Fox, Timm, etc.
and who would they cast as the voices too
egh, maybe that wouldn't be as interesting.




I have an idea for a casting, but I am debating whether or not to post it.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I think at one point they picked Andre Braugher as the voice of Silver Surfer.
Kinda funny now.

 

[SalaciousVC]

Howie Long as Eddie Brock

=/

 

[Chris Wallace]

At one time I was diggin' the idea of Nikki Cox as MJ.

 

[Johnny Drama]

Me too, thought it was perfect at the time. Still, in her 30's she'd still be better than Kirsten Dunst

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ironically, Bryce Dallas Howard would've made an excellent MJ. Instead, Kirsten Dunst dyed her hair red to play MJ and Howard dyed her hair blonde to play Gwen Stacy. Go figure.

 

[Johnny Drama]

Ironically, Bryce Dallas Howard would've made an excellent MJ. Instead, Kirsten Dunst dyed her hair red to play MJ and Howard dyed her hair blonde to play Gwen Stacy. Go figure.

Topher Grace looks, acts and sounds more like Peter than anyone on the planet.
If those movies kept the same cast, and rearanged things, it would feature some of the most spot on casting ever.

It should have been

Peter/Spidey - Topher Grace
Mary Jane - Bryce Dallas Howard
Harry Osborn - Tobey
Gwen - Kirsten

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, that would've been a good cast.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Not sure about Tobey as Harry, but the rest is genius.

 

[Johnny Drama]

You have to figure Harry was just as nerdy if not nerdier than Peter so having a heartthrob like Franco play him is odd

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I thought Harry only had "friends" in the comics because he was rich, and Peter was his only real, quote-less friend.

 

[Johnny Drama]

Yeah, I thought Harry only had "friends" in the comics because he was rich, and Peter was his only real, quote-less friend.

Exactly.
In Raimi's world it doesn't make sense that Peter and Harry are friends.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I get what you are saying, but Peter is drawn more good looking than Harry. Harry's skunk design hair messes him up.

 

[Artistsean]

I never saw them pick Danzig for Wolverine. That must have taken place when I stopped buying it monthly. I do remember them picking Robert DeNiro of all people, for Wolverine. The accompanying headshot was from the remake of Cape Fear

What issue of Wizard was that in? I used to have it.