Just so we're clear, this thread isn't primarily for venting the anger that comes from the piss-poor quality and infidelity to the source material of superhero movies. It's allowed, but that shouldn't be the focus. The focus is to come up with ideas for something better, in as much detail as possible. But yeah, a little ranting here and there is okay, as long as the majority of what you post is creative and constructive instead of retrospectively critical. Anti-source material studio apologists aren't allowed to interfere with us, so unless an insolent interloper dares violate the sanctity of our Haven, we need not dwell on they and their inferior and shallow critiques.
Kate Beckinsale for Rogue? I forget if her frame is conducive to a curvy body or not (not that I wasn't looking when I saw 'Underworld 2,' I just have a bad memory, is all). Rogue has to be curvy. She should also look pretty young when she first shows up, like perhaps just under 18 in the second movie.
Emmy Rossum looks good as Shadowcat. She can't look like she's taller than 5'3", though. Wolverine is supposed to be the shortest male full-grown X-Man, but he's still as taller or slightly taller than his adolescent female sidekicks (Kitty Pryde, Jubilation Lee).
I wouldn't have Bishop in a movie, personally. I don't like him, just like I don't like Cable, or any other time-travelling "badass" who needs to carry a gun to be a superhero. Malcolm Jamal Warner, wasn't he Theo on 'The Cosby Show'?
I'd personally choose Ron Pearlman as Sabretooth, but I wouldn't have Sabretooth in the first or second movies. Clancy Brown might have been a great choice when he was a little younger, too.
I've looked at that thread you mentioned a couple of times in the past. Lemme take another look-see...
Understand that I don't pick people I would cast definitively, because I know I don't know every suitable actor (I hate when people say things like "I can't think of anyone else who might be good, so this person should be cast") and I know that an "unknown" actor could be perfect for the role. By "unknown" I mean
unknown, as in they'd have to be truly obscure in their previous work or just someone who answered a casting call who maybe did some theater work or went to a drama camp or something. I believe that the actor is not the star-making or deal-breaker for a character, but rather the writing is the key factor in everything. The director is very important, too. Only if an actor truly sucks at their job and the director either
settles for a mediocre or crappy performance or demands one (like George Lucas in the 'Star Wars' prequels) can good writing be foiled by other factors.
Okay, I would never have come up with Sean Bean and wouldn't put him on a list if suggested right away, unless I saw an audition or reading that truly impressed me. I haven't seen every movie he's been in, but of the ones I've seen, he usually plays the same character-- cowardly, weak and psychopathic to some degree. Sometimes he plays a would-be hero who's too weak to fight against his baser impulses ('Fellowship of the Ring'), but he's played a traitor in almost everything I've seen him in.
I don't believe it's right to exclusively typecast though, so I wouldn't exclude him outright. He does have a decent enough look for Magneto, anyway, because yes, I would show a Magneto that looks younger than a Holocaust survivor would in real life. "Realism" should never be a top priority for a superhero movie, and to cut through all the complicated history in the comics that explains why Magneto looks younger (mainly the thing where Alpha de-aged him and Eric the Red re-aged him, I think), I'd simply have Xavier tell the X-Men that his mutant physiology keeps him in very good shape and relatively young-looking when one of them asks about it. Ideally, Magneto should look like he's in his 40's-50's but in peak condition. Hollywood is full of those, so it shouldn't be too hard.
I would not cast Brian Dennehy as the Beast. In my ideal X-Men movie series, it would start with the original team, where
all of them are 18 except for Bobby Drake, who is 16. The Beast could be played by an actor who is older than 18, but the character should still look like a young man. The character himself could be considered more mature than most other X-Men, but he's also young at heart and very playful. I wouldn't cast anyone above the age of 30, unless someone above that age could pass for early 20's.
Tyra Banks has the
perfect look for Storm. But she can't act her way out of a paper bag, so
no. Damn shame.
Angela Basset is too old, although she's relatively young-looking for her real age, and smokin' hot. I'd want the character to at least
look 25 at the very oldest when she appears in the second movie. The same would go for Nightcrawler, and Colossus can look like he's 25, but the character should be 18 by that point. Cyclops and the other original X-Men would have aged a few years in-between the first and second movies.
Billy Zane is a ridiculous choice for Xavier. What the hell are these people smoking? Lex Luthor, maybe, but not Xavier. I mean, God damn...
I don't know about Daniel Day-Lewis.
Joe Rogan (who I've never heard of before I saw that thread), seems like the perfect choice for Wolverine, physically. His frame is just right. I don't know how tall he is, but if he's significantly taller than 5'3", then there are ways of tricking the audience. If not simple camera tricks like having other characters stand on something while next to him, then the technology they used for the Hobbits in the 'Lord of the Rings' movies, although that's expensive and extreme. I don't know if this guy can act or if he ever has, though. Wolverine requires a decent actor. His character traits, to get them right, require a mixture of overtness and subtlety. Hugh Jackman was the wrong person to cast, but the true fault lies in the writing and directing. Even with that lacking script, Singer could have given us a real enough Wolverine if he just told Jackman to adopt certain mannerisms and speech patterns. A character like Nightcrawler or Colossus is easier to do than Wolverine, Cyclops or Storm (the latter needs a really good performance for the audience to willingly put up with her self-righteous, over-the-top manner), although every character has trademark behaviors that require effort and recognition by the actors and director.
James Franco has the right look for Nightcrawler. I don't know if he can pull off a decent German accent, though. I don't know how old he is, but actors older than their characters can pass if there are significant facial alterations like Nightcrawler and the Beast in his hairier form.
Thanks for that, and thanks for posting.
). Again, it's because a lot of my posts that have long-winded, detailed content (i.e. "significant") include a quote box with other posters' significant content, and although there are several links that include the same content (the original post and then a post that quotes that post and is itself link-worthy), it's in the minority in the list.
