Teen Titans Cast And Discussion Thread

[Jordacar]

after seeing her as kara on smallville i can safely say i never want to see her act again

That was before she was on Friday Night Lights. t:

 

[GL1]

Ugh. Why can't we have a TEEN titans movie instead of a 20-something titans movie? No one is going to believe half of those people are teens just because they played teenagers five years ago... they were already pushing it then...

Robin: Shia Lebouf
I know you guys see him as Even Stephens, but THAT was five years ago, he's basically a man a this point but still skinny enough to feel teeny and can out-act anyone his age. In the movie, Robin would be the cynical entrance point for the new audience, who finds out that he can be a leader and not just a sidekick.

Cyborg: Tahj Mowry
Again, The Smart Guy was five years ago. Not only is the guy standing at a nice 5'8 at this point, but he's been voice acting this whole time. Now at 18, give him a few months to add some muscle and you've got yourself one heckuva a Cyborg. Cyborg as the sort of tortured, no one look at me soul... booyah. Instant fun.

Those are my offerings for now.

 

[Jordacar]

Ugh. Why can't we have a TEEN titans movie instead of a 20-something titans movie? No one is going to believe half of those people are teens just because they played teenagers five years ago... they were already pushing it then...

I second that Ugh.

Whether it be this or Young Avengers or Runaways, it is such a drag to try and cast teen characters, because the best candidates are either too old now, or they will be in about five minutes. The young actors who actually would get cast 9 times out of 10 are people we've never heard of (even if they're perfect) and it's no fun writing in "an unknown" or "someone new."

 

[bulok]

Bull**** - Robin is Iconic BECAUSE of Batman. If you don't develop Robin with Batman then Robin is nobody. Batman can live without Robin - Robin cannot live without Batman - Nightwing cannot live without Robin. Period.

As long as you bring in a Batman for Robin then it can be in Batman Begins continuity or not. Of course WB wouldn't let that happen unless it was apart of Nolan's franchise.

I don't know, some kids these days who have never read comics seem to like Robin without having heard of the dynamic duo. Take my nephew for example, he's 6, a big Robin fan and didn't know that Robin was Batman's sidekick til I told him about it. He was a separate fan of both.

I think the Teen Titans cartoon has made a new generation of fans who aren't familiar with the Batman/Robin team.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

i guess, for a TEEN cast (which i think would probably be the best way to go) I'd might go with

Robin- Josh Hutcherson

Beastboy - Taylor Lautner

Cyborg- Lee Thompson Young or(alil younger) David V. Thomas

Starfire- Sara Paxton or Leven Rambin (as redheads)

Raven- Kristen Stewart or Emily Browning

just some thoughts

though, as for the movie it self, I wouldn't want it to be a just for kids kinda movie (like sky high) I mean, family freindly, yes, but, something the older fans of the original comics and of these characters can enjoy too

 

[Billy Batson]

Respectfully request permission, to cast an all new member.

 

[odiin]

Respectfully request permission, to cast an all new member.

DENIED.

On the subject of 20 somethings playing teens. That's actually very common. Most teen roles are played by people sometimes almost into their 30s. It's difficult to find really talented teen actors, and MOST of the time these older actors are able to play the parts effectively (though they do sometimes end up casting people that simply look TOO old). I'll agree that ideally the actors should be around the same age as their characters, but the characters shouldn't be that young either, regardless of the fact that they're called "teen titans" 13-14 year old superheroes aren't going to work well on screen, IMO. I think anyone between the ages of 16-25 would be fine as far as actors go, with their characters being no older than 20.

 

[Jordacar]

i guess, for a TEEN cast (which i think would probably be the best way to go) I'd might go with

Robin- Josh Hutcherson

Beastboy - Taylor Lautner

Cyborg- Lee Thompson Young or(alil younger) David V. Thomas

Starfire- Sara Paxton or Leven Rambin (as redheads)

Raven- Kristen Stewart or Emily Browning

just some thoughts

though, as for the movie it self, I wouldn't want it to be a just for kids kinda movie (like sky high) I mean, family freindly, yes, but, something the older fans of the original comics and of these characters can enjoy too

Those are some cool pics. I think Josh Hutcherson has another year or two before he gains the size of a teen hero (but he'll get there).

 

[Billy Batson]

 

[Spider-Fan83]

In both casting a full teen cast (15-18ish) or a 20 something cast (20-24ish), have there pros and cons

With teen, there younger, which means they can be used for multiple sequels, spin off and so on, without getting to old to continue to play the role (think, Harry Potter , if they has even a late teens cast (14-16 y.o.) in the first movie, would they of been able to make as many sequels as are did before they look ridiculously too old)
Teenage actors are also more easily obtained, and cheaper to hire, they would also be more willing to wearing the costumes, and perform the corny stuff that might come with this kinda role.

On the down side, they would, obviously have less on screen experience, they may not have or be able to develop a heroistic body types, or perform some of the fighting moves, and stunts
Also with younger actors/actress, they are still developing in to they looks, if planning on using them for multiple sequels, or spin offs, you never know what they might look like in a few years, (they could go through, some arcword teenage years) (again, look at some of the cast members of Harry Potter lol)

With 20 something’s, they’re might have more acting experience, would be able to fill in a suit, and be put through training to develop they skills better, in fighting and stunt work, kinda stuff, they would be alil more set in there looks, and wouldn’t drastically change in a few span, (even those they already look a set age) with all the cast being over 18, they’d avoid running into any legalities with shooting times, or long work days

Though, they would probably be more expensive to hire (even with unknowns, and if you go with unknown, they’d have just as lil acting experience as the teens would), they might be less willing to do corny stuff, and would be limited in doing multiple sequels do to age, or willingness to continue doing the movie after so long.

Just a few thoughts

And with that said here’s some thoughts on a 20’s cast might look like

Robin- Ryan Merriman

Starfire- Kaylee DeFer


Beastboy-Frankie Muniz (Could be, already)

Raven-Olivia Wilde or Michelle Trachtenberg

Cyborg- Lee Thompson Young (since he is in his 20s I’ll stick with him)

 

[ShadowBoxing]

You wouldn't, cannot, do this film as a bunch of Superhero sidekicks. It's too much baggage. Robin doesn't exist without Batman, Superboy without Superman, etc.

However what you CAN do is make the movie about teen characters and not say whether or not they were sidekicks.

The movies would be comprised of Nightwing, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy. The villain would be Deathstroke (Slade) perhaps with a couple of lackey's.

 

[GL1]

We've already seen Robin exist without Batman... Robin hasn't been a "sidekick" in any traditional sense for almost 20 years, ShadowBoxing? It sounds like you're just going off of TAS and 70's Batman and Pre-Crisis.

If anything Nightwing becomes pointless without having been Robin first... what's the point of becoming dark if you were never bright in the first place? Why skip to the middle when the beginning of the story is good?

As for old vs Young... "TEEN" titans is not about 20 year olds, so whoever you cast needs to pass as ~16 years of age. Some actors can do it, but others (ie Tom Welling, etc) cannot... also, for chemistry purposes, it's probably a good idea to have all the actors from the same general age range.

Casting 16-19 (generally the ages of the characters involved) strikes me as wise, especially since all that 'awkward teen years' stuff would be over. It's not like we're casting 11 year olds...

If there weren't impressive teen actors out there, I'd shut up... but since there are, I'd say lets go to them first before we decide to make another "teen" movie where they're grown ups in the first sequel...

 

[ShadowBoxing]

We've already seen Robin exist without Batman... Robin hasn't been a "sidekick" in any traditional sense for almost 20 years, ShadowBoxing? It sounds like you're just going off of TAS and 70's Batman and Pre-Crisis.

Not in the minds of the general public. Unless you're planning on this being a DTV of the Teen Titans cartoon (which by the way, cartoon have a little more lienency when working with characters. For example Justice League did not have to set up who the mainstays were, where a movie would have to)

If anything Nightwing becomes pointless without having been Robin first... what's the point of becoming dark if you were never bright in the first place? Why skip to the middle when the beginning of the story is good?

Nightwing, loner solo hero who finds himself in charge of a team of teenagers (twenty somethings...by the way Shia is a twenty something...going on 21 to be exact).

Why skip the middle. Is this like the "why don't we do an original five X-Men argument". Simple. Nightwing, Cyborg, Raven, Arsenal, Impulse, Terra, Beast Boy are far more interesting than Batman junior, Wonder Woman junior, Flash junior and Green Arrow junior.

No baggage. I don't have to explain why a pre-pubescent girl is running around helping Wonder Woman in her jam jams. Or why Batman suddenly has the need for a bright orange target. In fact those characters never come "directly" into the picture.

There is no need to write all the endless backstories that comes with being a sidekick when you can simply sidestep the issue and make a movie about these characters without directly stating their former status.

Now if you want to make a few cracks here and there about their "former" selves that only fans will get, have at it.

For example I was working on a Teen Titans script a while back...never really finished it...I might go back to it though. Basically one scene has Wintergreen researching Nightwing and noting "we think he went under another name for a number of years (i.e. Robin)". Now both fans get their fangasm and the audience can sit back and let idle comments like that fly over their head without the large amounts of information it would take to explain it.

As for old vs Young... "TEEN" titans is not about 20 year olds, so whoever you cast needs to pass as ~16 years of age. Some actors can do it, but others (ie Tom Welling, etc) cannot... also, for chemistry purposes, it's probably a good idea to have all the actors from the same general age range.

Tell that to the producers of Smallville and Cheaper By the Dozen (and virtually any other "Teen" show, movie, or ad campaign), they've been having people Welling's age play sub 18 year olds for probably going on twenty years now. I'm sure there are a variety of reasons for it. Actors that young are few and far between, older and more mature bodies are sexier for their target audiences what have you. Who says Cyborg, Nightwing, Raven, Starfire, etc. cannot all be 16-18 years old. Certainly Beast "Boy" could easily be portrayed as 16, Nightwing as 18, Cyborg as 17 without doing any damage to those characters.

Casting 16-19 (generally the ages of the characters involved) strikes me as wise, especially since all that 'awkward teen years' stuff would be over. It's not like we're casting 11 year olds...

They don't and they won't.

If there weren't impressive teen actors out there, I'd shut up... but since there are, I'd say lets go to them first before we decide to make another "teen" movie where they're grown ups in the first sequel...

As in this cast

Frankie Muniz - 21
Shia - 20 (for three more months)

As odiin points out most of your cast members will be between 20-25. Because frankly there AREN'T that many great teen actors out there...in fact there are very few. Ever wonder why every little boy was that sixth sense kid (Haley Joel Osmuld) for a while...probably because he was one of the few available.

If your marketing this movie to teens, which you are, you can use the future incarnations of these characters without violating the "teen" feel of the movie. Teen in hollywood is code for twenty something, especially when said teens will have powers and be fighting bad guys.