Cast This: Gravity (Without Angelina Jolie)

It occurred to me a few weeks ago that I'd never mentioned Alfonso Cuarón's upcoming sci-fi epic Gravity. And here's a worrisome opportunity to do so. According to CHUD Angelina Jolie has passed on the big budget project for a second time. That type of a "no" can often doom an expensive project.

Gravity sans Jolie. What will they do?

Who will Alfonso Cuarón find to handle the heavy duty film-carrying demands of the role? The film concerns a man and a woman who are stranded in a space station. Or at least the woman iss (details are kind of unclear) The rest of the crew is dead. Robert Downey Jr has the principal male role but for whatever reason, it's a supporting gig. Gravity will rest on the female lead's shoulders. Most exciting from a filmmaking perspective is not, for me, the abundant groundbreaking CGI (as much as in Avatar) but that Cuarón wants to include long unbroken shots... one of them 20 minutes long.

Long unbroken shots are just about my favorite cinematic thing in the world after actresses so I should have mentioned this project long ago. This movie gives both. And Cuarón's already given plenty just by making Y Tu Mama Tambien and Children of Men. (Speaking of unbroken shots...)

Anyway, this has got to be a tough role to cast... and not just because of bankability issues. Not every actor would understand the shift in performance style required to carry huge metaphysical but also action-tinged sci-fi epics all by their lonesomes. Who were the last actors to do so? I guess Jodie Foster (Contact), Hugh Jackman (The Fountain), and George Clooney (Solaris) have all given that a go in their respective ways. Carrying a survival epic on your own? Tom Hanks in Castaway pops into mind... though that's decidedly earthbound. But we'll allow for him since he's also got the stranded in space thing with Apollo 13. Obviously you have to have a star people love to look at if they have to spend 90-120 minutes with primarily one face.


I always find it amusing/annoying that when big roles for women that don't seem to require a specific age range are being cast, studios always seem willing to consider any currently hot A list star of any age and virtually every 20something in town with any heat that month even though there's usually no proven bankability (which is how so many people end up starring in like 10 movies simultaneously and are never heard from again. Remember Kate Bosworth?). Studios will almost never bank on someone who once had heat and lost it despite the cold hard fact that showbiz is nothing if not a random chaotic collection of people who are walking embodiments of the cyclical nature of heat.

"Interested" lists always make me realize how rare and lucky we are as moviegoers when something accidental happens like when someone gives someone great a real shot even though they aren't perceived as "hot right now" or bankable or on every shortlist in town. Like Marisa Tomei in all of her Oscar nominated roles. She was never on the top of every list but she's so damn talented and reliably watchable. Or like Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham in '88. She had to fight to get that and then was magnificent obliterating any notions that she had already peaked. Many people even thought Streep was over in the early 90s, you know?

Who would you cast? Bear in mind we know virtually nothing about the role other than that it's a solo and the character has a daughter back on earth (so you can't skew as young as Ellen Page, or at least you probably shouldn't because why would someone leave a baby on Earth while they were space travelling?) They'll have to have chemistry with RDJ if he stays on, and they'll need to be comfortable in an effects heavy film (which is why I worry about the studio's interest in Natalie Portman. When exactly is she good in those situations even though she's often good elsewhere?). I'd be considering Gwyneth Paltrow first (I'm serious) and then probably Nicole Kidman. Hell, I'd even test Christina Ricci on account of the curveball aspect of it. There's a familiar interesting face that nobody would be expecting but that many people would enjoy and if she ever delivers big somewhere a million people are going to say "I knew she had it in her all along!". But as much as it surprises me to hear myself type it, the studio's rumored interest in Sandra Bullock makes total sense to me artistically even if they're probably only interested due to the monetary heat. Still, I can imagine her being a good match with RDJ and her uncomplicated but highly watchable acting style might actually be an assett to an effects heavy film. She's never tried one and maybe she'll want to stretch a little post-Oscar?

The possibilities are endless... aren't they?

I'll shut up now. I do go on. Your turn. Which actress would you love to see carrying a sci-fi epic for Alfonso Cuarón.
*

"Running Up That Hill" Turns 25

It might be the single greatest song of the 1980s. It went a little something like this...



"Let's exchange the experience"... whew. That dance might be the most hypnotic-erotic fully clothed one in any music video, yes?

Everything about this video and song (the latter of which was released in the UK 25 years ago today) is perfect. The song has been covered a gajillion times since its release though oddly, you don't here it much in the movies or on TV. The Kate Bush song that the filmed arts have latched onto and beaten like a dead horse is "This Woman's Work."

To say that Kate Bush is a musical genius is as redundant as saying that right at this moment you're reading this sentence. Many musicians after her were influenced (Tori Amos, Paula Cole, Björk... the list is long) but there will only ever be one Kate. For a super long time when anyone asked me what my favorite album of all time was I would say "Hounds of Love" without having to wring my hands too much over the potentially difficult question.

Was it the hair?

Back in the late 80s I wanted to see a Kate biopic with Mary Steenburgen playing her. And then in the 90s when the great Miranda Richardson starred in Kate's video project The Line, The Cross and the Curve I suddenly dreamt up a whole epic Kate movie again.

Daft English lasses!

Sadly no Kate Bush movie ever materialized and I'd since forgotten that I ever wanted one. But I do! I can even play "Symphony in Blue" on the piano, no joke.

Which pop stars do you most want to see with biopics? Which actress could do Kate justice today?

Cast This! 25th Anniversary of Live-Aid

As you know I like to track anniversary dates but somehow it had slipped me by that today it's been 25 years since Bob Geldof (pictured left) convinced a gajillion rock stars to sing for free to feed Ethiopia. Everyone showed. I don't really know the history of the benefit concert in general but this felt like the first one to me. Ah, the naivete of youth!

MTV, who would know such things, recalls the numbers. Here's a list of everyone who took the stage. Insanity. Imagine if you were making a biopic about this event, who you'd have to cast? I guess biopic isn't the right term. Historical epic! But whatever.

It was epic. I mean Queen, Mick Jagger & Tina Turner, Madonna





Whew...

Icons.

So, let's play Cast This!

Here's a visual chart of a some people pulled semi-randomly from the event that I thought might be fun to cast. If you're too young to recall these people -- not everyone can be Madonna and maintain ubiquity for centuries -- cast by their faces.


From left to right that's: Bob Geldof (your star!), Adam Ant, Madonna, Freddie Mercury of Queen (whatever happened to his biopic? There was one in development). Second row: Joan Baez (played by Julianne Moore sort of in I'm Not There), Sade, Bryan Ferry and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Go!
*

Cast This! "Scar Night"

The Film Experience book club is returning. Hell, I figure I'm turning the pages anyway. Reading is a great subway activity and we New Yorkers spend much time on subways. So why not hold those monthly weigh-ins with readers about 'who should play who?' in imaginary movie versions of novels. We've done this a few times in the past: the historical fantasy The Curse of Chalion, the corporate satire/drama Then We Came to the End and one play August: Osage County. The latter turned out to be one of the biggest comment threads ever (109!) at TFE .

So, the next selection will be Scar Night by Alan Campbell. I'm about a fifth of the way in and have already met enough interesting characters to make it a worthwhile casting discussion. So, if you like fantasy novels, pick it up and read this month. We'll discuss casting on Wednesday, June 30th. This is a debut novel which takes place in the chained city of Deepgate (it's a bit steampunk flavored) and stars two very different angels (the last of their kind), a sinister theocracy, and all sorts of secretive unsavory business and dark magic. An intriguing read so far.

We'll discuss casting on Wednesday, June 30th.

August: Osage County (The Movie)

CAST THIS!

But before the movie... the tour! It starts in just under three weeks in Denver. I'm not getting paid for this but I'm going to shill because live theater needs to be promoted. It's so much cooler than TV ... even if Corporate America can't profit off of it as much (finite audience = number of seats in house) and thus makes it seem uncool by ignoring it or dismissing it as irrelevant.

Oscar winner Estelle Parsons, 81, headlines the August tour

And given that THE MOVIE -- all caps because if it's any good it'll be BIG -- is going to be the subject of much discussion whenever it begins to film and especially once it's in theaters, you'll want to be in the know early on. Even if you're not normally a theater person. If you haven't been following theatrical buzz and awardage these past couple of years, it's the latest from Tracy Letts who also wrote the incredible Bug which was made into a movie that a lot of people misunderstood or outright hated but I assure you that the play itself was phenomenal. They're much different beasts anyhow: Bug was taut, claustrophobic and tiny where August is messy (in the good sense), sprawling and very populated. It's a darkly funny drama about a family in crisis in Oklahoma. The father has disappeared and the daughters rush back home to deal with their abandoned and impossibly difficult pill popping mother. At three hours or so in length it's far more complicated than that but it's a great night out at the theater: funny, involving, memorable, dramatic. In short: if you're near it, get tickets. They're on sale now.

July: Denver August: San Francisco September: LA October: Portland and Seattle November: Toronto and Hartford December: DC January: Tempe, Dallas, Tulsa Feb: Chicago, Michigan, Iowa. It's also in Melbourne and then Sydney, Australia

<-- Parsons on the set of Rachel, Rachel with director Paul Newman

This will also give you the rare chance to see an Oscar winner live on stage. I stupidly missed Estelle Parsons here in NYC when she was playing Violet (one of the two lead roles, a combative mother and daughter) so I'm considering catching the show again in DC or Michigan if I can figures out the $. I always enjoyed Parsons as a comic foil on Roseanne and I love her work as the lesbian friend of Joanne Woodard in Rachel, Rachel (they were both nominated). That's such a fine underseen film so, rent it. Parsons won the Oscar as "Blanche" in Bonnie & Clyde (1967).

But back to August: Osage County
If you're game now, let's think up a dream cast.
Here are the main roles, in descending order of their "screen time" and the age according to the text (though obviously Hollywood will practice some creative license there)

Leads
Violet -Pill popping drug-addled matriarch, fond of devouring her young and filled with rage about her miserable childhood. She's also funny (65). Deanna Dunagan, left, originated the role on stage.
Barbara - Violet's eldest daughter, a college professor. Exhausted but controlling. Her marriage is failing (46)

Major Supporting Roles
Ivy -Violet's middle daughter who has never left home. A secretive plain jane type (44)
Karen -Violet's youngest. Flighty, willfully naive and eager to be loved. Newly engaged (40)
Bill -Barbara's husband, also a professor. He's left her for a student but comes back to Oklahoma with her to deal with the family crisis (49)
Jean -Barbara's daughter. A sexually precocious pot smoking vegetarian (14)
Mattie Fae -Violet's sister. Loud, flamboyant, nervous. Also fond of devouring her young (57)

Minor supporting characters
Charles -Mattie's husband. Calm, good natured (60)
Little Charles -Mattie's son, largely regarded as a shy loser (37)
Beverly -Violet's husband, a pontificating poetry-loving alcoholic. He disappears in the first act, setting the plot in motion (69)
Steve - Karen's insensitive businessman fiancé (50)
Johnna -empathetic Native American housekeeper and cook (26)
Sheriff Deon -Barbara's ex-boyfriend, on the search for Beverly (47)

The two lead roles and at least one of the supporting parts (Mattie Fae) are complete Oscar Bait roles: high drama, sneaky comedy, southern accents, total theatrical fireworks. The nearest film equivalent I can think of is Terms of Endearment but this is darker and more vicious, though also quite funny. And Violet is closer to Annette Bening's character in Running With Scissors in terms of how nightmarish she is as a druggy mother than to Shirley Maclaine's Aurora.


Working actresses in the right age range for the three daughters are too numerous to mention here but every actress in her late 30s to early young-looking 50s would be wise to already be prepping and campaigning for either Barbara, Ivy or Karen (or even Mattie Fae). Acclaimed juicy prestige material like this with so many roles for smart talented women doesn't come along regularly.

Though it's been assumed that Mike Nichols will direct and that Meryl Streep's talent and box office pull will win her the "Violet" role nothing is yet set in stone. The road from announcement to contract signing to pre-production can be quite volatile and with the Weinstein Co involved who the hell knows...

Other actresses in vaguely the right age range for the Violet or Mattie Fae parts (i.e. mid50s to mid70s) include: Judy Davis, Glenn Close, Kathleen Turner, Kathy Bates, Anjelica Huston, Dianne Wiest, Susan Sarandon, Sissy Spacek, Melinda Dillon, Diane Ladd, Jane Fonda among many others. It's an ideal movie for getting underused actresses back in play.


Is this all overwhelming to read? It was to type.

Some people have gone either further than me, like Walter Hollman (who you'll know from frequent comments right here) who has casting suggestions for every role.

I hope the lucky casting director takes this as seriously as one might take brain surgery. It's important! There are so many options. You could go real life mother/daughter (Diane Ladd & Laura Dern) you could experiment with co-stars with proven chemistry reuniting (Thelma & Louise as Violet & Mattie Fae?). You could use math multiplied by Oscar fever to try and create the single most nominated cast in the history of motion pictures. Whether or not you've seen the play, cast away in the comments. Would you cast by pure talent, family resemblance or gut instinct?

I can't remember who suggested it to me but the idea of Kathleen Turner in the Mattie Fae role fills me with utter delight. So let's start there. Comment away!

One Long Day in the Big Apple City

Shhhhhhh. Dorothy has had a long day. As a 'Friend of...' I share in her exhaustion so I'll be back to blogging tomorrow. But first...

Cast This!
See in truth I'm not dozing with the poppies. I'm actually off to see Wicked for the second time (I haven't seen it since the original cast. It's years later so....wish me luck. You know how these Broadway shows depreciate). When they make the inevitable movie version about Glinda and the Wicked Witch's pre Dorothy days who would you like to see cast as the bubbly good witch and her moody green skinned frenemy? They'd need to be 20something, charismatic and gifted at both singing, pathos and comedy. Who should play their carefree mutual love interest Fiyero? And finally which classic old stars would you love to see dragged out of movie retirement and into those plum supporting parts (Madame Morrible and The Wizard)? Who could possibly make it into a great movie in the director's chair? He/She would have to be wizardly, too.

Sex & The City: The Indie Version

SAMANTHA (Morton) and her cosmos.
.... I couldn't help but wonder: Who ever would play Carrie Bradshaw? Let your mind wander. Cast this imaginary indie version if you dare.
*

Cast This! Then We Came to the End

August's Cast This! book club selection, for our imaginary movie-making pleasure, was the comedic (tragicomic?) office culture novel Then We Came to the End. The acclaimed best seller tells the crowded collective story of a group of managers and creatives at a fictional ad agency in Chicago. The agency is failing and one by one they're dropping like flies vanishing as they "walk Spanish" down the halls with pink slips in hand. The book sharply divided my friends, or rather, it sharply divided their opinions from mine -- I loved it, they did not. Hopefully, your feelings for it are closer to mine. But even if you didn't enjoy ... I hope you had fun trying to cast it as you read along.

The Boss
Lynn Mason described as a "cool detached beauty" would be the most important role to cast. She's the closest thing the book has to a lead though she doesn't take center stage till late in the narrative once her employees start gossiping about whether or not she has breast cancer. Described thusly

Lynn Mason was intimidating, mercurial, unapproachable, fashionable and consummately professional. She was not a big woman --in fact, she was rather petite -- but when we thought of her from home at night, she loomed large.

The workaholic partner of the firm keeps her personal life to herself. She doesn't have much of one. She commands respect from her presence alone but the actress essaying her will have to have a certain fragility about her. She makes her employees nervous but at the same time they actually do like and respect her so the actress needs to be formidable but warm ... the "unapproachable" description is from your unreliable narrator. I thought of Joan Allen for Lynn's steel spine. But Joan at 52 is a decade too old for the role. You need an actress with presence at 40 who can handle the steel with the vulnerability. Why not hand the plum role to someone who never gets center stage. Can Carrie Ann-Moss bring the warmth? But in truth, though I hate how unimaginatively over-cast she is, Cate Blanchett might well be perfect in both spirit, age and surface look.

In the Offices
Joe Pope, Lynn's right hand man, is probably gay... but he also believes in the separation of work and personal life so there's no telling. He bikes to the office, works hard and wins promotions. He won't play the office reindeer games and is a regular verbal target for the disgruntled set. Attractive but too short. Jamie Bamber? Not that he's short but he can do competent and a little uptight. Maybe I just want to see more of him.
Marcia Dwyer, pretty dark haired "born again". Perpetually is stuck in the 80s --loves hair metal bands. Though regularly unkind she's always apologizing for her mean-spirited remarks. (I pictured Joan Cusack in Working Girl for the overstated fashions... but that characterization is all wrong for this otherwise)
Karen Woo, the fast-talking office gossip... "her voice was a force of nature". She's also a hipster and prides herself on being ahead of the curve. They'd probably cast Lucy Liu on account of it's a Hollywood regulation that she gets bitchy parts. But who else?
Genevieve Latko-Devine -'the kindest and sweetest among us' is blond and regularly teased for her beauty. She is married and lives in the suburbs, stays above the fray.
Benny Shassburger, a "dough faced Jewish guy with corkscrew curls and a quick laugh" -the's the the office raconteur. His office is a favored meeting place.
Hank Neary, a black man who fancies himself an aspiring novelist. He's always ready with a quote, famous or otherwise. Tim Meadows? We need some funny actors in the movie.

Cubicle Dwellers
Chris Yop -graying longish but thinning hair. Late 40s? He's a nervous man "his animating hands shook a little as if battling a caffeine drip"
Carl Garbedian -is frustrated that he's not the central focus of his doctor wife's life. He's let himself go developing a substantial gut in his mid 30s. He suffers from manic depression and starts experimenting with prescription drugs he steels from desk drawers. It's a showy part and you know Hollywood would want Philip Seymour Hoffman in it even if his innate actorly cockiness would be all wrong for the role.
Larry Navotny got Amber Ludwig , a "compact" athletic dark-eyed woman, pregnant. Larry is married. Amber can't decided what to do about this growing thing in her body. You could cast any actors you'd love to see uncomfortably coupled here.
Jim Jackers an eager redhead, always seeking approval. William Lee Scott... remember him? Simon Woods?

Early Exits
Frank Brizzorella -the "old man" of the office. Chain smoker, eats the exact same lunch every day. Fond of sweater vests.
Janine Gorjanc -her young daughter was murdered before the story begins. This brunette remains a part of the office conversation and is fleetingly seen, always full of grief. "Unpretty but not ugly. Hippy but not fat. Puffy about the face but with a youthful cuteness buried somewhere in there that might have have caused someone to be crazy about taking her to the high school prom."
Tom Mota -"built like a bulldog", goateed, unhinged... wears the same polo day after day and is the office practical joker. Sends bizarre e-mails, acts spontaneously and emotionally. Amber thinks he's a security threat.

Who would you cast in the roles?

Like any true ensemble cast it's impossible to divide the characters into "leads" or "supporting". If a movie were ever to be made of Then We..., it would need a master of the intertwining narrative behind the camera. But the film I made from it in my own head was an arthouse mess and missed the comedy too much.


Picturing it cinematically, it ended up feeling like an unholy cross between Mad Men (the TV series) for its attention to detail and the ad agency conversations, Office Space for cubicle comedy, Executive Suite (Robert Wise's underseen 1954 gem) for the office politics and the whiffs of desperation and Nashville from the late great Robert Altman for the seamless blending of a huge disparate cast into one collective story that's greater than the sum of any of its parts. I imagined Denis Lenoir behind the camera because I loved all the vaguely threatening office shots in Demonlover. I left in the non-omniscient narration (and I often hate voice over) which made the book as a movie in my head feel like it was directed with cool HAL-9000 detachment by Stanley Kubrick. Eight people would see this, my imagined movie, and probably not one of them would like it.

Perhaps you'll come up with something better in the comments?!
*

Did You Come to the End?

I'm giving you one more week to read this month's book club selection And Then We Came to the End. I thought it was a great read personally though I should note that I have a few friends who disliked it. Arguments have already erupted chez moi. I'm happy to report that it was a great blind choice for the "Cast This" game as there's several really memorable contemporary characters to imagine portrayed by Hollywood's acting pool.

Have you read it yet? I keep seeing turning its pages on the subway and, ignoring that it's a bestseller, I'm pretending that they're all Film Experience readers and ready to cast accordingly. We'll do that on Saturday, August 30th.

Cast This! The Curse of Chalion

Over a month ago I announced the first book club/movie game. So many things to keep track of if you read this blog --my apologies. I'm not trying to control YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. I'm just ... social.

<-- Our first selection was The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. It's a historical fantasy novel that trades more on palace intrigues than sorcery (though there's some of that, too) and is very loosely based on 15th century Spain. The story is about a man "Cazaril" who was a young page for the royal House of Chalion. He returns decades later having escaped life as a slave, broken and aged far beyond his thirty-some years. The treacherous men who pushed him toward that surprise ignoble fate --intended to be the death of him -- are now intermingled with the royal family in positions of power. He rejoins Chalion as tutor to the princess and he just might prove to be the savior of the royal family. They're under political duress and a magical curse. When it rains it pours, you know.

The life of Queen Isabella of Spain (portrayed by Sigourney Weaver in the
movie 1492and by Rachel Weisz -sort of- in The Fountain) served as
some of the inspiration for the plot and characters of The Curse of Chalion

It's a complicated story. There are abundant political maneuvers, multiple characters with both unfamiliar names and separate titles (I was confused at first, I admit), and a new concept of religion to understand: There's not a Holy Trinity in this world but a Holy Family; Observant types are part of the either the Order of The Mother, The Father, The Daughter, The Son or the Bastard. I loved the religious angle in this book. It was well portrayed and a fascinating five pronged departure from the Judeo-Christian world we're more familiar with. The plot and characters took longer to sink in but it got there for me. But --joy of joys-- The Curse of Chalion has a beginning, middle and end. Imagine that. I grow weary of fantasy novels that are always trying to sell the next book to me. Franchise be gone! (This is part of a series but never mind: it stands alone.)

Cast This! I'm always bitching at Hollywood's casting directors for their lack of imagination but it's harder than I thought to think outside the box. From the moment I started reading I couldn't get Viggo Mortensen out of my head as "Cazaril", the main character. Is this because Cazaril wears a beard that everyone wants him to shave off --a la Viggo lately? Is this because the actor portrays the noble heroic soul so well? Or because he'll always be Aragorn... and thus fits neatly in the mind's imagination as a fantasy figure. I couldn't think outside this box but I'd love to hear who fellow Chalion readers thought of. Cazaril is only 35 (15 years younger than Viggo) but he looks older. He's a good soul but also human. He lusts after a much younger woman and makes some desperate not entirely reputable decisions. He's frail physically (given his slave years) but a true warrior when it comes to determination and sly heroics. Ideas please. Which actor can carry a movie and pull all of this off? Paddy Considine. I love him. He's such a great actor and this role doesn't really need the overt heroics of a "movie star." Matthew McFayden (34)?

Casting is a tough job. You completely alter the movie on every imaginary projecting step of your way.

the royal family
"Iselle" (teen) the princess and Cazaril's student: amber hair, heavy-lidded eyes, acts without thinking. Beautiful, crafty and headstrong... like all fictional princesses.
"Teidez" (teen) the prince: curly amber hair, restless, easily manipulated, unpredictable and a touch violent. Can Jamie Bell still play a teenager? He should be in everything. Or wait... I know: Max Pirkis (19). That kid who was so excellent in Master and Commander (2003) and later popped up on Rome. He can do the "entitled" thing.
"Orico" (30s) their king and step-brother: aged beyond his years, sickly, wide, pale and puffy and possibly drugged or possessed? I want to say Steven Waddington but that's probably because I saw him being a bad monarch in Edward II (1991). This is how typecasting works, people. It's where your mind goes immediately. To the familiar.
"Sara" (30s) Orico's wife. Pretty but fading, silent and miserable. Rumors of sexual abuse run through the court.
"Ista" (30s) Iselle and Teidez' mother: possibly insane. Light haired with "a face of the most profound grief" Spends most of her days praying, sleeping or spouting gibberish. I thought of Mary Louise Parker (43) for both the Sara and Ista roles. She does internal chaos so superbly and both women would only seize their scenes if the actress was good at conveying the inner life. Vera Farmiga? Any other ideas people?
"The Provincara" (elderly) the matriarch of the House of Chalion: steely and firm, good natured but impatient. Protective of her brood and disdainful of politics. This is the type of role Hollywood immediately shoves Judi Dench into for biting wit. But to prevent it from becoming too stock in casting, why not surprise with someone warmer than you'd expect like, say, Emma Thompson (49) or more mysterious like Miranda Richardson (50)... or am I going too young here ?

supporting characters
"Lady Beatriz" (20s) Iselle's best friend and Cazaril's love interest: dimpled brunette, smart, patient and quietly self-sacrificing. Looks wise Alexis Bledel (26) could fit the bill... but does she read too naive or immature onscreen? Can she do period pieces convincingly? Anne Hathaway? But she's too big of a star for this relatively small role. The Prestige's Rebecca Hall (26)? She played Bale's wife in that one... and played her well.
"Bergon" (20s) the prince of another royal family: stocky but fit, masculine, smart, exuberant but disciplined. I'm thinking Charlie Cox. I've wanted to see him again since Stardust. Dominic Cooper?
"Umegat" (age undetermined) a mystical and mysterious servant to Orico. Tall, stooped, graying hair. This is the type you see Paul Bettany getting: odd but crucial part.
"Palli" (30s), Cazaril's confidante. Dark haired, very handsome, a strong soldier and humble religious type. Because I was thinking of Aragorn-Viggo-Cazaril I found myself pulling for Legolas-Bloom-Palli but that is 2 times too much Lord of the Rings in the house. All of that hot Viggorli stuff has settled too deep into my marrow. This is the type of role that they'd probably shove Rupert Friend into now. But maybe he reads a little sinister for it. Hmmm...

Alexis Bledel, Ty Burrell, Rebecca Hall, Charlie Cox

the villains
"Dondo dy Jironal" (40s) a rising political power: black hair, stocky, a true glutton in temperament: wine, women, flashing of wealth.
"March dy Jironal" (40s-50s) His brother, tall, tense and formidable. He's the gray-haired general of the military order. I'd love to see what someone like Ty Burrell could do in a larger part. He keeps getting these befuddled intellectual good guy roles (Fur, The Incredible Hulk) but his face is interesting and kind of severe. I was just thinking about him today... but can he do sinister or scary?

Comment
This is tough. I beg for your help in this imaginary ordeal. Together we could save this imaginary movie from ruin. Do something important with your life. ;) Did you even read the book or do you always need moving pictures?

August's "Cast This!" Selection:
Then We Came To The End by Jonathan Ferris. It's supposed to be very funny, brilliant, and I figured it might be good for this type of book club since it's a huge ensemble piece and contemporary too. We'll discuss on Thursday, August 21st. Get reading! Are you joining us?