Beast - Anthony Hopkins
While Kelsey Grammer wasn't a terrible choice for Beast, he wasn't, by any means, the best choice. If anything, he falls victim to the Batman/Bruce Wayne duality problem... where it's very easy to find an actor to play one or the other, but exceedingly difficult to find an actor to convincingly portray both. Kelsey has the intellectual side of Beast down solid. Not a surprise, seeing as it's just Frasier in blue makeup. A tougher sell is Frasier the fighter. Yeah. I can't picture it either. And I've seen X-Men 3.
That's where Sir Anthony Hopkins steps in. Wind the clock back to him in his late twenties and see if he couldn't do a better job in Beast's furry blue skin. Intelligence and animalistic rage both present (look at his full IMDB if you have any doubts of his range). His physique is much more appropriate to playing Beast as well, which is an added bonus.
Psylocke - Maggie Q
Quick abridged recap for those unfamiliar with Psylocke: she was originally named Elisabeth Braddock, an English Supermodel with stylish purple hair turned substitute superhero who's mind was eventually transferred into the body of an Asian ninja assassin. That's probably the shortest version of that story you'll ever hear. Now a quick abridged recap of Maggie Q's career: originally a supermodel, she began an acting career with some early stunt training from the venerable Jackie Chan, and in a stunningly short amount of time, became a household name for being both unbelievably beautiful and genuinely talented, stunt/action-wise.
Something tells me that Maggie Q would make a fantastic Psylocke. In some versions of the story, Psylocke actually retains some of her original genetic code, which makes Maggie's mixed ethnicity all the more appropriate. Just imagine her in that red dress from MI:3 kicking all kinds of tail like she does in Live Free or Die Hard, and you'll start getting the picture of the Psylocke I have in mind.
Iceman - Shawn Ashmore
To be honest, I spent more than a little time trying to recast this role from the X-Men films. And after an inordinate amount of mental grief, I found myself back at square one. My biggest two complaints with the original casting was that Shawn Ashmore was too slight of build and height to play Iceman, and that he was too young. But as it turns out, Iceman is actually only 5'8" while Shawn Ashmore is a good 5'11". Looks like he's not too small after all. As for the age, I'd just cast him older so that he feels more like an adult (I really hated that they cast half of the X-Men as kids in the films). But overall, I think Bryan Singer had the right idea with Shawn. A lot of the Iceman feel comes from the eyes (I know... it seems minor, but think about it and you'll realize it's practically a necessary requirement), and Shawn's got the pale blues to match. So after much internal debate, I'm willing to leave this one as is.
Emma Frost - Michelle Pfeiffer
Emma Frost, also known as White Queen, might be an obscure one for some of you. If you're like me, you probably knew her as a bad guy, then never really heard of her again (or just never realized that the White Queen from distant memory was the same person as the Emma Frost of today). If you want the detailed back story, I suggest you check out the Wikipedia article on her. For now, it's enough to say that she's an on and off member of the X-Men, and thus, warrants a spot on this list.
You really wouldn't believe how many actresses I sorted through to cast Emma. I mean, honestly... the physical requirements of being blonde and attractive are kind of useless as a set of filtering criteria in today's Hollywood. Blonde women are kind of a dime a dozen. If you care to know, I rejected the following listed actresses on the basis that they either couldn't sell the image of the cunningly intelligent businesswoman side of Emma, or that they didn't have the acting chops to portray the seductress. Some of them could do one or the other, but most of them would have just looked foolish trying to do both. As it stands, I vetoed Liz Hurley, Sharon Stone, Madonna, Ali Larter, Rebecca Romijn, Sienna Miller, Scarlett Johansson, Uma Thurman, Rachel McAdams, Rebecca De Mornay (The Three Musketeers era), Charlize Theron, Cate Blanchette... and that's just from what I can remember off the top of my head.
In the end, I reached back in time a bit and settled on a Batman Returns era Michelle Pfeiffer. You have to admit, Michelle's not your stereotypical blonde airhead. She's got the beauty, the sensuality, and the intelligence all in one package. Sizzle, spectacle, and a commanding presence. So what if she made her mark as Catwoman in the DC Universe first?
Angel - Val Kilmer
I'm running with pre-Archangel here, so think back before the blue skin and metal wings. The thought that occurred to me was that Angel needs to look a little like Matthew McConaughey, and act... well... nothing like him. The serious, brooding, and lonely rich guy is much more the Angel I'm looking for. Going back to the Batman/Bruce Wayne duality, my choice came by way of stealing yet another DC character actor, Val Kilmer.
In my opinion, Val was a great half of Batman. He played a fantastic Bruce Wayne, but his Batman was weak at best (kind of the opposite of Michael Keaton's Batman when you think about it). But the way he played Bruce is exactly the way he needs to play Angel. Pick up the Val Kilmer from back in the Tombstone, Willow, or even Top Gun days when he was still fit, and I'd say you've got yourself a decent match up.
That's about wraps it up for this installment. I haven't decided where to go next with my next set. But chances are good that I'll be tackling the Summers and Lehnsherr family trees soon.
5 comments:
Man, Val Kilmer... I forgot about that guy.
I see you have been keeping busy.
Maggie Q is an awesome female specimen. I once read that she might play Silver Fox in the Wolverine Origins, but I guess that's not happening. She would be a great Psylocke though.
At some point you need to do some DC action.
I just might... The Dark Knight aside, I'm a little miffed by DC right now, seeing as they decided to scrap Superman Returns and Reboot the Superman story... AGAIN. I personally loved SR, so, yeah. Not happy. Marvel's getting back into my good graces... in particular because of Iron Man. But who knows, I might start up a DC Dreamcast sooner or later.
michelle is a great choice for Emma, tho my first thought was the actress who plays the blonde hero on Heroes. she has that 'edge' that i think emma has. and she is closer to emma's storyline age than michelle is.
To Bigheadben:
All casting choices pull actors from all of history, so Michelle could be as young or old as she needs to be. The "blond hero" is played by Ali Larter, and, unfortunately, she has nowhere near the requisite level of acting ability to handle even a minor character (and this from a Heroes fan).
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