Universal's WoT movie!?

[IrishCarBomb]

Hey, I recently found out that Universal has acquired the rights to a WoT movie. I'm STOKED! So stoked, in fact, that I've been imagining who would do well in which role. Here's what I've thought up so far:

 

Rand al'Thor:

  Heath Ledger would have been GREAT, I think, but Jensen Ackles would do well, too. He has the intensity and versatility to play a man on the brink of madness, I think. As for  the height issue, if they made John Rhys Davies look like a dwarf in Lord of the Rings, adding a few inches onto mr. Ackles won't be a problem.

 

Matrim Cauthon:

  Shia LeBouf. Before you all lynch mob me, think about it. He can pull off the trickster pretty well, and he's GREAT at looking innocent. Also, he's about the right height and build.

 

Aginor:

  Peter Cushing is the only one who came to mind.

 

Perrin Aybara:

  Tom Welling (Clark Kent from Smallville). He looks and acts like he wouldn't hurt a fly and with a little time at the gym, he can have the bulk to boot.

 

Egwene al'Vere:

  Rachel Bilson. She is described as beautiful, with large brown eyes and long dark hair. Grow out the hair a bit and there ya go.

 

Nynaeve al'Meara:

  Morena Baccarin. Dark eyes and a long dark braid, relatively short and slim. Anyone that watched the Firefly series knows she can definitely pull off the stubborn streak.

 

Moiraine Damodred:

  Kate Beckinsale. Large, dark eyes and dark hair. If you saw Van Helsing, she can play the courageous slayer of evil extremely well as well as the serenity and regal bearing.

 

al'Lan Mandragoran:

  Clive Owen. Grow out his hair, but a leather cord around his forehead and some gray in his hair, you've got it. Rugged. Brooding. Can do action scenes.

 

Padan Fain:

  I'm torn between Willem Dafoe and Steve Buscemi. Either can play the creepy villain very well, but Willem Dafoe looks more like the books describe Fain and he is a much more flexible actor for the switching accents mid-sentence. Steve Buscemi is just creepy, though. He has that villainous look.

 

Thom Merrilin:

  There are MANY great choices for Thom. Donald Sutherland, Sean Connery, Patric Stewart, Ian McKellen, Sam Elliott. They've all got the booming voice, grand gestures, white hair and long mustaches needed and all of them are very fit for old age. I'm leaving this up to you because I just can't decide.

 

Loial:

  Loial will have to be a CG character, maybe with Christopher Lee's voice.

 

Min Farshaw:

  Zooey Deschanel. Dark hair, slight build. She could probably play a tomboy pretty well. She's about an inch shorter than Kate Beckinsale, though. Might cause a problem, but adding or subtracting an inch would be easy enough.

 

Elayne Trakand:

  Scarlet Johannsen. She is described as exceedingly beautiful, about 5'7", with blue eyes and red-gold hair framing an oval face. Easy to pop in some blue contacts and pull off the snobby princess.

 

Galad Trakand:

  Chirs Evans. I'm having trouble deciding whether he'd do better as Galad or Gawyn. Both are extremely handsome and look a lot alike.

 

Gawyn Trakand:

  James Franco. I'm having trouble deciding whether he'd do better as Galad or Gawyn. He's extremely versatile and, in my opinion, a better actor than Chris Evans and I'd like to see him in a role with more screen time.

 

Morgase Trakand:

  Nicole Kidman. She is definitely beautiful and is about the right age, too.

 

Aviendha:

  Laura Prepon can play an intimidating role, she's very beautiful and is about the right height.

 

Elaida:

  Leelee Sobeiski as that almost ageless look and the fierce eyes to match.

 

Siuan Sanche:

  Kristin Kreuk is small and slight of build and very beautiful. With a bit of makeup she would be hard to put an age to and she looks almost perfect for Siuan when she is deposed.

 

Faile Bashere:

  Mila Kunis is a bit short for the role, I think, and lacks the beak of a nose, but other than that I think she fits the bill pretty well.

 

Mazrim Taim:

  Christian Bale is an EXTREMELY intense actor as his roles in both his Batman movies, Equilibrium and The Prestige show. Taim has black hair, is above average in height with a dark face, tilted eyes, hooked nose and high cheekbones of a Saldaean. When introduced to Rand al'Thor he is judged to be around thirty-five, but Jordan has subsequently confirmed he is in his late twenties. Again, lacks the hooked nose, but Bale would be EXCELLENT.

 

Asmodean:

  Johnny Depp. He is in his middle years and has dark hair. He is handsome and tall with dark, deep-set eyes. He has an odd way of holding his head cocked sideways when addressing someone. Depp could pull it off, I think.

 

Moridin:

  Jude Law. He is a tall, broad shouldered young man the same size as Rand with bright blue eyes and a too strong chin. He has a deep voice. He is almost pretty enough for Graendal.

 

Ishamael:

  George Cloony. Ishamael was in the prime of maturity: good looking with dark, penetrating eyes and a commanding presence; his voice had the air of both reason and command.

 

Demandred:

  Hugh Jackman is handsom, slightly hawk-nosed and if he didn't smile he'd fit the part well.

 

Graendal:

  Christina Carpenter is extremely beautiful, which is about all there needs to be. Some skimpy clothing and a lot of jewels and bingo.

 

Lanfear:

  Demi Moore. She is perfect for the part because of her powerful beauty with the raven hair and pale skin. She often wears white with silver. She also has the harshness needed for one of the Forsaken.

 

Mesaana:

  Uma Therman is taller than most women, has a clear voice and has fairly large eyes. Dye her hair dark brown and add blue contacts and there's a good fit.

 

Moghedien:

  Rachel Leigh Cook

 

Sammael:

  Brad Pitt. He is solid and compact with a quick stride and an abrupt manner. He has blue eyes and golden hair with a neat, square trimmed beard. He is slightly taller than average, muscular and solid. Add some makeup for a scar and there's Sammael.

 

Semirhage:

  Kerry Washington. Smooth dark face and dark eyes. She has long, slender fingers.

 

 

 

I know I'm missing A LOT of characters, but I've gone through some of the major characters.

 

Post who you think would be good and in which role!

 

[Majsju]

If you use the search function, you will find several threads where people have played with casting.

[Gentled Ben]

In some of them, they even listed their choice of actress for Lanfear.

[agaga]

I think this is the best compilation of actors and actresses for the movie not all of them are great but I think all in all I'd be alright with this cast.

 

http://takoren.tripod.com/id8.html

[Duneflayer]

dang you really thought this out

 

 

on another note i'm not that thriled about a movie 1st of all most movies made from books really don't follow the book the director has "better" ideas about what the characters woukd say and such

 

i guess i'm still bitter cause i'm a big Eragon fan

 

granted WoT is better than Eragon i still can't help being very sceptical

i was bouncing off walls before the Eragon movie and after it i wanted to kill someone

[BendingSands]

That would be a HUGE amount of money used in the casting. The movie would have the quality of the animated Dragonlance movie that recently came out on DVD.

 

I've heard that the length of the books has been a problem for a possible adaptation. There is a LOT of information that would need to be covered. I'd like to see a showtime/HBO adaptation done as a series of episodes as opposed to a theatre movie.

[Rellak]

Bloody brilliant, if they could pull that off it would be amazing. although for such a film new talent would open a whole new frontier. Still I loved your acting suggestions and yes each actor/actress would match verl well.

[erickm001]

 

 

i guess i'm still bitter cause i'm a big Eragon fan

 

 

Yeah, they really messed up Eragon. All they had to do is follow the book and they'd have a pretty cool movie.

 

Hollywood does this all the time. They take a great book and turn it into crap. The worst offense, I think, is the adoption of Heinlein's "Starship Trooper". They made a horrible mess out of a classic SF novel. I heard the director hated Heinlein and his philosophy and made a mess of it on purpose.

 

Occassionally, they get it right. I recently watched "The Maltese Falcon". It was almost word for word out of Dashell Hamet's novel and was fantastic. Of course, Bogart and Lori made the movie a lot of fun.

 

I think they do a heck of good job on the Harry Potter movies. Hard-core fans may object (I've only read the books twice, so I don't consider myself hard-core), but I think the Potter movies are spectacular. The just cut and paste the best scenes from the book and make a movie. Yes, they leave out some really good stuff and ocassionally change the plot, but over all they do a very good job. Rowling watches over their shoulders, of course.

 

The movie "Master and Command" was actually based on two books of the Jack Aubry/Steven Maturin series written by Patrick O'Brian. I thought they did a wonderful job. (In the books, that French Frigate was actually an American Frigate fighting in the war of 1812. I don't think the movie would have sold in the USA if they kept that in.)

 

Usually, Hollywood messes up a good book. Sometimes they don't.

[Jethro]

Bruce Willis should play Tam Al'Thor without a doubt. That Norwich Union advert did it for me, he looks more fatherly, he is solid like Tam as if nothing could knock him down almost, and he could do Tams peresonality I reckon.

[Stoneweave]

I allways saw Mel Gibson as Tam Al'thor, and Liam Neilson as Abe Cauthon.

[Jethro]

I dont think Mel could pull off Tams personality. I personally think Bruce shows Tam qualities in a lot of his films, it just took me a while to realise it.

 

Matt Parkman from Heroes reminds me of Perrin a bit. Not his appearance, but more his attitude towards his woman. Matt keeps telling the speedy lass "shes doing this coz she's a good person" and all that, it gets repetitive and abit soppy. Almost like Perrin and his Faile-over-anything blubberings.

[Ahaz Flagg]

You realy did think alot about this!!  However unless most of those people are WoT fans and would realy fight for the part, not a chance in hades that all thos actors could be in it.  As light estimite you are talking saleries for one movie in excess of 200 million dollars.

 

 

I would much prefer they did not do actors on screen at all, this movie should be digital, or dark Animation. The sets and saleries would make it so they would never make book 2.And digital or animation would enable to capture the true feeling of the settings.

 

 

However, I doubt very much that we will see a WoT movie in any form anytime in the next decade, and probaly not even than.

[IrishCarBomb]

LOL I left out my actress recommendation for Lanfear. Fixd: Demi Moore.

 

I didn't consider price in this because I know very well that there will be a lot of new talent in the movie (if they do make one). I just thought about who would be good in which role and threw a list together.

 

[IrishCarBomb]

 

I'd like to see a showtime/HBO adaptation done as a series of episodes as opposed to a theatre movie.

 

  I think USA had the rights in 2000 but never did anything with them. I would like to see it made into a long series myself, long because of the sheer length of the series, but I don't think anyone has the guts to start it. Think about it, a THIRTEEN BOOK SERIES with hundreds of thousands of ravenous fans? Could make or break a man's career. I'd be nervous.

[Gentled Ben]

LOL I left out my actress recommendation for Lanfear. Fixd: Demi Moore.

 

I didn't consider price in this because I know very well that there will be a lot of new talent in the movie (if they do make one). I just thought about who would be good in which role and threw a list together.

 

Catherine Zeta-Jones  ;)

 

Jethro, Mel Gibson is a far better actor than Bruce Willis; he could most certainly pull off Tam.

[IrishCarBomb]

More casting ideas.

 

Logain Ablar:

 Russell Crowe. Tall, dark hair, handsome. In Gladiator, he played the once-great Commander of the Northern Legion now lower than a slave who fought his way back to glory. That is Logain to a T.

 

Alanna Mosvani:

 Donna DuPlantier. Fairly dark, slender and can have a fiery temper.

 

Anaiya:

 Joeanna Sayler looks plain but has a beautiful smile.

[Gentled Ben]

Russell Crowe is good for Logain. Adrian Paul (the old Highlander TV series) might pull it off, too.

[YoungKing]

If they come out with a WoT move or series, there will be no "star" actors or actresses any of us know off the top of our heads. The cast you suggest would take half a billion dollars.

[Gentled Ben]

If they come out with a WoT move or series, there will be no "star" actors or actresses any of us know off the top of our heads. The cast you suggest would take half a billion dollars.

Yup, you're right; we'll have to trim the budget. Pauly Shore for Padan Fain.  :D

[brucey]

Firstly i would love it if they made a movie / set of movies for the WOT, however it occurs to me that whenever hollywood make a movies for a book / series of books they destroy the essence of the story.

Take eragon and the northan lights (golden compass) for example, im a big fan of both series, but because there is so much infomation that must be conveyed for the story to work, it was impossible for the director, script writers ect to transfer it onto the big screen sucessfully.

Just look at the northen light (golden compass), it was a very good book in my opinion, but to transfer it to the big screens they had to cut alot of the story, which made the film hard to follow as it just did not seem to flow and nothing was really explained. also the film was cut short early leaving the climax and the starting point for the subtle knife out, thus making it hard to carry on the series if they ever decide to.

Ok i know that sometimes it can be done sucessfully, just take lord of the rings for example, alot of the story was left out but the films and the plot ran together very well.

So my only real concern with a WOT movie is that, there is so much infomation in one book that is important at some point in the series / that book, how can a director cut down the book so it is possible to be played on a big screen without losing something important to the story.

So therefore i reckon that if someone can make the series into film well like lord of the rings go for it, but if there gonna do a half arsed job of it and ruin the essence of the series, whats the point there just gonna ruin another series of books, so then it probally would be better if they made it into a TV series, that will still present problems but i believe that it would work out easier to do and it would allow the producer to stay truer the books than if it was made into a film.

[ROB_88]

for Thom Merillin i would use the guy who played Monsieur Roger LeClerc in the show "Allo 'Allo!"

there is the slight problem of his prevoius death but otherwise he would fit it right

[brucey]

I rockon keanu reeves would make a good warder

mainly because he has a great screen presence and he can distance himself from his emotions, plus hes already had good practice for fight scenes.

[entropic]

Monica Belluci would have to be Lanfear, she's perfect for her, there are no words...just search her.

[DhaiMon]

Seriously, people....

 

If they do a cast for the movies, then I'd prefer people that are picked for their talent, that can act their part and, to some degree, look good doing it. If the eye-color should be wrong, then...so what? What's important is that the story is interpreted and brought to the stage the right way. And that the cast is an able one, according to their skill. Not their fame.

 

That means that I would greatly prefer a host of "no-names" than a host of hugely expensive actors and actresses that would diminish the film's budget the more there are of those.

That aside, I hope they're going for a serious approach on the whole topic, not lining up scores of gorgeous looking characters according to our standards(except for the Forsaken maybe, arrogant "beautiful monsters" would fit those perfectly).

 

LotR had no-names as well, and however much I scorn the decisions taken there in the depiction of Tolkien's vision(that whole Isengard-branch...why? Where's Bombadil? The Dunlendings at Helm's Deep? What of Curunir's/Saruman's dirty little stab in the back at the end of the book before he perishes? More...), it did deliver. So I hope for something similar for this film concerning that. And a plot that stays as true to the book as possible, without dragging out the parts that might be considered "lame" by the spectatores and doing the central scenes right and true.

[Duneflayer]

i'm with the guy on the perivious page if they do anything it should be like a television series maybe 10 1hr episode perbook