Who did they want to play that??? Pt 2

Lets start with Lord of the Rings, great films, spot on cast, but Russel Crowe as Aragorn instead of Viggo Mortensen, and what about Sean Connery instead of Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, I think the correct choices were made.

I read Brett Easton Ellises American Psycho some time before the film was announced, when I heard about the film I was a bit shocked because of the nature of the book, several actors were offered the role of Patrick Bateman including Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Ewan McGregor to name but a few, most turned down the role due to it's extremely violent and disturbing nature, but in the end Christian Bale took the role.

Talking of Pitt and DiCaprio, Brokeback Mountain anyone?

Depp, Depp, Depp......? Johnny Depp was approached to play Ferris Bueller (I can see that working) but due to scheduling commitments (yep that old chestnut) the role was given to Matthew Broderick who, we can all agree, did a fantastic job!

Legally Blonde is a feel good movie, and Reece Witherspoon plays the lead Elle Woods with aplomb, you can't really imagine anyone else playing her, except of course Christina Applegate!

How about Fast and Furious without Vin Diesel, well the part was originally offered to Timothy Olyphant, but he passed on it, without Diesel would it become the multi billion dollar franchise it is, we'll never know!

La La Land starring Emma Watson and Miles Teller, there's one to think about.

Here's one of the strangest casting choices, O.J. Simpson was the studios first choice as the Terminator, let that sink in for a minute, Arnold Schwarzennegger was actually offered the role of Kyle Reece, but it all worked out in the end. On the other hand if Simpson had taken the role the film probably wouldn't have been the massive success that it was, which would have been a shame, but then again we wouldn't have had to suffer Terminator 3, Salvation or Genysis, so, swing and roundabouts!

Nic Cage as the Green Goblin in Spiderman, yep, totally get that, Willem DeFoe was great but Cage does play manic with the volume turned up to 11!

Tom Cruise as Tony Stark, biggest nope available on that one, Robert Downey Jr IS Ironman!

Tom Cruise as Edward Scissorhands, really? It was the studio that wanted Cruise, but Tim Burton wanted Johnny Depp, luckily Burton won out on this one.

James McAvoy in M Night Shyamalan's Split was inspired, a brilliant performance on many levels, and personalities, but he wasn't the directors first choice, Joaquin Phoenix was, and dare I say it he would have done a great job as well, but due to, yep you guessed it, scheduling conflicts he wasn't available.

Who did they want to play that??? Pt 1

Some actors just seem so well suited to a role you'd think it was written for them, well that's not always the case. Of course there are a lot of actors initially touted for roles, these are are ones who came really close and some alternatives surprised me, some shocked and some I thought 'Yeah, I can see that', what do you think?

Harrison Ford is Han Solo, surely he was first choice, wasn't he! Well there were a few other actors up for the role, Jack Nicholson, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and even Al Pacino but heading them all was Chistopher Walken, luckily for us because of scheduling conflicts and some thinking the script was too "out there" Ford sealed the role, and the rest is history.

Harrison Ford nearly missed out on Indiana Jones as the role was originally earmarked for Tom Selleck (yep, could totally see that) but Selleck had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts concerning Magnum PI, perhaps Ford could have taken over as Magnum, no, not the best idea.

Talking about Star Wars, did you know that Michael Jackson was considered for the role of Jar Jar Binks!?

"Stupid is as stupid does" John Travolta turned down the role of Forrest Gump, but he was then offered the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction so it worked out in the end.

Sean Connery was almost Hannibal Lecter, but he turned down the script because he thought it was "disgusting".

Screenwriter Stuart Beattie wrote the role of Jack Sparrow specifically for Hugh Jackman but as it took nearly 10 year before the script for Pirates of the Caribbean was taken up by Disney, Johnny Depp knocked the screen test out of the park and an icon was born, but I don't think Jackman would have done too bad a job himself!

Talking of Hugh Jackman, he nearly wasn't Wolverine, comic book writer Chris Claremont wanted Bob Hoskins as Logan, he thought Hoskins was "short and feral" just like Wolverine, now that would have been a totally different movie!

When the role of Wolverine was finally cast it wasn't Jackmans name on the list, it was Dougray Scott, but he got injured in a motorcycle accident on the set of Mission Impossible 2 so wouldn't be available when filming started, Jackman was brought in as a last minute replacement!

Still talking about Hugh Jackman, he was offered the role of James Bond in Casino Royale, he turned it down when he was told he wouldn't have a say in how the story went, "I just felt at the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and crazy, and I feel like they needed to become grittier and real" this from a man who made his name as a superhero with a metal skeleton!

Can you imagine anybody else playing the part of Marty McFly other than Michael J Fox, no, me either, shooting actually started with Eric Stolz in the iconic role but after a few days Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale realised that Stolz didn't rely have the comic timing to pull off the script so MJF was brought in to reshoot everything and a franchise was born!

Tim Roth as Severus Snape, yep could have worked, but the role eventually went to Alan Rickman, and nobody regretted it, even Roth stated "the better man for the job did the job", classy guy, always liked Tim Roth.

Started this section with Harrison Ford, so may as well finish it with him, what do think Jurassic Park would have been like with Ford as Dr Alan Grant, Christina Ricci as Lex, Sandra Bullock as Ellie, Jim Carrey as Malcolm and Sean Connery as Hammond, apparently Carrey came very close to landing the role that made Jeff Goldblum. 

Book to film adaptations

One of my favourite films in recent years is Ready Player One, it's an immense amount of fun, looks gorgeous and is slathered in nostalgia, a film you can rewatch again and again.

I listened to the audiobook of Earnest Clines novel after I'd seen the film, it was narrated by Wil Weaton (listened to a few done by him, he does a brilliant job) the very basic premise is the same but the details are quite a bit different, and you know what, I really enjoyed it as well!

In a way you get to enjoy two different stories, I might never had bothered with the book if I hadn't have enjoyed the film so much, but there are haters out there who read the book and are emotionally invested into it, they hate the film, I'm just lucky I suppose that I can detach the two.

Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien is the book that I have re-read the most (6 times at the last count), it is my favourite book, though I do tend to skip the Council of Elrond as is does go on a bit!

Peter Jackson did a fantastic job in bringing LOTR to the big screen, you could tell he was a fan, he put on screen what I had imagined in my head, I was a bit gobsmacked at that and wonderfully surprised.

The Hobbit was the first real book that I ever read, it holds a special place in my heart, I have re-read it several times and was excited when I found out that Peter Jackson was going to bring it to the big screen as well.

The films were good, but by stretching them out over 3 by adding extra bits seemed more like cashing in rather than the passion project that LOTR was, they felt overblown, and to bringe all 3 was a struggle, not something I felt with LOTR.

My favourite film of all time has got to be Blade Runner, the opening scenes still give me goosebumps, one of the best examples of sci-fi noir that has ever been filmed, a joy for the senses.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick is a different matter all together, I'll admit I got lost and struggled to finish (not sure if I did finish it come to think) but I found that a lot with Dicks work, it might just be me, he seems to have a lot of fans, and quite a few of his novels have been adapted to the big screen, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly and Total Recall to mention a few.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is a fantastic read, a real roller coaster of emotions, brutal in places, in fact very brutal, if you have an ounce of empathy in your body you'll live the book.

The film was a bit crap, might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't read the book but just missed out too much, it felt like half a film really, I know films can very rarely fit everything in, but it missed vital plot points and background.

I remember reading Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris and it keeping me on the edge of my seat, Harris is a brilliant writer, I've enjoyed everything of his I've read, he builds characters and tension fantastically, keeps you guessing and paints a vivid story.

The film is equally as good, a proper thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, helped by a wonderful cast and great direction.

Just about to be released next month is Artemis Fowl on Disney+, I've seen the trailer and I'm not holding out much hope. I've read all the books by Eoin Colfer (I know they're meant for kids, but a good read is a good read!) from the casting to the overall look and feel of it all it just doesn't seem quite right. I'll try and approach it with an open mind, but it'll be quite difficult, watch this space.

And finally, Harry Potter, books great and so are the films, nuff said!

Whitewashing

I had YouTube on in the background yesterday whilst I was doing other things and if you're watching a film and that finishes it'll go into the next film that's of a similar ilk.

I don't know how but a Mr Moto movie came up starring Peter Lorre, I do like movies from the 30/40s so I started watching it, and the subsequent sequels, think I watched 4 (Peter Lorre made 8 in total) I really enjoyed them.

YouTube either ran out of Mr Moto movies or just wanted to give me a bit of a break because next up was Mr Wong starring Boris Karloff!

After a couple of those we had Charlie Chan starring Sidney Toler and then Roland Winters and Warner Oland, in fact Peter Ustinov played him in the 80's!

These films are 80 odd years old, it was a different time, with different attitudes, and I know that people (snowflakes) would be offended by them today because they don't see them old movies, they see them as something that they can be offended by!

I must admit that I do find some of the stuff in old movies slightly offensive, there's a lot of stereotyping, Mantan Moreland tends to appear in a lot of these movies and plays the same type in each one, he's the comic relief, not very bright, cowardly black manservant, but he's just one of many, but probably the most famous and successful.

I'm glad it's not like that these days but I am sad that we seem to have gone the other way, trying too hard to be inclusive as a backlash against a previously straight white male dominated film and TV business.

I think the question that I'm really trying to ask is:

WHY, OH WHY DID THEY MAKE AN ALL FEMALE GHOSTBUSTERS?!