Some more thoughts on Star Wars fan casting options
My previous post was about my fan casting choices for the Star Wars EU. But what about other peoples' preferences? I'm not talking about fan casting for specific roles; I'm rather wondering which actors are generally viewed as great candidates to appear in a Star Wars film. Thankfully, the fans like to talk about these things. So I've been taking a look at the various fan-casting threads on the big Star Wars forums. Or rather specifically, I've been looking at the threads aimed at "Who would you like to see in Star Wars?" -- and even more specifically than that, I've tallied the answers to this question for the period between the sequel announcement and the release of TRoS. That is to say: I've been taking a look at which actors the (most active and invested segment of the) fan-base actually wanted in the franchise, during that period.
Note that this was done mostly for my own amusement, and possibly to aid in any future fan-casting efforts of my own, so the tally given below has been edited with my purposes in mind. I have omitted all actors who actually ended up being cast in some Star Wars film after they had already been suggested. (Examples include Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern, who were both mentioned more than once.) I have also excluded all actors who I've already fan-cast in some EU role. (An example includes Ethan Hawke, who has wanted a Star Wars role for years, and who I personally fan-cast as Ganner Rhysode.) Similarly, I have ignored posts that just listed lots of names from the Game of Thrones cast et cetera, without any reasoning as to why these actors would be a good fit for Star Wars. (But where individual actors were suggested with solid reasoning, I have included them.) In the same vein, I have ignored posts that only listed the generally vacuous starlets who are/were famous at the time.
Since I compared five mega-threads on the subject, I've decided to make five separate mentions the mimimum qualification for listing. There were of course countless actors who got mentioned only once or twice, but I haven't included their names here. Finally, and to my deep regret, I have excluded the actor who was mentioned more than any other, because he sadly passed away in 2016: Alan Rickman, whose name was by far the most-suggested, with a whopping thirty-seven mentions.
The listing, ultimately, looks as follows:
TWENTY-THREE MENTIONS
-- Charles Dance (Specifically mentioned, again and again, as ideal to play a lead Imperial; usually with the caveat that he shouldn't be a Sith. Kept getting mentioned long after he'd already exited from Game of Thrones.)
SEVENTEEN MENTIONS
-- Keanu Reeves (Specifically mentioned as Revan; hardly is the notion even entertained that he could or should get any other part.)
-- Eva Green (Specifically mentioned as a "lead villain" and a "Sith lady".)
FOURTEEN MENTIONS
-- Alicia Vikander (Specifically mentioned as a Jedi almost every time; repeatedly as potentially the daughter of Han and Leia in a sequel film, or as Leia in a reboot.)
-- Jaimie Alexander (Specifically mentioned as Bastila Shan almost every time.)
-- Christian Bale (Specifically mentioned as Revan most of the time.)
THIRTEEN MENTIONS
-- Emily Blunt (Specifically mentioned as a Jedi almost every time; often as Nomi Sunrider in a Tales of the Jedi adaptation.)
-- Idris Elba (Repeatedly mentioned as a Republic military commander.)
TWELVE MENTIONS
-- Brie Larson (Specifically mentioned as a Jedi almost every time.)
-- Ciaran Hinds (Specifically mentioned as an authority figure, either good or evil.)
-- Rebecca Ferguson (Specifically mentioned as a Jedi almost every time; often as Nomi Sunrider in a Tales of the Jedi adaptation.)
-- Stephen Dillane (Repeatedly mentioned as a Republic military commander.)
ELEVEN MENTIONS
-- Chiwetel Ejiofor
-- Michael Fassbender
TEN MENTIONS
-- Cillian Murphy
-- Javier Bardem
-- Manu Bennett (Almost exclusively mentioned as a Mandalorian.)
-- Tessa Thompson
NINE MENTIONS
-- Hayley Atwell
-- Jake Gyllenhaal
-- Ruth Negga
-- Sharlto Copley (Repeatedly mentioned as a smuggler/rogue type character.)
EIGHT MENTIONS
-- Ken Watanabe (Exclusively mentioned as a Jedi Master.)
SEVEN MENTIONS
-- Dave Bautista (Repeatedly mentioned as Darth Bane.)
-- Jim Caviezel
-- Katie McGrath
-- Luke Evans
-- Mark Strong (Repeatedly mentioned as Malak.)
-- Michael B. Jordan
SIX MENTIONS
-- Elodie Yung
-- Gugu Mbatha-Raw
-- Lee Pace
-- Rinko Kikuchi (Almost exclusively mentioned as a Jedi.)
-- Walton Goggins (Exlusively mentioned as a comical character.)
FIVE MENTIONS
-- Garrett Hedlund
-- Tuppence Middleton
-- Wes Bentley
-- Zahn McClarnon
Those are some pretty interesting names, and varied enough that you could use this list to largely fill out the cast for about three different Star Wars projects. Of course, some names mentioned in association with specific roles do run into practical issues: Keanu Reeves as Revan and Mark Strong as Malak sounds awesome, but by 2015 they would be over a decade too old for those parts. Christian Bale as Revan and Jaimie Alexander as Bastila would just about work, though, age-wise-- and Bale has repeatedly expressed his desire to be Star Wars. Either way, though, any KotOR adaptation runs into the issue that most other actors listed here don't easily fit the remaining roles for such a project. Manu Bennett could be Canderous, and Elodie Yung could be Yuhani. That's about it. For the other roles, we'd have to expand our casting net beyond this list.
(The isolated mention of Dave Bautista as Darth Bane runs into the same issue, but to a far greater extent.)
Nevertheless, I think it would be quite feasible to form a full cast for an adaptation of Tales of the Jedi, using only names on this list. And afterwards, I suspect you'd still have enough names left over to cast another complete project.
Note that this was done mostly for my own amusement, and possibly to aid in any future fan-casting efforts of my own, so the tally given below has been edited with my purposes in mind. I have omitted all actors who actually ended up being cast in some Star Wars film after they had already been suggested. (Examples include Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern, who were both mentioned more than once.) I have also excluded all actors who I've already fan-cast in some EU role. (An example includes Ethan Hawke, who has wanted a Star Wars role for years, and who I personally fan-cast as Ganner Rhysode.) Similarly, I have ignored posts that just listed lots of names from the Game of Thrones cast et cetera, without any reasoning as to why these actors would be a good fit for Star Wars. (But where individual actors were suggested with solid reasoning, I have included them.) In the same vein, I have ignored posts that only listed the generally vacuous starlets who are/were famous at the time.
Since I compared five mega-threads on the subject, I've decided to make five separate mentions the mimimum qualification for listing. There were of course countless actors who got mentioned only once or twice, but I haven't included their names here. Finally, and to my deep regret, I have excluded the actor who was mentioned more than any other, because he sadly passed away in 2016: Alan Rickman, whose name was by far the most-suggested, with a whopping thirty-seven mentions.
The listing, ultimately, looks as follows:
TWENTY-THREE MENTIONS
-- Charles Dance (Specifically mentioned, again and again, as ideal to play a lead Imperial; usually with the caveat that he shouldn't be a Sith. Kept getting mentioned long after he'd already exited from Game of Thrones.)
SEVENTEEN MENTIONS
-- Keanu Reeves (Specifically mentioned as Revan; hardly is the notion even entertained that he could or should get any other part.)
-- Eva Green (Specifically mentioned as a "lead villain" and a "Sith lady".)
FOURTEEN MENTIONS
-- Alicia Vikander (Specifically mentioned as a Jedi almost every time; repeatedly as potentially the daughter of Han and Leia in a sequel film, or as Leia in a reboot.)
-- Jaimie Alexander (Specifically mentioned as Bastila Shan almost every time.)
-- Christian Bale (Specifically mentioned as Revan most of the time.)
THIRTEEN MENTIONS
-- Emily Blunt (Specifically mentioned as a Jedi almost every time; often as Nomi Sunrider in a Tales of the Jedi adaptation.)
-- Idris Elba (Repeatedly mentioned as a Republic military commander.)
TWELVE MENTIONS
-- Brie Larson (Specifically mentioned as a Jedi almost every time.)
-- Ciaran Hinds (Specifically mentioned as an authority figure, either good or evil.)
-- Rebecca Ferguson (Specifically mentioned as a Jedi almost every time; often as Nomi Sunrider in a Tales of the Jedi adaptation.)
-- Stephen Dillane (Repeatedly mentioned as a Republic military commander.)
ELEVEN MENTIONS
-- Chiwetel Ejiofor
-- Michael Fassbender
TEN MENTIONS
-- Cillian Murphy
-- Javier Bardem
-- Manu Bennett (Almost exclusively mentioned as a Mandalorian.)
-- Tessa Thompson
NINE MENTIONS
-- Hayley Atwell
-- Jake Gyllenhaal
-- Ruth Negga
-- Sharlto Copley (Repeatedly mentioned as a smuggler/rogue type character.)
EIGHT MENTIONS
-- Ken Watanabe (Exclusively mentioned as a Jedi Master.)
SEVEN MENTIONS
-- Dave Bautista (Repeatedly mentioned as Darth Bane.)
-- Jim Caviezel
-- Katie McGrath
-- Luke Evans
-- Mark Strong (Repeatedly mentioned as Malak.)
-- Michael B. Jordan
SIX MENTIONS
-- Elodie Yung
-- Gugu Mbatha-Raw
-- Lee Pace
-- Rinko Kikuchi (Almost exclusively mentioned as a Jedi.)
-- Walton Goggins (Exlusively mentioned as a comical character.)
FIVE MENTIONS
-- Garrett Hedlund
-- Tuppence Middleton
-- Wes Bentley
-- Zahn McClarnon
Those are some pretty interesting names, and varied enough that you could use this list to largely fill out the cast for about three different Star Wars projects. Of course, some names mentioned in association with specific roles do run into practical issues: Keanu Reeves as Revan and Mark Strong as Malak sounds awesome, but by 2015 they would be over a decade too old for those parts. Christian Bale as Revan and Jaimie Alexander as Bastila would just about work, though, age-wise-- and Bale has repeatedly expressed his desire to be Star Wars. Either way, though, any KotOR adaptation runs into the issue that most other actors listed here don't easily fit the remaining roles for such a project. Manu Bennett could be Canderous, and Elodie Yung could be Yuhani. That's about it. For the other roles, we'd have to expand our casting net beyond this list.
(The isolated mention of Dave Bautista as Darth Bane runs into the same issue, but to a far greater extent.)
Nevertheless, I think it would be quite feasible to form a full cast for an adaptation of Tales of the Jedi, using only names on this list. And afterwards, I suspect you'd still have enough names left over to cast another complete project.
Comments
Post a Comment