The Sword and Laser discussion
This topic is about
Leviathan Wakes
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LW: Ideal Casts for Leviathan Wakes Movie
Finally, someone else saying Oldman for Miller.
btw, similar thread here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...
btw, similar thread here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...
One change I'd do... Willem Dafoe as Dresden. He is older and looks meaner, if he wants to, but it's a character with little screen time I don't think any big name would want the it.In my opinion Julie has to be older than 30.
I think Harvey Keitel would be a good Miller
First of all, Julie MAO is Asian, right? And I for some reason pictured her as being in her late twenties. Maybe Zhang Ziyi.Sam Jackson as Fred (maybe too obvious)
I pretty much think that Holden and Miller could be played by anyone. RDJ for Miller maybe?
Sam Worthington for Holden?
Naomi should be someone like Moon Bloodgood (kind of left field/top of my head random thought).
Actually, I'm thinking Marsha Thomason (look her up) would be good for Naomi.
Fassbender for Dresden, FTW.
With Naomi, I immediately pictured Dualla from BSG.
Just had a thought. Maybe Idris Elba for Fred.
Stuart wrote: "Just had a thought. Maybe Idris Elba for Fred."I freaking love Idris Elba! A thousand times yes to this.
I am so onboard with Kandyse McClure as Naomi. What an inspired choice. Miller - Dominic Purcell - loved him in Killer Elite
Havelock - Chris Pine
Holden - not sure. Clive Owen?
Fred - Lawrence Fishburn
Stuart wrote: "First of all, Julie MAO is Asian, right? And I for some reason pictured her as being in her late twenties. Maybe Zhang Ziyi.Sam Jackson as Fred (maybe too obvious)
I pretty much think that Holden..."
How about Grace Park from BSG as Julie? I'm such a huge fan of her.
Stuart wrote: "First of all, Julie MAO is Asian, right?"I don't think you could completely assume people's races by last names in this universe. There seems to be tons of mixing and Mao could just be a name that made it down from long while back. I'm not finished (about 60%), but the authors have only used an ethnicity to describe a character once so far. This makes me believe even more that being a very large assortment of races is pretty prominent. Plus, I just don't see Julie as being Asian, haha. At least not completely.
I love Bruce Willis as Miller. I think he has washed up has been on lock and key.
Austin wrote: "Stuart wrote: "I don't think you could completely assume people's races by last names in this universe. There seems to be tons of mixing and Mao could just be a name that made it down from long while back. I'm not finished (about 60%), but the authors have only used an ethnicity to describe a character once so far. This makes me believe even more that being a very large assortment of races is pretty prominent."This is what I got from it too.
Perhaps not, but Mao is a pretty uniquely Chinese surname. To not take that into account in considering clues to her at least general ethnicity is a little arbitrary. Though there doesn't appear to be any overt descriptive details alluding to her Asian decent, I stand by my assumption that she is of Asian ancestry. Mixed, sure, I can accept that. When I imagine characters, though, I like to try and imagine a pluralistic assortment of ethnicities (and I think that's what Corey intended). It's kind of a problem these days that readers will automatically assume that a character is white if there's no obvious description. I'm not saying that anyone is doing that here--but if you are, shame on you. ;) <---that was a joke.
Plus, when it comes to (American) cinema, there aren't a lot of prominent Asian characters (not that Julie is a great character), so from a casting standpoint I would have to go with putting an Asian in the role of someone named Mao. I can guarantee you that if you didn't, Chinese-Americans would scoff at it (remember when Zhang Ziyi was cast in Memoirs of a Geisha? That was a big deal for Chinese people--a big offensive deal, I mean). Not that that would matter to a studio exec or to most audience members. It's important to me, though, for some reason.
Okay, I've rambled quite a bit here, and I apologize for any assumptions that might seem out of line or in error. Just thinking out loud, I guess, so to speak.
Stuart wrote: "Perhaps not, but Mao is a pretty uniquely Chinese surname. To not take that into account in considering clues to her at least general ethnicity is a little arbitrary. Though there doesn't appear to..."I'm not saying Mao isn't a Chinese surname or that Julie isn't at least part Chinese. I'll admit that I picture her being mostly white with her black hair coming from her Asian ancestry. By my interpretation of the the universe in the book, it is a perfectly valid thought to think that she has a Chinese surname and barely looks Chinese. Like I said, Mao could just be a name that happened to make it down the line and the Chinese features could be completely diluted. I'd say it is perfectly valid to think she is straight up Asian looking too. I agree with casting someone that is at least part Chinese for Julie in a movie. I would personally choose someone with a more diverse background than just Chinese though.
Austin wrote: "Stuart wrote: "Perhaps not, but Mao is a pretty uniquely Chinese surname. To not take that into account in considering clues to her at least general ethnicity is a little arbitrary. Though there do..."I think Kristin Kreuk (of Smallville fame) would be good for Julie. Half Chinese BTW.
Miller = Denzel Washington
Holden = Edward Norton or Tim Olyphant
Fred = Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Holden = Edward Norton or Tim Olyphant
Fred = Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Go animatedFred Anderson:
Miller:
Holden:
Naomi:
Dresden:
Julie:
I admit I am stretching it a bit for Miller, but Bender was the only one I could see shooting people "because he needed it".
Stuart wrote: "First of all, Julie MAO is Asian, right? And I for some reason pictured her as being in her late twenties. Maybe Zhang Ziyi.Given that this is centuries in the future, it's entirely possibly for a white person (or a person resembling any present-day ethnicity) to have the name Mao. Racial barriers for marriage have been breaking down for decades now and it would only take a few generations before "Asian" families no longer look "Asian".
Jr wrote: "it would only take a few generations before "Asian" families no longer look "Asian""Maybe Caucasian families will look Asian in the future.
it would only take a few generations before "Asian" families no longer look "Asian". Yeah, if you assume that White is the default and other races only exist because they haven't yet been bred out of the population. Which is pretty damned offensive.
Alterjess wrote: "it would only take a few generations before "Asian" families no longer look "Asian". Yeah, if you assume that White is the default and other races only exist because they haven't yet been bred ou..."
You're not really making sense. You're being offended about something that wasn't even said. I'm not really seeing how it would have to be white people for the "Asian look" to be bred out. Could be African, Semitic, Indian, etc. people or a combination of all of them. All it takes is man producing a male child with a woman of another race to start it. If the male then produces children with a person that is not Asian and so on, the name Mao could be given to someone who does not look the least bit Asian. Nowhere in that does anybody have to be white.
A Harvey Keitel type would be great for Miller - a washed up, alcoholic cop just screams out for that kind of character actor. I kept picturing Ray Winstone. And then going "no no no, he's supposed to be a belter. Tall, skinny, big head.."
Nick Nolte might be a little to old, but his personality certainly would match.
Jr wrote: "Stuart wrote: "Given that this is centuries in the future, it's entirel..."Do we know that it's "centuries" in the future? Was there a date given? I must've missed that.
Jr wrote: "Given that this is centuries in the future, it's entirel..."And by the way, while it's true that some Chinese people do intermarry with other ethnicities, there are still over a billion Chinese people in Mainland China who, I assure you, have very little/no interest in marrying outside of their culture. I kind of doubt that even a few centuries will make much of a dent in that fact.
If anything, it maybe is more logical to assume that most people will look more Asian in the future. I think currently the statistic is that there are 1.4 billion Chinese in Mainland China. Something like that.
Stuart wrote: "Jr wrote: "Given that this is centuries in the future, it's entirel..."And by the way, while it's true that some Chinese people do intermarry with other ethnicities, there are still over a billio..."
That's a good point. Might not hold up with all of the colonization that was done though in some cases. Colonies are probably more likely to be more diverse since a majority ethnicity of people is probably going to leave. With the book it seems that the authors make a point to show that there is a ton of race mixing. I might be the only one getting that vibe though.
Stuart wrote: "Do we know that it's "centuries" in the future? Was there a date given? I must've missed that."There's not an explicit date given, but Mars has been colonized for over 150 year according to the first chapter:
A hundred and fifty years before, when the parochial disagreements between Earth and Mars had been on the verge of war, the Belt had been a far horizon of tremendous mineral wealth beyond viable economic reach, and the outer planets had been beyond even the most unrealistic corporate dream. Then Solomon Epstein had built his little modified fusion drive, popped it on the back of his three-man yacht, and turned it on. With a good scope, you could still see his ship going at a marginal percentage of the speed of light, heading out into the big empty. The best, longest funeral in the history of mankind. Fortunately, he’d left the plans on his home computer. The Epstein Drive hadn’t given humanity the stars, but it had delivered the planets.
-- Leviathan Wakes
So, populating the belt and outer planets has only been possible for the last century and a half.
Skip wrote: "Go animatedFred Anderson:
Miller:
Holden:
Naomi:
Dresden:
Julie:
I admit I am stretching it a bit for Miller, but Bender was the only one I could see shooting people "because he neede..."
I love it!
There really does need to be more adult, animated, sci fi.
Fred Anderson: Clarke Peters (The Wire)Miller: Jeffrey Dean Morgan or Mark Sheppard (BSG)
Havelock: Sasha Roiz (Caprica)
Holden: Jeremy Renner
Naomi: Naomie Harris (28 Days Later)
Alex: John Cho
Julie: Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse)or Grace Park (BSG)
E wrote: "Fred Anderson: Clarke Peters (The Wire)Miller: Jeffrey Dean Morgan or Mark Sheppard (BSG)
Havelock: Sasha Roiz (Caprica)
Holden: Jeremy Renner
Naomi: Naomie Harris (28 Days Later)
Alex: John Cho..."
I love your choices for Holden's crew, along with Grace Park for Julie. I've read a few posts that name BSG cast for these parts, which makes some sense, I suppose.
Good choice on Mark Sheppard for Miller who also had a recurring role on Firefly. He is one of my favorites.
E wrote: "Miller: Jeffrey Dean Morgan or Mark Sheppard (BSG)Havelock: Sasha Roiz (Caprica)"
Yes! Mark Sheppard and Sasha Roiz are both fantastic!
Funny, the only person I could picture clearly was Havelock's character. My mind automatically cast Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera from Cold Case) and I just went with it. I really like the idea of Jeremy Renner as Holden. That definitively would have made the Holden character more palatable for me. I also like the idea of John Cho as Alex and Denzel Washington as Anderson. Miller is a tough one as are the rest of Holden's crew. But now that I think about it, Cillian Murphy might have been a good Dresden.
The ones I had people in mind on:Miller: Kenneth Branagh (In Wallander mode).
Holden: Ben Browder (Crichton mode).
Fred: Lawrence Fishburn.
Amos: Adam Baldwin.
Julie: Gemma Chan.
Dresden: James Callis.
Alterjess wrote: Yeah, if you assume that White is the default and other races only exist because they haven't yet been bred ou..."
Neither white nor asian nor any other race. Unihumans - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7348103/#...
On a side note, how 'bout we get some of the Firefly cast in on this.
Book - Fred
Mal - Holden
Jayne - Amos
Zoe - Naomi
River - Julie
Wash - Alex
Eric wrote: On a side note, how 'bout we get some of the Firefly cast in on this.Book - Fred
Mal - Holden
Jayne - Amos
Zoe - Naomi
River - Julie
Wash - Alex
That's interesting because while I can totally see the similarities I have a hard time picturing any of the Firefly cast in those roles. Just because Nathan Fillion is so very Mal or Gina Torres is Zoe in my head I find it difficult to see them as Holden or Naomi, characters that are so similar and yet different in some rather pivotal ways.
However, if Gina Torres had never been Zoe (perish the thought) I could see the actress being perfect for Naomi.
Eric wrote: "Alterjess wrote: Yeah, if you assume that White is the default and other races only exist because they haven't yet been bred ou..."
Neither white nor asian nor any other race. Unihumans - http://..."
I dont usually cast people in books im reading I like to imagine the characters my own way but the more I read Leviathan wakes the more I pictured the firefly crew
Holden was Mal
Amos was Jayne
Naomi was zoe
and Miller became shepherd book - not sure why on that one but I couldnt help myself as hard as I tried he was just book (Not sure if Ive got his name right im sure someone will tell me if i havnt lol)
zoe didnt quite fit for Naomi because Naomi kept refusing to carry a gun but otherwise she was zoe
I havnt finished the book as yet still reading but the further In I get the more they become the firefly cast
I would suspect that Julie Mao would look some variety of mixed white-Asian. (I don't recall, but wasn't the name actually hyphenated with a Slavic name?)I kind of wonder if you could find an actress that *looks like* Naomi, with here mix of African and Asian heritage. Such mixes exist, and there are even groups in Africa that have epicanthic folds (I think one group claims to be decendants of the crew of a Chinese explorer), but I haven't seen any black actors with epicanthic folds that I recall.
Of course, getting the exact look right isn't always the first priority in casting.
Coming in a bit late, but I just finished reading the book and the only character that I had any kind of strong casting sense for was Fred.Robert Wisdom (aka, "Bunny" Colvin from The Wire) was the ONLY person I envisioned playing Fred from the moment he first showed up in the story.
Aside from him, I had loose ideas for the characters, but none as perfect as above:
Miller; before I realized he was an older guy, I could only imagine him played by Daniel Dae Kim from Lost. Can't even explain why. His was just the face I saw. After I realized Miller was older, I started envisioning a Bruce Willis type, though he's too short for a belter.
Alex was played by Dileep Rao (aka, Yusuf from Inception), though I really had to work to imagine him with a Texan accent.
Amos's voice was clear in my head, but not his face. Closest I can imagine is Dozer from The Matrix.
Naomi, I envisions an actress *like* Zoe Saldana, but that feels obvious -- plus, she already belongs to one sci-fi franchise.
Dresden was Iain Glen (aka, Ser Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones)
Juliette Andromeda-Mao, I kept imagining China Chow for lack of any other Chinese-Anglo mixed actresses.
Oh! And there was one more insta-cast!
Havelock was never not Keith Szarabajka in my head.
Holden was the most difficult, but, by the end of the book... I think... maybe... Chris Evans. He's supposed to be pretty, and he's got a sort of youthful sarcasm about him, but he can take command when he needs to.
Y'know, I think I just talked myself into it. Chris Evans as Holden.
The only insta-casts I had were - I imagined Fred as Idris Elba, Bryan Cranston immediately as Miller and I actually heard Ray Wise say all of Dresden's lines in my head. Ray Wise or bust.Also, I think it lends itself better to an HBO Game of Thrones style format than a movie. There's too much going on.
I pictured Miller as looking a lot like Michael Ironside for some reason.
Okay, now it's actually going to be a TV series.A lot of good ones here. I agree wholeheartedly with Kenneth Branagh as Miller, Gina Torres as Naomi and Adam Baldwin as Amos.
Nobody mentioned Kal Penn as Alex though! I think that'd be perfect.
Kimberly Estrada as Julie? She knows martial arts. After House of Cards, I think Kevin Spacey would be a perfect Dresden.
I'm halfway through the first book and I keep thinking Jonathan Frakes as Miller. Am I wrong?
Having just read the second book, I learned Alex is actually in the 40s-50s range and balding! Soooooo, Dileep Rao might not be the best choice. Not sure who else would be a fit, though. Especially considering he'd need to have a full-on Texas accent.As soon as I learned about the TV series, I tweeted about wanting Robert Wisdom to play Fred, and both he AND James S.A. Corey (or whichever of his dual personalities runs the twitter account) responded enthusiastically to the idea. If this actually comes to pass, I'm claiming those bragging rights for eternity.
Walter Matthau as Miller (or Holden?).
Joey wrote: "Having just read the second book, I learned Alex is actually in the 40s-50s range and balding! Soooooo, Dileep Rao might not be the best choice. Not sure who else would be a fit, though. Especially..."That... is PERFECT!
Walter wrote: "With Naomi, I immediately pictured Dualla from BSG."I wouldn't mind Dualla for Naomi
For me, it goes like this:Holden: Michael Fassbender
Miller: Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont from Thrones)
Naomi: Kandyse McClure (Dualla from BSG)
Amos: Kevin Durand (Martin Keamy from Lost)
Praxidite Meng: Jeremy Davies
Fred Johnson: Keith David
Bobbie: Gwendoline Christie
Mine would be as follows:
Fred Anderson:Denzel Washington or LeVar Burton
Miller:Bryan Cranston or Gary Oldman
Holden:Ryan Gosling or Chris Hemsworth
Naomi:Marion Cotillard or Freida Pinto
Dresden: Jude Law or Joseph-Gordon Levitt
Julie:Ellen Page or Olivia Wilde (depending on how old she needs to be.)
Also, art direction by H.R. Giger.
As for the rest of the cast, I'm clueless. Any ideas?