Wherein futuresoon and I cast Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

[weewarrior]

...well, the title says it all: futuresoon suggested that Paul Bettany would make a splendid Jonathan Strange, I threw in Cillian Murphy as the Raven King, and everything pretty much went downhill from there. Our final cast can be admired at futuresoon's journal here. Ye of low bandwidth, Be careful, the post is excessively image heavy.

Comments

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

Very cool! Spot-on for the protagonists, I'd say. There are a couple of minors I'd take issue with, mainly Drawlight, Honeyfoot, and Childermass (the first I see as a bit of a dandy - unpleasant, but very vain - and the second two seem too young for their parts). But I could be way off base.

Oh, and spot-on with Eccleston for Vinculus too.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Drawlight: I thought Lascelles was the dandyish one? Either way, why not have Timothy Spall be a bit dandyish, I think he could do that, too.

Ages: Firth is maybe a bit young for Honeyfoot, although especially in terms of the early 19th century, he could very well be a man with grown daughters (He is 48). Jack Davenport is probably a bit young for Childermass, but we wanted him somewhere, and it would be fun to see him in such a different part.

(I am talking about this as if we were really casting it, which is probably slightly worrying. ;))

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

Drawlight: I thought Lascelles was the dandyish one?

Ah, I may have mixed them up. I only read the book once.

Ages: Firth is maybe a bit young for Honeyfoot, although especially in terms of the early 19th century, he could very well be a man with grown daughters (He is 48).

Yeah, that's true. I keep thinking of someone vaguely Derek Jacobi-ish, but he's a bit too old for the part nowadays.

Jack Davenport is probably a bit young for Childermass, but we wanted him somewhere, and it would be fun to see him in such a different part.

It'd certainly be fun to see him so badass!


(I am talking about this as if we were really casting it, which is probably slightly worrying. ;))

Nah. I've done similar things myself. And I thought it was great fun to hear Neil Gaiman talk about "bullshit casting" - how at the beginning of a film project, they talk about who they'd really want, and once that's done, they get realistic. Except in the case of Stardust, they bullshit cast Robert de Niro and said, "when he turns it down we'll ask Jack Nicholson, and then we'll get down to business" - and then de Niro said yes. :-)