ahem. ladies and gentlemen, i have an opinion. *gasp* what?! you?! an opinion?!
i know. hard to believe, right?
so, if any of you obsess over awesomely magnificent book series like i do, you might also obsess over the [hopefully] magnificent film counterparts, like i do.
right now, i'm obsessing over two particular up-coming film counterparts.
enter: the hunger games and the mortal instruments: city of bones.
while both films have been in talks for a while now, details are finally coming to the surface. in my eyes, BIG details such as who's directing the film and then the most treacherous of questions: who will play the lead roles?
this is where my opinion comes in.
yes, it is important to make sure you choose each cast member just as meticulously and thoughtfully as the leads, but the leads will be the face of the film. the ones everyone will be googling and imdbing and tweeting about. they will be the ones with stones thrown at them if they are disliked and knighted if they are loved. they will carry the film on their backs and that is why they are so important. that is also why i'm only going to focus on them. while its a lotta fun to sit around and write out full cast lists for your favorite book-to-movie projects (don't lie, you all did it for twilight. i know i did and believe me, no kristen stewart was on my list.) that's a lot of casting to do and kind of a big waste of time because my opinion doesn't even matter in the first place anyway.
but for now, i'm pretending it does as i share my main character and director picks for the upcoming hunger games and mortal instruments flicks.
starting with the hunger games:
why? because. he did the chronicles of narnia: the lion the witch and the wardrobe and prince caspian both of which were done quite well in my opinion. he also directed shrek 1 & 2 as well as wrote (or co-wrote) shrek 2 & 3 and the first two narnia films. he knows his stuff. he's awesome at capturing the appropriate emotions of the characters and giving the films he works on an overall feeling of hard work and completion. i would have loved to seen him direct the hunger games.
actual director: gary ross -- i don't really have anything against gary ross, but i'm worried about his past film work: pleasantville and seabiscuit. not bad films, but neither in the genre of the hunger games. while he has written a good number of films (seabiscuit, pleasantville, dave, the tale of desparaux) again they are in a different genre of film. you may recognize him from the kids are alright or the bridge to terebithia (among other films).
why? because besides the fact that he's not blonde, this kid screams the boy with the bread to me. he's got that quiet giant type essence about him. i think he could pull off peeta with amazing grace especially if all the books are made to film. i can see him portraying all the sides of peeta that we experience throughout the hunger games, catching fire and mocking jay.
i definitely vote josh hutcherson as peeta mellark.
the actual peeta mellark: hasn't been confirmed or finalized yet, but my guess is, it will end up being alex pettyfer. don't get me wrong, i have nothing against alex pettyfer. in fact i love him and i think he's pretty darn amazing. however, i don't think he's peeta material.
why? because first of all, he's too pretty. he just is. he's the kind of pretty you can't dumb down. and while i'm sure peeta mellark is attractive, i don't see him as obviously pretty. i see him as the boy you look at differently one day and realize how beautiful he has been all along. alex doesn't have that luxury. plus, i have him picked out for someone else and while it'd be awesome of him to be in all these book adaptions coming out (um, does he do films that weren't books first?), i also would prefer him not to turn in to robert pattinson. because, well, we already have one of him. right?
my pick for katniss everdeen: camilla belle
why? yes, i know she's too old. i don't care. in a perfect film world where age doesn't matter, i see camilla belle as katniss everdeen. we already know she can kick butt, we've seen her do it in 10,000 bc and push. i also think she could capture katniss' closed off/hardened essence while still allowing the softer sides to show through as well. she's my pick for katniss everdeen.
OR
soirse ronan
(the lovely bones, the atonement)
why? because she kicks butt. and she's the right age. and she is a phenomenal actress. right now they are considering a few up-and-coming actress who've not done a lot of films but the ones they have done have been oscar nomination worthy, well guess what? this girl has done quite a few of those and she's got even more lined up. she is katniss everdeen already. so there.
the actual katniss everdeen: nothing is confirmed yet, but it looks like its down to
jennifer lawrence (winter's bone) or
hailee steinfeld (true grit). abigal breslin and emily browning's names have also been mentioned, but i doubt they'll actually land the part. if i had to choose between the two, i'd definitely go with hailee stienfeld (but grudgingly because i still think sorise would do the best job). i don't trust jennifer lawrence with the role as much as i do hailee. both are amazing actresses, i'm sure, but when it comes to katniss everdeen, i don't feel like jennifer is right for the part. plus, if they're sticking true to suit, jennifer looks too old to play katniss.
moving on.
the mortal instruments:
why? because after working on the golden compass it shows that he can capture the magical/paranormal world that cassandra clare has developed. add new moon into the mix and you see he can also take care of magic/paranormal creatures (such as werewolves and vampires, both of which are in the book) and he also does well with teen [paranormal] romance (again, in the book). i think he'd do incredible. i also love how hands on of a director he is. he really includes everyone (including fans) in his projects which, i think, makes him that much greater of a director.
the actual director: scott charles stewart -- i've not seen any of the films he's actually directed, but as for the films he's worked in production all together, i think he may just pull it off. titles like pirates of the carribean: dead man's chest
and at worlds end, harry potter and the goblet of fire, night at the museum, sin city etc. kind of give me the idea that he's got a knack for films and that he's a swell choice for the job.
my pick for clary fray: lily collins.
i'm all for her. i think she'll do amazing and the photos they've been releasing of her with her red hair are the bomb dot com. i'm really excited to see her do this film. the only other person i would have suggested is, you guessed it, saorise ronan. (ha. its like she's a goddess to me or something.) saorise to me is like dakota fanning or meryl streep, she can do anything. you'll all see. -- i also thought for a minute that i wouldn't mind seeing
lucy hale as clary but only for a minute.
the actualy clary fray: lily collins. again, no complaints here.
why? here's where the pretty comes in handy for him. jace wayland is constantly being described as beautiful, pretty, good looking, angel-like etc. he's like the edward cullen of shadowhunters. this works when it comes to alex pettyfer, no? its like cassandra clare wrote the part of jace wayland for alex pettyfer (she didn't... but she could have!) basically, i think he's perfect.
okay, all looks aside, have you seen the films alex has done? alex rider and i am number four are some obvious ones that come to mind when considering the action sequences he'll need to be doing and i am number four and beastly showed us he can handle the whole romance thing as well. basically, if alex pettyfer doesn't get cast as jace wayland, i'll die. or cry. or something neurotic like that.
the actual jace wayland: hasn't been confirmed yet, but both alex pettyfer and
ed speleers have been on and off the imdb page for the last couple of weeks. right now, alex is on and ed is off, but that could change. while i don't mind ed (i've only ever seen him in eragon) i think alex is the more perfect fit by far. (see, he can't be peeta mellark and jace wayland and #4 and alex rider... can he?)
(as far as other roles, i would be overjoyed to see
greg kinnear as luke/lucian, logan lerman as simon (maybe. i kind of don't like simon. but i love logan lerman.),
ben barnes OR
adrian grenier as alec (but mostly ben barnes) and liam neeson as valentine.)
have you read the books? do you care about the movies? who would you cast?
