Let's cast the Silmarillion

[Macalaure]

There are some threads discussing the casting of LotR or the Hobbit here, so I thought: What about a casting for the Silmarillion?
Yes, I know, most probably the book is never going to make it into movies but hey, just for the fun of speculation.

(also, because many characters from the Silm are only sparsely described, maybe some interesting thoughts on how you imagine them to look like will come up)


Here are my first ideas:

Fëanor - John Malkovich
Not only an awesome actor with charisma for two, there is also a somewhat elvish air about him, don't you think?

Lúthien - Natalie Portman or Keira Knightley
I really cannot think about anybody else here.

Beren - Jake Gyllenhaal

Thingol - Alan Rickman
I'm not sure here.

Melian - Catherine Keener
Great actress, and she has that magic in herself that you need for this role.

Finrod - Paul Bettany maybe?

Fingolfin - Kenneth Branagh?

Maedhros - Eric Bana (Clive Owen maybe?)

Maglor - Vincent Cassel

Túrin - Jude Law (or Joaquin Phoenix?)

Húrin - Vincent Regan
He looks great in armour. We need to get him in here.

Morwen - Linda Fiorentino

Celegorm - Matt Dillon
Great actor and good-looking, I think that arrogance of Celegorm should fit him perfectly.

Curufin - Barry Pepper

Galadriel - Cate Blanchett (of course..)

Beleg - William Fichtner

Idril - Gwen Stefani
I know she's not a real actress, but if you just regard the look she would be a perfect fit. At least in my mind.

Maeglin - Wes Bentley
If there is somebody on this world who can look mean and mysterious, it's him.

Isildur - Liev Schreiber

Míriel (the Númenor one) - Rachel Weisz

and last but not least:
Morgoth - Geoffrey Rush

Sauron - Robert Carlyle
The way he looked in The Beach, that's my Sauron. Not physically overwhelming, but scary.


This still leaves a lot a lot of question marks:

Turgon, Fingon, Tuor, Eärendil, Elwing, Nienor, Orodreth, Caranthir, Gwindor, Voronwë, Elendil, Anárion, Ar-Pharazôn, Gil-galad, Celebrimbor, young Elrond/Elros and surely many others I forgot.


What are your thoughts?

[Tuor in Gondolin]

Mim- Danny DeVito (who else).

Alan Rickman would actually make a very good
(and crabby) Thingol, sort of like his character
in Galaxy Quest .

[narfforc]

The young Elrond/Elros could be those brothers in The Potty Harry films The Philanderers Stoned and The Goblins on Fire, or was it The Hairy Potter film, The Prisoner's on a Razorban, I can't remember, but I'm sure you know the two brothers I mean.

[Elu Ancalime]

Could we mix actors from different time periods? (John Travolta, Charlie Chaplin)

Luthien-Angelina Jolie

Turin-Colin Farrell

Heh, and I think it'd be interesting to see

Ulfang-johnny depp
________
Toyota hilux platform

[Frodo Baggins]

Actually I was going to suggest Mim the petty dwarf for Johnny Depp.

Sorry Not funny!

I think either Finrod Felagund or Beleg Cuthalion should be played by Val Kilmer.

As for Voronwe I was thinking Heath Leger he's a very elfy type.

I'll think of more later....

[Boromir88]

Alan Rickman would actually make a very good
(and crabby) Thingol, sort of like his character
in Galaxy Quest .

And as The Metatron in Dogma...gosh I love Alan Rickman...I can see him as Thingol.

Geoffrey Rush as Morgoth...haha that's good another actor I adore. Or even Brian Cox as Morgoth...he made a really good creepy Agamemnon.

How about Russel Crowe as Ecthelion and Tom Hanks as Earendil?

[goldfinger]

Definatley Keira Knightley for Luthien. I mean come on, she's the most gorgeous actress in the world! She would kick Anglina's butt any day in a beauty contest.

[Anguirel]

Keira is apparently part-Scottish so needs to be paid some respect, but unfortunately resembles a dogfish. Honestly, that chin, it terrifies me.

This is my dream game, incidentally. My only problem is going to be thinking of enough passable actors.

Fëanor - Though willing to ratify John Malkovich here, as he is an incredible actor, I think this might actually be Hugo Weaving's perfect role. Didn't he say he wanted more action?

Lúthien - Not Keira, not Keira! Hmmm. Monica Bellucci will have to be my exceptionally unintellectual choice. No, scrap that. She's too human a beauty. I think I shall, much to my own surprise, pick Liv Tyler actually.

Beren - Oh blast, let's continue this low-brow selection and have Ralph Fiennes. He and Liv were perfect together in Eugene Onegin...

Thingol - Some elder statesman actor of distinction could go here. Hmmm. Get a grand Shakespearean. Conceivably Peter O' Toole despite some recent disasters.

Melian - Oh Lord. Luthien was enough of a struggle. Urgh. Um. Hum. I tell you what, CGI some psychedelic vision but get the voice of Maggie Smith!

Finrod - Bearing in mind I haven't seen him in anything-would that youngster Daniel Craig be up to this?

Fingolfin - Argh, not Kenneth Branagh! Hmmm, noble hulking armoured warrior who dies. Russell Crowe? No, add elven hulking warrior who dies. Pass.

Maedhros - Eric Bana's not that bad an idea. He was one of the redeeming features of Troy. But my vote would undoubtedly go with Edward Norton, by far the best thing about Kingdom of Heaven as the Leper King Baldwin. Anyone here gets agonisingly dyed dark red hair, naturally.

Maglor - This just gets more and more difficult. I settle, though, for Alan Rickman here. It's always interesting seeing him as a sympathetic character. I'm not sure if he's enough of a mental actor, but...

Túrin - Interesting to see if David Tennant could stand an unending, heavy tragic role. He'd convey Turin's curious vulnerability...

Húrin - This is where Sean Bean gets his call and is told to do exactly what he's done before eight million times.

Morwen - Ah. Excellent. Monica Bellucci goes here.

Celegorm - This is where I'd insist on Jude Law. With blonde curly hair. Until someone has a better idea.

Curufin - Damn and blast, I've already used David Tennant. Ah! Of course! Lucky I kept John Malkovich, isn't it? Definitely Curufin.

Galadriel - Cate Blanchett probably endorsed. Though I wouldn't mind Rosamund Pike and a playful younger Galadriel. Actually, scratch both of those. Tell Emmanuelle Beart to go back in time to her Manon des Sources look and hire her at once.

Beleg - Arrrrgh. Um. Er. Got it. Jack Davenport. Give hima break from naval roles...

Idril - Reese Witherspoon for a nasty little Becky Sharp of an Idril...

Maeglin - Get an unknown. I know a perfect candidate. He lives in Oxford, attends school in Berkshire, has soulful brown eyes and attends the Barrowdowns under the name of Ang... er...

Morgoth-CGI visually, obviously. The voice of Brendan Gleeson. Ha ha...

Sauron - CGI visually, maybe. The voice of...er...Joaquin Phoenix? (Who incidentally is obviously really called John Bird and decided to spice things up a bit...)

[Boromir88]

Húrin - This is where Sean Bean gets his call and is told to do exactly what he's done before eight million times.

Haha, true he typically tends to get type-casted. Except in his recent movie Silent Hill, he actually plays a concerned father...rather strange.

Morgoth-CGI visually, obviously. The voice of Brendan Gleeson. Ha ha...

I was wondering where to fit in Brendan Gleeson because he has that bad guy, deep voice. And I first though the voice of Gothmog, but then I'm like..wait does Gothmog ever speak? Now I think Morgoth would be a better fit.

Which gets me thinking on Liam Neeson perhaps...Cirdan?

[Eruanna]

Some brilliant suggestions here. Alan Rickman is an asset to any film!
I think I'd like to see a few 'lesser known' actors get their chance too. I'd suggest Gerard Butler as Hurin (he played the title role in Phantom of the Opera but is also good at emotional and action man type roles)
I'd also suggest Morena Baccarin (from Serenity...or Firefly as it was originally) as Luthien. She is very beautiful.

[Anguirel]

An extremely good point. Probably the perfect parts for many of these, in all seriousness, are relative unknowns.

[Lalaith]

I must have Joaquim Phoenix as one of the sons of Feanor, I don't care which one.

Also, I am rather taken with the earlier suggestion of Angelina Jolie as Luthien. Luthien's Mary-Sue qualities are something of a problem and Ms Jolie is edgy enough to dispel them.
Halle Berry as Yavanna? (Again, thus dispelling irritating hippy earth mother quality)
French actresses are in general a Good Thing. Good call of Emmeline Beart, Ang, but I'd prefer her as Idril....and Catherine Deneuve as Varda.

[Eruanna]

I think David Tennant would still qualify as a relative unknown...For now anyway. He's certainly capable of the intensity needed for Turin. He has really impressed me as Doctor Who.
I'd have to think of a replacement for Jude Law as Celegorm though.
Liam Neeson would get my vote as Beleg Cuthalion...he's a master at those type of mentor/father figure roles these days.

[Boromir88]

I really am not too picky about who would play who, as long as I don't have to see Keeanu Reeves or Ben Afflect in it.

[Anguirel]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

French actresses are in general a Good Thing. Good call of Emmeline Beart, Ang, but I'd prefer her as Idril...

Nooo! You're going to turn Maeglin into Ugolin! Actually, that works on so many levels...

Joaquin for Maeglin surely, come to think of it. Remember Commodus...?

[Lalaith]

Sorry, Emanuelle, not Emmeline.
I thought Ugolin a very poignant character. The ribbon thing....

[Anguirel]

God, yes. No one with any kind of heart would support the smug, cold teacher Manon chooses over Ugolin, so vulnerable and identifiable.

Similarly, I'm always amazed that people prefer Tuor to Maeglin...

I think I must be in a minority in preferring Manon to Jean de Florette by miles...

To get back to casting-Angelina Jolie as Luthien would be a mistake of Oliver Stone-esque proportions. She has sex appeal without being beautiful, the utter opposite of Luthien. My choice of Liv Tyler represents total surrender to Mary-Sue like vapidity; I think this is inseparable from Luthien and we might as well enjoy it...

[Lord Melkor]

I myself favour Natalie Portman for the role of Luthien, with her obviously being the most beautiful of the Children of Iluvatar currently alive.

[Macalaure]

Originally Posted by Anguirel

Probably the perfect parts for many of these, in all seriousness, are relative unknowns.

Sure. Not at least for budget reasons.

I suspect there are quite a lot totally unknown and, of course, totally under-rated actors right here at the Barrowdowns... I'd like to cast myself for the role of Daeron!

"Seriously" again, I definitely wouldn't take relatively unknown actors to play the elven royals. They will mostly not have that much screen time (like Galadriel in LotR), and by being played by a known actor the common audience will better perceive their importance.

You brought up Edward Norton, Anguirel. What about him as Fingon?

[Anguirel]

Not a bad idea, but I really do think Maedhros is his ideal part.

I'm now having second thoughts about Alan Rickman as Maglor...argh...

The title of the thread evoked a bizarre dialogue.

MAGLOR: Hey, Maedhros, let's cast the Silmarillion!

MAEDHROS: OK. Where? A fiery chasm? The ocean?

[Lalaith]

She has sex appeal without being beautiful, the utter opposite of Luthien

I don't know about that...think of the evil lust she provokes in Melkor and in Celegorm...
David Tennant....I know I cast him as Merry but I'm not at all convinced about having him as Turin or what-have-you. He lacks gravitas. I'm not 100% about him as the Doctor, he's fun but he's no Ecclestone.
Speaking of which, I think he (ie Christopher Ecclestone) would be good as Gwindor, the broken elf.

PS How about Alan Rickman as Aule? Can't you just hear him saying dryly: "Nevertheless they will have need of wood..."

[Macalaure]

Anguirel, Rickman as Maglor and Malkovich as Curufin? Aren't the two a bit too old for these roles? And Edward Norten as the elder brother of the two?

[Anguirel]

Er...Elves are ageless...!

Seriously, I think that's less of a concern with Elves. Their spirit and outlook define them much more than their actual age. The calculating Curufin seems to require an older, more cynical part than the idealistic Maedhros of the Union...

[Macalaure]

You're right, but still elves of the same generation should be played by actors of approximately the same age. And Rickman, Malkovich etc., in my mind, fit better to the likes of Thingol, Feanor, Fingolfin and so on.

[Gorthaur the Cruel]

Luthien Tinuviel = Adriana Lima (dark hair, blue-grey eyes!)

Melian = Angelina Jolie

Glorfindel = Hayden Christensen

Feanor = Takeshi Kaneshiro

In my opinion, I have found the perfect Luthien & Melian in Adriana Lima & Angelina Jolie. Both look extremely beautful, exotic, and, rare. Women like Keira Knightly or Natalie Portman are beautiful but somewhat common looking. Nothing strking or breath taking unlike Lima & Jolie. Anyone agree with me?

[Diamond18]

Originally Posted by Anguirel

Maeglin - Get an unknown. I know a perfect candidate. He lives in Oxford, attends school in Berkshire, has soulful brown eyes and attends the Barrowdowns under the name of Ang... er...

Ehhhhh... I have just entered the Twilight Zone, since I have been thus far certain that you were around SpM's age (yes!) and all those allusions to school meant you taught or something. I can't actually wrap my mind around the concept that you are what the birthdate on your profile says you are, so I'm going to descend into gibbering madness any moment now.

Yes, that is off topic. But my brain is melting out my ear over this so you must forgive me....

Actually, I was coming here with the intention of nominating Marc Warren for a role. I am not sure which role, but I think he needs to be in the Silmarillion in some capacity. I saw him in the 2000 Television version Oliver Twist in which he played Oliver's tortured, villainous yet eminently tragic and sympathetic half-brother Edward aka Monks. Now, he was sickly so the make-up people did their best to make him look ugly but he's actually rather good looking (he also played the Red Baron in Young Indiana Jones, incidentally) so he would make for a great tortured Elf. And really, brooding, tortured elves are a dime a dozen in the Silmarillion. He could play a brooding, tortured man too, I suppose. But he needs to play someone.

[Lalaith]

Some blasts from the past, alighted on in an idle moment...

Audrey Hepburn as Aredhel (Aredhel is *so* a gamine)
Gregory Peck as Turin.
The young Jeanne Moreau as Morwen
(bearing in mind that both Turin and his mother are described as very beautiful....)

[Thinlómien]

Hayden Christiansen as Glorfindel? Never!

Joaquin Phoenix as a son of Feanor... I think he would make a perfect Maglor, except the eyebrows...

I agree that elves of the same generation should be casted with actors about the same age.

As for Lúthien, absolutely no Angelina Jolie or Natalie Portman (too human-looking) or Keira Knightley (a poor actress, though beautiful).

Alan Rickman as... Eöl! xD

[tom bombariffic]

Chuck Norris as Fingolfin roundhouse kicking Melkor outside Angband. Though by the laws of science (and chuck norris) that would mean Melkor would have to die.

Oh and Ving Rhaimes as Manwe. Nuff said.

bombariffic

[Diamond18]

I'd like to see Rufus Sewell and James Franco in The Sil. Any role. I'm not good at matching particular actors to particular roles, but those are two actors I'd like to see playing men (as opposed to Elves or Maia.) Rufus in particular, there's got to be some role that just cries out for those eyes.

(And yes, this is influenced by my having recently watched Tristan and Isolde -- though I've seen both actors in other films as well.)

And honestly I think the only actress beautiful enough to play Luthien would be a young Olivia Hussey.

[Macalaure]

Sewell is a good idea. He could play anyone of the Noldor, or maybe Túrin.

Another suggestion: What about Cillian Murphy? I think he would be fitting for Orodreth.

[ninja91]

What about Johnny Depp as the fair form of Sauron? His white appearance in Edward Scissorhands was... interesting.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I like this thread, it is funny trying to cast the Sil. . .

But I am awful at remembering actors so in this post I will stick with saying who should never ever be castet as Luthien.

Agelina Jolie! I guess it al comes down to the fact that I don't find her beautiful. I can see why some people would think that she is hot, but no I dont find her atractive at all. Now alot of you, proberbly think that I am a sick individual and that might very well be. Another thing that I think speaks against her as Luthien is that who ever is chosen has to have have some resemblance to Liv Tyler. (only if we consider this silm cast as beeing a continuation of the LOTR movies. Was Arven not supposed to look a bit like Luthien? It might be me mixing things up.

I will be back later to tell you who I would like to see in the role as Luthien and others one of the days. ( I need time to do research)

[Nogrod]

How about making it really radical? So forget al the "fan-poster"-idols and those more "beautiful than life" and cast a film with actually ordinary looking people? Well as they would be elves (and the Valar, the Maiar and the baddies) in the case of Silm as most, they should share some characteristics of them, but anyhow. So dissing all the "supermodels" and the fan-magazine -guys. Just making it for real in a sense?

Why Frodo is somewhat unbelievable in the films but Sam is believable? Because the first is the "poster boy" to gain the teen-audiences, and the other is the comical (fat) helper (which he is not) who actually does some real acting.

I've just been looking at a couple of "independent" films and the thing that struck me in them, was that the roles were not given to those who'd be perfectly beautiful / handsome (ready for the covers of the top magazines), but to those who were looking real and acted as they were the people they acted.

I mean, c'mon. The Pirates of the Caribbean vol.2 (or one to that matter). Yes Johnny Depp and Orlado are model-kind of guys (and Depp is also a good actor) and Keira is a very sexy. No doubt about these. But should those kind of persons - with our century's ideals of "being hot" - have been around the time of these pirate adventures? Probably not...

It might be just in vain to call for "real people" to act on Silmarillion, but surely, we could have some real-looking Elves around in the film (like those appearing shortly in the PJ film where the Fellowship is caught in Lorien - in the theater version - unhappily the best Elves were cut out from the extended version...and the most unelflike were given the lead roles, at least the males)? And anyhow, real personas, not just the cover guys and gals' who normally can't do anything else but look pretty / handsome?

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

How about making it really radical? So forget al the "fan-poster"-idols and those more "beautiful than life" and cast a film with actually ordinary looking people? Well as they would be elves (and the Valar, the Maiar and the baddies) in the case of Silm as most, they should share some characteristics of them, but anyhow. So dissing all the "supermodels" and the fan-magazine -guys. Just making it for real in a sense?

I agree to some point. I think Elves should be cast with some really unhuman-looking people (yeah, like the few scary looking archers in Lorien and the elf-guy who was accompanying Arwen to the West in the movies). But they shouldn't look like commoners, no way! They should be special. And they should be beautiful in some way at least, because surely there has never been anything like ugly elf?

As to the Men, I agree with you. We really should see normal people in these roles, as long as it isn't in contradiction with what they are described to look as in the books. For surely it can't be a very normal looking person who plays someone who is said to look e.g. noble and elf-like. I mean, the descriptions of the characters would pretty much ruin the commoner-looking -cast. Too many of them are described with words you can hardly use for every second guy you see. (And this is not to mean that filmstars'd be any better for these roles...)

The third point is that before we should cast the Silm, we should consider whether we'd like to have a pure fantasy tale, a legend or would we try to add some depth and make the story more human (which could ruin it; in the end, Silm's main merit is nobleness and high beauty and the feeling of a legend) and make the people look like real people. If we want to see the Silm as a legend, we shouldn't maybe have commoners in the main roles. A legend tale where e.g. Túrin is 170cm tall, a bit plump and has a potato-shaped nose slips over the edge to comedy. And surely that's not what we want. If we'd try the "more human" version, I'd be warmly recruiting a bit more commoner type actors. For I'm too a bit bored to se the same botox-faces all the time...

So, it depends on the viewpoint.

[Macalaure]

Good points, Nogrod and Lommy.

Originally Posted by Lommy

The third point is that before we should cast the Silm, we should consider whether we'd like to have a pure fantasy tale, a legend or would we try to add some depth and make the story more human (which could ruin it; in the end, Silm's main merit is nobleness and high beauty and the feeling of a legend) and make the people look like real people.

Well, I 'hope' for both. Surely it should be made to look like an ancient legend, but does that exclude depth? Interesting that you say adding depth and making it more human are the same (if I understand you right). I think it would be crucial for (a) Silmarillion movie(s) to have some "Elvish depth". In the LotR-movies we barely scratched the surface of the elvish soul and way of thinking. It is a great task to make the general audience understand why these elves are so obsessed with these three little stones, and that there is much more to them than their material value.

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Why Frodo is somewhat unbelievable in the films but Sam is believable? Because the first is the "poster boy" to gain the teen-audiences, and the other is the comical (fat) helper (which he is not) who actually does some real acting.

Frodo is unbelievable because he does not fit into his role and his acting ability, though more than decent in my mind, is not enough to compensate for that. Since the Silmarillion would take a budget of maybe more than 100 Million it can, of course, hardly be called independent. So you need some known actors/actresses in it. It's important to choose these in a way that they fit. Of course the main part of the roles will be played by more or less unknown actors. But, since nobody knows them, it's no fun to discuss about them.

Another idea: Tommy Flanagan
Good-looking, but not in a magazine-cover way. I can imagine him as some battle-hardened Edain of Beor's or Haleth's house. Hunthor, maybe?

[Brinniel]

Glorfindel = Hayden Christensen

Oh, please no. I hate that guy. He's a terrible actor (and in my opinion ruined Star Wars).

When I read the story of Turin, I could help but imagine Heath Ledger as Turin. I don't know why....

I think in order for The Silmarillion to work as a movie, a mostly unknown cast would be necessary (plus a really, really good director).

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I agree with you. Hayden Christensen should be banned from any movie production from this moment forth!

Heath Ledger might work. I am definitly not rejekting the idea, but I always pictured Mads Mikkelsen playing that role.

Well my judgement might be influenced by the fact that he is Danish.

[Gorthaur the Cruel]

So does anyone else agree that Adriana Lima would be perfect for the role of Luthien Tinuviel?

[Luinilwen]

Alright, this is only slightly better than the Chuck Norris idea.

Tulkas - John Cena Ok, so on Friday we get to see how bad he is at acting (The Marine) , but he's sure got enough muscle for the role