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recast the prequels

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Some find acting and casting to be one of the biggest faults of the prequels. If you were in charge of casting for the prequels, who would you cast in all the major roles?

 

Rules:

You must keep in mind that you are casting for movies that were released in 99' 02' and 05'

You must cast based on the scripts written by George Lucas, for example, if you cast an older actor as Anakin he will have to utter the same dialogue that Hayden does and may seem miscast.

you may Cast voice actors and minor characters as well

You may keep some of the same actors but please treat this as if you were casting from scratch

You can cast crew: directors, editors ect. but it's still GLs scripts.

 

Most of all, have fun and don't turn this into a prequel bashing thread. Talk about why your choice is better, not just why the real actors sucked. Pot pics if possible.

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I think unknowns were the way to go. And I actually really liked most of the prequel casting. I think Natalie Portman is a decent actress, very beautiful, and worthy to be the mom of Leia. I can't think of any one I would rather have as Padme than her, it is only that... eh... can't get into that, because I don't want to break the rules...

Ewan McGregor was great as Obi-Wan, but under used in The Phantom Menace. He was good enough in the other movies from a looks and ton standpoint, but...

And for Palpatine, who better than the guy who played him in Return of the Jedi? But again...

I also really liked the idea of Samuel L. Jackson playing a Jedi master...

Liam Neeson was downright awesome as Qui-Gon...

Who better to voice Yoda than Frank Oz...

Terrence Stamp as Cancelor Valorum, freakin awesome! Who could possible complain about having Stamp in an SW movie, geek dream come true.

Christopher Lee in a Star Wars movie, seriously, this is some exciting stuff, but...

The only character I'd call into question are Hayden and the guy who played Jango. I haven't seen Hayden in anything else, but I am not so sure he was actually all that bad for the part either, I think the break down was elsewhere..

They could have cast just about anyone else in the role of Jango, like an orangatang for example, or someone with down syndrom, and it would have been a vast improvement. My ideal Clone Trooper template/Boba Fett template/Boba's father would beyond a doubt be Michael Biehn (come on, you all know it would have been awesome). That is always the sort of face I imagined behind Fett's mask.

 

You know, with the exeption of Jango, I actually felt the casting on the PT was damn near perfect, for the main characters at least. It was probably the absolutely best part of the PT, in my opinion.

Might just be me, but I am thinking the problem with the PT isn't in the casting, but that it lies elsewhere, somewhere... elusive...

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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C3PX said:

I think unknowns were the way to go. And I actually really liked most of the prequel casting. I think Natalie Portman is a decent actress, very beautiful, and worthy to be the mom of Leia. I can't think of any one I would rather have as Padme than her, it is only that... eh... can't get into that, because I don't want to break the rules...

Ewan McGregor was great as Obi-Wan, but under used in The Phantom Menace. He was good enough in the other movies from a looks and ton standpoint, but...

And for Palpatine, who better than the guy who played him in Return of the Jedi? But again...

I also really liked the idea of Samuel L. Jackson playing a Jedi master...

Liam Neeson was downright awesome as Qui-Gon...

Who better to voice Yoda than Frank Oz...

Terrence Stamp as Cancelor Valorum, freakin awesome! Who could possible complain about having Stamp in an SW movie, geek dream come true.

Christopher Lee in a Star Wars movie, seriously, this is some exciting stuff, but...

The only character I'd call into question are Hayden and the guy who played Jango. I haven't seen Hayden in anything else, but I am not so sure he was actually all that bad for the part either, I think the break down was elsewhere..

They could have cast just about anyone else in the role of Jango, like an orangatang for example, or someone with down syndrom, and it would have been a vast improvement. My ideal Clone Trooper template/Boba Fett template/Boba's father would beyond a doubt be Michael Biehn (come on, you all know it would have been awesome). That is always the sort of face I imagined behind Fett's mask.

 

You know, with the exeption of Jango, I actually felt the casting on the PT was damn near perfect, for the main characters at least. It was probably the absolutely best part of the PT, in my opinion.

Might just be me, but I am thinking the problem with the PT isn't in the casting, but that it lies elsewhere, somewhere... elusive...

Yeah, the casting wasn't that bad, except for Hayden, I thought Sam Jackson was miscast as Windu also, and I actually liked the Jango guy but I hate how they used his voice in ESB. Honestly, Lucas's scripts may have been the biggest issue, but he wrote the scripts for the OT as well, didn't he? I wonder if there's an actor in the world who could make "I don't like sand..." a convincing pickup line...

 

Also, to clarify, It's okay to prequel bash as long as you address the question.  

 

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Octorox said:

but he wrote the scripts for the OT as well, didn't he?

 

No.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I always thought Samuel Jackson should've had a different role. He should've been Jango and the clones. I think he's cool for a jedi just too much of an action actor...if that makes sense. lol. Idk I just think he would've been better as a secondary action based character

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C3PX said:
Octorox said:

but he wrote the scripts for the OT as well, didn't he?

 

No.

To clarify this, he wrote ANH, but had it polished by several writer friends of his that went uncredited.

He did NOT write ESB - he gave Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan the basic gist of the story and they wrote it.  He got a "story by" credit.

He officially "co-wrote" ROTJ with Lawrence Kasdan, but I think he may have had a bit more influence than Kasdan on ROTJ.

He wrote TPM and ROTS, and had Jonathan Hales revise his AOTC script (Lucas got a co-writer and story by credit for AOTC).

And I think Michael Beihn would have been AWESOME as Jango!

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OK, sorry to derail but I have to say...

-Sam Jackson tried to be his badass self...which Jedi are NOT suppose to be!

-Sam makes some bizzare faces in all 3 movies...especially AOTC.

-His character had nothing to do except flip flop about Anakin: "He is too old...you're apprentice is the only one who can bring the force back into balance...I don't trust him." What the hell?

Thanks for letting me vent! ;)

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I wouldn't recast Portman, Neeson, MacGregor, or McDiarmid. They had the appropriate look and persona for each character (and of course, IMD had already established the Palpatine character, so that was a shoo-in).

I didn't have a big problem with Samuel L Jackson, but what always lurks with him (as well as Robert DeNiro) is the fact that the single character he often plays seems to come through every role he ever plays. I think the concept of a high-ranking council member sort of skirting the edges of the dark side, as explored in EU stories, is incredibly interesting; unfortunately, the PT story wasn't Mace Windu's story. It would have been much better had Windu's character been replaced by a more orthodox Jedi. But if you're going to keep Mace Windu, probably better to go with a different actor with a less pervasive, less familiar screen presence.

Anakin? James Franco, perhaps? He was a very minor blip on the radar when Clones was filmed - and I think the unfamiliar touch was necessary for Anakin. I think he's a pretty good actor, and I think he can definitely play dark better than HC did.

The voice actor for Watto was pitch-perfect. One of the very best characters from the PT, IMO.

Bail Organa? I think Jimmy Smits did a pretty good job - I just have this anti-Jimmy Smits thing. I just can't see him as some intergalactic person of importance. As Rod Hilton so precisely put it, it's Jimmy fucking Smits.

Pernilla August did a good job. Temeura Morrison wasn't terrible, I guess. He had a tougher job than most of the PT actors IMO.

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@VfP:  now that I think about it, Watto reminds me of the sleazy car dealer they originally thought they might make C3PO.  I wonder if that's a throwback to little-known history?

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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Technically there is nothing wrong with the Scripts to the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.  But they sure as hell could have used better dialogue.

The Revenge of the Sith Script to me is the one that needed a whole lot more work.  Anakin's turn to the darkside and the believability of it were poorly done.  Also the dialogue needed some work to make it less laughable and cringe worthy.  The romance scenes in II and III either needed to be trimmed or made more heartfelt than wooden and inept, to downright creepy.

For an add on Jedi character in Phantom Menace Qui Gon was not bad.  Obi Wan was alone in the early drafts.  He probably had YODA as a teacher.

Mace Windu goes all the way back to the journal of the whills outline and then was known as Mace Windy.  Which was corrupted by typescripts made form Lucas handwritten drafts into Mace  Windu.  Which to me is the only obvious conclusion unless Dale Pollock in Skywalking got the spelling wrong.  But the scripts at the Jedi Bendu Script site and i think also the annotated scripts say mace windu. Weird.

Also they should have had a twenty year old Boba Fett in episode III and no Jango in II.

We should thank our lucky stars young han solo did not make his way into revenge of the sith.  Are all the children characters in the star wars galaxy orphaned or had their parents killed.

It was bad enough that yoda and chewie were best pals.

It was also laughable that yoda was made the surpreme and master swordsman in episodes II and III and ironically a great warrior.  He tells luke in empire strikes back "wars don't make one great".

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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I don't know who I'd cast as Jango, but I'd prefer someone other than Morrison. And get the actor to practice sounding like Jason Wingreen. ESB Boba shouldn't be made to match a PT character -if they have to be the same then get the PT actor to imitate Wingreen. The kid playing Boba should match the adult in appearance as much as possible.

Somebody other than Christopher Lee as Dooku. Donald Sutherland?

Heath Ledger as Anakin. This is the big one.

I don't know if I'd keep McGregor, but I don't know who else I'd put in that role.

I'd get a more exceptional kid to play young Anakin. I don't know who.

Somebody other than Samuel L Jackson as Windu. I don't know who. Eamonn Walker? If Jackson has to be in it, give him another role. I don't know what role.

Get different directors. Del Toro? Peter Jackson? Anybody but Lucas.

Get a real actress to play Aayla Secura.

Oh, and somebody other than Pernilla August for Shmi, but I don't know who.

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Jango I would not recast, Boba would not be a clone

Hayden doesnt bother me (not to the biblical degree he bothers others) however I would recast me as Anakin and fuck up any scene I had with Natalie Portman that involved physical contact 100 times a piece.

Christopher Lee is too awesome to recast

Ian Mcdiarmid is beyond awesome

Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon is the shit, My favorite of the new characters'

I would recast Laurence Fishburne as Mace, basically have him play Morpheus as a Jedi...ahhhh yeeeeah

Ki-Adi Mundi would be recast as empty air

Sio Bibble....anyone else, does anyone else find that guy annoying? Ric Olie too, anyone else.

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain.
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AxiaEuxine said:

I would recast Laurence Fishburne as Mace, basically have him play Morpheus as a Jedi...ahhhh yeeeeah

Sio Bibble....anyone else, does anyone else find that guy annoying? Ric Olie too, anyone else.

 

Oh, dude! You just came up with the one idea that could possible make me hate the prequels more. Morpheus as a Jedi! The very thought makes me feel like tossing my computer across the room. I will probably end up having nightmares about this tonight. Believe it or not, I actually hate... nay... loathe the Matrix movies about ten times as much as the prequels. When I think about The Matrix and the prequels together, the prequels give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I'd eagarly sit through the entire PT back to back, to avoid having to watch a single Matrix film. That is how very much I absolutely cannot even begin to tolerate the mere possibility of even having the potenial to be able to stand these awful, awful, awful, awful films. Bunch of mindless tripe that totally pisses on intelligent thought in every way imaginable. The very thought of their existence offends me greatly.

Phew! Sorry about that, just had to get it out of my system. I feel much better now.

 

Back to the topic, I do find Sio Whatever (if he is who I think he is) to be a bit annoying, but there is so many worse things going on around him, and he is such a minor part with very little screen time, I really don't mind him. And Ric Ollie is downright awesome! Cracks me up every time. He is the much needed comic relief in that movie. Toss Jar Jar and Threepio's over the top antics out the window, we don't need them. Ric Ollie is a character that lets you have a little chuckle at the movie without completely ruining it. In fact, I think I would have liked AOTC and ROTS better had Ric been in them (okay, maybe not, but I do love Ric).

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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C3PX said:
AxiaEuxine said:

I would recast Laurence Fishburne as Mace, basically have him play Morpheus as a Jedi...ahhhh yeeeeah

Sio Bibble....anyone else, does anyone else find that guy annoying? Ric Olie too, anyone else.

 

Oh, dude! You just came up with the one idea that could possible make me hate the prequels more. Morpheus as a Jedi! The very thought makes me feel like tossing my computer across the room. I will probably end up having nightmares about this tonight. Believe it or not, I actually hate... nay... loathe the Matrix movies about ten times as much as the prequels. When I think about The Matrix and the prequels together, the prequels give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I'd eagarly sit through the entire PT back to back, to avoid having to watch a single Matrix film. That is how very much I absolutely cannot even begin to tolerate the mere possibility of even having the potenial to be able to stand these awful, awful, awful, awful films. Bunch of mindless tripe that totally pisses on intelligent thought in every way imaginable. The very thought of their existence offends me greatly.

Phew! Sorry about that, just had to get it out of my system. I feel much better now.

 

Back to the topic, I do find Sio Whatever (if he is who I think he is) to be a bit annoying, but there is so many worse things going on around him, and he is such a minor part with very little screen time, I really don't mind him. And Ric Ollie is downright awesome! Cracks me up every time. He is the much needed comic relief in that movie. Toss Jar Jar and Threepio's over the top antics out the window, we don't need them. Ric Ollie is a character that lets you have a little chuckle at the movie without completely ruining it. In fact, I think I would have liked AOTC and ROTS better had Ric been in them (okay, maybe not, but I do love Ric).

Really? I thought the first one was really good. I never saw the other two. It's just  fun action movie 0.o?

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The first Matrix is considered a sci fi masterpiece of cyber punk and film noir like Blade Runner.  The others were Jaw dropping awful films like superhero flicks.  With allusions to Christianity and Philosophy.  The door was left open for a Matrix IV were Neo gets rersurrected mirroring the christ story but the directors writers were not interested in pursuing it even with potential for tons more money.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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skyjedi2005 said:

The first Matrix is considered a sci fi masterpiece of cyber punk and film noir like Blade Runner.

 

Yeah, that is how some feel. There are also those who think ROTS was one of the best films in the SW saga.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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AxiaEuxine said:

Hayden doesnt bother me (not to the biblical degree he bothers others) however I would recast me as Anakin and f*** up any scene I had with Natalie Portman that involved physical contact 100 times a piece.

Ok, that's awesome.  I'd do the same.

 

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I'm not talking about fans i'm talking about the literature on a university level.

Matrix is stylized.  It is a mix of kung foo and anime like themes.  Ghost in the shell, and Akira have been compared to the Matrix.

Michael Drout teaches a class at Wheaton College (no not the one in illinois) on Science Fiction Literature and their is a whole unit devoted to cyber punk in films and literature.

I'm sure other Universities have taught similar courses.

Drout's class i would say is unorthodox however because he also teaches a course on fantasy and J.R.R. Tolkien.  The literary elite have done their best to keep Tolkien off the Syllabus on the university level because he was a linguist, and a fantacist and not the proper kind of thing to teach.  They only wanted realism expressed and did not want to add fantasy.  They slowly added Science Fiction and Fantasy and resisted it all the way as literature proper to the student.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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C3PX, I can't believe you hate the Matrix movies that much.  I know a lot of people really hate the sequels, but generally liked the first one.  I feel bad because I've always seen you as a friend and "one of the good guys" here at ot.com. 

Now I must destroy you.

Actually, can you just tell me whether you liked the first Matrix before seeing the sequels?  Because, if association has brought your opinion down, I can totally dig that.

And as far as recasting goes, I would be curious to see Haley Joel Osment as a 1999 Anakin (as long as the character has to be 9).  Can't see that through to the end, but the kid had range.

And Michael Biehn for the win!  Star Wars could have used the Biehn.

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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The first Matrix film has its merits, but it's sorely overrated. The other Matrix films are better than they're given credit for but they're nothing great. Critics and university courses have all sorts of silly ideas about films and shouldn't be paid attention to. There's a lot of pretention going on about The Matrix. Another cyberpunk film which gets a lot of pretentious reaction is Bladerunner. The setting is good and Harrison Ford is good, but that's about it. The film doesn't work very well and is terribly disappointing. It's even worse with the director's cut making Deckard a bleedin replicant, which is NOT what Harrison was playing.

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xhonzi said:

And as far as recasting goes, I would be curious to see Haley Joel Osment as a 1999 Anakin.

Oh please no.

As for the idea of Fishburne as Windu, that might just work.

 

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I could see James Franco as an awesome Anakin. Could deliver the same emotional beats as Hayden, but doesn't project that kind of inner weakness. Other than that, I like the cast of the PT.

My directrors of choice for the PT would be as follows

TPM: Richard Donner (skilled at action packed kids movies that don't pander)

AOTC: Bryan Singer (skilled at both noir and epic nostalgic romance)

ROTS: Christopher Nolen. (skilled at juggling a vast ammount of thematic elements)

And I never minded Jackson as Windu, I think an interesting acting choice would be Ken Watanabe or Takeshi Kitano (does he speak English?).  The Jedi are like Samurai, and IIRC Lucas considered Toshiro Mifune as Obi-Wan back in the day, so it would be cool to see a Japanese actor.

(ever notice how in "Firefly" there's all these Chinese influences in the culture, but no Asian people at all?)

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Vaderisnothayden said:

The first Matrix film has its merits, but it's sorely overrated. The other Matrix films are better than they're given credit for but they're nothing great. Critics and university courses have all sorts of silly ideas about films and shouldn't be paid attention to. There's a lot of pretention going on about The Matrix. Another cyberpunk film which gets a lot of pretentious reaction is Bladerunner. The setting is good and Harrison Ford is good, but that's about it. The film doesn't work very well and is terribly disappointing. It's even worse with the director's cut making Deckard a bleedin replicant, which is NOT what Harrison was playing.

 

And surely you know better than the experts?

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SomethingStarWarsRelated said:

OK, sorry to derail but I have to say...

-Sam Jackson tried to be his badass self...which Jedi are NOT suppose to be!

-Sam makes some bizzare faces in all 3 movies...especially AOTC.

-His character had nothing to do except flip flop about Anakin: "He is too old...you're apprentice is the only one who can bring the force back into balance...I don't trust him." What the hell?

Thanks for letting me vent! ;)

 

 Exactly my point on him being Jango instead

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skyjedi2005 said:

Drout's class i would say is unorthodox however because he also teaches a course on fantasy and J.R.R. Tolkien.  The literary elite have done their best to keep Tolkien off the Syllabus on the university level because he was a linguist, and a fantacist and not the proper kind of thing to teach.  They only wanted realism expressed and did not want to add fantasy.  They slowly added Science Fiction and Fantasy and resisted it all the way as literature proper to the student.

Actually, I remember my university had an entire course devoted to Tolkien. I suppose it depends on the university, but it is not at all uncommon to have these sorts of courses at universities as electives. Most universities have several handfuls of fluff classes courses to pad out the course schedule, and give students plenty of things to choose from when filling their elective requirements.

 

xhonzi said:

C3PX, I can't believe you hate the Matrix movies that much.  I know a lot of people really hate the sequels, but generally liked the first one.  I feel bad because I've always seen you as a friend and "one of the good guys" here at ot.com. 

Now I must destroy you.

Actually, can you just tell me whether you liked the first Matrix before seeing the sequels?  Because, if association has brought your opinion down, I can totally dig that.

 

The first Matrix movie is the only one I have sat the whole way through. I was subjected to bits and pieces of the second film, and barely survived it with my sanity intact. I haven't seen any more of the third film that a film clips and trailers, but considering the fact that friends of mine who loved the first two films and thought that they were the epitome of intellectual storytelling also felt the third one was disappointing... well, I don't even want to think about how incredible awful that film must be.

So no, the first film wasn't brought down by association for me, I really hated it from the first time I saw it. I felt it was way over rated, incredibly silly, and pretty pointless. I especially love the end where Neo flies up into the screen before the credits roll, really cracks me up. One of the lamest moments in recent sci-fi history.

 

Vaderisnothayden said:

Critics and university courses have all sorts of silly ideas about films and shouldn't be paid attention to. There's a lot of pretention going on about The Matrix. Another cyberpunk film which gets a lot of pretentious reaction is Bladerunner. The setting is good and Harrison Ford is good, but that's about it. The film doesn't work very well and is terribly disappointing. It's even worse with the director's cut making Deckard a bleedin replicant, which is NOT what Harrison was playing.

Octorox said:
Vaderisnothayden said:

Critics and university courses have all sorts of silly ideas about films and shouldn't be paid attention to.

And surely you know better than the experts?

 

I agree with Vaderisnothayden's comment on university courses, I don't feel that they should be completely ignored, but I don't think they should be given more credit than they deserve, as they often are. These sorts of things are all very subjective, so it is kind of funny to have an "authority" stand up and say this work is far superior to that work, when you will invariably be able to find another "expert" with just as good of creditials in the same field who will say the exact opposite. Though when a work is relevant to its field, you can't really deny it. While many English majors and literature people worship him, I am not all that fond of Shakespeare, but I cannot deny the significance of his work and the importance of studying it.

I hate when people compare The Matrix with Blade Runner. Blade Runner may not be as fantastic as many of us fans make it out to be, but at least it has a clearly defined message. The Matrix on the other hand is one confusing mess, and it is not confusing because it is deep and complex, it is confusing because it is trying to pretend to be deep and complex. Follow the white rabbit! Red pill or the blue pill? I know Kung Fu. Whoa! It reminds me of the kind of "profound" pot smokers generally experience. Pure rubbish. But it sounds deep, and it looks cool, so it must be something truly great.

 

TheBoost said:

(ever notice how in "Firefly" there's all these Chinese influences in the culture, but no Asian people at all?)

 

Strangely, I didn't notice that before. But now that I think about it, I can't remember a single Asian in the background anywhere. Huh.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape