Your Pern Movie Cast

[GHarris]

Originally Posted by ghost8772

actually something that looks like it might be THAT horrid? d/l through netfix once it totally bombs. at least THAT way it would be part of monthly fee.

Sometimes things that horrid are very entertaining, in a MST3K way.

GH

[ElectricDragon]

Originally Posted by GHarris

Sometimes things that horrid are very entertaining, in a MST3K way.

GH

Well if you want something that bad, there's Tank Girl.

[GHarris]

Originally Posted by ElectricDragon

Well if you want something that bad, there's Tank Girl.

I was thinking more like "Hell comes to Frogtown" bad.



GH

[ghost8772]

well, if they bring back mst3k for that one movie, I'd probably buy the DVD, but only for the mst3k aspect.

[R'na]

Lord Ratoshigan Bill Murray Look at the picture in Robin Woods book People of pern.

[Golden Talisath]

Jenna-Louise Coleman as Lessa.
I personally think she's perfect!
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1982510/

[Kugai]

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as Toric

[Kim]

Tamzin Merchant as Brekke.
Jennifer Love Hewitt as Lessa, perhaps?

[Priscilla]

I don't see a specific movie thread. A good friend just messaged me that Warner Brothers has bought the option to all the Pern books. Maybe there will be a movie after all? Let the bickering commence!

[skywaterblue]

Huh!

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/dr...se-1201271475/

http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/warn...n-book-series/

As noted by the Deadline commentary, WB doesn't have the best history with the franchise.

[BronzeRider]

Mila Kunis as Lessa, please! Sure, she does a lot of comedies, but she can pull off romance very well, as in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", one of my favorite comedies.

I have nearly a full cast list for this, but since many of my actors mirror other entries here in this thread (Brian Blessed as Fandarel, etc.) I'll only suggest Josh Hartnet as F'lar, Chris Hemsworth as F'nor, Sean Bean as Fax, Ron Perlman as "T'ron, and Johnny Depp as Robinton.

(and Analeigh Tipton as Brekke or Menolly, & Rachel McAdams as Kylara for now, as my choices change from day to day...)

[Kim]

Originally Posted by BronzeRider

Mila Kunis as Lessa, please! Sure, she does a lot of comedies, but she can pull off romance very well, as in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", one of my favorite comedies.

I have nearly a full cast list for this, but since many of my actors mirror other entries here in this thread (Brian Blessed as Fandarel, etc.) I'll only suggest Josh Hartnet as F'lar, Chris Hemsworth as F'nor, Sean Bean as Fax, Ron Perlman as "T'ron, and Johnny Depp as Robinton.

(and Analeigh Tipton as Brekke or Menolly, & Rachel McAdams as Kylara for now, as my choices change from day to day...)

I could see Mila as Lessa, but Analeigh would not work for the other two. She's way too tall for Brekke and frankly just doesn't have the right "look" for either one. I still favor Tamzin Merchant for Brekke.

[Lily]

Sean Bean would also be an excellent Toric. Shhh! he is now rather too old though!!!!

[mawra]

I have always see Sean Conrey (not sure if spelled right) as Robinton.

[skywaterblue]

Mila Kunis would be a great Lessa. She's name enough to helm a film, small and has the right look - and best of all, she'd be able to channel all those rough edges.

[BronzeRider]

I've always pictured a young version of Ed Lauter as Toric. (Yeah, he's probably too old for that role now, too...)

[BronzeRider]

Originally Posted by Kim

I could see Mila as Lessa, but Analeigh would not work for the other two. She's way too tall for Brekke and frankly just doesn't have the right "look" for either one. I still favor Tamzin Merchant for Brekke.

I'm not familiar with Analeigh, I just did a quick search for an actress that matches what my mind's eye envisioned Brekke to look like, and Analeigh was the first one to pique my interest on imdb. I'll have to look at Tamzin Merchant myself, since I'm not familiar with her either.

[Anareth]

Originally Posted by mawra

I have always see Sean Conrey (not sure if spelled right) as Robinton.

He wouldn't come out of retirement for a five-minute cameo in Indiana Jones IV. No way would he budge for Pern.

Analeigh from ANTM? Uh, yeah no. OTOH wow, it would be hard to get past seeing Tamzin Merchant as anything other than bird-brained Catherine Howard in "The Tudors" (though having seen her in the altogether there, she'd certainly justify Kylara's swipe about Brekke having a boy's body.) Hm, though, skipping around the 'suggested photos'...Holliday Grainger might not be so bad.

[Kim]

Here's a pic of Tamzin. I tried to put it in the post but it's too large.

http://opionator.files.wordpress.com...n-merchant.jpg

Anareth, you're not giving her enough credit as an actress. I have no doubt she could pull off Brekke.

[Anareth]

I can't see her PHYSICALLY pulling it off. Unless she's gained some weight.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Anareth

I can't see her PHYSICALLY pulling it off. Unless she's gained some weight.

Brekke always struck me as a very slight woman.

[skywaterblue]

Brekke is hard. It's a thankless franchise role (because she really only matters in Dragonquest, the most fretful of the novels, and then disappears, but for this one story she is immensely critical) and because whomever you cast has to have some range to go from naive waif to catatonic to PTSD survivor.

Also, "People of Pern" depicts her as very ethnically ambiguous, and I'd want my ideal Pern to be as broadly cast as possible.

So lookwise I'd probably choose Devon Aoki, but given the demands of the role someone like Hailee Steinfield might be a better choice.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by skywaterblue

Brekke is hard. It's a thankless franchise role (because she really only matters in Dragonquest, the most fretful of the novels, and then disappears, but for this one story she is immensely critical) and because whomever you cast has to have some range to go from naive waif to catatonic to PTSD survivor.

Also, "People of Pern" depicts her as very ethnically ambiguous, and I'd want my ideal Pern to be as broadly cast as possible.

So lookwise I'd probably choose Devon Aoki, but given the demands of the role someone like Hailee Steinfield might be a better choice.

Okay, I'm sold. Forget Tamzin, Devon Aoki is perfect. I'm something of a purist and I think the actor should look as much as possible like the character. The casting in the Narnia movies ticked me off.

[Anareth]

With Pern, I'd expect to see a decent mix of ethnicities and where possible mixed-race. The drawing of Brekke always looked Eurasian to me. Though if they get as far as Dragonquest, or rather they get past a DF movie, I'm not 100% sure she'd stay as important precisely because she's utterly useless before and after that book. There's nothing she does from that point on that's plot-critical. Her romance with F'nor isn't very important, F'nor's flight to the Red Star is also almost the last critical thing HE does...it's a whole lot of time and plot wasted on characters who don't matter again. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually rewrote that one substantially.

[Brenda]

Yeah, the conflict with the Oldtimers is really a lot more significant to the overall course of things. Although F'nor's flight does link directly from that.

[Anareth]

Originally Posted by Brenda

Yeah, the conflict with the Oldtimers is really a lot more significant to the overall course of things. Although F'nor's flight does link directly from that.

Except F'nor doesn't matter much in terms of screen time (which costs money.) We sort of meander from plot to plot with him, he's never the driving actor-hurt F'nor in a pointless side fight concerning only inconsequential characters we never see again and don't care about just to set up "Oldtimers suddenly evil", some queenrider chick we've never seen before who will never be important again is in loooovvvve with F'nor for no discernible reason, Kylara hates her for reasons not shown, just infodumped, is mad at F'nor for things offscreen again, F'nor finds firelizards but the important action of that plot is driven by F'lar, Lessa, and Kylara, F'nor bones queenrider chick, her queen and Kylara's fight, meanwhile Oldtimers (whom we care about from the last movie, unlike Brekke) are still evil and mad at F'lar for obscure reasons we don't care about, there are these grub things, queen flight neatly solves romantic problem in ways totally unsatisfying to viewers who remember Kylara from movie 1 and still don't see why they should care about this Brekke girl because isn't Lessa the female lead, F'lar knife fights guy (which he'll have to do again against a cookie-cutter substitute in the NEXT one), Brekke snaps out of it at hatching where the actual important event is Jaxom Imperssing Ruth, F'nor jumps to Red Star, almost dies, and...book ends, nothing solved. He does that because...because (Lessa never really comes up with a good reason, and the weaksauce justification that they NEED F'lar to lead the fight against Thread fails structurally when Jaxom takes over that A plot in "The White Dragon" and never lets go through ATWOP.) The Oldtimer thing itself is a plotting disaster area as it springs out of nowhere at the start of DQ, completely negating the end of DF (which despite being pieced together from novellas is a much more structurally sound book.) In DF, we LIKE the Oldtimers. You can't sell them suddenly being villains off screen because...meanie poopyheads all of a sudden. The grubs end up borderline irrelevant in the next two books, the vastly-more-interesting Menolly turns up right around the same time negating the firelizard plot, Brekke is never of any importance ever again, Kylara is a C villain at best so you can't hinge a film on seeing her get her comeuppance (especially not using "she likes rough sex" as a justification because that's just going to make her sympathetic). No one audience-wise will put up with F'lar having a knife fight with the leader of the Oldtimers in TWO movies. Mostly, DQ is F'nor wandering up one plot cul-de-sac and down another while we kill time getting to the jumping-off point for the next two books: Jaxom and Ruth. I wouldn't be surprised if it got substantially rewritten into basically the first fifteen minutes of a fairly detailed rewrite of "The White Dragon." If we're talking movies and not much more meandering TV shows, they can't waste a full budget feature on secondary characters who are basically placeholding.

[Brenda]

Good summary of the situation!

[BronzeRider]

A good screenwriter, or a team of screenwriters can take a series like this and bring out those little things that only got one or two lines in the books, and film a 30 second peice that will impart a lot of information like this.

F'nor doesn't have to have a lot of screentime, if the actor and the writers do as much as possible with what little screen time there is.

Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of writers and directors out there who are willing to forgoe a lot of movie tropes that they all seem to rely on to sell a movie, and instead tell a story with subtle facial expressions, actions, and spending just a little more time between shots, rather than the reckless fast cut-aways that they all seem to do for every damned actioner. Whoever is going to do DRoP would be better off with an independent filmmaker.

[Anareth]

Originally Posted by BronzeRider

A good screenwriter, or a team of screenwriters can take a series like this and bring out those little things that only got one or two lines in the books, and film a 30 second peice that will impart a lot of information like this.

F'nor doesn't have to have a lot of screentime, if the actor and the writers do as much as possible with what little screen time there is.

Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of writers and directors out there who are willing to forgoe a lot of movie tropes that they all seem to rely on to sell a movie, and instead tell a story with subtle facial expressions, actions, and spending just a little more time between shots, rather than the reckless fast cut-aways that they all seem to do for every damned actioner. Whoever is going to do DRoP would be better off with an independent filmmaker.

...No, DQ is just a really weak book and structurally makes no sense. It would need a substantial rewrite to manage as a stand-alone because frankly, it's hard to care what's going on at times if you DO like the books. I would dearly love to have seen the "terrible" first draft Anne claimed to have burned. It really doesn't help that the few elements that might grab people (Meron's fate, notably-we hate him but his ultimate comedown is a minor point in a tertiary character's later book?) don't get resolved on-screen or in that book. It also really doesn't help that the only arc-important element that isn't "Ruth is born" (the trip to the Red Star) is done mostly out of "WE NEED F'LAR" and then....F'lar's pretty much a side player to Jaxom and Ruth in the ultimate resolution of Thread. Also Jaxom's age between DQ and TWD is a mess and "kid wandering down another plot cul-de-sac" is not a good lead-in to establish him as the hero of the rest of the series with a five-minute side scene to "will Brekke reimpress or not?" Never mind the issue of Menolly, whose story overlaps and whose 'rediscovering firelizards' is much more dramatic than Southern Weyr's. It's kind of a placeholder book, that or Anne was going somewhere else plot-wise but decided to run with Jaxom and Ruth instead.

If we're talking a trilogy/quad..ology? (DF/DQ/TWD/ATWOP), you can't just have an episode that randomly follows a non-protagonist though unimportant side plots while more important events happen as afterthoughts. That's okay if you're an established TV series or something and want to pull a "day in the life of the little guy" episode, but the F'lar-Jaxom transition's awkward enough already for a movie series (it would be like we got to "Half-Blood Prince" and said "Okay, psych! It was actually Neville who's the hero and we'll be following him for the last two movies!") Throw in that the Brekke-Kylara non-rivalry isn't such a big selling point any more for audiences and Kylara is not really a salable villain, not to mention we're back to who cares about Brekke, we were following LESSA, who had an established antagonistic relationship with Kylara already, the queen flight's not actually important as the fact queens can fight is never important again and to modern audiences it's going to seem like a cheap solution to Brekke's non-problem and Kylara's "punishment" seems like overkill to the same crowd...It's not about making some art-house flick, it's about making a plot that logically stems out of a movie about Lessa and F'lar coming together to save Pern that also leads into Jaxom and Ruth being the key to everything. DQ wanders around from plot to plot too much to be effective and wastes a lot of time on characters who never matter again, events that get repeated (firelizards, F'lar knife fights Oldtimers), and drops possibly the most important turning point of the whole series as a near-afterthought. If anything Jaxom and Lytol need to be punched up even sooner (DF if possible) to give real emotional resonance to Ruth Hatching. We get WAY back in DF that Lytol is dragonless, we get a small glimpse of his interaction with Jaxom in DQ...that relationship's going to matter in the next two. Brekke ceases to be anything beyond F'nor's baby-mama after DQ. There's no real point in a series in wasting time and effort getting the audience to invest in that plot because it never matters again. You don't want the next movie to be "Wait, what about So and So?" And DQ is problematic there twice--the fact it immediately veers into "F'lar's brother and some chick we never met before" is a "Wait, aren't these about Lessa and F'lar?" and at the end, when we go from "F'nor and Brekke OTP so much she pulls him back from the dead [with a 'cry' that comes off a little more pathetic than intended to modern ears--yeah, Brekke, their not dying is ALL ABOUT YOU]" to "Jaxom, the kid Lessa agreed to hand over her birthright to, just impressed the strangest dragon ever and now it's all about him", leading to a "Wait, what about F'nor and Brekke AND F'lar and Lessa...." Not to mention the inevitable "Wait, didn't F'lar already fight this guy?" moment. DQ creates a lot more problems than it solves.

[skywaterblue]

Anareth and I are of like-minds about the challenges of adapting DQ. I actually tried to structurally fix it in my practice screenplay adaption for class but got stuck because a lot of the changes necessary need to occur in DF... and the result is a version of Dragonflight that has such radical changes that I think fans would revolt. I would stand by much of it in terms of film theory, but I'd be tarred and feathered by Pern fans until the day I died.

I do think DQ has some great elements that scream "awesome movie" like the trip to the Red Star and the Queens' Battle, but how to make it make any sense in terms of a narrative... very tough. It might indeed make more sense to film Dragonflight, skip DQ and then film The White Dragon and ATWoP as your trilogy.

Honestly, I think any movie version of Pern is ramping up the difficulty level to 12 and even experienced screenwriters have taken a punch to the face trying to make it work. It would be better - far, far better - as a TV show.

ETA: Irony is that Lessa is the character that needs to least change, and Kylara was a pretty easy character to write too. It's F'lar, Robinton, Jaxom and Lytol and their timelines that are just problematic as hell.

[razor4466]

Originally Posted by Kim

Okay, I'm sold. Forget Tamzin, Devon Aoki is perfect. I'm something of a purist and I think the actor should look as much as possible like the character. The casting in the Narnia movies ticked me off.

I'm not sure about my hopes or dreams for character choice but I agree completely about the Narnia movies!! The closest they got is Eustace. That kid was perfect!

[Kim]

Originally Posted by razor4466

I'm not sure about my hopes or dreams for character choice but I agree completely about the Narnia movies!! The closest they got is Eustace. That kid was perfect!

I know! How hard would it be to find a blonde to play Lucy or let the actress wear a wig? And Susan! Geez. She's supposed to be a legendary beauty, instead we get a so-so pretty actress with hideous beestung lips...

[razor4466]

Don't even get me started on Caspian. I heard the next movie is supposed to be the Magicians Nephew!! I know this is off topic and I'm sorry.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by razor4466

Don't even get me started on Caspian. I heard the next movie is supposed to be the Magicians Nephew!! I know this is off topic and I'm sorry.

Let's just say that we hope they do MUCH better with Pern. After all, they have a visual guide to go by!

[BronzeRider]

Originally Posted by Kim

I know! How hard would it be to find a blonde to play Lucy or let the actress wear a wig?

The actress, Georgie Henley wasn't blonde in the movie...

[Kim]

Originally Posted by BronzeRider

The actress, Georgie Henley wasn't blonde in the movie...

In the books Lucy is clearly identified as blonde, just as Susan has dark hair and is stunningly beautiful. I like the actors to at least try to match the books.

On topic, that's why I changed my mind about who could play Brekke.

[BronzeRider]

Originally Posted by Kim

In the books Lucy is clearly identified as blonde, just as Susan has dark hair and is stunningly beautiful. I like the actors to at least try to match the books.

On topic, that's why I changed my mind about who could play Brekke.

Really? Its been a long time since I've read the Narnia books. I could'a sworn Lucy was a brunette.

...as for what one person considers 'stunningly beautiful'... beauty and the eye, and all that.

Yeah, back on topic, I'm not going to hold my breath for the studio green light, script or even casting, mainly because I'm out of breath and just don't have the energy. I'll be satisfied with a DRoP movie if it's nearly as good an adaptation as LotR, but deeply disappointed if someone pulls a Peter (Jackson) and does a Hobbit job on it.

[Brenda]

I think it's only mentioned at the end of TLtWatW when they are describing the four as adults.

[GHarris]

Originally Posted by skywaterblue

Anareth and I are of like-minds about the challenges of adapting DQ. I actually tried to structurally fix it in my practice screenplay adaption for class but got stuck because a lot of the changes necessary need to occur in DF... and the result is a version of Dragonflight that has such radical changes that I think fans would revolt. I would stand by much of it in terms of film theory, but I'd be tarred and feathered by Pern fans until the day I died.

I do think DQ has some great elements that scream "awesome movie" like the trip to the Red Star and the Queens' Battle, but how to make it make any sense in terms of a narrative... very tough. It might indeed make more sense to film Dragonflight, skip DQ and then film The White Dragon and ATWoP as your trilogy.

Honestly, I think any movie version of Pern is ramping up the difficulty level to 12 and even experienced screenwriters have taken a punch to the face trying to make it work. It would be better - far, far better - as a TV show.

ETA: Irony is that Lessa is the character that needs to least change, and Kylara was a pretty easy character to write too. It's F'lar, Robinton, Jaxom and Lytol and their timelines that are just problematic as hell.

I've thought about it too, and I see a trilogy.

Movie 1: DF - Main plot about thread and getting old timers to come to present. Maybe add some minor things when Lessa is meeting with Old Timers that foreshadow coming troubles where the foreshadowing wasn't in the books.

Movie 2: DQ - Main plot would be the troubles with the Old Timers. This would necessitate that the movie goes up to the point in TWD where F'lar has his second fight (but I'd have it be with the same guy, so as not to confuse audiences), and Robinton has his heart attack. We could change the timeline on Jaxom's firehead, so that he is still unconscious when this happens, or we just haven't looked in at him. Thus, having 2 cliffhangers going into TWD. Jaxom is a minor character that really is only know for being the child that was born when F'lar had his fight with Fax, impressing Ruth, and rescuing the queen egg.

Movie 3: TWD/ATWoP - Main plot would be rediscovering technology and getting rid of Thread forever. Maybe bring in some subplots from RoP. Toric would be the main antagonist.

GH

[GHarris]

Originally Posted by skywaterblue

Mila Kunis would be a great Lessa. She's name enough to helm a film, small and has the right look - and best of all, she'd be able to channel all those rough edges.

Mila would be a good Lessa, but lately, I've been thinking that Anna Kendricks from Pitch Perfect would be a good Lessa. You might have to die her hair or give her a wig, but she's the right size for Lessa.

And a new name for F'lar - Chris Pine.

Heck, if you don't care that Lessa is supposed to be short, you could go for Gal Godot as Lessa. At least you know that Chris and Gal have good chemistry. And they're already doing movies for WB. Heck, why not see if Patty Jenkins could be the director.

And, a good fit for Menolly might be Taylor Swift (if she can act). She's tall, skinny, can compose and sing.

GH