Casting Call: Casting "The Stand"

He's too short for Snape.

 

Besides, Alan Rickman projects complete and utter disdain for Harry without even trying.

 

Rickman is 20 years too old, but otherwise, perfect.

 

"The Human Torch has coolly accepted the title of Captain America.

Fantastic Four hunk Chris Evans has signed on to play the red-white-and-blue-defending superhero in Marvel Studios' upcoming First Avenger: Captain America, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The trade reports that the 27-year-old actor was just offered the job last week?and, apparently, negotiations went quite smoothly.

Evans joined a pool of possible leading men that, at one time or another, included John Krasinski, Chace Crawford, Ryan Phillippe and, most recently, Channing Tatum.

Joe Johnston has been in place to direct for some time, and now cameras can start rolling in England with an eye on a summer 2011 release."

 

Carey Mulligan Is My Fair Lady?

14 hours ago | EmpireOnline | See recent EmpireOnline news »

"The remake of My Fair Lady is one of those projects that has attracted rumours like dodgy old meat attracts flies. Possible stars (Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley) have been rumoured and even attached, but no one has stuck. Now, Emma Thompson claims that her An Education co-star Carey Mulligan will take on the leading role of Eliza Doolittle.Since Thompson wrote the new version of the musical, she?s more likely to know than some tenuously connected source, and she was talking to BBC, which means it wasn?t some second hand whisper.Still, there?s no official confirmation about Mulligan being taught to be a proper lady by Professor Henry Higgins (no one has signed to that role either, though Thompson thinks Hugh Grant would be perfect).With John Madden likely directing, word that the production may finally have locked in an Eliza means it should start shooting later this year."

 

Well, they've already branded her as "the new Audrey Hepburn" after her performance in An Education... I can definitely picture her as Eliza Doolitle. Question is: can she sing?

 

I didn't seen An Education, but she was very, very good in a supporting role on The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, a six episode dramatic series out of Britain a few years back. I bet she could do it.

 

I absolutely adore My Fair Lady (although I have the stage album, so I still always picture Julie Andrews). But I am not entirely opposed to a new version as it's more like doing another adaptation of a brilliant play than doing an adaptation of the movie.

That being said, casting for this is tough, and that's what I was skeptical about. But Carey Mulligan is perhaps the most talented young actress out there. And she's British to boot! I would call it absolutely perfect casting, but with the reservation that I don't know if she can sing. So that makes me a touch apprehensive.

But I still can't be 100% thrilled about this film until we know who'll be playing Henry Higgins. This is a much more difficult role to fill. The guy doesn't really need to be able to sing well (Rex Harrison couldn't sing and the music was literally written for his talk-singing style). It's just that Rex Harrison was so brilliant. I'm not sure who can fill those shoes. Obviously ideally you'd want someone to play the part a bit differently, since it is a completely separate role. My vote would go to Robert Downey Jr.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Yeah, Higgins is a tough role; you have to be a classist snob, a horrible misogynist and spend the entirity of your time on screen insulting everyone. And then, if the ending's going to work, the audience has to realize that they love you anyway. Harrison was absolutely perfect.

 

For Higgins they are mentioning Hugh Grant and Colin Firth.

 

In that case, get Hugh Laurie. He has experience (House, anyone?) plus he can actually sing.

 

Is this going to be the musical version?

 

How could My Fair Lady be not musical?

 

My Fair Lady was the musical, but the work it was based upon - Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw - was not (though many people forget this - another case of a remake trumping the original).

Arguably there could be grounds to remake Pygmalion but keep the My Fair Lady title owing to it's greater recognition.

 

I know that, of course, but we were talking about My Fair Lady, not Pygmalion.

 

Actually, there is a non-musical version, which starred Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard. It's very good, too.

 

It is very good; I think it's better than My Fair Lady actually, as some of the songs just drag the story to a standstill. Howard is surprisingly brilliant. I wish he'd played acerbic more often.

 

True; I wouldn't have cast him, but he nails it.

 

He was tragically typecast as the longsuffering, pathetic male and boy, was he ever annoying at it. This is the kind of stuff he should have been doing.

 

That was Pygmalion (1938). Which leads to ...

I think we know that too. I think the point that's being made here is that it doesn't have to be a musical, considering the original story wasn't a musical in the first place.

 

If it is the musical version, Hugh Laurie intrigues me as a choice for Higgins.

 

I think he would be a great choice for Higgins even if it wasn't a musical version - but if they decided to go with the musical version, his singing abilities would be a good bonus.

 

And Freddy...Neil Patrick Harris.

 

No news on the casting of Higgins, so far.