Weird Assignment for French HELP

[Teutonic Knight]

I complain about my French teacher a lot. This weekend, I have to recast the Bizet opera Carmen. Here's the wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen) in case you have never heard of it before. I need to recast the characters of Carmen, Don Jose, Micaela, and Escamillo. HELP. I know nothing about opera actors or movie actors, so anyone will do, and include a detailed reason why you would cast them as those characters.

[Sunfall]

Hmmm, I don't get the exact assignment. Does he want you to cast real actors in those roles? Or is it more of an eclectic literary exercise where he wants you to imagine characters from other works to fill out the roles?

If the first is the case, do these actors have to be still alive? Do they have to be opera actors? Do they have to be able to sing? (If so, the exercise seems quite pointless for French Language and more appropriate for Music. I think he'll want you to show that you understand what Carmen is about and how the characters therein think and feel. At least, that's how it would make sense to me in the context of a language and literature subject.)

That said, I'll give you some classical movie actors who might have been great in the roles. Maybe this can help you in working out who you think might be well suited:

I'd cast

a young Marlon Brando, who might have been a great Don José (think Streetcar: "Stellaaaa!" - you can see it here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1A0p0F_iH8)). He's so full of fury - a character where love and wrath are one and the same, as it seems, and one cannot be without the other.
maybe Gene Kelly for Escamillo. Take a look at him here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0GGg0S6Hfc) as D'Artagnan - a handsome guy in his prime, with easy charm and a warm smile, but also a bit of a show-off. Can hold his own in a battle (Kelly, as a dancer, had great body control). Can't stay with the same woman for long.
the immortal Jessica Tandy as Micaela, the faithful childhood friend, loving from afar. Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BULSPUs-7c) you can watch her act with that certain fragility that is needed for the role.

Carmen, however, is really hard. I think of Lizy Minelli in Cabaret, but that would be too obvious. I think of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, of Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice, of Romy Schneider in The Swimming Pool and, of course, of Sophia Loren (who I could have sworn has already played the part, but I can't find any proof for that).

HTH :smallsmile:

(BTW: Aren't you a bit late for a weekend assignment? :smallwink:)