Is there a 'who should play this character?' thread, and is it necro?

[ebarde]

Honestly whenever Dwayne plays more grounded and less bombastic characters I always very much get a lot of actor dissonance, cause I feel he is just always doing his wrestler persona a bit too much. Which is understandable since most of the time that's what he's there to do if that makes sense, same way as most wrestler turned actors play larger than life figures that are close to the personas they are used to displaying. Which I get, since a good wrestler has to put on a good show and get strong reactions from people. But whenever I see a movie where he's supposed to be like a taxi driver or whatever, it just feels a tad silly to me cause of all his mannerisms and general showmanship I guess?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Another reason why I feel John "the Dwayne" Rockson as Roy might be a bit too much is the balance between him and Thog.

Thog is a difficult character to get right. It requires someone who can act and has comedic timing, but he also has to be intimidating. Imagine him in the arena VS Roy, he goes from masked menace to childish simpleton to dangerous murder machine all in the same scene. Now there are people who could pull that off, while still being far enough down the ranking of the stars to play a secondary villain, maybe Scott Adkins, known from the Undisputed sequels? Has he done anything funny? But pull that off while Roy is being played by Dwayne Johnson? That's near impossible. At that point the director is just going to use a CGI monstrosity for Thog and lose all depth, and nobody wants that.

Overall I'd probably be more inclined to cast the Rock as Thog than as Roy. He's got nearly the full range needed, he's maybe just a little too likable to properly switch to kill and destroy mode and a lot too famous for such a small role.

[Curtis Cook]

Overall I'd probably be more inclined to cast the Rock as Thog than as Roy. He's got nearly the full range needed, he's maybe just a little too likable to properly switch to kill and destroy mode and a lot too famous for such a small role.

Big actors do small cameos all the time. And the first time I saw The Rock he was playing a humorless murder machine — his original appearance as The Scorpion King in the Mummy franchise, before it spun off into its own franchise.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Big actors do small cameos all the time. And the first time I saw The Rock he was playing a humorless murder machine — his original appearance as The Scorpion King in the Mummy franchise, before it spun off into its own franchise.

To be fair, as a fan of the first movie in that particular The Mummy series that is one of the sequel scenes that does not hold up to what I was expecting.

To be fair the other way, that's hardly The Rock's fault, he was covered in plastic looking CGI, but it's still not the most convincing evidence that it would strike the right tone with today's movie going audiences.



On the other other hand, it would be kind of meta to make the audience root for Thog, it'll be just like the comic.

[ebarde]

It would be fitting since the character in the arena scene sorta became a parody of wrestler villains, who at times are more popular than the good guys(Does this make Roy Roman?)

[Gaius Hermicus]

Here’s a pretty good example of Johnson playing a Thog-like character: {scrubbed}

I think he could pull off the part.

[Peelee]

Hey, what about that appearance on Voyager?

[Schroeswald]

I just realized someone who would be good as Redcloak, Michael Emerson.

[a_flemish_guy]

morgan freeman as eugene, not only can he narate the beginning without anyone bashin an eyelash before his conversations with roy reveal him as an actual actor within the story but it would also be be nice subversion of his character with him being a crotchety old man instead of the wise mentor you picture him at

seth green as belkar

james earl jones for soon, you could have it as just a CGI, just for the ghost-martyr speech

[Schroeswald]

james earl jones for soon, you could have it as just a CGI, just for the ghost-martyr speech

Why would Soon be CGI? He's like, a human? Why would he just be a fake person when he's a ghost-martyr? If the [whatever we're casting for] is live action he should be live action, if it's animated he should be animated (also, feels a bit weird to cast notable non-asian James Earl Jones as the very asian Soon).

[RatElemental]

Why would Soon be CGI? He's like, a human? Why would he just be a fake person when he's a ghost-martyr? If the [whatever we're casting for] is live action he should be live action, if it's animated he should be animated (also, feels a bit weird to cast notable non-asian James Earl Jones as the very asian Soon).

Humans are notoriously bad at looking like transparent flying ghost figures without at least a little special effects.

[DemonicAngel]

For Shojo, I nominate Makoto Iwamatsu (RIP) or Greg Baldwin. Both did Akku (samurai jack) and Uncle Iroh (Avatar). I can actually see either also do Xykon, now that i think about it.
they both encapture the "Wise old man" and "lunatic big bad" pretty well

[ebarde]

Wait, are we assuming Soon will be completely CGIed from the ground up and not just some dude with a filter

[Ortho]

No magic items and a wooden sword would seem to disagree.

To be fair, Belkar weighs about 30 pounds, so I don't think this particular feat is as noteworthy as you're making it out to be.

Wait, are we assuming Soon will be completely CGIed from the ground up and not just some dude with a filter

I think the assumption is that an OotS adaptation would be animated, because stick figures are a core part of the strip's identity. Also, Jumanji's already cornered the market on the live-action-satire-fantasy-starring-Dwayne-Johnson genre.

[Peelee]

To be fair, Belkar weighs about 30 pounds, so I don't think this particular feat is as noteworthy as you're making it out to be.

The overseers seemed quite impressed, to the point that Roy pre-emptied the half dragon in the roster.

[Schroeswald]

I think the assumption is that an OotS adaptation would be animated, because stick figures are a core part of the strip's identity. Also, Jumanji's already cornered the market on the live-action-satire-fantasy-starring-Dwayne-Johnson genre.

I started with that assumption too, but considering how much discussion there has been over whether X actor is the right Buffness Level for Roy a lot of people definitely aren’t working under it.

[Fyraltari]

The overseers seemed quite impressed, to the point that Roy pre-emptied the half dragon in the roster.

Imagine a monkey is climbing over you constantly hitting you (including your eyes) and you manage to get it off you, and whacj it into near unconsciousness in one strike. That would be impressive.
And the overseers have seen how nimble Belkar was.

[Peelee]

Imagine a monkey is climbing over you constantly hitting you (including your eyes) and you manage to get it off you, and whacj it into near unconsciousness in one strike. That you be impressive.
And the overseers have seen how nimble Belkar was.

So impressive that they thought I'm more impressive than of Andre the Giant who can also shoot lightning from his mouth?

[Fyraltari]

So impressive that they thought I'm more impressive than of Andre the Giant who can also shoot lightning from his mouth?

Apparently, so. I'm not one to tell the professional lanista how to run his business.

[Grey Watcher]

So impressive that they thought I'm more impressive than of Andre the Giant who can also shoot lightning from his mouth?

One thing to take into account is that they might have already had orders that Enor and Gannji were to fight each other, no matter what. So they're effectively disqualified from No. 1 from the start (since No. 1 fights Thog). If they hadn't had that restriction, maybe Enor would be No. 1 after all. It's never made explicit, so we don't know.

[Fyraltari]

One thing to take into account is that they might have already had orders that Enor and Gannji were to fight each other, no matter what. So they're effectively disqualified from No. 1 from the start (since No. 1 fights Thog). If they hadn't had that restriction, maybe Enor would be No. 1 after all. It's never made explicit, so we don't know.

It is actually made explicit:

Elan: How did they end up in the arena?

Tarquin: There may have been a few strings pulled. Consider this another special present for you, my boy.

[...]

Elan: Come on, Dad. don't do this. Let them fight other people, at least.

Tarquin: Where would the fun in that be? The whole point of this match-up was so you could enjoy the extra tragedy of the two of them fighting.

[Peelee]

It is actually made explicit:

Elan: How did they end up in the arena?

Tarquin: There may have been a few strings pulled. Consider this another special present for you, my boy.

[...]

Elan: Come on, Dad. don't do this. Let them fight other people, at least.

Tarquin: Where would the fun in that be? The whole point of this match-up was so you could enjoy the extra tragedy of the two of them fighting.

We don't know when Tarquin ordered that, though. I would argue it's after Roy sealed his spot in the front, since only Enor was called out as being in spot number 2. Besides, even going by the dextrous monkey analogy, it's not as if Thog is particularly hard to hit; they need someone who can make a good fight, not someone who can catch the golden snitch.

[ebarde]

Breath weapons aree purely genetical and thus unimpressive

[Peelee]

Breath weapons aree purely genetical and thus unimpressive

I fail to see how that follows.

[Fyraltari]

Besides, even going by the dextrous monkey analogy, it's not as if Thog is particularly hard to hit; they need someone who can make a good fight, not someone who can catch the golden snitch.

No they don't, they actually need someone who can make a good show. These aren't a martial art competion but gladiatorial games. Entertainment value trumps everything. Enor is way too laid-back to make an entertaining fight.

But that wasn't my point anyway: beating Belkar like he did was a show of strength, dextrerity and quickness. All skills very important to a fighter.

[Peelee]

No they don't, they actually need someone who can make a good show. These aren't a martial art competion but gladiatorial games. Entertainment value trumps everything. Enor is way too laid-back to make an entertaining fight.

But that wasn't my point anyway: beating Belkar like he did was a show of strength, dextrerity and quickness. All skills very important to a fighter.

A.) A good fight is entertaining in this. A bad fight is not entertaining. You yourself seem to agree on this in your second paragraph when you point out skills that are important to a fighter, not an entertainer.

2.) Enor would very likely not be laid back when in a diem to the death against anyone not Gannji.

iii.) The overseers didn't say "I could barely track that!" or "I can't believe he was able to hit him!", but rather, "he got knocked back to Basic!" They are marveling at Roy's strength.

[Aedilred]

I started with that assumption too, but considering how much discussion there has been over whether X actor is the right Buffness Level for Roy a lot of people definitely aren’t working under it.

If we're going to go animated, then I wouldn't have any of these people anyway. So many screen actors are surprisingly bad at voice acting: I'd want to see some VA body of work behind them. Unfortunately, outside Matt Groening cartoons, I don't really know any voice actors well enough to comment.

But I'm sure if you cast Harry Shearer and Dan Castellaneta as all the male characters you'd get a decent result regardless.

[Peelee]

If we're going to go animated, then I wouldn't have any of these people anyway. So many screen actors are surprisingly bad at voice acting: I'd want to see some VA body of work behind them. Unfortunately, outside Matt Groening cartoons, I don't really know any voice actors well enough to comment.

But I'm sure if you cast Harry Shearer and Dan Castellaneta as all the male characters you'd get a decent result regardless.

Groening tends to get the cream of the crop.