Author Topic: Character casting  (Read 2964 times)

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Offline AlothAssassin

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #30 on: July 16, 2009, 09:19:48 AM »
Problem with that is, it loses its impact.

Everything just holds so much more disturbing weight when it really is "Jake, the Boy General".  You get above 15, you may as well be an adult.
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Offline Sub Visser

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #31 on: July 16, 2009, 10:28:23 AM »
In war movies violence isn't the important part, the strategy.  The morality, and the opposistion are what matter.  Violence means nothing if that's all there is, you need to have more.  Which is why I don't think the violence needs to be as explicit in the movie as it was in the books.  KA needed to be graphic in the books because everything needs to be overly described for the readers.  Movies are different, you don't need to graphic to get the point of violence across.

Offline AlothAssassin

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #32 on: July 16, 2009, 10:38:37 AM »
You're right.  It still needs to be implied that these kids have taken lives, though, and even that will never fly.  Won't even be considered.  The second you propose to depict minors killing, that's the second you receive a final-straw "N-O."

It's just how the business works.
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #33 on: July 16, 2009, 10:58:49 AM »
They were taking lives in the TV show, weren't they? Or at least, any Ani fan will assume they're killing enemies. Unless all the animals ever attacked were Humans, instead of what passed for hork-Bajir.


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Offline AlothAssassin

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #34 on: July 16, 2009, 11:08:11 AM »
I don't think so.  You basically just saw a tiger roaring at people and then they ran away.  And the Andalites just slapped each other with open hands.
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #35 on: July 16, 2009, 11:18:45 AM »
Ah, well. We can do better than that, surely.

So who would we use to produce it that we could be sure to push the envelope as far as PG13 would allow? Someone good at getting crap past the radar.


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Offline Sub Visser

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #36 on: July 16, 2009, 11:33:47 AM »
Well, I'm positive they could make a very good Animorphs movie and keep it PG-13.  It's really not that hard to be violent without showing too much, even an ametuer director knows a million tricks for doing it.  Besides, I never got done reading an Animorphs book and thought "wow, that was violent".

Offline Chad32

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #37 on: July 16, 2009, 12:35:41 PM »
I have. Though I think I focused mostly on other things besides the battle descriptions. I may have just skipped them like I skipped the morphing descriptions. Which was a big part of why I felt it got dark towards the end, and don't remember much darkness early in the series. Except patches like in book 1 and 10.


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Offline AlothAssassin

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #38 on: July 17, 2009, 01:46:28 AM »
Ah, well. We can do better than that, surely.

So who would we use to produce it that we could be sure to push the envelope as far as PG13 would allow? Someone good at getting crap past the radar.

You know what?  You'd basically need someone who doesn't answer to the system, someone with enough clout to do whatever they want.  As of now, there are basically only four guys in the industry who hold that type of power; Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron, and Jackson.

Spielberg tends to not take an interest in violent/realistic action scenes unless it's based in a real-world context, like Ryan.  A lot of his stuff implies things, but almost always in that accessible fun summer movie context.  And he doesn't seem to have his heart in the "alien invasion" sci-fi scene anymore, saying he prefers to try something different from his earlier work.  The alien/interdimensional stuff in Indiana Jones was Lucas's idea, and we know how that turned out.

I won't even go into detail on Lucas.  Dude lost his mind a decade ago.

Jackson...meh.  He's a great director, but again, he's tied down with directing Tin Tin and producing The Hobbit and a bunch of other sci-fi movies for a long time to come.  Plus, he does "epic" really well, something Animorphs doesn't really need a lot of.  Giant battles are a no, skirmishes and hit & runs are a yes.  Although, one thing I will say for Jackson, he knows how to make action scenes really hit home, the guy's pretty brutal.

Which leaves us with Cameron.  He wouldn't be interested, since he's tied down for the next few years with his Avatar and Battle Angel Alita movies, but since this is all hypothetical anyway (I don't want there to be an Animorphs movie, at least not for a good decade or two until it's perhaps visually feasible), he'd be about the only one who'd have the power and perfectionist mentality to make it work.  Although, he just about always only works from scripts he's written, adaptations are rarely his thing aside from Battle Angel.  Spielberg would perhaps do just as good a job, if he were inclined to not take any creative liberty with it, mix it up to his own ends.  A lot of Spielberg's alien stuff is quite kid-friendly and hopeful, I'm not so sure he's deal very well with a covert alien invasion.  He's done War Of The Worlds, but his War Of The Worlds sucked majorly.

Spielberg/Jackson/Cameron.  Of the three I believe only Jackson would potentially be interested, and he's the one of the three I wouldn't want to direct this, out of personal taste.  I'm sure he'd make it cutting-edge and he'd be able to handle the violence, perhaps better than Spielberg and equal to Cameron.  But his actual directing style just doesn't really fit.  Jackson always goes big in his studio movies, he hasn't done small and low-key since about 1992.

So, Cameron.  But Cameron won't consider doing it, at least for another 15 years or so.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2009, 01:52:57 AM by AlothAssassin »
"Yorn desh born, der ritt de gitt der gue, Orn desh, dee born desh, de umn børk! børk! børk!" - The Swedish Chef.

“He is very wise man and very strong - although perhaps not so strong as his father Barbara.  Tough guy!" - Borat, on President Bush.

Offline JFalcon

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #39 on: July 18, 2009, 04:05:30 AM »
Whoa whoa whoa . . . slow down now . . . Tin Tin as in the show I got ridiculed for liking as a kid, and Battle Angel Alita as in the comic I got ridiculed for liking as a kid, are both becoming movies by directors who might actually do a good job?

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

How the [long long list of very censored words] did I not know about either one of those?! Battle Angel Alita by Cameron would be awesome!

Urm, on topic though, a friendly view of aliens on Spielberg's part, assuming he did do the movie, doesnt really have to extend towards the Yeerks themselves, it could make them seem even worse actually if they played on the Taxxon and Hork-Bajir hosts being victims (instead of mindless drones until you meet one that isn't infested at the moment) and make you feel mildly worse for say the Hork-Bajir that get killed in battle or, if they go with The Invasion, make you feel as bad for the ones who fail to escape as you do for the humans (Rather than "Screw the big dinosaur thing, just let the old man get away!" people might think "No, save the dinosaur thingy too!") which would actually be beneficial to the film.

Also if the film were say The Hork-Bajir Chronicles instead of core Animorphs (hey, this is all theoretical) Jackson's talent for epic battles might actually work out since I always pictured that one being pretty large scale.
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Offline skyflyerjen

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #40 on: July 27, 2009, 12:24:25 AM »
Everyone has such good points.  I don't want an Animorph movie, either.  Hollywood wood just bastardize it.  It's already been f-ed up a bit, because of the horrendous TV show (transforming toys featuring Marco turning into a beetle?, horrible puppets as Andalites, the gang walking through their school cafeteria looking around suspiciously... uh, no).
My big worry is sitting down to a water-down version of my beloved Animorphs.  No gore, no violence, no reality.  The whole message from the series basically boils down to "War is hell."  Can we show that to kids today?  Really?
Also, my big fear is the morphing.  I deperately hope we won't see some cheap-looking, deranged version of our favorite scenes in the series.  I want to see a quality morph. 
I agree with using unknowns to play the roles.  By the way, does anyone know the names of any of the kids on the covers?  If only we could use them... just not the "newer" kids.  I read somewhere that Scholastic decided to toss out the originals because they were "getting too old..."  But, um, so were the Animorphs.  Duh.
I digress.
You guys, like Aloth, are all so right: Hollywood won't show what needs to be shown.

Offline MoppingBear

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #41 on: August 08, 2009, 08:41:11 PM »
of course you have to use unknowns, otherwise what are your options? miley cyrus as rachel, and the jonas brothers as jake, marco, and ax?

Offline Yarin

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #42 on: August 08, 2009, 08:53:43 PM »
of course you have to use unknowns, otherwise what are your options? miley cyrus as Rachel, and the Jonas brothers as Jake, Marco, and ax?

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Offline Chad32

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Re: Character casting
« Reply #43 on: August 08, 2009, 09:05:12 PM »
Hahahaha-NO!


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