Dream Cast Thursday! A Streetcar Named Desire

Sorry for the late posting. This week has been pretty hectic. This week's Dream Cast Thursday is A Streetcar Named Desire. The original play by Tennessee Williams was written in 1947. There have been many film adaptations (1951, 1984, 1995).

The original 1951 film kept the original Broadway cast (except for Jessica Tandy who was replaces by Vivien Leigh). I tried to look at all of them when making my choices.

The first character that I recast was Blanche DuBois. This was hard for me. In my mind, I have such a clear picture of who she is. She has been played by Vivien Leigh, Ann-Margret, and Jessica Lange. For my adaptation, I chose Julia Roberts.

The second character that I recast was Stanley Kowalski. He has been played by Marlon Brando, Treat Williams, and Alec Baldwin. For my adaptation, I cast Desmond Harrington.

The last character that I recast was Stella Kowalski. This was probably the easiest character of the three to cast. Once the other ones were chosen, she just seemed right. She has been played by Kim Hunter, Beverly D'Angelo, and Diane Lane. For my adaptation, I cast Rachel McAdams.

So what do you all think? Have you read or seen the play? What adaptations are your favorites? Who would be in yours?

Dream Cast Thursday! All About Eve

For the second edition of "Dream Cast Thursday," I will be casting a remake of All About Eve. The film came out in 1950. It stars from left to right, Gary Merill (as Bill Simpson), Bette Davis (as Margo), George Sanders (as Addison DeWitt), Anne Baxter (as Eve), Hugh Marlowe (as Lloyd Richards), and Celeste Holm (as Karen).

It was really hard to recast this film, because it was cast so wonderfully to begin with. I had to not only find people that were perfect for the characters, but also people that were perfect together and were in the proper age ranges.

I chose Michelle Pfeiffer as Eve and Clive Owen as Bill. The original actors were 42 and 35 respectively at the time of filming. Pfeiffer and Owen are now 51 and 47 respectively.

I chose Rachel McAdams as Eve. The original actress was 27. Adams is now 31.

I chose Diane Lane to play Karen and Liev Schreiber to play Lloyd. The original actors were 33 and 39 respectively. Lane and Schreiber are now 44 and 42 respectively.

I made all of the actors that I recast slightly older. I felt that younger actors would not really fit in with the original story. Some of the other casting ideas that I considered before making my final decision included George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon. So what do you all think of my casting? How would you all cast it? Put your ideas in the comments.

The Cotton Club

I watched The Cotton Club this weekend for the first time in years. I really enjoyed the music. I had a total Francis Ford Coppola weekend (with Rumble Fish, the Outsiders and the Cotton Club). It was a lot of fun, because I haven't seen any of these movies in so long. I had never seen Rumble Fish at all. It was really adorable to see Richard Gere and Diane Lane together. I was really depressed to find out that it is nearly impossible to find a reasonable priced, region one dvd of it though. If anyone knows where I can get one, let me know. I will probably just end up buying a region two version at some point. I hate that a lot of older dvds are starting to not be available on dvd.