Dream Cast Thursday! Aladdin

This week's Dream Cast Thursday is Aladdin. Most people are familiar with the Disney adaptation. This was certainly my first exposure to the tale. I looked at the Disney adaptation when making my casting decisions. I also looked at the film, Arabian Nights. This miniseries was an adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights. Aladdin was a middle-eastern folk-tale that was added later to the book by Antoine Galland.The original tale takes place in a small Chinese city. When making my casting decisions, I wanted to stay true to the original while keeping with the fun of the Disney adaptation.

The first character that I recast was Aladdin. He has been played by Scott Weinger and Jason Scott Lee. For my adaptation, I cast Takeshi Kaneshiro.

The second character that I recast was the Jasmine/Princess Zobeide character. She has been played by Linda Larkin and Vanessa Mae. For my adaptation, I cast Ziyi Zhang.

The third character that I recast was the Genie. He has been played by Robin Williams and John Leguizamo. For my adaptation, I cast Rupert Friend.

The last character that I recast was the Jafar/Mustappa character. He has been played by Jonathan Freeman and Hugh Quarshie. For my adaptation, I cast Eamonn Walker.

So what do you all think? What adaptations have you seen? Have you read the original folk-tale? Who would be in your adaptation?

Dream Cast Thursday! King Arthur

I'm sorry that this one is so late. Things have been pretty crazy this week. For this week's Dream Cast Thursday, I will be recasting the King Arthur legend. There have been very many adaptations of this story. I looked at several adaptations when making my decisions. I looked at Camelot (1967), First Knight (1995), Merlin (1998), The Mists of Avalon (2001), and King Arthur (2004).

The first character that I recast was Arthur. He has been played by Richard Harris, Sean Connery, Paul Curran, Edward Atterron, and Clive Owen.For my adaptation, I recast Michael Fassbender.

The second character that I recast was Guinevere. She has been played by Vanessa Redgrave, Julia Ormond, Lena Headey, Samantha Mathis, and Keira Knightley.For my adaptation, I cast Anna Friel.

The third character that I recast was Lancelot. He has been played by Franco Nero, Richard Gere, Jeremy Sheffield, Michael Vartan, and Ioan Gruffudd.For my adaptation, I cast Henry Cavill.

The fourth character that I recast was Merlin. He has been played by Laurence Naismith, Sam Neill, Michael Byrne, and Stephen Dillane. For my adaptation, I cast Peter O'Toole. 

The fifth character that I recast was Morgaine. She has been played by Helena Bonham Carter and Julianna Margulies.For my adaptation, I cast Polly Walker.

The last character that I recast was Mordred. He has been played by David Hemmings, Jason Done, and Hans Matheson.For my adaptation, I cast Rupert Friend.

So what do you all think? Do you like the King Arthur legend? Which is your favorite adaptation? Who would be in your remake?

Young Victoria

I saw Young Victoria yesterday and really loved it. I was a little worried, because I have been looking forward to seeing it for so long, but it definitely lived up to all of the hype and anticipation. The film begins a year before Queen Victoria's coronation and follows her first few years on the throne. It was a beautiful film. The costumes and the settings were absolutely magnificent. Aside from the obvious aesthetic value, the film was also really interesting to watch. I have only every really seen the later years of Queen Victoria's life depicted. This was a really interesting period of time, that I never really knew about.

The cast was wonderful and included performances by Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, and Mark Strong. I had seen all of these actors in past performances, but the performance that I was most impressed with came from Rupert Friend. I had seen him before in the Libertine (2004), Pride and Prejudice (2005), the Last Legion (2007), and Cheri (2009). Upon watching this film, I found myself forgetting about all of the other characters that he has played. He completely transformed for this role and did a marvelous job.

In case you hadn't guessed yet, I would definitely recommend this film. If is DEFINITELY a must-see!

Cheri

I recently saw Cheri. It is based on the novels by Colette. Colette published Cheri in 1920 and The Last Cheri in 1926 (two decades before she published Gigi). Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Lea de Lonval, a Parisian courtesan. Rupert Friend stars as her lover, Cheri. It is thought by some that the character of Cheri is based on Colette's 18 year old step-son, Bertrand de Jouvenel.

I really enjoyed this film. The costumes were really wonderful and the cast was really good. Kathy Bates (Madame Peloux) was especially marvelous. She completely took over every scene that she was in. I would really recommend this film to anyone. It takes place over a period of several years, but didn't seem too long or drawn out. I feel like the writer did an amazing job of knowing what to put in and what not to. This is definitely a must-see.

Dream Cast Thursday! The Little Mermaid

For this week's Dream Cast Thursday, I will be casting a live-action version of the Little Mermaid. While choosing the cast, I had the Disney cartoon (The Little Mermaid 1989) in mind, but also the original story by Hans Christian Andersen. I think that it would be really interesting to see a film like this, because the original story was so much darker than the film.

In the original film, the voice of Ariel was done by Jodi Benson. I wanted to make sure to cast someone that seemed young, because in the original story, the little mermaid is supposed to be 15 years old. I recast Emily Browning.

Next I recast Prince Eric. In the film, his voice was done by Christopher Daniel Barnes. In the original story, he is only supposed to be 16 years old. When I recast him, I went a little older. It took a while for me to finally settle on someone. I recast Rupert Friend.

Ursula's voice was originally done by Pat Carroll. When trying to cast the Sea Witch from the novel, there was only one person that really stuck out in my mind. I ended up casting Helena Bonham Carter.

There was one character in the story that didn't make it into the film. I felt that the character of the young princess that the prince ends up marrying is fairly important (if you didn't know, the Prince and the Mermaid do not end up together). I thought for a while and ended up casting Odette Yustman.

So what do you all think? Would you like to see a version a bit more like the original story, or are you just too happy with the film? Would you like to see a live-action remake of the Disney film? Who would you cast in yours?