Lord Of The Rings Recast

[Delvo]

Tolkien never meant that Aragorn wouldn't have naturally "fair" features, and in fact the only consistent conclusion is that he must have because ALL of Tolkien's good, wise, strong, noble noblemen are described as "fair", especially among the Elves and part-Elves (the latter of which includes the kings of Númenor and thus of Gondor). What would have been scary-looking about Aragorn was actually shown in the movie and not about anything built in to himself: the rough unkempt hair, the not having a real beard but not exactly being shaven either, the worn rags for clothing, the plain unkingly style. It was not his nature, but his disguise, the thing that he hid is real "fair"-ness behind, like mud on a piece of gold.

Anyway, I pondered this same recasting question once in another thread on another forum, and these are the ideas I came up with...

Faramir & Boromir: Brad Pitt and Eric Bana

Eomer: Vladimir Kulich (the guy who played Buliwyf in The Thirteenth Warrior)

Theoden: Ed Harris, or Kevin Sorbo if somebody could talk him into doing the good dramatic acting he showed us in the first season or two of "Andromeda" before the Herculean wisecracking took over again

Elrond: Tom Cruise (Everybody loves to hate him now, but this idea predates the weirdness, and he's still good at the job and looks Elven)

Lord Celeborn of Lothlorien: Adam Baldwin... OK, just kidding

Either of the Elf women, but probably Galadriel because Arwen would be easier to cast with someone else than Galadriel is: Jeena/Gina/whatever Davis

Saruman: the guy who played The X-Files's Cigarette Smoking Man

Gandalf & Denethor: Patrick Stewart and Tommy Lee Jones, in either order (in fact at first I thought that was PS as gandalf and thought it had been a good choice)

Another Denethor: Michael Caine

[paranoid marvin]

Sean Connery would have been an interesting choice for Gandalf - in fact Christopher Lee counld have done the job well ,but he's a great Saruman- and Harrison Ford as Elrond ,or how about Michael Palin or Eric Idle?- oh , and Blessed would have made a brilliant Gimli, maybe even still now

One thing I noticed with the casting was that everyone was white skinned. I'm suprised that in such a multi-cultural society as that of Middle Earth there seemed to be no variation in skin colour (as far as I can remember)

[tangaloomababe]

Nesacat , its funny you should chose Sam for Elrond, if I recall rightly this part was played by Hugo Weaving. I think Sam would have made a brilliant Elrond.

Brian Blessed well there is a name I have not heard of in years, that booming voice and over the top character, he would have made a fine Gimli and Patrick Stewart much as I love him and his beautiful, articulate voice I just cannot see him as Gandalf, maybe Ian McKellen made it to much his own.
Nobody could have done a better Aragorn than Viggo, much as I think Daniel Day Lewis is a brilliant actor, he wouldnt do it anyway, he makes what one movie every 4-5 years, and I think he had done his quota at that time. ( Greenman says he was doing Gangs of News York and his role in this was outstanding)
Ok all I have really done is agree with everyone, can I think of anyone new, how about Clive Owen, just as a busy extra, just so I can watch him in the background (just kidding)
I think Peter Jackson did the best job in casting for these movies, it would be hard to see anyone else in the roles. Maybe just maybe we could have thrown Hugh Jackman in there somewhere, I mean if Viggo was sick that day he could do Aragorn.

[Delvo]

Wow! Clive Owen! Why didn't I think of him... for Aragorn?!

[Urien]

"One thing I noticed with the casting was that everyone was white skinned. I'm suprised that in such a multi-cultural society as that of Middle Earth there seemed to be no variation in skin colour (as far as I can remember)." Paranoid Marvin.

The area of Middle Earth in the LOTR is supposed to correlate to North West Europe a long time ago. Hence the skin colour.

[devilsgrin]

Clive Owen as Aragorn is actually a great idea. He's a great actor. And if for no other reason, he already has an English accent. Viggo's attempts at speech... were... ghastly! His accent changed from scene to scene, the way he spoke ... OMG! Whenever Aragorn is speaking i'm cringing from the horror.

[this charmingm manc]

Originally Posted by Nesacat

Peter Townsend was originally cast as Aragorn.

Ummm .... Patrick Stewart would have been interesting as Gandalf.

hmm crap i think......

I think he got that one bang on......

I always prefer magneto to prof X

[Wybren]

I was pretty happy with most of the cast, but perhaps if given a choice I would have looked at Tim Roth or Robert Carlyle for the role of Grima Wormtongue and perhaps considered Rachel Weisz for the role of arwen as opposed to Liv Tyler

[manephelien]

I think the films were perfectly cast. Certainly the actors playing the main characters made the films their own. I'd only change Celeborn, Marton Csokas isn't pretty enough IMO to play an elf, but I don't know who I'd replace him with.

[reiver33]

Charles Dance as Saruman; the character is supposed to be 'smooth' and plausible to all men (and women), with a silky voice.