Star Wars 7 shit talk

^ irl lol

Being into Star Wars does not make you a nerd it's 100% dominant monoculture by now.

Let's just call it brand loyalty.

It's more Ridley = 'Luke'; Boyega = the 'Leia' character, by the look of it so far. The chemistry between the leads is going to be crucial if this film is going to be anything other than a purely visual spectacle.

Boyega was really solid in Attack the Block IIRC, had a real "this guy is going to go places" feel for me. Haven't seen anything of Ridley's (pretty short) C.V., what's the word on the street? As I think I said above, I like that this cast is (veteran cast members aside) mostly fresh faces plus Von Sydow and Nyongo, perhaps in the Alec Guiness/Peter Cushing kind of positions.

Although now that I think about it that could also basically be said of the prequels - I had them in my head as involving more stunt casting, but Portman and McGregor were maybe at an Adam Driver level of exposure back then. So who knows.

McGregor was more famous than that I reckon - though maybe more so in the UK than elsewhere.

Ha, thinking about it TPM may be the film that first set Liam Neeson on the trajectory away from films where he does serious acting towards films where he kills a load of people and/or wolves.

yeah mcgregor was in some hit films and already a leading man, but like, that makes him no more a stuntcasting than alec guinness

samuel l jackson fits the term better than anybody though, esp with his proudly declaring he asked for a unique lightsaber for his nothing role

'he kills a load of people and/or wolves.'

Enh, he was always in genre pictures(Excalibur, Krull, Darkman), but I think the turn wasn't until made big money in Taken and the death of his wife to become the token Old White Action Guy for the early 21st-C.

Until he made, rather

lol Darkman

after Trainspotting McGregor felt like a very much bigger name than Driver does now. but yeah UK only i guess.

naw, Trainspotting was kind of a cult hit in the US

I was thinking that Natalie Portman was more of a known name but being in The Professional/Heat probably only made her known among the "men professionally shooting things" film fans

Although now that I think about it that could also basically be said of the prequels - I had them in my head as involving more stunt casting, but Portman and McGregor were maybe at an Adam Driver level of exposure back then. So who knows.

I feel like between The Professional and Mars Attacks!, Natalie Portman was more famous than this by the time Episode I came out but this is largely due to the types of entertainment I pay attention to

lol I think we made the same post from different angles, Dan

*hi-five*

I'd completely forgotten Liam Neeson was in Krull.

Trainspotting was def a way bigger deal in the states than Attack the Block... but setting aside Jackson (who is barely in TPM, right?), Liam Neeson was probably the closest thing to a "household name" at that point, not for Krull or Darkman (which rules) but for Schindler's List (including Oscar nom).

And Jake Lloyd for Jingle All The Way.

Remember all the kids at Halloween who were like, "I'm Jake Lloyd from 'Jingle All The Way?'"

"I'm Not To Be Confused With Haley Joel Osment!"

yeah but "stuntcasting" usually means grabbing big names for roles that don't need it, rather than grabbing a respected actor for a role that needs gravitas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunt_casting

haha i actually had no idea peter cushing qualified (and i don't think gene hackman should - why SHOULDN'T Lex Luthor be a name?)

yeah I'm probably not using it correctly - at this point more than anything I think of bad animated or part-CGI films shellacked with guest stars animated to kinda look like them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxJZMK9S6yI

but probably that needs/has another name

"sharktaleing" iirc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunt_casting

haha i actually had no idea peter cushing qualified (and i don't think gene hackman should - why SHOULDN'T Lex Luthor be a name?)

― da croupier, Tuesday, April 21, 2015 7:18 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That is a bad wrong terrible wikipedia page right there

it's definitely a blurry line - like, is jack nicholson in Terms Of Endearment stuntcasting or just a strong supporting turn? In Broadcast News, is it stuntcasting or just a fun cameo? In a sense it's a slam - the implication that it's not really rewarding for the audience beyond the thrill of seeing a familiar face. That the role could have easily been played by a nobody, neither requiring a star presence nor potentially making a star of whoever played it. so yeah, in terms of star wars, sam jackson is easily the closest you get.

xpost and yeah i dunno if this is what you mean, but i know some people just say it means "notable person hired to get attention for movie." At which point though, any star is a stuntcast

Samuel L begged to be in the movie though so I'm not sure if it counts

he was definitely enthusiastic, but it's not like he was a make-a-wish kid. from the pov of the makers his value was obviously stuntcasty

though tbf i've never seen part II so maybe his character has an arc there or something

no he just ends up looking increasingly pissed off and bored. Kind of an audience surrogate really

haha

I actually feel bad for him and McGregor (especially when you see his initial boyish enthusiasm in the TPM making-of)

they had no idea what they were getting into

He kills Boba Fett's dad, so there's that.

Brando in Superman is probably stunt casting since they had to pay him more than God and it was kind of a joke to him IIRC.

but Peter Cushing? Isn't that just a director using an actor he likes who was right for the role?

a movie that kind of befuddles the concept is jfk - while loaded with big names in roles that wouldn't normally have them, all those characters get one big LOOK AT ME speech that would totally grab the audience (i.e. while the role of the gay convict informant didn't need to be played by a name like kevin bacon, anyone who yells in a movie about how fascism is coming back and how you don't understand because you've never fucked in the ass in a movie will get the audience's attention). the movie would actually make (even) less sense if no-names were constantly delivering hammy speeches.

tangent, i know. but i'm sure some news will get us back on course before long.

SW as pulp movie homage -> casting pulp horror icon as scary villain kind of stunty

I mean, he did the same thing with Christopher Lee later

yeah but brando goes back to what i was saying about every star turn being sutntcasting - "they had to pay him more than god it was kind of a joke to him" describes most movies he made

it's been a long time since i saw star wars so i can't remember if cushing had a lot to do or if he just stood around all prissylike

Alec Guinness was probably the showier casting decision tho

it's been a long time since i saw star wars so i can't remember if cushing had a lot to do or if he just stood around all prissylike

― da croupier, Tuesday, April 21, 2015 7:53 PM (28 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he blew up a planet and was really pleased about it. Sort of filled the role of the emperor.

yeah but brando goes back to what i was saying about every star turn being sutntcasting - "they had to pay him more than god it was kind of a joke to him" describes most movies he made

it's been a long time since i saw star wars so i can't remember if cushing had a lot to do or if he just stood around all prissylike

― da croupier, Tuesday, April 21, 2015 7:53 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk it was one of the first movies he did purely for the money right?

James Earl Jones! not even on screen, pretty ridiculous casting

Cushing did some great scenery chewing in the "blowing up Alderaan" scene

love this from the stunt casting wiki:

Stunt casting makes roles traditionally played by character actors unavailable to them.[2]

2. Commentary by Carlos Bernard on the season 3 episode "Day 3: 5:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m." of 24

The closest example of stuntcasting I can think of with respect to the Star Wars franchise was when they cast Jocelyn Wildenstein as Yak Face.

Cushing casting mostly just Lucas connecting Star Wars directly to the b movie monster horror and fantasy heritage.

He's basically Dr. Frankenstein, sub Darth Vader for the Monster, and the Death Star for the castle laboratory.

now do Christopher Lee

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/deXK274SW58/hqdefault.jpg