Wing Commander dream cast

G

G Man

Rear Admiral
Lets pretend that there is to be a proper, no expense spared Hollywood film adaptation of the Wing Commander series where any film star could be cast, unlike the 1999 Wing Commander flop (I can't believe this website considers it part of the official WC Universe). Who would you have to play the characters from the 5 official origin games?

My cast so far:


Eisen: Morgan Freeman (getting a little old now but still perfect)
Tolwyn: Anthony Hopkins
Paladin: Sean Connery (maybe this is too obvious and he is getting quite old now but just imagine. In fact I'll restrict Connery to the older Paladin of WC3 and 4)
Hawk: Chris Cooper
Angel: Sophie Marceau
Panther: Diane Lane
Jeffrey "Talon" Burkheimer: Owen Wilson (he is the spitting image of him in WC2: Special Ops 2)
The CAG: Sigourney Weaver


We're really talking about the kind of cast a major Hollywood studio would approve, which means ideally high profile actors of this moment, but don't let that cloud your thinking, just choose any good actor who you think would be right for part, but for the sake of argument we're talking about a film that would be made now, so no dead actors (Sean Connery would have been even better 10 years ago).

The ones I having trouble recasting are Blair and Maniac, it is actually hard to think of anyone else in the role other than Tom Wilson and Mark Hamill is definetely far too old now to play the wartime Blair.
 
For some reason I can't imagine Tolwyn being portrayed by someone else than Malcolm McDowell... his performance was so good at fleshing out the character I can't imagine Tolwyn played by someone else.
 
PopsiclePete said:
For some reason I can't imagine Tolwyn being portrayed by someone else than Malcolm McDowell... his performance was so good at fleshing out the character I can't imagine Tolwyn played by someone else.
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Amen.

He can still do Tolwynn.
As for the others, their original actors/actresses. If they are too old for it, then the ones that were in the movie.
I feel a character loses credibility every time their face changes. Academy was a little different to the series, but the voices helped keep them in character.
 
Well Malcolm McDowell can still do Tolwyn, but a lot of the other actors would have to go if we're talking about a complete revision of the WC story. And I refuse to acknowledge the 1999 film, Tcheky Karyo as Paladin gave the only half-decent performance and he wasn't even Scottish, Jurgen Prochnow and David Suchet's characters weren't even in the original WC1, and Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard were really terrible.

The point of this thread is to really imagine a big budget Wing Commander epic with a cast of A-list actors. I don't to mean to put down the actors in the last three games but most of them will have outgrown their roles by know and I never liked the younger cast members in Prophecy, they were just a bunch of Z-list wannabes. In fact in recent years some of actors have moved up in the world, particularly John Spencer (Captain Paulsen in WC4) and John Rhys-Davies (Paladin) so they could still be asked to reprise their roles, even Josh Lucas (Flash) has become better known through appearing in American Psycho, Hulk, Sweet Home Alabama and this year's Stealth, but I'd rather have someone else play Flash this time.

So this is an exercise in fantasising whoever you'd want to play the WC characters, the only limitation is that you have to assume they'd play the role at the age they are now, so no deceased actors (I thought Jason Bernard easily gave one of the very best performances of the series, but sadly he has passed on). If you don't want to imagine anyone else in the roles, then that's fine.
 
G Man said:
(I can't believe this website considers it part of the official WC Universe)
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Well, believe it, buster!


As for my cast...it would depend on what plot line the game was following as it would greaty influence what character roles you would need filled. Assuming a plot set in the Wing Commander 1 era I would probably pick the following:

Paladin - Connery might be a good choice, although he definitely is getting older, Paladin is a pilot about to retire so it might just fit. Failing that I would go back to John Rhys-Davis.

Knight - Denzel Washington would be a good choice I think for Knight's "middle of the road" demeanor.

Spirit - Lucy Liu would fit the bill

Angel - Hmm, I would maybe suggest Charlize Theron for this role. Maybe not an exact fit but would be interesting.

Maniac - Hmm, tough character to define an actor for. Maybe Stiffler from American Pie. :) Or Kelso with a a haircut.

Blair - Although I don't personally like Freddy...he wasn't really a bad choice. I think I'd cast some other young up and coming actor in his place though.

Bossman - What the hell, let's throw Jet Li in here...

Iceman - This would be the hardest one for me to place, Iceman was by far my favorite wingman and character from the series...he always reminded me of Gregory Peck but that boat has long sailed. I guess I'd try to cast one of the following for the role based on different criteria: Val Kilmer as a throwback to TopGun (The Maverick and Iceman callsigns were pretty much a clear throwback to the classic movie) or Harrison Ford as I think he could pull off the older "colder" veteran Ace role quite well. Or possibly would go with Kiefer Sutherland, I think he could do this role well also.

Hunter - Hugh Jackman with his "wolverine" sideburns and all would fit this role perfectly.

Col. Halcyon - Christopher Plummer - superb actor, brilliant delivery and impeccable abilities. I'd also give Halcyon a major role in the movie.

Tolwyn - Malcolm McDowell has done a fine job defining the admiral...why not let him keep the job?

Shotglass - Robert Duvall.
 
The movie casted everyone to a 'T'. Prinze is a bland "hero" character, Lillard is the whacky pal, Karyo is the stalwart father figure, Prochow is the hardnosed bigot, Burrows the "I'm sexy but don't know it" female love interest.
 
Well, I'm going to stop slagging off the movie now.

I like some of Maj. Striker's choices. I have to admit now John Rhys-Davies would be a more likely choice since he's closer in age to Paladin, it's just that Paladin in WC2 in a dead ringer for Connery, and if I had Anthony Hopkins as Tolwyn (which is Welsh-sounding name if you think about it) it would be a thrill to put these two knights of the realm up against each other in the Tolwyn/Paladin scenes in WC2 and WC4.

More additions:

Takeshi Kitano as Bossman (though I don't know if he can actually speak English)
Ziyi Zhang as Spirit in WC1 (Spirit in WC2 is 10 years older and has risen in rank to Lieutenant Colonel so it would have to be someone older, maybe Michelle Yeoh).
 
Edfilho said:
There was never a WC game for the dreamcast, but they ported Starlancer.
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Heh, Ed. :) Took me a second to realize that was a throw back to the topic title. Funny commentary, man. :)

I like the topic, G Man. In hindsight, I suppose there were other things they could have tried with the cast of Wing Commander to make it work a bit more smoothly, but I (like at least a handful of others around here) still liked it all the same. At any rate, to each his own. Anyway, just wanted to compliment you for coming up with an original (well at least as far as I know!) topic that was thought-provoking. :)

As for the cast line-up some people are suggesting, I think the production studio would go bankrupt just including such a large cast of famous celebrities...and coupled with that is the risk that each might freak out a bit if they weren't considered a central character to the plot and given plenty of face time to match their celebrity status.

But ignoring all of that, I'd have to say that I fully endorse your line-up, Maj. Striker. After reading it over, I was amazed at how well I could see a story with those people playing those parts. That'd be AWESOME! :)

Still not sure who to get as an alternative for Blair other than Freddie Prinze, Jr., though. He did a pretty decent job for the part, I thought...Blair was never the dynamic kind of character. He was just kind of the normal guy that was kind of a good base to contrast all the other supporting characters by (whether it be by accent, personality, attitude, nationality, or whatever)...so I thought Freddie Prinze, Jr. did an ok job.

But yes...Maj. Striker...as soon as you produce it, I want to be the first to watch your movie! What a SWEET cast that would be! :)

- FireFalcon ~};^
 
Personally I wouldn't want any actors I knew the names of or had seen in any movies before. Seeing well played hollywood actors who probably have little to no chemistry together in the setting, and who have no feel or desire for the setting because they already have so much money, would probably ruin it worse than the first movie.

A movie with top famous hollywood actors? Come on. I would want to see new stars rise from their performance in a good remake of a Wing Commander Movie. Except Malcom McDowel, I mean really, I can't imagine him as anyone else. Period. My mental pictures, the voice, everything-- its all Malcom for Towyln. Thats when you know the character was casted well. When you can't seperate that character from the actor.
 
Flex said:
Thats when you know the character was casted well. When you can't seperate that character from the actor.
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That's also when you know an actor has screwed themselves over...Dr. Frasier Crane anyone? Joey Tribiani? Scotty? Spock? Ray Romano?

Good luck finding them in any movies worth watching. When you can't separate the character from the actor then the actor is going to stereo typed the rest of their lives.
 
my first experience with Tolwyn was "Without your flight recorder as evidence..."

I never could associate McDowel wth Tolwyn after that. In fact, whenever I think of McDowel nowadays "Time is the fire in which we burn." comes to mind.
 
Maj.Striker said:
That's also when you know an actor has screwed themselves over...Dr. Frasier Crane anyone?
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I dunno - 37 Emmys for a TV show (38 if you count an Emmy for Grammar for his guest appearance on Wings) based on a role you've played for 20 years is pretty damned good.
 
Alex DeLarge. That means McDowell to me.

But I'd go with the "all-unknown-actors-and-Macdowell" thing. I believe it could work. I really expected captain Sansky to start investigating a murder with a strange french accent.
 
LeHah said:
I dunno - 37 Emmys for a TV show (38 if you count an Emmy for Grammar for his guest appearance on Wings) based on a role you've played for 20 years is pretty damned good.
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And it is not like he'd have chance wiht any other character anyway :)
 
Iceman - Dylan McDermott, mainly because I can't think of an actor in the right age range who can do a better cold stare. And he's not a bad actor either.
 
LeHah said:
He's playing Hank McCoy in X-Men 3
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I briefly considered mentioning that myself.

Maj.Striker said:
Col. Halcyon - Christopher Plummer - superb actor, brilliant delivery and impeccable abilities. I'd also give Halcyon a major role in the movie.
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I'm rather skeptical about casting an actor 16 years older than McDowell for Halcyon.

For some reason watching CSI has made me think about William Petersen as Halcyon. Not sure why.
 
The only one who could ever play Duke Grecko would be R Lee Ermey

Lynne Thigpen would've been great for the role of the female traitor in Fleet Action but she's since passed on
 
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