BtVS Movie Race!Swap

[seraphcelene]

diochrony linked me to this awesome race swap casting of the BtVS reboot dreamed up by penny_lane_42. It is pretty damn cool. There are some things that I agree with and some that I don't, so I thought it would be awesome to come up with my own little list. Cause casting dreams, what's not fun about that? Unfortunately, I'm not as dedicated as penny_lane_42 so this is not of the oh, so fun picspam variety. I'm also not covering the entire cast because some people I'm not interested in re-casting. So, anyone not showing up in one form or another isn't anyone I bothered to think about.


penny_lane_42 cast the following and I'm good with them:
Buffy Summers - Antonia Thomas
Joyce Summers - Erica Gimpel
Xander Harris - Harry Shum, Jr.

penny_lane_42 cast the following and I'm in LOVE with the idea:
Spike - Michael Obiora
Faith - Naya Rivera
Tara - Q'orianka Kilcher
Maggie Walsh - Archie Panjabi


And then here's where my plan diverges:

Rubert Giles - Lennie James. I love the idea of Chiwetel Ejiofore, but someone mentioned Lennie James in the comments and I like that even better!

Willow Rosenberg - Summer Bishil

Dawn Summers - Paige Hurd

Cordelia Chase - Sofia Vassilieva. I started to say Brenda Song (like penny lane), but she is a little too bubbly IMO. I really, really like her and I can see her working Harmony to the max, but can't quite bite her for Cordelia.

Angel - Karl Yune. Penny Lane gave this one to Nicolas Gonzalez, and boy is he teh hotness, but I spent a significant part of my childhood in South Central and I just find it a little too cliched to cast a Hispanic as a guy called Angel. Karl Yune, however, is all kinds of super
scrumptious yummy! Totally hot and broody enough for the part.

Darla - Jurnee Smollett. I actually wanted to make this one Dichen Lachman, but since Darla is supposed to be similar to Buffy on a physical level, I went with Jurnee. I'm not convinced that Katerina Graham can carry Darla. How interesting would it be to see Jurnee's sweet face twisted and evil?

Drusilla - Smith Cho. I like the idea of Smith more than Dichen in this part. Like I said, I'd totally dig Dichen as Darla, however.

Oz - Khleo Thomas or Aaron Yoo.

Jenny Calendar - Fairuza Balk. pennylane42 cast Jasika Nicole and I actually LOVE that choice and would go with that. However, for the sake of fun and maintaining Jenny's heritage, I picked Fairuza Balk.

The Mayor - Juliet Stevenson. Okay this one was HARD! I don't like Dennis Haysbert for the part. He has a little too much gravitas. Although he is an excellent actor and I'm sure that he could pull of The Mayor's wackier personality traits, I decided to genderbend rather than race swap on this one. Juliet Stevenson, I think would be AWESOME! And imagine the crazy mama figure she would be for Faith. Lords!


The challenge with lists like this is avoiding ethnic stereotypes, but also not to forget the point of some characters.

So, yeah, there you go. And if anyone could manage to get Karl Yune cast as Angel, I would really appreciate it. Really.

Comments

[lettered]

Oh cool. Thanks for the link to penny's.

I didn't like the Haysbert choice for the Mayor, either. I could watch Haysbert all day long (and all night too), but I just don't see him in that part.

I agree that casting someone Hispanic as Angel is a cliche, but I'm not convinced it's a bad one. I remember thinking many times how ridiculous it was to have someone named Angel in LA while pretending not only that it isn't a super common Latino name but also that there aren't Hispanic people anywhere to be seen. I've never seen Gonzales in anything . . . but it's true what she said about him being hot ;o)

I agree somewhat about Song, but I would be interested to see her try to play a part like Cordy.

Now I want you to help me do my genderbent Star Trek Next Generation! I finally did finish, but I never really was happy with some of my choices.

[seraphcelene]

I suppose in a way it's almost too much of a cliche.

I almost threw Mila Kunis in for Cordelia. Her part as Jackie in That 70's show is close enough to Cordy to almost be too obvious. But considering her post 70's show work, I think she could seriously work the more subtle nuances of the character.

And then ... genderbent TNG?! OMG! Point me in that direction. My brain is sorta spinning.

[lettered]

genderbent TNG

I haven't posted it yet. The problem is, I don't actually watch that much tv. I don't want to cast the thing with movie stars, so . . . I didn't really know enough actors to do a proper job.

Here it is as it currently stands, not quite done. Suggestions would be appreciated . . .

Picard

Cate Blanchett (probably too big of a name, but Patrick Stewart was still a star before TNG too)

Riker

Jennifer Carpenter

Worf

Rosario Dawson

Troi - undecided. Pictured is Dominic West, but I'm not entirely happy with this choice. By initial choice was Alessandro Juliani, and I like him a lot. I decided against him because Sertis (and Troi herself) are extremely feminine. I would want someone who comes across as very "manly" to play her, and Juliani isn't really the ruggedness I was going for.


Data

Amy Acker

Geordi - Kerry Washington (I have SO MANY pictures of this woman on my hard drive for this project. But I just . . . I dunno; is she too big a star? She's cute. And she can be gritty. But is she Geordi?!?!?! Who knows.)


Dr. Crusher - still not sure about this one, either. Crusher isn't as feminine as Troi, so I don't want a man who's as butch as whoever's playing Troi, but a lot of the guys I was thinking of for this one are pretty effeminate, I don't know why. I was also thinking Kevin McKidd. Actually, maybe McKidd is better. I'm going to do a joke one that is Wil Wheaton.


Wesley

Michelle Trachtenberg is current top choice, but she doesn't really look the part, and she's too old. But she's a great annoying whiner.

Guinan

WAYNE BRADY AND THAT'S NOT CHANGING.

Q - current top choice is Portia de Rossi

[seraphcelene]

Wow! That was harder than I thought it would be.

Picard - I love the idea of Cate Blanchett, but I actually think she'd make a better Jonathan Archer. I love Cate raging and angry. Call me cliched but I'd draft Helen Mirren for Picard.

Riker - Kerry Washington. She's too big for Geordi, but I think Riker would be perfect.

Worf - Rosario Dawson is awesome, but she reminds me too much of B'lanna Torres. So, although it's a little obvious, I'd go with Claudia Black. or Gina Torres.

Troi - Troi gave me SO MUCH TROUBLE. Dominic West is too butch in an I-can-be-an-asshole kinda way. I just don't see him pulling Troi off. Now, if age were no barrier I would LOVE William Fitchner. If we wanna keep Troi age appropriate than maybe Matthew Bomer. Or, I'm kinda in love with the idea of James McAvoy.

Data - I think Amy Acker would be great, but I kinda dig Zooey Deschanel. Unless she plays Reginald Barclay.

Geordi - Another one that gave me SO MUCH TROUBLE. Kerry doesn't fit and so I threw in Gabrielle Union. But then I thought, Jurnee Smollett! Hey, perfect.

Dr. Crusher - Simon Baker

Wesley - Molly Quinn

Guinan - I know you love Wayne Brady, but I would be all about Nelsan Ellis.

Q - LOVE Portia de Rossi for this one!!

Tasha Yar - Kevin McKidd

Lwaxana Troi - Totally too young, but Damian Lewis would be killer.

[redbrickrose.livejournal.com]

Jurnee Smollett as Darla. Fuck yes.

[seraphcelene]

YAY!

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

Oh dear Lord that Karl Yune fellow is SMOKING.

[seraphcelene]

Why yes he is!

He hasn't done much, but he's awfully gorgeous. I thought about picking Daniel Henney, but I think he's too pretty. Then there was Bi Rain. I'd get behind him in a heartbeat, but something just doesn't quite fit. He plays broody, callous thug VERY well, but ... well, I can't put my finger on it. Still, Kary Yune. Yeah ... Yum!

[lynnenne]

Naya Rivera would kick ass as Faith. Agree about Katerina Graham, though. She's gorgeous, but I'm not convinced she could carry off the role.

I'm still sold on the idea of Malese Jow as Willow, though. I loved her as Anna in The Vampire Diaries.

[seraphcelene]

I think Naya would KILL Faith. I also toyed with the idea of Zoe Kravitz as Faith, but I don't know if the character would just go dark without the wicked fun part.

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

Yay!! I am going to have to google these names up later, but I'm really looking forward to it.

[seraphcelene]

Can't wait to see what you think, sweet!