Night Angel Trilogy Fantasy Casting: Part Two

UPDATE from live UStream chat with Brent Weeks on 10/7/11: The film rights held by Cam Gigandet have EXPIRED, so he will not be making the films (if they’re ever made). He also said the script is being shopped around and there is some interest, but definitely no guarantees. Here’s to some big finger-crossing.

See Part One here.

Again, rights to a Night Angel movie have been bought by Cam Gigandet, Brent Weeks blogged about it, and this is a forum thread on Weeks’ website regarding possible castings for a movie.

I stand by my castings, as listed in Part One, for these characters: Jarl, Solon, and the GodKing.

For the rest, I’ve made some changes and/or this is my first attempt at casting.

I confess, the recently-concluded first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones–an adaptation of one of my favorite book series–was a great opportunity to see a slew of new and familiar faces in a fantasy setting, so the cast provided a lot of inspiration.

SPOILER WARNING: There are a few spoilers throughout, so I recommend having read the entire trilogy beforehand.

DURZO BLINT

Iain Glen (Ser Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones)

I think he’s a little too good looking for Durzo, but he has an AMAZING voice that I think IS perfect for Durzo. And he’s an amazing actor.

KYLAR STERN

I still maintain that an unknown would be the best casting, since no popular characters will be associated with this person. Kylar deserves to be Kylar, if you know what I’m saying. BUT there is an actor in a minor role on Game of Thrones who seems like he could play the part: he has blue eyes and black hair, and could easily play the part of a lord, but more importantly he looks like he could play the part of a ninja as well. (FYI: I can’t find out how tall he is. Since Kylar is supposed to not be particularly tall and whatnot. He looks average?)

Joe Dempsie (Gendry in Game of Thrones)

ELENE CROMWELL

Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones)

She has stunning eyes (not brown, granted), would still be striking even with scars, and did a brilliant job as Dany in Game of Thrones. I think she could pull off Elene’s sweetness, combined with her occasional holier-than-thou attitude.

LOGAN GYRE

Liam Hemsworth (Gale in the upcoming The Hunger Games movie)

I was adamant about Chris Hemsworth for this part, but he is too old. Luckily, he has a younger brother! I’m unfamiliar with Liam’s acting abilities, but I think he completely looks the part.

MOMMA K

Carla Gugino (most recently in Mr. Popper’s Penguins)

I initially suggested Monica Bellucci, but I think she’s a little too old and she doesn’t look quite right. I think Gugino is a good actress, and totally sultry to boot.

DORIAN

Sharlto Copley (Murdock in new A Team; Wikus from District 9)

This guy is an AMAZING actor and could pull off Dorian’s descent into madness. He might be a little old, though (it’s hard to say–the GodKing is supposed to be around sixty years old, if not more, and Dorian is one of his older children).

HU GIBBET

Paul Bettany (most recently the Priest in Priest)

More than one person suggested him as Hu instead in the comments to the last post, and I have to agree.

JENINE GUNDER/GYRE

Jennifer Lawrence (most recently Raven/Mystique in X-Men:First Class; will be Katniss in the upcoming The Hunger Games)

I think she exudes an innocent sort of sexuality, which I associate with Jeni. And she seems to be a talented actress (I liked her in First Class; haven’t seen Winter’s Bone).

LANTANO GARUWASHI

Ewan McGregor (Oh, come on…you must be familiar with his most well-known role(s)…)

He’s ginger, he’s about middle-aged, he’s Scottish (Ceurans are suggested as being Scottish in manner of speech), and he has experience playing a samurai-like character.

ULYSSANDRA

Maisie Williams (Arya Stark in Game of Thrones)

She might be too old by the time any NAT movie is made, but she’s a great young actress with experience working in the realm of fantasy. AND she has an eye for detail (when it came time for her to learn fight choreography, she was the one who reminded the producers and writers that Arya is actually left-handed).

LILLY

Katie Dickie (Lysa Arryn in Game of Thrones)

Totally looks the part and seems to be a good actress.

FEIR COUSAT

Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones; Conan in the upcoming remake)

Honestly, I can’t remember what Feir is supposed to look like exactly (is he from the same country as Solon?), but this guy is HUGE and he did a great job as Khal Drogo, even though he totally talks like a bro in real life. And he could totally wield a large and powerful sword (everyone say it with me: IN BED!).

THE WOLF

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn. Duh.)

I think he can be the intimidating figure that the Wolf is required to be. If you have seen him as Lucifer in The Prophecy (1995), you know this to be true.

ROTH URSUUL

Richard Madden (Robb Stark in Game of Thrones)

Some say he’s too good looking to be Roth…I guess I don’t find him that attractive…? But, regardless, he’s a good actor and has the brooding face of a villain.

VIRIDIANA SOVARI

Elena Satine (Christine in Just Go With It)

Lucifer Hills suggested this in the comments, and I actually agree. I had put Lily Cole, but she didn’t seem quite right to me. No idea if Ms. Satine is a good actress, but she’s damn sexy AND a natural ginger! (I think.)

A Word About Game of Thrones: I know I used quite a few actors from the show. Game of Thrones is largely considered a success by critics, book fans and new fans alike (and was renewed for a second season almost immediately, unlike Starz’s Camelot). I, a longtime fan of the book series, was actually a little disappointed with the show at first. But as it went on, I realized that it was really fricken awesome. And from the beginning I thought most of the castings were dead on. To me, GoT‘s success represents doors opening all across TV for fantasy book adaptations. Already fantasy adaptations were common in movies (not always successful, of course), but it was a huge step forward for HBO to invest large amounts of money into a TV series. TV series, to me, seem like the best venue for fantasy adaptations, because often in movies the story and/or world must be cropped to the point of confusion. WIth GoT‘s success, I hope/pray/believe that more risks will be taken towards adapting fantasy books into TV series. And I really, really want this to happen for the Night Angel trilogy.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED ON THE FIRST POST! And to everyone who may comment on this post.

Mai Guide to Comic-Con

San Diego Comic Con, that is.

Just under a month away now, SDCC will take place from July 21st to 24th at the San Diego Convention Center. All tickets are sold out and have been since February 5th, the day that ticket sales finally went live. (Four day badge resales sold out within an hour on June 24th. Single day badge resales have yet to go live.) Pretty soon SDCC is going to be a dynastic event—if you don’t buy your tickets for next year’s Con at the current Con, you won’t be going. (Well, until some people die and whatnot.)

This is my third year going, and I intend to go every year until I die or the Con dies (guess which’ll come first).

This brief guide contains some advice that’s common sense, as well as other tidbits that first-year Congoers might not have considered (I definitely didn’t back in 2009). This guide is also slanted towards people who are attending the Con on a budget.

And this is a slightly less crowded part of the Exhibition Hall!

Goodbye, Book Blogging

(For now.)

That’s not to say that I’ll never post here again, but I can’t guarantee that it’ll be about books. However, I can almost definitely guarantee it will be fantasy- or nerd-related. For example, I still plan to share my experiences at San Diego Comic Con this year, for my own personal records if nothing else (this will be my 3rd time attending).

Remember Whensday: Elementary School

REMEMBER WHENSDAY! Every other Wednesday, I reminisce about good ole books from years ago. Occasionally I may use this to review a book that’s new to me, but was published on/before 1995.

Today’s Remember Whensday is short, because I want to remember how easy my homework was in elementary school. And how short the books were.

Remember this? 128 pages. It was so nice.

Remember Whensday: Brian Jacques and Redwall

REMEMBER WHENSDAY! Every other Wednesday, I reminisce about good ole books from years ago. Occasionally I may use this to review a book that’s new to me, but was published on/before 1995.

<< UPDATE: Sadly, Mr. Jacques passed away of a heart attack on February 5th, 2011. Rest in Peace, Mr. Jacques. You are missed, but your books will be beloved for many years to come. >>

I suppose this isn’t exactly a “Remember when…” since Mr. Jacques is still alive and writing at age 71, with another Redwall book–The Rogue Crew–releasinges May 3rd, 2011.

Signature Saturday: Philip Pullman

On the second Saturday of the month, I share an author signature from my collection. Feel free to share one of yours if you like!

Philip Pullman is the author of the truly fantastic His Dark Materials trilogy. It’s one of my favorite trilogies, if not THE favorite (really, it’s way too hard to choose).

This is the set I have.

We have a winner! For the Guess the Books Header Giveaway!

Yes, that’s right…someone got it!

Sorry to anyone who has been working on figuring out the titles, but I really appreciate your participation! I plan to host another giveaway that I’ll announce in late January/early February. This giveaway will be a limerick contest; I’ll accept fantasy/sci-fi-related limericks for the month of February, pick my top five, and open a vote on the top five limericks that will close the day before St. Patrick’s Day. More details on the actual rules and the prizes when I make the full announcement. (Also, I do expect this contest to have first through third place winners.)

First Review of 2011: The Native Star by M.K. Hobson

Another author with K as the second initial. But I liked this one better!

I read the Kindle edition.

Schephs: ********– 8 out of 10

Synopsis excerpt from Publishers Weekly via Amazon.com:

Young country witch Emily Edwards battles a horde of zombies and winds up with a mysterious magical stone embedded in her hand. Escorted by the academically-trained warlock Dreadnought Stanton…Emily reluctantly sets out to meet with warlocks from the Mirabilis Institute in hopes of getting the stone removed…. Clever techno-magical artifacts with steampunk flair, evil Aberrancies, and a unique tripartite magical system provide a colorful backdrop to the politics of the warlocks, the secrets of the stone, and the mystery of Emily’s past.

I freely admit that I’m feeling very lazy and not much for writing my own synopsis (which is generally what I try to do. Generally. Try. /cough Anyway).

Guess the Books Giveaway Contest

 

<< GiVEAWAY CLOSED >> WE HAVE A WiNNER!!

It’s a new year! Hurray! Be excited!

And it’s a (sort of) new layout! I’m no graphic designer and I’m mostly incompetent with HTML, so my “new” layout involved changing the background color and adding an unoriginal header. Whoop whoop!

Still, I thought it’d be fun to have a giveaway to celebrate the new year and the new look.

However, this isn’t a good, old-fashioned “spread the word and get an entry” giveaway! Which means I might not have a lot of responses…but I can hope. /fingercrossing

Maischeph’s Best of 2010

Let’s face it, schephs aren’t always hard to come by. The real test is, as always, time and it’s the schephs that linger on for months after the actual experience that really mean something.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get in as much funtime reading this year as I wanted to, nor did I read as many recently-published novels as I wanted to. So my best-of list is comically short, and one of the books on the list wasn’t even published this last year. Still, it was the best book I read this year, and I continue to blab about it when possible.