1632verse TV series possible, so Casting suggestions?

They usually pony up the next option payment in August,
so we're pretty close to the point where they either have to tell Eric "Go/No Go/Here's some more money while we work on it."

David

windskisong wrote:Just hearing about this. Definitely would love to see this, as long as it doesn't get the Firefly treatment. Need to build some serious buzz if it's moving towards real...

roseandheather wrote:Another casting suggestion for Melissa Mailey: the ridiculously talented Marcia Gay Harden. She's all wrong physically (long dark hair, much too gorgeous) but she could play Melissa's personality like nobody's business and her smile is phenomenal.

Many of the casting suggestions are amusing rather than valuable. The closest current analogy to 1632 is Game of Thrones. Almost no one had heard of most of the cast beforehand. The show made them stars.

Sean Bean, the only really known name, was hired knowing that he would be doing only one season. Peter Dinklage was barely known except by movie afficiandos. The other originals were either character actors or newcomers.

Doing a long-term part on a show means giving up a real lot of time and for someone relatively well-known that means a lot of money. Chances are those chosen for uptimers would be Americans and those for downtimers Europeans. But Melissa, after the start, is not present all that much. Same for many characters.

I don't care how close any of the characters comes to looking like people in the book. Rebecca is supposed to be beautiful. I don't really care what color her hair is. I was just in Spain and there were plenty of blondes and red heads. Who really cares that much? I want to see a show and I'd take Peter Dinklage as Mike Stearns if we got it...well, that is a bit too far.

I've followed quite a few book fan forums, and every one turns up a "casting" thread sooner or later. We all know that a film of our favorite book is not going to feature dozens of Oscar winners who charge $5 million just to read a script. That doesn't matter. It's harmless fun.

I've noted here before that I tend to "cast" books in my head as I read them. It helps me visualize. The problem comes when someone actually makes a movie of the book and screws up the casting, like the upcoming remake of "Murder On The Orient Express" with Kenneth Branagh as Poirot. Great actor, totally unsuitable for the role even if David Suchet hadn't previously made it completely his own.

On the other hand, complete unknowns can sometimes be brilliantly cast. The best example is the three protagonists of the Harry Potter series. I started reading the books before the films came out, and when I saw Radcliffe, Watson and Grint on screen my mental image of the characters changed because they were so right.

If the 1632 TV series ever gets made, it won't be a vehicle for established stars, but it may well make some new stars if it's well done. We can only hope.

FAILITA wrote:The initial interest in doing a TV series based on the 1632 series that I reported here last year never came to fruition. That's why I haven't followed up on the steps I laid out here at the time.

Mammoth Screen, the UK company which has the option to produce a mini-series from the 1632 universe, has been making their annual option payments to keep the option alive. Next payment is due next quarter, I believe. The last I heard they were trying to line up distribution for the series in the US, but that was some time ago. Eric hasn't said much about it lately, other than he was supposed to meet with the production team some time this year.

David

dvdscar wrote:
Mammoth Screen, the UK company which has the option to produce a mini-series from the 1632 universe, has been making their annual option payments to keep the option alive. Next payment is due next quarter, I believe. The last I heard they were trying to line up distribution for the series in the US, but that was some time ago. Eric hasn't said much about it lately, other than he was supposed to meet with the production team some time this year.

David

Time for an update. Turns out that Mammoth pulled the plug earlier this year. They profess that they still believe in the 1632 story and in the project, but they just couldn't get the right people involved in the production. So that's now a done deal. However, Eric says there are other parties who have expressed an interest in bringing 1632 to video, so it may still happen. No names or details yet, though.

David

dvdscar wrote:However, Eric says there are other parties who have expressed an interest in bringing 1632 to video, so it may still happen. No names or details yet, though.

*Cough* Netflix.

Seems like it would be perfect for them, or Amazon, Hulu, etc. Done properly the series would have a high budget, but manageable, on the same level as some of their other productions. Much of the money would be spent on set design, resurrecting 17th century cities as they actually looked. Writers would have to decide just how much of the ample source material to use though - they couldn't possibly work it all in.

And yeah, it would probably be a vehicle for new talent with one or two exceptions. Many of the younger actors would have no prior credits or at least no previous major role. If the show continued for a while it would make celebrities of its featured cast.

ecortez wrote:

dvdscar wrote:However, Eric says there are other parties who have expressed an interest in bringing 1632 to video, so it may still happen. No names or details yet, though.

*Cough* Netflix.

Seems like it would be perfect for them, or Amazon, Hulu, etc. Done properly the series would have a high budget, but manageable, on the same level as some of their other productions. Much of the money would be spent on set design, resurrecting 17th century cities as they actually looked. Writers would have to decide just how much of the ample source material to use though - they couldn't possibly work it all in.

And yeah, it would probably be a vehicle for new talent with one or two exceptions. Many of the younger actors would have no prior credits or at least no previous major role. If the show continued for a while it would make celebrities of its featured cast.

Okay,

So let the casting discussion begin - Who for Mike Stearns, Gretchen Richter, Rebecca Abranel, Tom Stone, etc