40K Casting Call/Scoring

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2006-02-27 05:32am

Pretty self-explanatory. Who would you cast for major roles in a hypothetical 40k flick or show?

My friends and I have discussed it at some length, and we have a sort of essential list for Space Marines:

Samuel L. Jackson - Totally a Brother-Captain, or Chaplain. (obligatory quote modification: "Gothic motherfucker, do you speak it?!")
Bruce Willis - So a Brother-Sergeant.
The other brothers needn't be big name actors, but would need that same sort of look and build. We've occasionally spotted suitable candidates in the odd B-movie and the like.

Also, Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman would make excellent Inquisitors.

And finally, the latter part of the thread topic: Scoring. Obviously, heavy Latin chant is a must, with heavy orchestral support. Anyone familiar with the Chaos Gate or even Dawn of War soundtracks knows this.

Now, one of my friends brands me a heretic for thinking it, but I'm of the opinion that heavy (I'm thinking there's a theme running here) metal is just perfect for a lot of 40k action. Metallica, Black Sabbath, etc. just screams "brutal 41st millenium combat" to me. What I would want for a 40k movie is a blending of the two genres - a heavy Gregorian-style Latin chant, mixed with screeching heavy metal guitar grinding.

For those familiar with the Black Hawk Down soundtrack, think of "Barra Barra" - while a different genre, it is a blend of traditional with modern guitar, and though the latter is quite sparing in this particular example, I think it goes to show the idea can work very, very well. Thoughts?

Post by **Vympel** » 2006-02-27 05:37am

The Chaos Gate soundtrack was awesome. I have that game around here somewhere, I should install it again to give it a whirl.

However, I don't think you can convincingly cast anyone for Warhammer 40K. Space Marines just aren't that human. Unless you went for a sort of Hellboy solution.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2006-02-27 05:42am

Vympel wrote:The Chaos Gate soundtrack was awesome. I have that game around here somewhere, I should install it again to give it a whirl.

However, I don't think you can convincingly cast anyone for Warhammer 40K. Space Marines just aren't that human. Unless you went for a sort of Hellboy solution.

The durn thing keeps giving me trouble on Windows XP, even on compatibility mode.

Anyways, my (admittedly pipe-dream) idea would to be to have the actors on set in a very rough, CG-friendly/motion-capture mockup suit. CG could do most of the work, and scenes where they need to interact with normal humans, directing tricks (like those used in Lord of the Rings for the hobbits) would theoretically give that extra couple of feet and bulk.

Of course, I don't how realistic that is.

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2006-02-27 05:45am

The good thing about Slaanesh is you can cast pretty much any hot guy or girl as a scantily clad cultist.

If they ever get around to doing the Cain books, Summer Glau or Juliet Landau would make an excellent Rakel.

However, I don't know if anyone can properly do Cain's character without invokng an omniscient narrator every 5 seconds. It would require a bit of subtlety, and maybe a level of observance the average moviegoer wouldn't notice, like how every time he goes into battle, he tries to be in the rear of a squad or something.

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2006-02-27 05:50am

accursed lack of edit function.

Anyhoo, who's a good toadie actor? Someone who can do Verveuk well. If they do Malleus, it's important they play Verveuk as an annoying guy, but not someone who you'd want... ya know... to happen to.

And should the Necrons be CGI or animatronic? They're supposedly really slow, IIRC, and a real model would help the rest of the cast interact.

And Lance Henrikson would make a nice General for a guard unit fighting Tyranids. Simply for an Aliens homage.

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2006-02-27 05:51am

GRR, Dammit, I mean Hereticus

Darth Sephiroth · Post by **Darth Sephiroth** » 2006-02-27 06:22am

They ought to get the guy who played legolas in LotR to play some random Eldar who gets killed...

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2006-02-27 08:06am

Recent discussion among friends on characters from the Gaunt's Ghosts books:

Ciaran hinds - Gaunt (The guy who played Julius Ceaser in Rome)
Tom Sizemore - Agun Soric
Brendon Gleeson - Colm Corbec
Jude Law - Rawne
Vin Diesel - Lijah Cuu
Clive Owen - Victor Hark (he'll need to put on some weight later though)
Jamie Bell - Brin Milo

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2006-02-27 08:07am

Setzer wrote: And should the Necrons be CGI or animatronic? They're supposedly really slow, IIRC, and a real model would help the rest of the cast interact.

Animatronic worked in T2 and to an extent T3 (IIRC), it should work here as well.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-02-27 09:23am

Christian Bale could do a good Ravenor pre-Spatian Gate... though, with his looks, he'd probably make a better Rogue Trader or nobleman. He was demented enough in American Psycho that he might make a good cultist...

An Eisenhorn movie, I doubt would work; but a miniseries, if done right? Hell yeah. One showing his rise (Xenos), climax (Malleus) and fall (Hereticus). I'd much rather ditching Pontius Glaw from Hereticus though...

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » 2006-02-27 09:41am

I take it the BSG soundtrack is out. But would Disturbed's soundtrack Live work in an epic clash between an Alpha Class Pysker and a Chaos Sorceror or is it back to the sounding board?

Siege · Post by **Siege** » 2006-02-27 09:52am

Michael Clarke Duncan would make an excellent Salamander Space Marine. Or, alternatively if we're filming Dawn of War, he could play Inquisitor Mordecai Toth.

GuppyShark · Post by **GuppyShark** » 2006-02-27 10:01am

Any 40k movie would have to have a scene with the God Emperor of Mankind in stasis, just because audiences would want to know what Terra was like and who this Emperor bloke is that everyone keeps talking about.

So is there anyone that looks awesome and can remain completely still?

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-02-27 10:26am

Actually, for that role, an animatronic sculpture would do just dandy. Doesn't have to actually move; CG in a buncha psi-sparks; CG in the rest of the Golden Throne around him...

Now, here's my idea on how a 40K movie, if it's a single shot and not a miniseries or series of movies.

~ Have it covering the campaign to retake some random planet from Chaos. Focus on a Guard regiment a la Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan. Occasional support by Space Marines, but portray them as near-godlike; power-armoured giants that never speak to the Guards (though you can hear the buzzing of their voxs); meanwhile, an Inquisitor is quietly searching for heresy within the regiment itself...

~~ Extended flashback at the start of the movie to set the scene: the narration from the beginning of every 40K book (that whole yadda-yadda-in the grime dark future of humanity there is only WAR! thing), while you see the Emperor, the Primarchs behind him, then a shadow falling over half of them and Horus at his side. Flash forward to the Traitor Legions fighting the Loyalists, the Battle of Terra, and the Emperor facing down Horus. Next scene: Rogal Dorn discovering the critically injured Emperor, as Horus' empty armour falls apart on the deck plates. Flash forward to them interring him in the Golden Throne. Flash forward to clips of huge battles. A gigantic parade of Marines and Guard that dissolves into a review of the Guard regiment involved in this movie.

Admittedly, this will be very difficult to make short, and can be cut down to a degree; this idea comes from the LOTR films, which handled such flashbacks very well in their depiction of what happened in the previous movies and the history of the Ring. I think it could be done, though...

~ Have the Inquisitor get involved in the fighting at some point; a sudden heretic attack upon the area he is patrolling in order to sniff out Warp-taint. He gets what he's looking for, all right... this is an opportunity to show what Chaos truly is like, with foul mutations, Warp-condemned souls, and psykers gone on rampage. The Guard come to the rescue, but a bunch get corrupted in the process; some are outright mutated and killed off promptly, the rest more subtly tainted. Then the Inquisitor *really* has a reason to be sniffing for heresy in the regiment...

I could go on more, but that's the basic outline of it...

Post by **NecronLord** » 2006-02-27 10:43am

Elheru Aran wrote:this is an opportunity to show what Chaos truly is like,

Impossible.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-02-27 10:45am

NecronLord wrote:
Elheru Aran wrote:this is an opportunity to show what Chaos truly is like,
Impossible.

Well... an opportunity to *attempt* to show?

Post by **NecronLord** » 2006-02-27 10:48am

Elheru Aran wrote:Well... an opportunity to *attempt* to show?

Most of the time, it'd just end up looking really silly. Without the psychic auras and colours of magic, it'd end up looking like giant red monsters with cloven hooves and swords plodding along.

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2006-02-27 10:54am

Well, they can get an idea. Get some prop people from Event Horizon, and get them to working with GW artists.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-02-27 10:57am

NecronLord wrote:
Elheru Aran wrote:Well... an opportunity to *attempt* to show?
Most of the time, it'd just end up looking really silly. Without the psychic auras and colours of magic, it'd end up looking like giant red monsters with cloven hooves and swords plodding along.

That's what I would try to avoid, actually. I'd go for cultists, mutants; show the effects that Chaos has upon its followers, the way it consumes them. Not until the final battle would you see the Chaos Marines; the twitching of buildings as they melt and distort from the taint of Chaos sweeping along, the mutations of Warp-taint upon their bodies. Oblierators with their arms melting into the forms of different weapons; human waves of insane cultists breaking upon the lasgun barrage from the line of Guardsmen. Terror and panic running through their ranks as the Traitors advance, body parts flying as the Traitor Marines advance with inhuman speed through the Guard ranks...

Needless to say, this would involve a lot of CG, and would take a lot of work in order to do properly... but given that a 40K movie would never be done without extensive Games Workshop supervision, I wouldn't be surprised if they refused to release it until it was satisfactory in that respect.

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2006-02-27 11:05am

I agree. It's not just the people, but the environment itself that establishes Chaos taint. If there were a movie showing a world being retaken from Chaos, it's important to do a before and after montage.

Show statues of the Emperor being replaced with images of daemons, resisters being flayed and their still screaming skins stretched over convenient surfaces, like how Night Haunter had a rug made from human flesh, and Horus had those skinned faces on his armor.

Records of serial killers might be a good source for inspiration.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2006-02-27 11:12am

I suspect if they ever did make a 40K film, they'd want most of their - usually young - fans watching legally, and so make it really much tamer than that.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2006-02-27 11:48am

Any respectable 40k film would be skirting that fine line between R and NC-17 (much like Event Horizon).

Post by **Kuja** » 2006-02-27 12:43pm

Elheru Aran wrote:An Eisenhorn movie, I doubt would work; but a miniseries, if done right? Hell yeah. One showing his rise (Xenos), climax (Malleus) and fall (Hereticus). I'd much rather ditching Pontius Glaw from Hereticus though...

But then the book wouldn't have a point.

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2006-02-27 12:48pm

Maybe start with the Tau. The Tau are very tame by 40k standards, and by transitioning from their clean, aestheticly pleasing, almost sterile ships, to the dark, bloody, oppressive Imperium of Man would grant any newcomers to our beloved 41st millenium the proper perspective on the Imperium. Besides, since the Tau are the nicest race, they would be easiest for the audience to sympathize with.

Maybe show the Tau and Imperium in a temporary alliance for the sake of fighting the Tyranids. Be sure to show the Imperials taking the brunt of the attack, establishing their military power compared to the Tau.

Or perhaps even do a movie of the Damocles Gulf Crusade.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-02-27 12:49pm

Kuja wrote:
Elheru Aran wrote:An Eisenhorn movie, I doubt would work; but a miniseries, if done right? Hell yeah. One showing his rise (Xenos), climax (Malleus) and fall (Hereticus). I'd much rather ditching Pontius Glaw from Hereticus though...
But then the book wouldn't have a point.

Well, yes. It's just my opinion that the focus on Glaw weakens the book; he was a minor part of Xenos and Malleus. There was no call to suddenly boost his status and uberify him into the big ol' supervillian. Now, if Eisenhorn tracked him down and extricated information from him, with the rest of the villiany being confined to another perpetrator, then that would make for a better story IMO.

But that's just how I feel... I thought it was a good story, just not up to what Xenos and Malleus had been.