Casting Call
Mrs. Offering and I just watched Once Upon a Time in Mexico on On Demand. I now understand where the Sin City movie came from - Rodriguez just loves stylization.
But what really struck me is that Antonio Banderas would make the perfect Conan. I mean should Hollywood decide to do authentic Conan. Howard Conan. Yes, there’s the wrinkle that Cimmeria is a Nordic culture and Banderas is . . . not so Nordic, but Conan has black hair and I bet Banderas could soft-pedal his accent a little. In the meantime, I think he could manage all the moods and manners of the Conan of the literature, who was much more than a muscle-bound oaf. I should start a website demanding that this happen.
Comment by Patrick Nielsen Hayden —
August 28, 2005 @ 7:08 am
Teresa and I affirm this idea, based on having recently seen one of Banderas’s earlier “El Mariachi” movies, Desperado. Good fun and, yes, Banderas is much closer to the Robert E. Howard Conan than that narcissistic Austrian ever was.
Comment by Jim Henley —
August 28, 2005 @ 9:57 am
Yes! It’s decided then. Make it so, Commander Nielsen-Hayden.
Comment by Bruce Baugh —
August 28, 2005 @ 10:33 am
The Rock was actually a fine Conan in The Scorpion King. He’s got surprisingly agile features (at least, surprising to me - I was expecting just another steroid type, before I saw him on film), and a real grace, and the willingness to mess up and be the butt as well as the deliverer of some gags. Not to take away from Banderas’ obvious merits from the job, though.
Comment by Jim Henley —
August 28, 2005 @ 11:49 am
Bruce, how fine to hear from you. I will now get over my fear of Scorpion King and put it on my “watch this sometime” list.
Comment by Eric Thompson —
August 28, 2005 @ 3:51 pm
Eh, I thought THE SCORPION KING was OK. But I agree about the Rock - the guy is a terribly fun actor to watch, and what little I caught of his appearance on SNL (as a singing gay bartender) was just hilarious.
I find the Banderas casting very intriguing, though. The Cimmerians weren’t Nordic (those were the Nordheim), mind, so I really don’t see much of a problem.
Comment by Neel Krishnaswami —
August 28, 2005 @ 3:53 pm
Hollywood couldn’t do authentic Conan, because Howard’s racism would be too close to the surface. You either have to ironize it or whitewash it if you want a mass audience. (I’d prefer irony, but I just read the collected Solomon Kane stories and I kind of want my brain washed out.)
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Anyway, the Rock seems to be trying to exactly emulate Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career arc — he starts out doing better than he needs to in really lousy movies, and using that as a springboard to get to a better grade of action movie. And “doing better than he needs to” pretty much means showing a sense of humor, both as prankster and victim. (I recommend The Rundown, in that sort of it’s-brainless-but-it’s-fun way that the best Arnold vehicles managed.)
Comment by Jim Henley —
August 28, 2005 @ 10:45 pm
I am a certified Robert Rodriguez fan, and agree that he is a very stylistic director. Although I didn’t like Once Upon a Time in Mexico when I first saw it, it has grown on me with repeated viewings. Other good things about Rodriguez are that he casts Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, and Salma Hayek in almost every one of his films, and his director’s commentary on DVDs is actually interesting and informative. On the other hand, his kid’s movies (Spy Kids 1, 2, 3 and Shark Boy) are atrocious; over produced and over CGI effected. Although he should stick to live action, Sin City pretty much worked for me.
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PS - I also find The Rock to be an engaging actor. The missus likes looking at him, too.
Comment by Jim Henley —
August 28, 2005 @ 10:47 pm
Oops. That was supposed to have “Mr. Obscura’s” byline. It was authored by him and posted by me.
Comment by Camera Obscura —
August 29, 2005 @ 2:29 pm
So, Hubs can’t post his own comments now? Tsk. Get back to work — “Get out of here and get me some money, too.”
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As for The Rock: aaaah — I never! Yah, ok, Duane’s physique is very easy on the eyeballs. He’s a major ham, tho, and I can *certainly* do w/o the WWE eyebrow bit. Um, what flick was he in where he was a minor character, gay, w/ a ‘Fro? Need to rent it, I guess, even tho’ I heard he was the only redemptive feature in the movie.