He's an excellent choice for Garak, but a terrible one for O'Brien. So you haven't seen Prison Break or Carnivale (not that missing PB is much of a loss...)
On that note, if he can do drama (and he probably can), Simon Bird would make an excellent Bashir. He's British, I'm a little foggy about what ethnicity he is exactly but he's dark-skinned and may be Arabic. As a comedic actor he's nothing short of fantastic in Inbetweeners, where he's the lead, and though he plays a teenaged character he's already well into his mid-twenties. The sort of chipper uppercrust attitude Bashir has in the first season is likely something he'd do very well. Dukat then. Or some other heavy hitter. You don't cast Wayne Pygram and then not use him (aside: George Lucas, you cast him as Tarkin and gave him no dialogue? Egad, sir!) With respect, Hollywood's never done Ireland very well, at all, as regards authenicity of accent and so on - the only times I've really bought it, it tends to because the performers are actually Irish. The thing about Colm Meaney that makes him basically very appealling is I know guys like that. It's not an affected accent or attitude. I'm not saying Reilly wouldn't be a good O'Brien... he'd be a great O'Brien, if we decide that O'Brien is an American now and not have to deal with him trying to hit quite the right timbre. True, Star Trek isn't above constructed types with broad interpretations of accents - that's what Scotty's all about, no? - but that's just not O'Brien's thing, IMHO.
I truly feel the same way about Hollywood and Southerners. It's a complaint I've had pretty much for as long as I've been old enough to be aware of accents and regional traits, so I definitely get where you're coming from there. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing a little tweaking of character concepts if it's necessary to get the roles filled correctly. American of Irish descent, denizen of some other colony or world of Irish descent. Really, none of the nationalities of the human fleeters would have to stay the same to keep them mostly true to the type of people they are. I wouldn't want to see alien races switched around, though, like Quark an Andorian instead of a Ferengi, etc.
I am not even from USA and English is not my first language, and I normally don't pay too much attention to those things unless they're really too noticeable. But almost every time I see an actor who is not from the South playing a Southerner, it bugs the hell out of me, because it just sounds so fake! As if they're really trying too hard. One of the latest examples was Zeljko Ivanek in Damages, which I watched recently - great performance otherwise, but that accent just sounded weird!
^ The movie that got it better than any other I've ever seen was The Gift with Cate Blanchett. There were a variety of Southern characters in that movie from several different regions, and the dialect coach happened to specialize in Southern accents. They nailed them all extremely well, even Keanu Reeves, who I think is a mediocre actor at best. His character was from Shreveport. I was born in Shreveport, and I have to say, the accent was dead on.
I agree. Honestly, I think I prefer the idea of O'Brien growing up somewhere on the fringe of the Federation, rather than on boring old Earth. Maybe his home colony was located near the Cardassian border, giving him a better reason to enlist in Starfleet and more motivation for the resentment he felt toward them in his younger days.
I like this idea too. Would make his hatred of the Cardassians a bit more close to home. Good idea... Rob
I've had a few ideas since we played this the last time, so here is, finally, my list of cast choices. I've stolen, I mean borrowed a few I really liked from other people, i.e. PSGarak and in one case, Temis the Vorta (these are marked with * or **). Sisko: Eamonn Walker / backup choice: Lance Reddick* Kira: Asia Argento* / if you can't get her, backup choices: Christina Cox, Katee Sackhoff** Odo: John Noble* (PSGarak changed his mind, but I'm sticking to him as Odo rather than Tain) Jadzia Dax: Tricia Helfer Miles O'Brien: James Nesbitt Julian Bashir: Karim Saleh (from BBC docudrama Hamburg Cell) Quark: David Patrick Kelly Jake: Noah Gray-Cabey* (cast a white actress as Jennifer to make this more believable) Worf: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Garak: Robert Knepper* Dukat: Christopher Meloni Damar: Dominic Purcell* Weyoun: Michael Emerson Female Founder: Mary McDonnell** Winn: Elizabeth Mitchell (20 years older)... wait, can I do this? It's fantasy cast, after all. Oh, you said if it was starting now? OK. Dianne Wiest (I'm having flashbacks of Wiest as the Evil Queen in The 10th Kingdom) Martok: Yaphet Kotto Rom: Willie Garson Nog: Frankie Muniz Ishka: Rhea Perlman Brunt: Charles Martin Smith Grand Nagus Zek: Michael J. Pollard Leeta: Christina Hendricks * borrowed from PSGarak **borrowed from Temis the Vorta I've done my homework on short Ferengi-like actors. I've also recently realized that Christopher Meloni really has to play a Cardassian one day!! During the discussion about Oz on the TV & Media subforum, and watching this video, I've been reminded what a loooong, massive neck the guy has! Not to mention a body that would great in a Cardie uniform! Then I realized that his two best known roles have been as 1) a devoted family man & authority figure dedicated to his job, and 2) a dangerous, manipulative, charismatic, sociopathic sexual predator/murderer obsessed with making people love him... If that combination doesn't qualify one for playing Dukat, I don't know what does.
I just remembered MeanJoePhaser's idea for John Glover as Garak which is pretty good, too - I added it: And here's some video evidence for my choice for Quark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHv04Dv5RDY A randy little troll or what?
Sisko: Phil Morris Jake: Noah grey-cabey O'Brien: Liam Neeson Dax: (Ezri) Zooey Deschanel or Liv Tyler (Jadzia) Kira: Erica Cerra Bashier: David Tenant or Zachery Levi (can't decide) Dukat: Christopher Eccleston Garak: John Glover Odo: Hugh Laurie Rom: Niel Grayston Quark: Andy Serkis Dumar: Mark Ruffalo Kai Winn: Christine Rose Worf: Leonard Roberts
With his wife Rhea Perlman as Ishka. It has potential. DeVito's Grand Nagus would be different though, less a silly old man and far more badass.