News Killjoys and Ant-Man and the Wasp's Hannah John-Kamen to Play Red Sonja in New Movie

[valkyrie013]

@Christopher
It just seems that a red head character ends up being the one that's being race changed more than others.
I know there "white" but redheads get a lot if flack because of there hair, and they need represintation on screen as well so they can look up and see themselves on tv/movie and see someone like them be a hero, or do good in life. A bit of disservice that they continually see there characters changed.
And yep, the woman from solo and Falcon is a natural redhead. The Irish is strong in that one!

 

[JD]

I was a very casual watcher of Killjoys, I've seen it a handful of times here and there. She always seemed to be a cool, collected type to me, but I am certainly not authoritative on this.

Spoiler: Killjoys

She played at least 3 different characters on the Killjoys, so some of that probably depended on which character she was playing when you were watching.

 

[Christopher]

@Christopher
It just seems that a red head character ends up being the one that's being race changed more than others.

I hardly think that's true. Using this list as a guide, and just limiting it to comics characters, we've got...

In movies:
Alicia Masters
Johnny Storm
Kingpin
Nick Fury
Jasper Sitwell
Heimdall
Valkyrie
Korath
Mordo
Liz Allen
Flash Thompson
Ned Leeds
Bolivar Trask (in The Last Stand)
Callisto
Electro
Agent Zero
Blind Al
Domino
Carlton Drake (Venom)
Harvey Dent
Perry White
Aquaman
Mercy Graves
Deadshot
Artemis (Wonder Woman)
Black Canary
Iris West
Hawkman (upcoming)
Supergirl (upcoming)
Catwoman (upcoming)
Commissioner Gordon (upcoming)

And on TV:
Catwoman (Eartha Kitt)
Pete Ross
Lana Lang (sort of -- diversely cast but white in-story, with white actors as both biological parents)
J'onn J'onnz
Deathstroke (Manu Bennett and Esai Morales)
Iris West
Zed Martin
James Olsen
Maggie Sawyer
Manchester Black
Bill Henderson
Sarah Essen
Leslie Thompkins
Hugo Strange
Garfield Logan
Joseph Wilson/Jericho
Don Hall/Dove
Billy Wintergreen
Crazy Jane
Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man
Liz Tremayne
Matt Cable
Madame Xanadu
Daisy Johnson
Mack McKenzie
Agent 33
Ben Urich
Elektra Natchios
Karnak
Gorgon
Deena Pilgrim
Veronica, Hiram, and Hermione Lodge
Reggie Mantle
Dilton Doiley
Josie McCoy and Melody of the Pussycats


That's not even a complete list. And I see very few redheads there.

 

[diankra]

But Red Sonya isn't English!!!!
[Idiot mode off]

 

[Gov Kodos]

Millennium will screw this up like they did the Conan film.

 

[Noname Given]

But Red Sonya isn't English!!!!
[Idiot mode off]

She wasn't Danish either, But that didn't stop Bridget Nielsen...

 

[Nerys Myk]

She wasn't Danish either, But that didn't stop Bridget Nielsen...

Hyrkanian actresses are hard to find these days.

 

[Gov Kodos]

A Mongolian actress would be nearer the mark.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Is there anything in the comics that indicates she has to be tall?

Thomas transposed Red Sonya of Rogatino to Hyrkania in The Shadow of the Vulture so according to Howard:

It was a woman, dressed as von Kalmbach had not seen even the dandies of France dressed. She was tall, splendidly shaped, but lithe. From under a steel cap escaped rebellious tresses that rippled red gold in the sun over her compact shoulders...

...She stood as a man might stand, booted legs braced wide apart, thumbs hooked into her girdle, but she was all woman. She was laughing as she faced him, and he noted with fascination the dancing sparkling lights and changing colors of her eyes. She raked back her rebellious locks with a powder-stained hand and he wondered at the clear pinky whiteness of her firm flesh where it was unstained.

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0608101h.html

 

[Kai "the spy"]

On the other hand, Howard once expicitly described Conan as having a hairy chest, but none of the screen adaptations showed him that way (and even the comics very rarely did). And that was directly the same character, not one loosely based on another.

 

[Gov Kodos]

That's what's there.

Nothing so far has made me feel this will be anything but another Millennium crap fest.

 

[JD]

Thomas transposed Red Sonya of Rogatino to Hyrkania in The Shadow of the Vulture so according to Howard:

It was a woman, dressed as von Kalmbach had not seen even the dandies of France dressed. She was tall, splendidly shaped, but lithe. From under a steel cap escaped rebellious tresses that rippled red gold in the sun over her compact shoulders...

...She stood as a man might stand, booted legs braced wide apart, thumbs hooked into her girdle, but she was all woman. She was laughing as she faced him, and he noted with fascination the dancing sparkling lights and changing colors of her eyes. She raked back her rebellious locks with a powder-stained hand and he wondered at the clear pinky whiteness of her firm flesh where it was unstained.

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0608101h.html

OK, but just because the story that inspired the character described her as tall, doesn't mean she has to be tall.
I skimmed through a couple issues in Vol. 3 of Gail Simone's run in the comics, and it doesn't look like she was drawn as exceptionally tall there.

 

[Christopher]

OK, but just because the story that inspired the character described her as tall, doesn't mean she has to be tall.

When have actors ever been required to match their characters' height? Hugh Jackman is a foot taller than Wolverine. Actors aren't just models. They're hired for personality and talent, not measurements.

 

[JD]

Not that often, but I wasn't sure if maybe other versions had really put a big emphasis on it being a huge core part of the character that an accurate adaptation would want to match.

 

[Anwar]

When have actors ever been required to match their characters' height? Hugh Jackman is a foot taller than Wolverine. Actors aren't just models. They're hired for personality and talent, not measurements.

Yes, and Halle Berry wasn't as tall as Storm is supposed to be either. So it happens both ways. This isn't an issue.

 

[Christopher]

Not that often, but I wasn't sure if maybe other versions had really put a big emphasis on it being a huge core part of the character that an accurate adaptation would want to match.

Real accuracy is about substance, not surface. What matters about a character like Red Sonja is not whether she has to shop in the Big and Tall section or can reach the pickle jar on the top shelf; what matters is how effective and relentless a warrior she is. A woman who can fight as well as any man has used her training to overcome a size disadvantage to begin with, so taking off a few inches only makes that achievement more impressive (just look at the 5'3" Black Widow in the MCU).

Surely Hannah John-Kamen has proved in Killjoys and Ant-Man/Wasp that she's an amazing, kickass action lead, as well as a brilliant actress and one of the most mind-numbingly gorgeous women who's ever lived. We should be jumping with joy that she got the lead role she deserves. Instead of questioning her casting, we should pray the rest of the movie is good enough to be worthy of her.

 

[Gov Kodos]

OK, but just because the story that inspired the character described her as tall, doesn't mean she has to be tall.
I skimmed through a couple issues in Vol. 3 of Gail Simone's run in the comics, and it doesn't look like she was drawn as exceptionally tall there.

They aren't obligated to follow the source material explicitly and no one is obligated to go to see this if they don't care for it. For my druthers, she doesn't look the part.

 

[JD]

Real accuracy is about substance, not surface. What matters about a character like Red Sonja is not whether she has to shop in the Big and Tall section or can reach the pickle jar on the top shelf; what matters is how effective and relentless a warrior she is. A woman who can fight as well as any man has used her training to overcome a size disadvantage to begin with, so taking off a few inches only makes that achievement more impressive (just look at the 5'3" Black Widow in the MCU).

Surely Hannah John-Kamen has proved in Killjoys and Ant-Man/Wasp that she's an amazing, kickass action lead, as well as a brilliant actress and one of the most mind-numbingly gorgeous women who's ever lived. We should be jumping with joy that she got the lead role she deserves. Instead of questioning her casting, we should pray the rest of the movie is good enough to be worthy of her.

I actually agree with you, the only reason I was talking about her being tall is because someone else complained about her not being tall enough, and I was just trying to understand if that was really an issue.
And yes I understand that adaptations don't always exactly recreate the way the character looks in the source material, but there are usually certain elements that they do use, like Luke Cage being black, and I just thought maybe her being very tall was something along those lines.

 

[Nerys Myk]

What was the average height of a woman in the Hyborian Age?

 

[Christopher]

For my druthers, she doesn't look the part.

There's more to a character than looks. She's a superb choice in every other respect.