Retro-casting superhero films and shows

[JRoss]

90s-era Black Panther, a Spike Lee Joint

T'Challa: Denzel Washington
Killmonger: Wesley Snipes
Nakia: Nia Long
Okoye: Jada Pinkett Smith
W'Kabi: Malcolm Jamal Warner
M'Baku: Tony Lister
N'Jobu: Bobby Brown
Shuri: Leila Ali
Ramonda: Debbie Allen
T'Chaka: Richard Roundtree
Zuri: Robert Townsend
Ulisses Klaue: Rutger Hauer
Everett Ross: Henry Czerny

 

[Captaindemotion]

90s-era Black Panther, a Spike Lee Joint

T'Challa: Denzel Washington
Killmonger: Wesley Snipes
Nakia: Nia Long
Okoye: Jada Pinkett Smith
W'Kabi: Malcolm Jamal Warner
M'Baku: Tony Lister
N'Jobu: Bobby Brown
Shuri: Leila Ali
Ramonda: Debbie Allen
T'Chaka: Richard Roundtree
Zuri: Robert Townsend
Ulisses Klaue: Rutger Hauer
Everett Ross: Henry Czerny

*Chef’s kiss.

 

[JRoss]

Hardest ones to cast was Ramonda, as Phylicia Rashad and Nichelle Nichols would have also been fun choices.

 

[FormerLurker]

Hardest ones to cast was Ramonda, as Phylicia Rashad and Nichelle Nichols would have also been fun choices.

You realize Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad are sisters, I trust.

 

[JRoss]

Yes, yes I do. And they both have that noble but warm aspect to their personality.

 

[Ssosmcin]

There was an shot of Guy Williams on Lost in Space during the pilot that reminded me of Mr. Fantastic during the Kirby/Sinnott era. So I would have loved to see him play that.

That is my only contribution to this thread...

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Okay, I'll get in on the action. Alternate Universe Batman '89:

Screenplay: Tom Mankiewicz (First Draft), Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner (Second Draft)
Director: Ridley Scott
Music: Basil Poledouris

Batman/Bruce Wayne - Dylan McDermott
Joker - David Bowie
Alfred Pennyworth - John Cleese
James Gordon - Tom Skerritt
Dick Grayson - Cory Haim
Selina Kyle - Sherilyn Fenn
Silver St. Cloud - Rosanna Arquette
Rupert Thorne - Brian Dennehy
Sarah Essen - Susan Sarandon
Harvey Bullock - John Goodman
Lucius Fox - James Earl Jones
Harvey Dent - Denzel Washington

 

[JD]

David Bowie as The Joker and John Cleese as Alfred would have been amazing. Thinking about it, I'm kind of amazed Cleese as Alfred hasn't happened yet, it seems like perfect casting, even today.

 

[Captaindemotion]

David Bowie as The Joker and John Cleese as Alfred would have been amazing. Thinking about it, I'm kind of amazed Cleese as Alfred hasn't happened yet, it seems like perfect casting, even today.

His Q in Die Another Day was probably as close as we'll get.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I did consider other options, btw. One worry about Cleese was his size. At 6'5, he'd habe been quite a bit taller than Batman. I obviously decided it wasn't that important for Batman to be taller than Alfred. But here are some of my second choices:

Batman\Bruce Wayne - Eric Stoltz
Joker - Tim Curry
Alfred Pennyworth - Derek Jacobi
James Gordon - Danny Glover

 

[Ovation]

I did consider other options, btw. One worry about Cleese was his size. At 6'5, he'd habe been quite a bit taller than Batman. I obviously decided it wasn't that important for Batman to be taller than Alfred. But here are some of my second choices:

Batman\Bruce Wayne - Eric Stoltz
Joker - Tim Curry
Alfred Pennyworth - Derek Jacobi
James Gordon - Danny Glover

Alfred was pretty tall in Batman ‘66. Didn’t matter.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Batman\Bruce Wayne - Eric Stoltz
Joker - Tim Curry
Alfred Pennyworth - Derek Jacobi
James Gordon - Danny Glover

Curry was in the running to play the Joker in 1989. I can see why they went with Nicholson obviously, given his superstar status and he was great, but I really wish they’d gone with Tim.

Apparently he was originally to voice the character in TAS but they didn’t like his take (though he claims it was because he developed bronchitis).

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Curry was in the running to play the Joker in 1989. I can see why they went with Nicholson obviously, given his superstar status and he was great, but I really wish they’d gone with Tim.

Apparently he was originally to voice the character in TAS but they didn’t like his take (though he claims it was because he developed bronchitis).

I believe it wasn't so much that they didn't like his take as they liked Hamill's better.

 

[Christopher]

I believe it wasn't so much that they didn't like his take as they liked Hamill's better.

https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/Joker#Background_information

Originally, the Joker was slated to be voiced by voiced by legendary actor Tim Curry, who at the time had just finished voicing and portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown from the original TV film adaptation of Stephen King's It. However, the casting ultimately went to Mark Hamill instead, with him being chosen in large part because of his performance as Ferris Boyle in "Heart of Ice". Contrary to popular belief, Tim Curry's rejection was not because of his voice work proving too scary for what was intended to be a children's television program. It was actually because of his voicing style conflicting with showrunner Paul Dini and the other producers' vision for the character, as Tim Curry voiced the Joker as a more straightforward villain, while the producers of the show envisioned the Joker's characterization in the cartoon as being more chaotic and playfully twisted, as revealed in Batman Animated. Some fans had rumored that Curry recorded some lines for the episode "Joker's Favor", but wheter this is true or not remains unknown at the current moment.

 

[Anwar]

Curry was in the running to play the Joker in 1989. I can see why they went with Nicholson obviously, given his superstar status and he was great, but I really wish they’d gone with Tim.

Apparently he was originally to voice the character in TAS but they didn’t like his take (though he claims it was because he developed bronchitis).

I believe it wasn't so much that they didn't like his take as they liked Hamill's better.

They got the idea for Curry as Joker probably because they saw him in IT as Pennywise (Batman TAS was came out in 1992, meaning they'd been working on it in 1991 only 1 year after the IT TV Mini). But the problem was that he couldn't keep up the Joker laugh without leaving himself hoarse and in pain.

IE, he hammed it up so much it physically was hurting him.

Not wanting to harm one of their actors, they just went with Hamill after he voiced a smarmy villain in "Heart of Ice". He was Mr Boyle, the guy who essentially created Mr Freeze.

And also, let's face it even as Pennywise and the Brooklyn accent he gave him, Curry isn't THAT good at an American accent and Joker is an American Lunatic.

EDIT: Most likely, he did do some recordings as Joker. There's one episode where Kevin Conroy did a scene where Bruce Wayne has a nightmare of Joker and Conroy himself did the laugh. It's a dead ringer for Curry's style of laughing, not Hamills's take.

 

[Captaindemotion]

They got the idea for Curry as Joker probably because they saw him in IT as Pennywise (Batman TAS was came out in 1992, meaning they'd been working on it in 1991 only 1 year after the IT TV Mini). But the problem was that he couldn't keep up the Joker laugh without leaving himself hoarse and in pain.

IE, he hammed it up so much it physically was hurting him.

Not wanting to harm one of their actors, they just went with Hamill after he voiced a smarmy villain in "Heart of Ice". He was Mr Boyle, the guy who essentially created Mr Freeze.

And also, let's face it even as Pennywise and the Brooklyn accent he gave him, Curry isn't THAT good at an American accent and Joker is an American Lunatic.

EDIT: Most likely, he did do some recordings as Joker. There's one episode where Kevin Conroy did a scene where Bruce Wayne has a nightmare of Joker and Conroy himself did the laugh. It's a dead ringer for Curry's style of laughing, not Hamills's take.

Apparently he did record 4 episodes.

 

[JD]

Batman\Bruce Wayne - Eric Stoltz
Joker - Tim Curry
Alfred Pennyworth - Derek Jacobi
James Gordon - Danny Glover

Damn, you are really good at this.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

They got the idea for Curry as Joker probably because they saw him in IT as Pennywise (Batman TAS was came out in 1992, meaning they'd been working on it in 1991 only 1 year after the IT TV Mini).

Probably. Personally, I got the idea while watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show, where Curry wore pale (not quite white) make-up, black around the eyes, and that bright red lipstick, giving amazing smiles:

Damn, you are really good at this.

Why, thank you.

 

[JRoss]

Okay, I'll get in on the action. Alternate Universe Batman '89:

Screenplay: Tom Mankiewicz (First Draft), Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner (Second Draft)
Director: Ridley Scott
Music: Basil Poledouris

Batman/Bruce Wayne - Dylan McDermott
Joker - David Bowie
Alfred Pennyworth - John Cleese
James Gordon - Tom Skerritt
Dick Grayson - Cory Haim
Selina Kyle - Sherilyn Fenn
Silver St. Cloud - Rosanna Arquette
Rupert Thorne - Brian Dennehy
Sarah Essen - Susan Sarandon
Harvey Bullock - John Goodman
Lucius Fox - James Earl Jones
Harvey Dent - Denzel Washington

I like your choices, including Tom Skerritt (the poor man's American Gary Oldman), and Sherilynn Fenn. I really like them all, though. The absolute best choice is Basil Poulidouris for the composer. That would have been epic (not that I don't adore Danny Elfman's iconic score). But with that I'd just have to see Peter Weller and maybe Kurtwood Smith and Ray Wise in there somewhere.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I'm watching a Space: 1999 marathon on CometTV and I think Martin Landau might have made a good version of Hank McCoy/Beast from the X-Men from the 70s.