starring Jean Reno as Jean Luc Picard...

[The Laughing Vulcan]

True, my knowledge of French speaking actors is limited, but if I put the words French, gravitas, authority together, Jean Reno comes straight to mind.

Even in The Pink Panther, he was like the calm centre of a disaster zone.

Incidentally, Patrick Stewart may be from Yorkshire, but that isn't a Yorkshire accent. It's definitely drifted south over the years. (You can still sense the collieries in his Gurney Halleck in Dune though)

Has US TV ever cast a non-native English speaker in a leading role? I'm surprised at the number of British actors now working in the US though, especially ethnic-minority actors. US TV is more progressive than the UK in that respect, with far fewer stereotypes.

 

[Deleted 2]

This issue comes up every few years. Last time someone suggested Jean-Claude van Damme as Captain Picard.

 

[misskim86]

StarMan said:
Nah.

Gerard Depardieu on the other hand...

That's simply horrible.




Jean Claude Van Damme on the other hand :thumbsup:

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Jean-Claude van Damme is from Belgium, he isn't French . And yes, I am being picky on purpose.

 

[misskim86]

Who cares

 

[Guy Gardener]

It's early morning and I haven't even began looking looking for my glasses.

I thought the thread was about Janet Reno.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

'kay, curiousity piqued. WTF is Janet Reno?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

MRS- I never knew Schopenhauer was a philosopher
MR- Oh, yeah. He’s the one that begins with an "S"
MRS- Oh
MR- Like Nietzsche
MRS- Does Nietzsche begin with an "S"?
MR- There's an "S" in Nietzsche
MRS- Oh, yes, there is. Do all philosophers have an "S" in them?
MR- Yeah. I think most of them do
MRS- Does that mean Salena Jones is a philosopher?
MR- Yeah! Right! She could be. She sings about the meaning of life
MRS- Yeah, that's right… But I don’t think she writes her own material…
MR- No? maybe Schopenhauer writes her material…
MRS- No, Burt Bacharach writes it.
MR- But there’s not "S" in Burt Bacharach

 

[Jack Bauer]

The Laughing Vulcan said:
'kay, curiousity piqued. WTF is Janet Reno?

Manpanzee.

 

[gastrof]

The Laughing Vulcan said:
'kay, curiousity piqued. WTF is Janet Reno?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Reno

 

[Temis the Vorta]

number6 said:
I thought the title of the thread read: Starring Janet Reno as Jean Luc Picard.

Frightening.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

gastrof said:

The Laughing Vulcan said:
'kay, curiousity piqued. WTF is Janet Reno?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Reno

Aaarrghh! My eyes, My eyes!

 

[Jack Bauer]

I've seen men who look more female than that!

 

[M'Sharak]

cardinal biggles said:
Jean Reno is a French actor. American audiences probably know him best from The Professional and the first Mission: Impossible.

Not that a lot of folks around here would ever admit to having watched it, but Reno was also seen in the 1998 Godzilla, as the leader of the French tactical team.

 

[Roshi]

Jean Reno's real name is Juan Moreno...
Even though he starred in Luc Besson's The Last Battle and Subway, he only got his national (yes, national) recognition after the release of The Big Blue and Nikita when he portrayed Victor the Cleaner.
Two years after TNG came out.

 

[Kegek]

^
Patrick Stewart wasn't exactly an A-lister either when he became Jean-Luc Picard. Still, it's a fair point - they only could have picked an actor in the US at the time.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

^

So Europeans in Hollywood in the mid-eighties...

Jurgen Prochnow, Jeroen Krabbe, any other candidates?

 

[misskim86]

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Dolph Lundgren
Jean Claude Van Damme
Rutger Hauer
Christopher Lambert
Bob Hoskings
Anthony Hopkins
Michael Cain
Sean Connery
Eric idle

 

[Kegek]

^
Are any of those French? The names I recognise aren't.

 

[Red Ranger]

Kegek said:
^
Are any of those French? The names I recognise aren't.

Christopher Lambert is nominally French. He's American, from Great Neck, Long Island, in New York. Son of a diplomat, he grew up in Switzerland and France. He played the lead role in "Highlander," and before that, "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes."

Rutger Hauer as Picard? Might have been interesting. But to the O.P.'s question: With Jean Reno as Picard, he might have been a bit more action-oriented, as he was in "The Professional," a terrific movie, also with Gary Oldman.

Red Ranger