Who would I pick if I were in charge of casting for the film? Who would I want in the role and why? I am not even going to begin to try and cast the roles of the characters when they were kids. I'm not familiar with child actors enough to be able to do that. My only hope is that they don't hire Dakota Fanning to play every single part, and shave her head and put a sock in her pants when she's playing the part of a boy.
I'm not going to try and cast the whole movie. I am just going to cast the members of "The Lucky Seven" in their adult forms and Pennywise and then see what the rest of you all think. As far as I'm concerned whoever they cast should be actors in their late 30's to early 50's. I'm very against the idea of casting actors in their mid to late 20's. These characters are 40 year old individuals, and should be played by people relative to the age.
Here are my choices and why I chose them.
In my opinion the role of Bill Denbrough in It, is by far the best role that Richard Thomas has ever played. It allowed him to escape the typecast character of "John Boy" from The Waltons and show his diversity as a dramatic actor. I really enjoyed him in the role as well. As I think to myself, who would be a good replacement for Thomas, the first name that pops into my head is John Cusack. The character of Bill Denbrough is a very serious, mystical character that needs someone who can bring it to life in the same or even better way than what Thomas did. I think Cusack could do just that.
It's hard to fill the shoes of an actor like John Ritter, especially in playing the role of the adult Ben Hanscom. It was hard for me to think of who would be best to play the role. I wanted someone who I thought could pull off the character well, in both look and demeanor. While I'm still not 100% positive I made the right choice, I do feel fairly confident that Josh Brolin would be a good pick for the role.
How do you replace Tim Curry? Just how do you replace Tim Curry? Can you? Is it even possible. as far as I'm concerned if they were to have him play the part of Pennywise again, I'd be perfectly fine with it. He nailed that role to a T. He was outstanding. Yet, if I have to pick someone else, I'm going with Gary Oldman. Perhaps it isn't necessary, but I feel that the role should go to an English actor, who has the ability to play an off the wall, sociopathic psychopath. If you have ever seen "Leon: The Professional" then you know how good Gary Oldman can be at fulfilling that task. Perhaps I'm a bit off my hinges, but I say you throw a red wig, a red nose and some white face paint onto Oldman's face, and you have yourself one terrifying clown.
Harry Anderson did a fine job of playing a character that was a nervous wreck, that suffered from social anxiety that did his best to appear cool, calm and collected amongst his friends. I personally didn't find any of the characters jokes funny, but I appreciated how Anderson played the role as an individual faking confidence. I feel many other actors would have instead just played the role with confidence and I really appreciated how Anderson was able to instead show a character with terrible social anxiety, faking confidence. Whoever gets the role this time around, I want them to be able to do that too. That's why I think Patrick Dempsey would be a very fine choice for Richie Toser. He reminds me a lot of Anderson in the choices he makes as an actor. I'd like to see him given this opportunity.
When I played the role of "Juror #5" in Twelve Angry Men a play reviewer wrote that he felt that I was so into the role and what I was doing, that he felt I almost tried too hard. That's sort of how I felt about Christopher's part as the adult Eddie Kasbrak. It's not that he didn't do well, because he did, I just felt that he overdid it at times. I feel the role could use a bit more of a subtle approach, and that's where my choice for Ben Stiller comes in. Stiller is a very underrated actor, who most seem to put connotation with roles such as the one he played in "Zoolander" but he is so much more than that. I think a role like that of Eddie Kasbrak would help to open up the eyes of movie goers everywhere to the versatility of Stiller, much in the same way that Foxcatcher has helped the career of Steve Carrel.
I know what you're thinking, I KNOW what you're thinking. "What in the Hell!?!?!?" Right? Am I right? Well let me tell you why I picked Tom Cruise to play this role. Have you ever seen, Tropic Thunder? If for no other reason than to watch Cruise's part, I highly recommend that you see this movie. I have never seen Cruise in such a part before and I was taken aback by how well he played a comedic role. When I thought about the role of Stanley Uris, the part where Tom Masur's head is in the refrigerator talking to everyone is the first part that came to mind. I think it'd be fun to see Cruise in the role, in particularly for that part. Trust me, I think he'd do a much better job than some would like to initiate.
Don't ask me why, but I felt that the role of Beverly Marsh ought to go to a woman with a deep voice. It may sound absurd to you, but I just feel that the part needs to go to a woman with a deep voice and Ryder has an exceptionally deep voice for a woman. Ryder also has a very distinctive style of acting, which I think is perfect for the role. O'Toole had a very similar style herself. It's sort of hard to describe, but she acts a lot with her eyes, taking everything in and reacting to everything around her. I think she'd be a good fit.
Tim Reid was awfully good as Mike Hanlon in the 1990 version and the role needs filled by someone who can capture the same tone that Reid did in the original film. The entire story is set with him at the beginning and the new version needs the same atmosphere. Therefore the actor is going to have to be a captivating one, and Terrence Howard is a very captivating actor. Based on his performance in "Crash" in particularly, I feel he would be a very good choice.
These are my picks. Thoughts?
