The Movie Cast - Discussion and Suggestions

[CaptainS#10]

With the AF movie so far in progress, I think this question keeps popping up more and more, as it looks like we may actually get this far in the process this time. So I'm curious to see who everyone thinks on here should play our favorite characters - our specific "dream casts" if you prefer. Who should/who shouldn't, why/why not?

Mine is sorta picky. Artemis = Asa Butterfield. I think I'm finally convinced he could pull off the acting part, and he looks spot on like Arty. Plus I think he looks young enough to play him even though he's a bit older now. Butler = ..either Vin Diesel or Jonathan Statham. I prefer Vin Diesel, but I think Jonathan could do it too. Root = Robert De Niro. I definitely agree with Robert De Niro.

Those are all the ones I think are spot-on, definitely. Holly, Juliet, the others, I have a few ideas, but not perfect ones. Juliet = maybe Annasophia Robb? I don't know if she's spot on, but I think she could make a good Juliet. I had a Holly but now I don't remember her. . anyway, my computer is protesting now.

Any one else have suggestions? Comments?

[Bang Your Drum]

I love Asa as Artemis. However Butler and Juliet are mixed race so neither Vin Deisel, Jonathan, or Annasophia should play them.
Elves have brown skin so DeNiro could not and should not play Root. Personally I really like Tahir Farin as Root


There are many wonderful young actresses that could play Holly. I still need to do more research but I think Samira Wiley would make a really lovely Holly (with a prosthetic nose perhaps).

Danny DeVito as Mulch is...a clear choice, it's probaly a role more suited to him than the penguin.

I like Aziz Ansari as Foaly, he's got the kinda voice I imagine him having.

Also, also, Laverne Cox as Raine Vinyaya

[Eldewind Dolly]

Nice topic

Well Asa Butterfield definitely got the looks, but personnally I just really cant see him as Arty... I've seen him in Ender's Game and Hugo Cabret, and though his acting was ok... well, it was just ok. Not absolutely stunning. And Arty MUST be absolutely freakin stunning *O*
In my dream cast, the only role that I've not an idea on yet is really Arty. Actually, what I'd like to see the most is a totally unknown and talented young actor, who would see his career lauched with the role. That would just be so cool ; and well, talented actors just have to begin with something, don't they ? So why not with a young Irish criminal mastermind ?
(that was only the introduction, now get ready for the big fat endless paragraphs, fruits of a seven-year-long thinking and re-thinking about the best casting the Artemis Fowl movie could get ^^')

As for other characters, I've been thinking and re-thinking about the absolute casting since I've read the first book. For Butler, though Jason Statham is the most likely to be chosen (this sentence is odd to my ears... well, it kinda makes sense anyway, this parenthesis is just pointless), I'd like to see Bruce Willis, because he's older and looks more experienced, which could be a good thing.

For Root I think everybody agrees on De Niro ^^ He's just perfect. And about the elves' skin colour argument : I mean... who cares about that... We don't even know if the fairies will entirely computer-made, and even if they aren't there's UV light to fix skin colour. I don't see why plenthy of good actors would have to be set away just because their skin is too light. Na

For Opal, one single choice : Christina Ricci !! First, because she once said in an interview that she'd like to play a psycho killer, and I think it's the kind of wish that has to be fulfilled. And second, well... she's just perfect. She's a damn good actress, and she just has the perfect look : porcelain doll's like face, mid-cute and mischievous grin... She just looks so elvish (I know Opal is a pixie, but that's somewhat the same), you nearly can draw the long ears on the side of her head !

I also want Natalie Portman and Jodie Foster somewhere, 'cause they are the best actresses ever :3 maybe Nat for Angeline, 'cause she's good at looking fragile and insane, and Jodie for Vinyaya. Her acting in Elysium showed she was perfect in the role of a strong-willed woman, and the rest of her career showed she was perfect for everything else

Then comes the Holly case... Damn hard one. There are a lot of actresses that have been suggested in a billion of topics all 'round the Internets, but I think a lot of them (like Scarlett Johansson, Cameron Diaz, Mila Kunis...) are way too sexy for Holly. Even if she's described as kinda pretty, she's supposed to be a soldier, not a mannequin model. That's why my top choice is Ellen Page. She's an amazing actress, who can play wonderfully all kind of characters from weirdo teenager (Juno) to sadistic pedophile-hunter (Hard Candy). She's also accustomed to action scenes since she played in a few blockbusters including the X-Men series. She's pretty and cute without being too sexy. Just check at her look in Hard Candy (Google is your friend), it's just it.

I'd explain less on the next characters, otherwise I'll be in front of my computer for another thirteen hours. There it goes :

Grub Kelp - Stephen Merchant (Wheatley's voice actor in Portal 2)
Juliet - Saoirse Ronan, or Dakota Fanning (I also agree on Annasophia Robb)
Minerva - Garance le Guillermic (little French actress. Unfornately she's a bit too old know but just look at this picture and dare telling me this isn't Minerva - I know Minerva probably won't be in the movie but... gnaaaah, I'm too tired to argue ><)
Minerva's dad - Jean-Hugues Anglade
Artemis Fowl Ist - Christopher Walken or Guillaume Canet
Briar Cudgeon - Gary Oldman *O* or David Bowie :3 A guy with a lot of charisma anyway
Trouble Kelp - Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo from GoT ) or Matt Damon

Let's stop here, if I keep going you'll just end up sleeping upon your computer ^^' Thanks to everyone who had the bravery to read my full reply :O You have all my admiration.

[shaadia cader]

I sincerely do hope there isn't a massive age gap between the actors for Artemis and Holly. They have to become a pairing, remember? I don't want it turning like the Percy Jackson movie because then I might just die!

[Bang Your Drum]

For Root I think everybody agrees on De Niro ^^ He's just perfect. And about the elves' skin colour argument : I mean... who cares about that... We don't even know if the fairies will entirely computer-made, and even if they aren't there's UV light to fix skin colour. I don't see why plenthy of good actors would have to be set away just because their skin is too light. Na

I read your entire post but I'm just gonna adress this, extremely troubling, part for now. I happen to care about the eleven actually being brown.
Darkening a light skinned actors' skin is called brownface/blackface and had a very racially charged history, especially in America. Please look up the term "whitewashing" as well.

[Eldewind Dolly]

@ BangYourDrum : well I didn't think it was such a tough topic I brought, I'm sorry about that. It's just that, personally (and I really mean personally), darkening or lightening an actor's skin is not shocking at all, it's a part of a character's make-up, just like the good haircut, the good costume. Some actors, like De Niro himself, lost or gained a lot of weight just for a character, to me that's equal as dark/lightening one's skin. Last year at the Opéra National de Paris, Nijinski's version of La Bayadère was programmed, and in this ballet there's the ''négrions'' (don't know how it's translated) dance, and the dancers who performs this dance are wearing a slim brown suit and brown make-up ; and I didn't hear anybody was shocked by that - because there's nothing to be shocked about... In my opinion, I repeat. I can perfectly understand that people can think it's racially insulting. But I just don't. Then I'm sorry for the people who don't share my vision, I never meant to insult anybody in my post

I know it's not the point of this topic to raise a big argumentation about this, but I really think it's important to discuss it. The AF movie's production crew doesn't really seem to care about the elves' skin colour, since Saoirse Ronan has been suggested by Colfer himself to play Holly. Maybe the fairies will be made with motion capture, like the Naavis in Cameron's Avatar, so the actor's skin color doesn't matter - to me it's the best option, because weither the skin's brown or light there always will be people to shout out, seeing as how this is a tough, stressful and even dangerous topic to raise by our time, even more than before. I think it's really sad. A movie should be criticized for what it is, not for its actors ethnic belonging (yes, I hated all the polemics about Rue and the District 11 characters in the first Hunger Games... I hated it even more than the movie itself ^^')

I'm not especially good at expressing myself, even in my native language, so I hope I succeed in explaining my opinion without letting out some ''troubling'' sentences that weren't meant to be troubling at all. I know your observation, BangYourDrum, wasn't especially aggressive or something, and didn't necessarily deserve such a long response, but I thought it was important to explain my full opinion about it, so there's no misunderstanding.

Peace everyone ~

EDIT
@ Shaadia : about the age gap between Holly and Arty : well in the book Holly is described to look as she was in her mid-thirty and Artemis is supposed to be twelve, and I hope they will look like what they are supposed to look like. The kiss (and not pairing, it's just a kiss and it doesn't go any further) scene is in the sixth book, the movie is supposed to mix up the first and the second book (if I could have a wish fulfilled, it would be that they STOP THIS STUPIDITY RIGHT NOW and write a script based only on the first book, what the hell went in their minds). By the time we reach a movie based on the sixth book, Artemis' actor will have grown.

Actually we don't even know if there will be any second movie at all, it will depends on how much money the first one will bring to the producers. I sincerely hope that the movie's script will not change Artemis and Holly's relationship to match the latest books and content the shippers fans. Shipping is good, but in fanfiction, not in a movie adaptation. A movie adaptation is supposed to be serious (by that I mean it stays true to the book), otherwise it's just some pointless fanservice. I'm just crossing fingers right now.

[Bang Your Drum]

@ BangYourDrum : well I didn't think it was such a tough topic I brought, I'm sorry about that. It's just that, personally (and I really mean personally), darkening or lightening an actor's skin is not shocking at all, it's a part of a character's make-up, just like the good haircut, the good costume. Some actors, like De Niro himself, lost or gained a lot of weight just for a character, to me that's equal as dark/lightening one's skin. Last year at the Opéra National de Paris, Nijinski's version of La Bayadère was programmed, and in this ballet there's the ''négrions'' (don't know how it's translated) dance, and the dancers who performs this dance are wearing a slim brown suit and brown make-up ; and I didn't hear anybody was shocked by that - because there's nothing to be shocked about... In my opinion, I repeat. I can perfectly understand that people can think it's racially insulting. But I just don't. Then I'm sorry for the people who don't share my vision, I never meant to insult anybody in my post

I checked an online translator and it's similar to what darkening your skin to portray another race here is, not gonna say it though.
Many people actually still do it here, which is upsetting because so many of the laws specifically created to diminish the power of African Americans were named after the character "Jim Crow" who was a staple in minstrel shows in the 19th century.

I know it's not the point of this topic to raise a big argumentation about this, but I really think it's important to discuss it. The AF movie's production crew doesn't really seem to care about the elves' skin colour, since Saoirse Ronan has been suggested by Colfer himself to play Holly. Maybe the fairies will be made with motion capture, like the Naavis in Cameron's Avatar, so the actor's skin color doesn't matter - to me it's the best option, because weither the skin's brown or light there always will be people to shout out, seeing as how this is a tough, stressful and even dangerous topic to raise by our time, even more than before. I think it's really sad. A movie should be criticized for what it is, not for its actors ethnic belonging (yes, I hated all the polemics about Rue and the District 11 characters in the first Hunger Games... I hated it even more than the movie itself ^^'
I'm not especially good at expressing myself, even in my native language, so I hope I succeed in explaining my opinion without letting out some ''troubling'' sentences that weren't meant to be troubling at all. I know your observation, BangYourDrum, wasn't especially aggressive or something, and didn't necessarily deserve such a long response, but I thought it was important to explain my full opinion about it, so there's no misunderstanding.

Oh I understand completely. I'm not so great expressing myself in my native language either and that's english so lemme say this, Je comprends tout à fait.