I had a request to start a blog where you could weigh in on thoughts about a movie based on The Merchant of Death and to discuss casting. This isn’t to say that a movie is imminent. It isn’t. But I’m working with some folks to develop one now, so you never know. (Just don’t hold your breath!)
So, here’s the blog. Have fun.
Andrew Harless says:
Chuck Norris needs to be someone
Nick Johnson says:
I think that Nicholas Cage would be good for Uncle Press
Michael Engram says:
Ralph Fiennes would probably make a good Saint Dane. He was a good Voldemort, but this time he gets to have a nose!
lev says:
ralph fiennes= saint dane, josh hutcherson maby as pendragon he’s a great actor, and thats all i know right now
Jecsan Cortes says:
I think it is awesome that this is happing! And i have no idea on which actors should be in this.
Jesse Gorden says:
Actually, Ralph Fiennes even looks sort of like Saint Dane.
My Uncle Press is based off of Randy Quaid (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001642/), so that is who I would suggest for that role- if he is not too old by the point the film is created.
All I can say is, please, please, please don’t sell out your stories and integral details and character points when someone says “but this is fiiilm, we don’t need that!” …because your hundreds of thousands (millions?) of readers will say “Yes, yes we do need that.” Because you’ve worked so so so so extensively in the medium of film you’re obviously starting off *way* ahead of any novice in the significant-detail-retention-when-turned-to-film category- which is really awesome.
Karlyn says:
i think that a Pendragon movie would be cool, but it might bring unwanted critisism to the series and/or movie. Off the top of my head, i think that Dennis Quiad could be a good actor for Uncle press, or saint dane 🙂 let you know if i think or any others!
Sydney says:
I think for some of the roles that are somewhat important, like travellers from different territories, you should have auditions around the country, so you could maybe get some new actors on the scene. but also i think you should try to get Hugh Jackman as Press… Cause that’d be awesome….
Challenger Black says:
This is great! It would be so exciting going to the theatre and getting tickets for The Merchant of Death!
Hobey ho, let’s go! 😀
Squall Charlson says:
I should play your Bobby Pendragon. I would go to any lengths to make this come true. For all the other new generation travelers, we need new actors.
Ralph Fiennes would be spectacular in the movie, but I feel he would actually make a great Uncle Press.
Trey Musemeche says:
Robert Downey Jr. as Uncle Press.
D.L. Marriott says:
Jason Issacs would make a great Saint Dane. I would want to see unknowns for Bobby. Mark, and Courtney.
Leanne says:
Yeah, I agree with D.L. Marriott that Jason Issacs could be a potential Saint Dane.
Flight 29 downer says:
I thunk it would be cool to do a country wide talent search for the cast. Also I think it would be cool to have fans be extras in the movie. If I could be any one I would be Aja Killian because I fit her personality the best.
veelox0 says:
Yay! Plans for a movie! I think the actor for Bobby should be someone new. I noticed no one has said anything about actors/actresses for loor,osa,alder and some other crucial characters. I really don’t know which actors to play for any of the characters except that I am sure that if there ever is a never war movie, gunny should be played by Morgan Freeman
Tim says:
I agree Robert Downey jr. Or Liam neeson for uncle press.
Flight 29 downer says:
I like the idea for John hutcherson for Bobby except he’s to old. Maybe he can be press. Any pictures of him on the Internet right now he is blonde. But actually he is a brunette or maybe I have it n
Backwards.
sean says:
Yeah I like the idea of some new actors along with the old veteran ones.. but I wouldn’t want Nicholas cage in it. No offense. But I feel like these books have a ton of potential to be an amazing movie so it shouldn’t be anything else!
veelox0 says:
You know what? I would LOVE to have open auditions all across the USA for us super fans! It would provide new faces for a new movie!
Isaac says:
All I’ll say is, D.J., please try to be the director and make it as close to the book as physically possible. One of the biggest “book-to-movie” turnoffs are when the movies are nothing at all like the book or when some of the really quite crucial parts of the book are left out.
Flight 29 downer says:
Ya and you did an amazing job co-creating/co-directing flight 29 down. So if you get to help with the pendragon movie it Should be qmazing
Courtney B. says:
Yes, Jason Isaacs for St. Dane all the way. Also, Joel Courtney for Bobby and Elle Fanning for Courtney. Still unsure about Mark or Press, but I agree that unknowns would be the best for these characters.
Laura Davies says:
I know I’m probably in the minority, but based on the expansive creativity of the worlds, and how unique the characters are, I honestly think the Pendragon books would be wonderful as 2D animated films. The constant evolution of Bobby, Courtney and Mark is very hard to pull off live action wise, not to mention a visual cast usually has more fans upset if it’s not done very carefully. Voice work is a little easier (but hey, I seem to have some bias on the topic :P)
My voicelist (if I had a budget the size of Montana :P)-
Bobby: Hard Pick (you think I’d have a lead XD)
Courtney: AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terebithia)
Mark: Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids) (maybe)
Uncle Press: REALLY HARD PICK (I’d go with either Gary Oldman or Edward Norton (both have great talent and can really surprise you if you push them) )
Saint Dane: Ralph Fiennes, but not because he was Voldemort, but because he can be charming/creepy without trying.
Loor: Zoe Saldana (Avatar)
Osa: Gina Torres (Firefly)
Alder: Tough pick again, but I’d go with Ewan MacGreggor (great talent in many areas of film and conveys naivete)
Queen Kagan: Stumped on this one =/
Rellin: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
Mallos (Dane’s disguise): Ben Kingsley (Ghandi)
Figgis: Tim Roth (Lie To Me)
Mike says:
Imagine it! Just for a second, think about how awesome it would be.
I agree with having Jason Isaacs or Ralph Fiennes as Saint Dane. 100%.
Can you tell us who you’ve had you eye on for the possible cast, DJ, or is that super-top-secret?
Squall Charlson says:
Yes, Gary Oldman needs to be in this movie in some part.
I think he could do a great villain like Saint Dane.
Lara says:
I agree with you, Mike. I can hardly imagine how awesome it would be! You just can’t put into words how great it would be.
Mike says:
I glad you agree, Lara.
Oh, I think that the greatest actor for Saint Dane would be…William Dafoe. 1000% Do you agree??!
Mike says:
Sorry, I mean “Williem” Dafoe. My mistake.
Lilly says:
Oh and Mike, I think William Dafoe is also a good idea for Saint Dane!
William says:
With some personality training, I could be a great Mark Dimond. 😀 I put on a great nerd look. I’m the right age too.
Jimmy says:
Trying to acknowledge that we can’t have a million high profile actors in one movie…
Mark: Freddie Highmore (The Art of Getting By)
Courtney: Elie Fanning (Super 8) or Annasophia Robb (Bridge to Terebethia)
Uncle Press: Jeffery Dean Morgan (Supernatural; Watchmen) or Joel Gretch (4400). Ed Norton can pull off anything, but I’m not sure he looks the part. I can also see why Gary Oldman would be appropriate. (Dark Knight; Harry Potter)
Osa: Gina Torres (Firefly)
Alder: Zachary Levi (Chuck) or Nathan Fillion (Firefly)
Saint Daine: He’ll be the easiest to cast, probably. There are tons of creepy villian actors out there… Johnny Depp (Though it would be impossible to contract him for TEN movies…) Williem Defoe (Boondock Saints), Christopher Lloyd (He may be too old. Putting a comedy actor in a serious role can also be tricky). Mark Pelligrino (Played the devil in both Lost and Supernatural, as well as an important recurring character in Dexter)
Will you address names that really stick out to you? More to come on my end. Eventually.
Lilly says:
I think for the main Travelers it would be better to do like Harry Potter did and get some new/unknown actors for the roles. It would be so much more fun to see new faces to bring these characters to life than an actor I’ve seen a thousand times already.
Also I’d be cool if they were really long movies like Lord of the Rings, that way you wouldn’t have to take out a bunch of details from the books (or end up deleting characters like most book-movies do) So I kinda always imagined Pendragon getting a TV series with a good budget. That way it could be as long as it needed, and wouldn’t have to change anything just to fit a 2hour time limit. BUT I wouldn’t like that cause it would not get Pendragon the same fame a movie brings, and Pendragon really deserves to be on the big screen!
Samantha says:
If there will be a Pendragon movie that would be AWSOME!!! I think it would cool to have new actors or actress that no one has herd of or to have common ones. Also I think it would be cool to have Pendragon fans play extras in the movie 🙂
Bobby-Cody Christian or maybe Chris Massoglia. Cody would be a better choice
Mark-Atticus Dean Mitchell
Courtney-AnnaSophia Robb
Saint Dane-Aaron Johnson
Uncle Press-Matt Damon
Loor-Vanessa Morgan
Gunny- morgan freeman
Kelsey says:
I agree that Zoe Saldana should be Loor! And Johnny Depp for Saint Dane (or Zachary Quinto!!)
Bobby-I have no idea. Maybe someone not so famous so as to have more speculation and less of a “ohhh, he’s gonna be terrible for that part!” Maybe Shia Labaeuf??
Courtney: I have no idea.
Gunny: Morgan Freeman!
etc etc this is so hard to think of good people actually….but I’m sure we’d grow used to whoeveer you pick DJ!
(IF there is ever a movie….XD)
Uncle Press: Nick Cage
Mark: Zach Braff ( he was geeky enough in Scrubs!)
Alder: Colin Morgan/Bradley James (Merlin…he would just need to be more buff)
Osa: Gina Torres (she would be really good I think!)
Aja Killian:
Vonte says:
Shia Lebouf as Bobby, the guy who played as Elron in LOTR as Saint Dane, and Nicolas Cage on the other side of the world. Cage is too bland as an actor, and he never plays his character’s role except as Nicolas Cage.
Josh.M 22 says:
Uncle Press- David Tenant (Doctor Who) reminds of what i imagine Press would like plus he has a lot of charisma.
Courtney-Lily Cole
Mark- Me of course because I am a pretty good actor and i’m already a bit geeky
Bobby-Shia Labeouf( but only as a second option) I don’t have a first choice yet on this so its him until later on for now
Saint Dane-Patrick Stewart( Star Trek: TNG/X-men) as first choice and Michael Rosenbaum(Smallville) as second choice. thats it for now.
Josh.M 22 says:
hobey-ho
Julia says:
You know, I’d put my input in this if I could actually get a hold of the first book of Pendragon and read it. Every single time I go to the library, I can find books 2-10 but not number one. You know, I can’t even find book two of the Shadow Children series by Margeret Peterson Haddix (which is the next book that I need to read).
But I do know one thing: @Jimmy’s cast seems very appealing. I would go see the movie just because of Freddie Highmore and Anna Sophia-Robb. But especially because of Freddie Highmore.
Vonte says:
I take back my comment about Shia as Bobby; I was thinking about the older bobby from the last book.
If Justin Beiber gets Bobby’s role so help me I will drag Osama Bin Laden’s ass out of hell and have him blow up the world with tak.
Laura Davies says:
@Josh.M 22- Much as I love David Tenant, my heart would break to see him shot in movie 2 :< What about him as Saint Dane? He plays crazy and sophisticated very well 😀
New blood's always a plus for me, we need to expand Hollywood's pick lists 😛
Morgan Williams says:
Nick Cage as Uncle Press.
Morgan Freeman as Gunny.
The actor that plays Lucius Malfoy as Saint Dane
Corbin Blue as Siry
Have Columbia or anything but disney do Pendragon. Disney won’t follow the books very well.
I hope to hear of a movie soon:D
Lara says:
Yeah, and I can’t see Disney doing Pendragon anyway. The books have got some pretty violent stuff (blood, fighting, shooting…etc) and those aren’t the kind of films Disney handles.
Flight 29 downer says:
Hey I like the idea of Corbin as Siry. He was in flight 29 down so I love his acting skills!!!!!
William says:
The only person that could handle Gunny’s part is Morgan Freeman. Hands down. It can’t be anybody else. I’m gonna find some other good ones.
William says:
I can ALMOST see Johnny Depp playing Saint Dane.
William says:
Russell Brand can be Spader.
William says:
Arnols Vosloo (The Mummy) should be Saint Dane.
Lara says:
Yeah, I’d say all Pendragon fans are in agreement with Morgan Freeman as Gunny 😛
Lara says:
Wouldn’t Russell Brand be a bit old to be Spader? (the guy’s 37 years old)
William says:
*Arnold Vosloo