Recently, Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy’s Joe the Barbarian was optioned for a film. The story, which is about a young boy suffering from insulin withdrawl, begins drifting between his reality and a fantasy world in which he is a mythical figure known as “the Dying Boy.” Charged with the task of restoring the light, Joe attempts to both get sugar in his bloodstream as well as survive the world he is thrust into in a quite moving story by two of comic book’s most talented creators.
As you also may or may not have noticed, my name isn’t Gil (your usual casting coucher). Gil and I will now be switching of casting couch duties. I will also be teaming up with guest writer Jessica Graham to bring you a weekly dose of fantasy film casting.While I assume that our choices in casting might be a bit less conventional than his, we hope you find them just as entertaining.
Click behind the cut to take a look at who would go into Multiversity’s version of Joe the Barbarian.
Joe the Barbarian – Alexander GouldYou may know Alexander Gould as the younger brother Shane on the Showtime show
Weeds. Gould is actually a talented young actor who really
stepped up his game in the fifth season, to the point that he delivered a shocking twist in the season finale. With Joe himself being a guestimate age of 16, Alexander fits the role perfectly as a 16 year old boy himself. Gould also has a look quite close to Joe as seen on the first issue’s cover.
Jack the Rat – Benedict Cumberbatch (Voice Over)Cumberbatch had quite a creepy role in the film
Atonement, but recently he’s had a great turn as the eponymous character on the BBC show
Sherlock. Jack needs a powerful voice that’s able to carry leadership in it, and to avoid stereotypical casting we’ve put Cumberbatch into the heroic role. Those of you
who have seen Sherlock will know he can be quite good as a leader, and he has quite a great voice.
This also oddly began our casting of mainly overseas actors, if only because we American’s love listening to them speak. We don’t have any good reason for why we feel like Joe’s fantasy suddenly becomes rather British beyond that, but in our defense, these Brits are talented.
Lord Arc – Christopher Lee (Voice Over)Lord Arc is essentially Joe’s warped interpretation of a thunder storm. In that regard, Lord Arc has to be voiced by someone who has a very booming voice. While the choice is admittedly stereotypical, there is no more of a
thunder voice than Christopher Lee. You’ll know Christopher Lee for his role as Saruman in the
Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as a frequent voice over in epic metal band Rhapsody’s various albums. A ridiculously talented actor with a powerful voice, Lee would make the perfect Lord Arc (even if the character’s role in the story so far has been fairly brief).
Smoot – Brett KellyThis is admittedly a cop out casting. We needed someone who is fairly overweight and matches in age around Joe (though they don’t have to be the same age by any sense). Brett Kelly is not an accomplished actor in comparison to any of the actors we’ve assembled. However, it’s actually rather hard to find someone who fits into Smoot’s persona. Those of you who have seen the movie
Bad Santa will know Brett Kelly as the
annoying little character The Kid. He also has a
brief role in the film Trick R’ Treat. While we genuinely don’t know if he is a good enough actor to play Smoot, we hope that given the chance to shine he’ll perform well among the rest of the cast. It’s either him Jamie Waylett, honestly (Crabbe from
Harry Potter).
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We’re also hoping he can pull of a Scottish accent, because Smoot gives us a Scottish vibe for some reason.
Zyxy – Emily BrowningEmily Browning is a fine little actress who has performed in films like
Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Darkness Falls, Ned Kelly, and the upcoming
Sucker Punch. In fact, she plays the lead in
Sucker Punch. Zyxy needs to be played by an actress who has the ability to act excited and full of life in the face of imminent death, and those
who have seen the rather insane trailer for Sucker Punch will hopefully agree that Emily Browning could fill that role.
Queen Bree/Joe’s Mom – Olivia WilliamsThis role almost went to Carla Gugino, but ultimately we thought that might seem stereotypical. Olivia Williams is an accomplished actress who has appeared in films like
The Sixth Sense, An Education, and
Rushmore. Recently, she played the
semi-antagonist on Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, Adelle DeWitt. While having her play the British mother of an American child doesn’t make the most sense, Olivia Williams as Queen Bree, the antagonist of the sixth issue who attempts to hold back Joe from his destiny fits quite well. Williams can play an intimidating woman, and her as a villainous queen seems all too appropriate.
As a note, there is no explicit part of the story that says Joe’s Mom is Queen Bree. However, based on how Joe interprets reality within the two states of insulin withdrawal, we feel that having Joe’s Mom being the same character who attempts to hold him back rather heavily works well for the story. I suppose it’s up for interpretation.
Ulrik – Keith David (Voice Over)Some of you may have seen a little film called
Princess and the Frog, in which Doctor Facilier had an all too small role as the film’s villain. That voice was provided by
talented actor Keith David, who has also had roles in
Requiem for a Dream and
The Thing. David has a voice that works well towards villains, and since Ulrik is a new villain revealed at the end of the sixth issue who plans to attack Joe, we’ve found that his voice in that place works quite well as a threatening entity.