On this week’s Casting Couch, we hearken back to one of our absolute favorite funny books around: Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen’s “Nextwave.” This title has the potential to be an incredibly entertaining comic movie, with an awesome blend of hilarity and action. Perhaps it’s a little less likely to make crazy bank, but it does have a chance to be a wildly entertaining movie that would feel unlike anything else coming out from Marvel Films.
Check out after the jump to find out our picks for the cast of this future cult classic.
Twelve issues could fit into one awesome two hour movie. Sure, some parts might have to be cut, but I think it could all rock into one fantastic package.
The Director – Sam Raimi
To make Nextwave work, you need a director who can handle both the comedic aspects and the more action oriented parts. Both are huge components, so you need a versatile director. Thankfully, Sam Raimi is no longer making Spider-Man movies, so he’s available to rock the Nextwave. We think he’d make this a blast and a half.
Monica Rambeau – Tracie Thoms
I’m a big fan of Tracie Thoms, an actress who doesn’t get nearly enough solid roles. She’s proven in things like Wonderfalls that she is a superb comedic actress, and in Tarantino’s Death Proof, she showed herself as someone who could be a complete badass if need be. Basically, the perfect recipe for Monica Rambeau in this movie.
Aaron Stack/Machine Man – Benedict Cumberbatch
Let’s face it: Aaron Stack would be the breakout character in this movie. He’s hilarious, he’s unique and he’s always someone to watch. So why not choose everyone’s recent favorite in Sherlock himself, Benedict Cumberbatch. Sure, I associate him mostly with Atonement and his creepy ways from that, but he’s undeniably a great actor. I’d love to see him be the guy the Celestials call out for being a huge loser.
Elsa Bloodstone – Jessica Chastain
Chastain has basically spent the last two years getting cast in everything, picking up award nominations and bigger and better parts along the way. Elsa Bloodstone is one hell of a character, someone who has an innate physicality and presence to her that Chastain could effortlessly bring to life. We would die to see that.
The Captain – Sullivan Stapleton
The Captain is kind of the put upon member of the group, but he’s also arguably the most powerful and intermittently the most entertaining of the lot too. For a role like this one, we discussed a lot of bigger names, but when the dust settled we thought going with a more unknown actor was a better idea. Stapleton blew people away with his work in the Australian film Animal Kingdom, and we think he has the combination of physicality and chops to make Captain America’s least favorite hero come to life.
Boom Boom – Malin Akerman
Akerman is a talented actress, and she’s proven herself to be gifted at playing kind of airheaded but still very funny characters. Boom Boom is definitely that, and someone Akerman could play in her sleep.
Dirk Anger – Bruce Campbell
We talked about a few people at first, but I couldn’t escape the idea of Bruce Campbell playing the perpetually spiraling main villain of this book. He’s a mess of violence and hilarity, and Campbell would be freaking amazing as him. He might be a little older than you’d want, but hey, that just means this needs to be filmed before too much time passes.
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Devil Dinosaur – Brian Cox (voice)
The true face of villainy, how much would Cox kill as a smoking jacket wearing evil criminal mastermind T-Rex? A whole lot, we think.
Fin Fang Foom – Michael Gambon (voice)
If only because I’d love to hear Dumbledore say “Fin Fang Foom put you in his pants.”
