I know you were joking.Philippa wrote:^I was only joking!
I shall give it some serious thought, I promise.
And it was great seeing the old French and Saunders clip. I live in the US and only saw this shw briefly when Comedy Central showed it after AbFab hit over here.
But is THAT the problem then. Are we looking for actors who would be damned good in the roles oif Steed/Peel and do the best job they can with the role or are we looking for someone to be the Steed/Peel of our beloved memories? In the latter case I'd say you're just out of luck.kim wrote:I think one of the problems in recasting the roles is that you are going to have a weak imitation at best. There was just something in the way Patrick and Diana played their parts and then played off of each other that isn't likely to be captured again. I can't picture any of the others, i.e., Tara, Purdey, etc., ever being recast either.TheDeeMan wrote:Sigh. I give up.
I figured as much as folks hated Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman as Steed and Emma that maybe you all had some SERIOUS notions as to who you'd like to see play the parts if ever there was ever a new version of the Avengers made.
But i guess not.
Dee
On a side note, I didn't hate Fieness or Thurman in the roles of Steed and Peel per se. Both are great actors, but as I said above, there was just something that came from Patrick and Diana that just can't be done by anyone else.
Starting the movie at the earliest days of the Steed/Peel partnership isn't a NEW idea. It's exactly what they tried and failed miserably at in The Avengers movie. It's a great idea because you can build the relationship between the two from scratch, give the actors a chance to make the characters their own, and give us a chance to settle in to these new versions of our old faves. But the idea is anything but new.Timeless A-Peel wrote:I have to agree with Kim there--much of the partnership between Steed and his variosu sidekicks was informed by their offscreen relationships. Ian and Honor were a little more acerbic with him (they got on well, no doubt about it, but there was more friction), he clicked instantly with Diana, felt protective toward Linda (who promptly dragged him out to the discotheque), and had a sort of mentorly comraderie with Joanna and Gareth (who, in turn, were great buddies who seemed to spend 99% of the time giggling while they nursed their bruises). The characters are cardboard--the actors filled them out. Patrick was given three words to describe his character--"Steed stands there." No traits. No description. Just a name. Everything else had to be made from whole cloth. Would it be as successful with someone trying to copy characters that were essentially built around the actors? It's a hard sell, but I think Kim's right--it could be done. Donald Monat did his own spin on Steed, but I don't ever think imposter. They would have to bring something fresh to the role while retaining just enough to keep it recognisably "Steed." Emma would be the same way. I think that's why I liked Brian Clemens' reboot idea--if we wind Steed and Emma back a few years, to the earliest days of their partnership, we can sees traces of the characters we love, while giving the actors room to move and grow and create their own Steed and Emma, naturally. I think, if you must have a Steed and a Emma, that would be the best way to go. Plopping them in and expecting it to feel like episode 26 of season 5 just isn't going to work.
It is if they're a) younger and b) portrayed as having known each other long before Steed wandered off into the Ministry, and Emma got married, and reunited some time later, which was the idea Clemens came up with, so that the characters would have a chance to gradually grow into who we know them to be, only the actors would have the chance to add their own takes on the way. It's the best pitch I've seen for a reimaging so far.TheDeeMan wrote:Starting the movie at the earliest days of the Steed/Peel partnership isn't a NEW idea. It's exactly what they tried and failed miserably at in The Avengers movie. It's a great idea because you can build the relationship between the two from scratch, give the actors a chance to make the characters their own, and give us a chance to settle in to these new versions of our old faves. But the idea is anything but new.
I personally could have lived with Fiennes Steed if only Thurman's Emma were equal to the task. It wasn't. Or the story didn't give her much to work with. I think the movie depended on the moviegoer bringing with them a sense of who these characters were SUPPOSED to be, and when we did we found their wasn't much of those characters in what we saw, nor much to like in the movie they gave us.
Dee
