The fact is, I'm very bad with coming up with who could play who. They need to look like the characters they play.
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"Uncle Walt" - a new movie (open brainstorming)
- Thread starter mharrington
- Start date
spacemt354
Chili's
Isn't the script usually written before actors and actresses are cast? Why not focus your attention on plot and less on who will play the roles for now -- worry about that later.
Because the fact is, non-American actors playing American characters just kind of bothers me, since it's become a lot more common nowadays. Besides, the basic plot is that Walt is trying to reestablish himself after the war and into the Cold War, and that leads to Disneyland and the twists and turns that went along with it.
spacemt354
Chili's
As I mentioned before...it is hard to 'brainstorm' when you already have planned out what you want and others have to mold their ideas toward yours.
Maybe so, but I'm pretty sure the animation staff had to deal with this kind of handicap when they worked for Disney, or anywhere at all for that matter. For better or worse, this can be pretty common in the real world.
spacemt354
Chili's
Yes, but they are getting paid to do that. This is a volunteer brainstorm thread.
Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
Canadians aren't that much different from Americans. If an actor can look or sound the part, he'd work. Walt even had Canadian roots.
Canada is a different country. It was once a British Commonwealth nation. And yes, Walt had Canadian roots, but he was not Canadian himself.
Besides, non-Americans playing Americans in movies is becoming quite common, and it's kind of a pet peeve of mine. In the first place, there's the concern that their accent may slip.
Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
What accent? Most southern provincial Canadians, like myself, have the same accent as you.
kmbmw777
Well-Known Member
If that happens you can always move on to take #2.
spacemt354
Chili's
What do you mean?
spacemt354
Chili's
He means that if the accent slips, it's a film set, and they do a second take to get it right.
Well, the fact is, I would like to try to keep this as authentic as possible. And in fairness, it's pretty difficult to come up with ideas for a biopic. Unless, of course, it's for fictitious characters.
I want it as authentic and as "pure" as possible. The only reason I went with Norton in the first place was because he and Aaron Eckhart were suggested by @spacemt354. I thought maybe Norton, since he looked relatively the closest to Walt, and spacemt354 replied with finality, "There's your Walt then," as if wanting to not dwell on the matter anymore. As I said before, Canada is a different country. It may not make a lot of difference for you, but it does for me. As I also said before, American characters being played by non-American actors is becoming quite common. I have autism, and I am obsessed with keeping things as "pure" as possible, in this case.
There is this one section on TVTropes.org, which fills in everything. It is called "Fake American": http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeAmerican. Basically, it is a list of various non-American actors who have played American characters. Many of them are British, but they also include Irish, Australians and, yes, Canadians, among others. There have been times where they struggled to maintain the accent in question, causing it to slip, to the point where they don't even bother to try anymore.
Anyway, to me, it doesn't matter how dissimilar Canadian and American accents are from one another, if they are different countries, they are different, period. Maybe you know this already, but even in the provinces where they don't sound dissimilar, Canadian drama schools have spent a lot of time teaching their students on speaking American (it's the little things, like the "o" in "sorry"). In the past, Walt was played by American actors, and I don't intend to break that norm. Also, you also mentioned that Edward Norton had a pronounced New England inflection, but Walt had an inflection, too. Granted, it was Midwestern, but he had one.
The thing is, whenever I do anything in these Imagineering things, I tend to think small, not big, as you guys do.
spacemt354
Chili's
Correct, I don't want to dwell on it anymore because unless you have a specific actor in mind to play Walt - we will be spinning our wheels with something that doesn't have much impact on the screenplay or plot.
If you flesh out your ideas for the plot (more than a few sentences) we can then help you with the film and how it progresses.
The reason I don't have a specific actor in mind is because I have no idea who could play Walt in the time period I'm intending. All I know is, I want it American.
As for the plot, there is only so much you can do with a biopic plot without taking liberties, but the plot is that Walt feels unhappy in his world of animation, which had become compromised by circumstances beyond his control. He drifts into building model trains, which in turns leads him to miniatures and ultimately to building Disneyland, something that is as truly epoch-making in its own way as "Snow White" had been.
In some ways, this movie could be akin to "Saving Mr. Banks" in that Walt and someone else (in this case, his brother and business partner Roy) are at odds with each other over building the park. In reading Disney history, it is shown that Roy was stoutly opposed to the park, thinking that it is too dangerous a gamble. That could be a great spot for tension.
Again, it may not be important to you, but to me, it is just as impacting who will play Walt as the plot itself.
spacemt354
Chili's
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls000956447/
Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Robert Downey Jr., Edward Norton, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack among others could play Walt on this list above.
Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
Question, how is sorry supposed to "sorry" supposed to be pronounced. I pronounce it like "saw-ry" but does Canadian accent stereotype pronounce it as "sow-ry"?