Horus Heresy Casting Thoughts

A re-post of something I sent to a friend for Facebook discussion a while back. Figured I'd stick this somewhere semi-permanent. At this time I wrote this I was sticking to contemporary actors. Which unfortunately means that Sir Christopher Lee is out of the running for one of the roles I had for him. Still, re-posted in its' entirety for the fun of it:

Just so you know, my thoughts on the subject are based almost entirely off the Horus Heresy novels and gamebooks Forgeworld/Black library have been doing of late. The rest of it comes from ideas that amuse me/what I’d do to try and market this series. And has absolutely nothing to do with me going through my own movie collection looking for ideas.

That said, raiding TV shows for actors isn’t quite as low brow as it used to be, so looking through northern European stuff or HBO series might be fruitful for alternatives.

The Emperor – Christopher Lee/John Malkovich

So, aside from the usual generically imposing/unknowable hard man routine the Emperor has going on, he has a curious effect on observers that would largely be a matter for CGI (not that everyone involved isn't getting CGI'd - as much as Christian Bale loves to throw his weight around between roles, he can't make himself 9 ft tall). Namely, his psychic might is such that anyone looking at him has severe trouble telling or recalling what he actually looks like. Or so the story goes - Magnus and Malcador are both in the same league of power but their forms don't shift constantly. Even the Primarchs can't really tell what he looks like for real - the Emperor changes face almost with every breath. Still, when he cares to, he can stabilize his appearance briefly, for some particularly favoured sons/servants. So between that and needing to be imposing, fatherly, unknowable and wrathful all in one weird package, I’m down to 2 actors I think could pull it off really well.

Malcador - John Hurt

The Emperor's right hand man, and not actually a Space Marine. He's human, and almost as psychically powerful as the Emperor. He's also someone even the Primarchs respect (humans commanding that kind of respect are few and far between outside of their own Legions). Looks like the classic "old mediator" style of person. Never raises his voice, always sounds perfectly reasonable even when he's convincing you to commit genocide.

Lion El'Jonson - Lee Pace

Distant sociopath, doesn't understand how people work. Does his own thing for the most part but is otherwise utterly loyal to the Emperor. Produces odd effects when he feels that disobeying the Emperor's commands is the best way to do what needs to be done. Really, Thranduil and Ronan are almost warmups to playing this guy. I figured I'd get at least one elf locked into this cast.

Fulgrim - Zachary Levi/Orlando Bloom

A pretty boy who I think has it in him to be a decent villain. And he seems to enjoy the slightly more swashbuckler roles, so going full tilt into poseur warrior might suit him pretty well. Orlando Bloom could conceivably pull this off as well. Bonus points if he channels his Buckingham role.

Perturabo - Christian Bale

I know you wanted him for Horus, but hear me out. Perturabo is basically a simmering ball of volcanic anger and jealousy hiding below a thin surface of icy calm and great intellect. This guy, when he first met his Legion, performed an old school decimation. Why? Because they weren't considered the greatest Legion. Not because they'd failed in any great way, or been defeated shamefully on the field. But because they weren't better than the other Legions. Tell me you can't see Bale having a great time doing this. Plus, now you should be able to guess my choice for Rogal Dorn without looking...

Jaghatai Khan - Nicholas Tse/Takeshi Kaneshiro

Remember the pirate-warlord from Shaolin? That guy. Sure Ken Watanabe is basically your go to choice for every remotely Asian role in a western film, but I think Tse would be an interesting choice. Kaneshiro's in because I know he can handle action roles, and he's perfectly capable of carrying off the Khan's flightier side in the same breath as his "mournful wisdom" angles. Yeah, it's 40k so that's still overblown. Now that I think of it, Kaneshiro might actually be my no 1 pick for this role. Imagine his performance in House of Flying Daggers, only filtered through 40K insanity.

Leman Russ - Chris Hemsworth

An obvious choice, but Russ' public persona is basically Thor before his banishment. All you really need to do is show that in private, Russ is actually insanely smart in his own Barbarian King way. 15 years ago I would have said Vladimir Kulich, but unfortunately he's a bit long in the tooth to pull this off.

Rogal Dorn - Tom Hardy

What's that? You're reversing the Dark Knight Rises for laughs? Damn right I am! Seriously though, Hardy could easily carry off Dorn's icy nature with ease. Plus, we know he can bounce off Bale pretty well so having him roll around as Dorn would work pretty well. And if we're following the books roughly, he spends most of his time on Terra with the Emperor and Malcador, and I know Hardy could hold his own alongside Hurt and Malkovich.

Konrad Kurze - Ethan Hawke

I'll admit, I'm thinking of some odd choices here. Kurze has got the tortured insanity angle locked down in a big way. If he wasn't dead I would have said Heath Ledger for this one incidentally. Hawke I think has the range to pull this one off as basically Batman with the brakes taken off. Deliberately avoided putting Bale here for that reason.

Sanguinius - Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau

Think about the popular image of Jamie Lannister within Westeros - he's the great golden knight who can do no wrong, minor incident with King Aerys notwithstanding. Strip away all the Game of Thrones incest/evil from him, ramp up the nobility (especially compared to his brothers) and I reckon you'd have a pretty convincing Angel.

Ferrus Manus - Dwayne Johnson

Despite being quite smart, Ferrus was all intense all the time. Johnson could carry that off so very easily. Having someone like Johnson in this role helps keep speculation over the Warmaster role open if you’re going down that path, again for those who aren’t familiar with the Heresy. Plus, this is your "gotcha!" casting for anyone who doesn't know how Istvaan V went...

Angron – Manu Bennett

Been trying to think who could stay in a simmering state of anger all the time, still convey the “ruined angel” side of Angron and bring the intense physicality to the table. Going back to the wrestling community is an obvious choice, but Bennett did pretty well as Deathstroke in Arrow, especially when he was losing his mind. This cast list is seriously heavy company for him though. A better choice might be Karl Urban if Bennett couldn’t rise to the occasion.

Roboute Guilliman – Sullivan Stapleton

Themistokles from 300: Rise of an Empire. 300 is basically about as bombastic as 40K, and Guilliman has already got the faux Greco-Roman thing going on in his Legion. He has the same problem as Manu Bennett though – he's well out of his league in this list. Intriguing alternate – Mads Mikkelson.

Mortarion – Daniel Craig

Remember how unstoppable Bond seems when he gets moving, especially for the first time in Casino Royale? Slow that down, make him a tank, and throw in all the evil that chemical weapons feared even by his brothers can muster. Seems like it’d work.

Magnus the Red – Benedict Cumberbatch

Magnus always had a sneering “I’m better than all of you, I don’t need your guidance” thing going on. Which was, ultimately what led him to his doom. And Cumberbatch has the bluster required to play Magnus when he stops fooling around, so I think this would work pretty well.

Horus – Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt has gotten pretty damn good since he stepped away from his youthful pretty boy roles. More importantly, something I’ve noticed recently is that he has the ability to anchor any film he’s in, and bounce off any actor he needs to work with. Important for the Warmaster, since he’ll be sharing screen time with everyone at some point. Troy showed us he can bring the physicality, and Fury in particular shows off how easily he can bounce off his supporting cast and help their performances. I’m actually struggling to think of a better rounded actor for this part.

Lorgar – Kevin Spacey

Beginning as the most pious, hopeful and loyal of the Emperor’s sons, Lorgar becomes the first to fall to Chaos after the Emperor marks him and his Legion as failures for the crime of worshipping the Emperor as a God. Soon after he becomes the most bitter and hardened of zealots, no longer seeing war as something to be avoided. I think Spacey has the right kind of slimy, false happiness that Lorgar eventually falls into whilst at the same time being able to portray Lorgar when he was still honest.

Vulkan – Anthony Mackie/Colin Salmon

Probably the kindest of the Primarchs, Vulkan needs to be capable of great heroism but also be among the most approachable of his brothers. On a certain level he’s even easier to approach than Sanguinius – he genuinely loves and respects humanity, but doesn’t have the vengeful angel routine going on. I’d probably lean towards Colin Salmon purely on the basis of his voice – he just sounds like he could easily shift between warlord and teacher without missing a beat.

Corax – Luke Evans

Whilst Corax can be vocal enough with his trusted companions, outside of that group he rarely speaks, and then only to make short observations. Luke Evans would slot nicely into that role, with Bard and Dracula almost being casting calls for this role. Plus, as Orlando Bloom’s clone he’s now obligated to show up anywhere Bloom might potentially be cast.

Alpharius/Omegon – Gerard Butler & Paul Bettany

Appropriately enough, this pair are confusing as hell. Adding in that they’re identical twins, this is going to be damned hard work for the makeup/CGI teams no matter what. I picked these two based off Law Abiding Citizen and Legion. Law Abiding Citizen has Butler playing Xanatos Roulette, whilst Legion has Bettany being a hardarse angel. Combine the two performances and I think you’d have an interesting pair. That said, I really can’t think of an absolute lock for this pair. Very much open to ideas here.