by Jinzo Ningen » Sun Dec 21, 2014 11:08 am
I am not opposed to a "name" actor being brought in to lend credibility or draw a larger audience - as long as this person is made to explicitly understand before a single frame of film is shot that they are there to support Godzilla and the monster action and that GODZILLA is the 'star' of the movie, NOT the human actor!!!!!!!! In this I feel that Neeson would be a fairly good choice. He's done genre stuff like 'Darkman' and the recent 'Titans' films, so he's not "above" such material. Certainly he has the gravity and intesity to make even the most outlandish, impossible circumstances seem like totally believable life or death stuff. That's a crucial element in a film series such as Godzilla. (Besides, since the 2 'Titans' films were done by Legendary they likely have his name on speed dial and have previously established a positive working relationship.)
Honestly, I'd much prefer the casting of top-shelf character actors in these films rather than 'stars,' since the prima donna crap can get in the way of what really counts, which is the best possible movie, not the best way for a 'star' to get his or her mug the most screen time, i.e. the insistance of RDJ and Tobey Maguire to have The Mask come off more the half the time so that they get their uncovered puss front & center for max exposure. Ugh. Give me someone like Gene Hackman or Gary Oldman, or an excellent modern example would be Jake Gyllenhaal. These guys disappear in the service of the part, inhabiting their roles completely, and the end result is a fully-realized character who's part of the movie rather than a "movie star" that's just acting in a movie.