Casting Re-Call: The Fault in Our Stars

Rarely do I take the time to read any books:

I don't usually read my textbooks for school.

It even takes serious discipline for me to read my Bible on a regular basis.

I mean, I like to read for pleasure, but watching movies is so much more efficient, right?...

If you frequent my blog, none if this information comes as a surprise to you. However, you might be surprised to know that I, Tanner Jones, read The Fault in Our Stars about 1.5 years in advance of the film's release date! Personally, I believe I'm entitled to some sort of award or cash prize, but everyone keeps telling me no...

The truth is that I am a huge fan of John and Hank Green's Vlogbrothers channel on YouTube, and, while it may be a bit teenagery of me, I believe you should check out their videos: here. If you did not know, John Green actually wrote The Fault in Our Stars, and, as it gained in popularity, I gained interest in reading the book. Actually, for the record, I read the book before it was such a big deal... I'm just saying...

Not only did I fall in love with The Fault In Our Stars, but, as a result, I have actually read two more of John's books over the past year, An Abundance of Katherines and Looking for Alaska. While Katherines was not the best, Alaska had me hooked, and I would suggest it to any reader looking for a good YA novel. Again, however, I am no book critic, so take these comments with a grain of salt!

Now, when I read a book, I like to picture the characters as whatever actor/actress I believe would/should play them in a film version of said book. I know, that's very un-readerlike and un-imaginative of me, but I really don't care. That's how I roll! And, until The Fault in Our Stars, my methods never caused any problems, because I never read books that were turned into movies (aside from classics). However, because I loved The Fault soooo much and because I read the book before the casting decisions were made, I reeeeeeally wanted the characters to be played by the actors that I had imagined as I read through the book. Of course, as could be predicted from thousands of miles away, not a single one of the actors that I longed for actually made it into the film. At first, I was frustrated. Then, I got over it. Then, the trailer came out, and I started freaking out a bit (in a bad way).

Luckily, after watching the trailer like 10-15 times (I really am excited about this one), I've gained a sense of peace about the actors that were chosen for their respective roles. Nonetheless, I refuse to believe that any of them are ideal! So, in an effort to express my opinions, I have been inspired to create a new segment called Casting Re-Call, where I go back and re-cast an entire film. Hopefully, this post will be well-received, and I can use this same format for other films in the future. I could even re-cast films that were poorly cast, after watching them, which is what I actually planned to do with this post. But, since I've already read The Fault in Our Stars and know who I wanted to see, I figured I would share with you beforehand. So, here it is... my ideal cast for The Fault in Our Stars:

Character: Hazel Grace Lancaster
Actor Chosen: Shailene Woodley
Ideal Actor: Mae Whitman
Why?: Unfortunately, after watching the trailer, Woodley's portrayal of Hazel appears waaay too ditsy and girly. In the book, Hazel was quite opinionated and strong-willed, which I believe could have been amazingly portrayed by Mae Whitman. I think Woodley will do alright, but, ideally, Whitman would have landed the role (although she would not pull near as big of an audience).

Character: Augustus Waters
Actor Chosen: Ansel Elgort
Ideal Actor: Evan Peters
Why?: The character of Augustus Waters is undoubtedly the key to making this story work, at least in my opinion. I'm not going to condemn Ansel Elgort, considering he hasn't had much of an opportunity to be analyzed. However, I do know that Evan Peters would have been AMAZING as Gus! No doubt in my mind! If you've seen American Horror Story: Asylum, that's the Evan Peters I'm talking about! Fortunately, we still got to see Peters in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Unfortunately, The Fault in Our Stars may suffer in his absence.

Character: Isaac
Actor Chosen: Nat Wolff
Ideal Actor: Michael Cera
Why?: Getting Michael Cera to come on board for a minor role would have been a difficult task, and I must say that I do like Nat Wolff. Actually, I watched Wolff a lot in The Naked Brothers Band when I was too old to be watching The Naked Brothers Band. Regardless, I think Michael Cera could have brought a certain likeability to the character (think Juno) that Wolff may not be able to bring.

Character: Patrick
Actor Chosen: Mike Birbiglia
Ideal Actor: Jack McBrayer
Why?: I don't know that much about Mike Birbiglia, but I have seen a few of his sketches, which was enough to make this casting choice completely baffling to me. Now, I haven't seen how the character is portrayed in the film yet, but I think anyone who has ever heard of Birbiglia can see the massive contrast from him to Jack McBrayer. In my opinion, nobody could have pulled this one off like McBrayer, whose comedic range is quite small. That's saying something!

Character: Peter Van Houten
Actor Chosen: Willem Dafoe
Ideal Actor: Hugh Laurie
Why?: Next to the Patrick character, the casting of Willem Dafoe as Peter Van Houten is the second most baffling to me. I thought of many different people who could have played Van Houten (Bradley Whitford, Jim Broadbent, Michael Douglas), but Willem Dafoe just seems a bit too dark. In the end, I settled on Hugh Laurie, who I think would've been absolutely great. You can be the judge when the film hits the theater.

Character: Lidewij Vliegenthart
Actor Chosen: Lotte Verbeek
Ideal Actor: Frances McDormand
Why?: While this role isn't of the utmost importance (made obvious by the only no-name actress on this list), I thought Frances McDormand would have brought with her a lot of unique possibilities. Then again, I'm no casting expert!

Character: Mr. Lancaster (Hazel's Father)
Actor Chosen: Sam Trammell
Ideal Actor: Jeff Garlin
Why?: Jeff Garlin is one of the funniest, most likeable comedic actors that I've ever seen, and Hazel's father is meant to be likeable. Of course, I always like to throw a little humor in with my drama, and I just don't see that coming from Sam Trammell. But, we will see...

Character: Mrs. Lancaster (Hazel's Mother)
Actor Chosen: Laura Dern
Ideal Actor: Kate Walsh
Why?: Kate Walsh's motherly figure from The Perks of Being a Wallflower just seemed perfect for this character as well. While I do love Laura Dern, she is just a little too likeable. Hazel's mother is supposed to be a pretty strong woman, and I just don't get that strength when I look at Dern. And, Jeff Garlin could totally snag Kate Walsh... right???

Thankfully, John Green was happy with the cast (as far as we can tell)...

And, that's all that really matters!

 



So, there it is... My first ever Casting Re-Call. I certainly hope you enjoyed. After the movie, come back, take another look, and give me all of your great opinions! Look for this segment to pop back up in the future. Also, go read all of John Green's books. He is the man!

Arthur Christmas

Expectations:
While I do love Christmas and animation, I must admit that I was not impressed by the trailer for Arthur Christmas. There were just really no laugh out loud moments in the scenes I had seen prior to watching the film, which had me a bit worried. If you haven't realized, 2011 has been a horrific year in the genre of animation, and I really expected Arthur Christmas to be yet another mediocre kids film. We've all seen movies that somehow involved Santa's son and his taking over the job. The storyline has been run into the ground. Nevertheless, I was curious of how funny Arthur would actually be and longing for another new Christmas movie. So I decided to watch Arthur Christmas...

Plot:
As I said in the intro, the story of Santa and his child/children is a bit old and over-used, but Arthur Christmas did a good job of at least making it interesting. Unfortunately, the movie was a bit predictable, but it made up for its predictability in its hilarity. You can't expect animation to have many great plot twists, but funny is a requirement, particularly for children, and that's what Arthur did best. Along with the funny, Arthur Christmas also had a nice, deep story about Christmas and what it should mean to everyone. Also, it was the most believable explanation of Santa Clause I have ever heard. Using one simple thing, they made the story simple, and that thing was technology. This is the Santa story I want to tell my child one day, mostly because it's almost flawless! I think, for you parent's information, the comedy was a bit grown-up. It certainly wasn't vulgar, just probably difficult for really small children to understand.

Best Scene: Basically any scene with an elf in it.

Characters:
The coolest aspect of the entire film was undoubtedly the fact that everybody had a Scottish accent. Now, this may seem a bit funny for the main characters, but the Scottish elves are really what made the difference I believe. Arthur, voiced by James McAvoy, was very goofy and likable. His brother Steve, voiced by Hugh Laurie, was probably the least evil villain in the history of animation. While he certainly was causing the trouble, he never did that greatly bad deed like most animated villains tend to do. I really liked that he was not looked at as an awful person. I think, for the kids that do see the film, there will be a sort of "family should always be loved" feel about Steve, which is very good! Grandsanta, voiced by Bill Nighy, was also freakin hilarious as an old geezer who didn't like technology. He ended up teaching a valuable lesson too! There were really no bad characters in the entire movie, which is very very rare.

Best Character: Bryony, voiced by Ashley Jensen, was certainly the coolest Scottish elf of them all. I really loved how funny the elves were and how many of them there were. Bryony was a gift wrapping expert, and her abilities came in handy as the story went along.

Conclusion:
My expectations of Arthur Christmas were absolutely shattered! This film was amazing, certainly taking the best animated picture of the year, in my book at least. I haven't laughed at a movie this much in a while, and I certainly enjoy laughing. Although I did know the entire storyline after five minutes of watching, I never lost interest. Even with the predictable storyline, the filmmakers did a good job of giving the story a nice, uplifting message that is certainly needed during the holiday season. After thinking about it, I will probably be picking this one up on DVD when it hits stores next year. Even if you don't like Christmas or animation or Scottish people, I promise that you will laugh your butt off at this movie. I give Arthur Christmas 4.01 out of 5 stars and wish you a Very Merry Christmas!