Posted by Kirk in Actors, Actress, Adaptations, Casting, General News, Movies, Remakes | 10 comments
Five Actors Better Suited for the CONAN Villain Role than Stephen Lang
The man rocks a mean coffee mug. That, we cannot take away from the grizzled, bleach blonde Stephen Lang, who thumped Sam Worthington a time or two in AVATAR. I guess that makes the guy suited to play the villain role, because news broke today over at Latino Review that Lang has been offered the part of the heavy in the Marcus Nispel-directed reworking of CONAN.
What say us? Well, before we give our own, person opinion, let’s give a description of who the people behind CONAN were looking for.
Khalar Singh is in his 40s to 50s, Asian or Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Mongol, Turkish, or Persian, open to all ethnicities; commanding in size and manner, a warlord and formidable warrior, brilliant, cruel, weathered and tanned by the many campaigns he has waged and won. He is driven in his quest to find the Queen of Acheron and has been building an empire to do so.
Okay, Lang is 57, and he seems like the kind of man who could easily be driven to build an empire under the bones of his crushed enemies. He also seems like to hear the lamentations of their women, but that’s another story altogether. What really cries foul in this whole decision and screams of reactive cinema is the second line of description on Singh. Asian or Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Mongol, Turkish, or Persian.
Stephen Lang is from New York City, and, were it not for the $2.5 billion AVATAR has made worldwide, his name wouldn’t even be in the running for the CONAN Role. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is probably the worst example of reactive film making I’ve seen in recent memory. Okay, Michael Bay using “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” to show off the new Camaro in TRANSFORMERS probably beats it, but this is right up there.
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with Lang. He is a fine actor, and AVATAR along with PUBLIC ENEMIES last year proved he has what it takes to show off his bad ass side. However, there are fine Asian and Middle Eastern actors out there who would probably be more suited to play the role of a man whose surname is Singh. Besides, we want Lang free and clear if they ever decide to bring Cable into the X-MEN movies.
Here are just five of those suitable choices:
Tadanobu Asano
Where he is from: Yokohama, Japan
Where you know him: ICHI THE KILLER, SURVIVE STYLE 5+, MONGOL
Personally, who I think would be the ideal choice is a man whose move to high-profile, Hollywood fare I’ve been championing since first seeing him going crazy in Takashi Miike THE KILLER. Asano has what it takes to play villainous, charming, and absolutely insane. Plus, as we’ve seen from most of his movies, he has what it takes to stand up to someone like Conan physically. He’s young. Asano only turns 38 this year, but, as proven in MONGOL, he wears the weathered look well. Of course, worry not if you’re a fan of Asano. He can next be seen in Kenneth Branagh’s THOR, and that’s just about enough to make up for him not getting this part.
Oded Fehr
Where he is from: Tel Aviv, Israel
Where you know him: THE MUMMY (’97), THE MUMMY RETURNS, RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPE and EXTINCTION
Okay, maybe not the best choice when it comes to acting ability or in regards to filmography pedigree. Oded Fehr hasn’t made the best choices in his career, and one has to look at his work on Showtime’s “Sleeper Cell” to see the best acting the man has to offer. Regardless, he is quite cool, and could definitely teach Jason Momoa a thing or two in the charm department. He is 39, so that puts him just outside the casting’s age requirement. Of course, they put the offer out to Stephen Lang. Their requirements are flimsy at best.
Hiroyuki Sanada
Where he is from: Tokyo, Japan
Where you know him: THE LAST SAMURAI, SUNSHINE, SPEED RACER, “Lost”
Sanada should have broken out a long time ago. It’s been seven years since THE LAST SAMURAI, and it is still easy to reflect how memorable he was in the small but effective part of Ujio. Since then, he’s had bit parts here and there, and is more than likely going to achieve some notoriety with his turn as Dogen on this final season of “Lost.” Of course, Sanada has been acting in film since his tiny part in 1974′s THE EXECUTIONER. Since then, he has put on around 70 films to his credit. He would be perfect for the part of Singh. At 49, he’s in the perfect age range for the part, he’s very cool, and he has proven time and time again he has what it takes both in the acting department and the physical department to bring the villainous role to bad ass life. Oh, you aren’t sure about the physical side? Just watch the first 10 minutes of this week’s “Lost”. You will be proven wrong.
Choi Min-sik
Where he is from: Seoul, South Korea
Where you know him: OLDBOY, LADY VENGEANCE
Gotta be honest here, I only know Choi Min-sik from three films, the two mentioned above and TAE GUK GI, but only one of these roles proves he has what it takes for the Singh part in CONAN. Granted, there probably aren’t any Ace Hardwares anywhere in Cimmeria, so it may be hard for Singh to get his hands on a claw hammer. Nonetheless, I’m sure Min-sik could find other, more dangerous weapons just as suitable as he found that damned hammer in OLDBOY. Plus, he took on around 50 or 60 guys in OLDBOY and made it look convincing that he was winning. I’m sure he would have no issues at all with making Momoa look like a chump.
Shohreh Aghdashloo
Where she is from: Tehran, Iran
Where you know her: THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, “24″, “FlashForward”
Okay, I know what you’re thinking. This is ridiculous and I must be smoking something very pure if I think Shohreh Aghdashloo would make a decent villain(ess) in the upcoming CONAN movie. But think of how interesting and different it would be for Marcus Nispel and crew to rewrite the character and make it a female antagonist who has, somehow, built an empire around her shoulders.
Sean Hood was recently brought in to do a fresh rewrite on the screenplay, anyway, and, while he isn’t the last bastion for groundbreaking screenwriting, he could have a few tricks up his sleeve. Sure, there probably wouldn’t be any hand-to-hand action between Singh and Conan if this were to come to pass, but that’s what henchmen are for, right? I say screw conformity and go with the freshest and most interesting (not to mention about as distanced from “reactive” film making as you can get) choice imaginable. Role with Aghdashloo as Singh. If for nothing else, I just want to see what she looks like with bleach blonde hair.
CONAN is set to begin filming later this year.
Let's talk about how pathetic it is for Hollywood to still think it is ok to describe a character as "Asian or Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Mongol, Turkish, or Persian, open to all ethnicities." None of the aforementioned ethnicities are even remotely interchangeable, the film industry should have progressed beyond this by now. Offering the role to a white guy is the icing on the cake. Marcus Nispel needs to read Orientalism and get a clue.
What about Naveen Andrews?
Who says that South Korean Choi comes from North Korea? Also.. Seoul is the capital of South Korea. Please revise.
Corrected. Sorry about that.
Congratulations Kirk, you have officially put more thought into this godawful production than Donnelly and Oppenheimer, the idiots who wrote this mess of cliches and scribbles calling itself a script.
In addition to Khalar Singh being an original character not based on any Howard creation, it's insulting. Singh is a name as deeply ingrained in Sikh religion and culture as a name could be. It would be like calling a Cimmerian "O'Hartigan" or "MacDonald," or an Aquilonian "Caesar" or "Romulus," except worse because of the religious insensitivity.
Howard was very concerned with historical accuracy, and part of the reason he created the Hyborian Age and Conan was so he could write historical stories without worrying about accuracy, since he didn't have the time or the financial situation to research to his satisfaction. The Sikh characters in his historical stories were always noble, heroic and courageous, even the bad guys. Lal Singh was one of his first heroes, a giant, affable Sikh warrior. Calling the brutal, sadistic, evil villain in a Conan film "Singh" is a slap in the face to Howard's appreciation for Sikhs, not to mention cheapening his work. Casting the LAST person on the world who I could possibly imagine being a Sikh just says it all. A shame, because I like Stephen Lang, and I'd hate for this to be for him what Dungeons & Dragons was to Jeremy Irons.
Rochelle: you're absolutely right about Hollywood "sensitivity." It's like the casting call for Ukafa, which calls for "Africans, or African-Americans." What, are black Brits not allowed? Black Canadians? Black Australians? Interestingly, they also make a distinction between Middle-Eastern and Caucasian… despite Middle-Eastern BEING Caucasian.
"…they also make a distinction between Middle-Eastern and Caucasian… despite Middle-Eastern BEING Caucasian. "
As someone of Middle-Eastern descent I do NOT consider myself and have never referred to myself as Caucasian, nor do I know any Middle-Easterner who does so.
When using labels like that people have to keep in mind that it was Europeans who came up with the term Caucasian and then THEY decided who would be included underneath this term, they never asked the people they were labeling – then again, they never do. It is also interesting to note, when studying history, that they never before considered themselves in any way related to any people outside of Europe. Europeans only included Middle-Easterners and North Africans underneath the term Caucasian when they found out that the oldest and first civilizations in the world were located in these regions – they didn't do it because they honestly thought we were all alike (you've got to be stupid or delusional to look into Tut or Hatshepsut's face and think so) , they did it because they wanted to be linked, in some way, to those first civilizations.
I wasn't meaning to get into the politics and semantics of the use of the word Caucasian: I was looking at it from the point of view of the casting sheet. If they were being specific in their use of the term Caucasian as referring to, say, the people of the Caucasus Mountains, then that would be one thing. However, in different parts of the casting call, they are clearly using the word "Caucasian" as shorthand for "white Northern European," which is incorrect from every angle available.
Ergo, by my saying "Middle-Easterners are Caucasian" (and regardless of the origin of the phrase, that is how Europeans use it), I'm using that definition. In addition, just because Middle-Easterners never refer to themselves as Caucasian doesn't automatically disqualify the term from use. Spanish people refer to Scots as Escocesa, but should they not call them that word just because no Scot I know refers to themselves as "Escocesa"?
Nonetheless, there is a connection between "white people" and people of Middle-eastern descent, in that they are both Indo-Europeans (which is really what the broader term Caucasian alludes to, and is supported by genetics). This was the point I was trying to make. As well as all this, the casting call makes a distinction between Asians, Middle-Easterners, Central Asians, Mongols, Turks, and Persians. As if Turks and Persians aren't "Middle-Easterners."
As an aside: an empire-building female conqueror would be awesome, and straight from Robert E. Howard's worldview. Salome of "A Witch Shall Be Born" springs to mind, though she was thwarted before she could start empire-building. Nakari of "The Moon of Skulls", too, especially notable in that she was black.
Oded Fehr is 39 years old.
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