Hannibal Movie

[Divi Filius]

Well now you're just being silly... everyone knows that Romans should always be played by Brits in the movies

 

This doesnt just go for Romans, but for ancient Greeks, Medittereneans played by nordics, or Persian, played by African-Americans mixed with Spanish. What kind of historical movie would you have if the historical figures, whom at one point spoke latin, persian, hittite, greek, sumerian etc. didnt have sophisticated british accents?

 

Personally, I feel this is more of a legacy left from Shakespeare. The need to "britify"(cant say anglicanize as that applies to Americans also) everything to make it seem "classical".

[Pertinax]

Only Very Evil Romans are normally played by British actors, well perhaps very Very Cunning and Devious would be better: Peter Ustinov as Nero, Malcolm McDowell as Caligula -the decent types : Marcus Aurelius was Harrris (Irish) Maximus was Crowe (NZ out of Aussie) and the excellent Quintus was Tomas Arana (dual Nationality USA/Italy). Divi Filius is correct the Britishness is to give the appropriate "classical' and mannered weightiness to such films.(Look at the cast of Vikings-our Scandinavian heroes are American and all the other frosty non-heroic or creepy parts(with meaningful lines) are British). Honourable exceptions are Sir Derek Jacobi, he delivered on the nail as dignified Briton/Roman in both Claudius and Gladiator and Oliver Reed who would have made a very good emperor but probably was in his apotheosis as Proximo.

There was an excellent comment in the expanded version of Gladiator , a point made about dialouge and costumes , Scott sought straightforward dialouge without rhetorical "Romaness" and that he tried to give the Legions the look and feel of Vietnam veterans because war is grungy and ugly.

I say Washington would be good because you can see him thinking, Ralph Fiennes should be someone Roman and Shaloub is an inspired choice because he looks very Carthaginian (Punic roots? lebanese name?).

Enjoyable strand!

[Pantagathus]

Russel Crowe would not be a good actor for a Hannibal movie.

 

THe goods actors would be Clive Owen for Hannibal and Juan Phoneix for Scipio Africanus.

Who agrees?

 

Zeke

 

Clive could pull off Hannibal but I give the big thumbs down on JP for Scipio.

 

It's really difficult to say. Mainly I'm of the school who sides with accuracy so the revisionist use of Denzel bothers me even though he's a tremendous actor. Though I'm sure my father will love it, the simple idea of Vin Diesel doing Hannibal makes me quite sick...

 

When I look at the ancient coin depictions of the Barca's (wide cheekbones, pointy nose, deep inset eyes) I think of a character actor like Gary Sinese; though I wouldn't really want to see him play Hannibal, voice isn't quite right. Mago maybe?

 

As for Scipio, we must remember that he was in his 20's when he first arrived in Spain and that is a very important aspect of the character in my eyes. Considering he looked like this I just don't know who could do it?:

[Pertinax]

good grief! its Rowan Atkinson!

[Primus Pilus]

good grief! its Rowan Atkinson!

 

ROFL Oh dear lord, it is uncanny isn't it.

[Felix Marcellus]

good grief! its Rowan Atkinson!

 

ROFL Oh dear lord, it is uncanny isn't it.

 

 

Hannibal: DMX (yes, the rapper) He can portray a calm, calculating charismatic military leader and a kickass warrior at the same time. He'd have to work on an Arabic type accent to give the perception of being an African based warlord. (And a slightly better actor than Vin Diesel IMHO)

 

Scipio Africanus: Eric Bana (The Hulk, Blackhawk Down, Troy)

 

Hasdrubal: Djimon Hounsou (Four Feathers, Amistad, The Gladiator)

[Pertinax]

Hannibal-Liam Neeson, look at his profile against the coins of that time versus his appearence in batman begins!

[Pantagathus]

Hannibal-Liam Neeson, look at his profile against the coins of that time versus his appearence in batman begins!

 

I can agree with that

[Hamilcar Barca]

How about Woody Allen for Hannibal, Billy Joel for Scipio and Winton Marsalis for Masinissa? They can make a soundtrack of old jazz music.

 

 

This made me laugh. :stupid:

[Plautus]

Thanks! When discussing the Brits as Romans, you left out DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, done in the 1960's . Will Durant was credited as technical advisor. Alec Guiness looked so much like Marcus Aurelius it was alarming. But the film was a riot of accents. Marcus daughter was Sophia Loren with her Italian accent, her brother Commodus was Christopher PLummer who's Canadian, Stephen Boyd was Maximus and James Mason played a Greek. Go Figure.

 

And yes, Scipio does look like Rowan Atkinson! LOL.

[Dominus Rex]

Yep. If you check the Internet Movie Database, IMDB.com, which is a movie industry data site, it's slated for release in 2006. Here is the info from the site:

 

Hannibal (2006)

Directed by Vin Diesel

Writing credits David Franzoni Ross Leckie (novel)

Genre: Adventure / Drama (more)

Plot Outline: Vin Diesel stars as the Carthaginian general who led an elephant-riding battalion across the Alps to attack Rome in the 3rd Century B.C.

Status Updated: 3 October 2003

Note: Since this project is categorized as being in production, the data is subject to change; some data could be removed completely.

Credited cast:

Vin Diesel .... Hannibal Barca

rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Yorick van Wageningen

Country: USA

Language: English

Color: Color

 

 

An "elephant-riding battalion across the Alps"? Not an army? Hah. That makes me laugh.

[phil25]

Not quite on topic, but to give a gloss on the theme of British actors playing Romans in movies.

 

I think there were two motives at work here:

 

* some of the 1950s and 60s "epics" were Zionist in sub-text - the "ethnic" vocal break between heroes and villains helped to make the point;

 

* the films were aimed primarily at US audiences, so heroes and characters the producers wanted the audience to identify with, were given familiar American accents, while their enemies and villains were played by actors with intelligible but slightly "alien" accents.

 

Add to this that from before WWII, US audiences had been accustomed to villains being played by British actors - Basil Rathbone (Flynn's Robin Hood, Captain Blood etc); Claude Rains (Robin Hood again; Phantom of the Opera remake; the shift Vichy police chief in Casablanca). C B DeMille in his epics had also tended to use British talent as the evil characters - George Sandars in Samson.

 

I suspect that, as villains are notoriously the more "interesting" characters in drama, with subtle nuances etc, classically trained British theatrical knights and others were seen as better placed to play such parts; while home-grown US "method actors" (not entirely) with a more naturalistic style, were more sympathetic as the hero - Kirk Douglas as Spartacus; Heston as Ben Hur; Mature as Demetrius.

 

Was there also a connection between the imperial Britain that was the world's view to the 60s, and casting. British accents were redolent of authority, tyranny (perhaps) autocracy, aristocracy, government. US accents were connate with revolution (1776 and all that); democracy; populism.

 

Just some thoughts that came to me.

 

Note that I don't think any of this applies today. The Anglophile tendency of the US up to the 50s, which meant that English-sounding/appearing actors and actresses like Liz Taylor, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, etc were so often cast (associated with Ivy League east-coast influence and C19th attitudes to class too) has now entirely gone.

 

Brits are now cast, as I see it, because the UK is associated with strong rulers like Margaret Thatcher, and US perspectives see the britsih as tyrants in Ireland - hence brits like Jeremy Irons, Ben Cross, Alan Rickman being cast in thrillers etc so often. The heroes and the admired today would be black, hispanic and ethnic in origin - as it seems is evinced by the new Hannibal movie!!

 

Phil

[Winitri Amazigh]

King Massinissa is a berber and he's white, like his descendants the Kabyles of Algeria.

 

Here is a bust of him:

 

 

He was not black just like Hannibal, who is Berbero-phoenician AKA Kabylo-lebanese.

 

If your don't understand look at Zinedine Zidane a Kabyle.

 

North Africa is white since humanity's dawn.

Edited August 10, 2007 by Winitri Amazigh

[P.Clodius]

King Massinissa is a berber and he's white, like his descendants the Kabyles of Algeria.

 

Here is a bust of him:

 

 

He was not black just like Hannibal, who is Berbero-phoenician AKA Kabylo-lebanese.

 

If your don't understand look at Zinedine Zidane a Kabyle.

 

North Africa is white since humanity's dawn.

I know you're right, mostly, but we've been over this before I think. Modern racial sensibilities didn't apply back then and were irrelevant.

[Winitri Amazigh]

[

I know you're right, mostly, but we've been over this before I think. Modern racial sensibilities didn't apply back then and were irrelevant.

 

I'm a descent of numide (riffian berber) and I will like that one carries out the most exact movie possible concerning the berbero-Roman culture.

 

While wanting to flatter the afro American community, the scenario writers put side the million of descendants of this people which are always there and which always speak the language of the old numidians which is the Berber.

 

In north africa there is two peoples, arabs and the old berbers.

 

In this picture it's me.