Archive for September 24th, 2010

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 7: Dream Boys

September 24th, 2010 by Susie

Morpheus’ realm is called the Dreaming.  It is where we all go when we dream.  It contains all the people and things that we dream of.  The setting and populace shift constantly.  However there are some fixed (or as fixed as things get in the Dreaming) characters, they are known as major dreams.  They are part of our collective unconscious.

Possibly the most important is Lucien (at least in his role).  He is in charge of the library of the Dreaming.  It contains every book ever dreamed of, which includes books that were written, and books that were only ever written in the author’s head. That spy thriller you wrote two chapters of, lost interest in, then forgot it existed?  It’s there.  Want to read the version of Tale of Two Cities where Darnay gets guillotined, and Carton assumes his identity and gets the girl?  It’s there.

Lucien is Dream’s most trusted subject.  He is fastidious, loyal, and a touch snarky.  He is the Dreaming’s butler, professor, CEO, and nanny, all rolled into one.  He is tall, rail thin, with rust colored hair that sticks up in tufts.  He wears small wire framed glasses, and formal, slightly Victorian style suits.

My choice for the part isn’t actually an actor, and isn’t a perfect match physically, but he reminds me of Lucien in the way he carries himself.  Tim Gunn.

I could probably come up with an actor, that could do the job very well, but I like Tim.  He is my choice.  He feels like Lucien to me.

Next up is Cain, of Cain and Abel.  Aka the first murderer.  That is who he is more than the Cain of the bible, though he is that as well.  He is the first being that came into existence that took another being’s life.  When the story of Cain and Abel came into existence it was about him, and so he became Cain.

He is loud and aggressive, and sarcastic.  He is constantly going through the cycle of seeking out his brother for company, finding some flaw in him to pick at, going into a rage, and killing him.  Over and over again.  It is as much his function, as it is Destiny’s to observe it.  Despite his unpleasantness, I rather enjoy his scenes, when he isn’t killing Abel.  It helps that his victim, always gets up again (yet that also makes it worse, it’s complicated).  And his sardonic commentary on the action is pretty funny.

He is drawn as a tall man with brown hair, that sticks up in two points to give the illusion of horns (this hairdo is also known as the wolverine).  He has a beard, and dresses in shabby brown suits.

I would cast Christopher Eccleston as Cain.

He can play the manic energy, and the wit.  He also can work a homicidal glint in his eyes.  By the by, this cast list by the time it’s done, will include a lot of people from Whedonverse shows, a few more cast members from Skins, and likely Eccleston will not be the only Time Lord.

There needs to be an Abel to go with our Cain.  Abel is the first murder victim, to Cain’s first murderer.  He too is stuck in a cycle.  He can’t get away from his brother.  He desperately wants them to get along, but he knows  the inevitable outcome.  He is timid, and a stutterer, and has a tender heart, which he knows he has to conceal from Cain.  He is not capable of standing up for himself.  He is both adorably sweet, and cringe inducingly pathetic.

He is a short, stout man, with black hair, in a Wolverine cut of less prowess, and a goatee.  He too wears shabby suits, in blue.

I had a two top contenders for the part, both specialize in playing sad little men.  Ricky Gervais, and Paul Giamatti.  Gervais looks more like the character, but I think I’m going with Giamatti.  Gervais’ brand of SLM usually is not aware of how pathetic he is, while Abel knows all too well.  A Gervais character that is self aware loses some of the necessary patheticness.  On top of that Gervais has recently lost a great deal of weight, and looks too good to play Abel anymore.  Giamatti can do a self aware SLM, that is still a sad-sack.

(I had a lot of trouble finding pictures of Abel, and could only come up with this one of him recently murdered.  He does recover I promise.)

Next up, Angels, Demons, and the devil himself.