Looking back at the first time I did a fancast for this (see here: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fan_fic/news/?a=38204), I feel that it was a bit too "unwieldy" in how I was attempting to juggle both a live-action film idea AND an animated one. So with that, I've decided to rework it and do a solely animated project, that uses cast members from both ideas. So now I present to you: my Danger Girl Animated Film Fancast, REDUX.
For a refresher--in 1998, through Image Comics via their Cliffhanger! imprint, J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell gave us the 8-issue miniseries Danger Girl (ironically a year after the first Austin Powers film came out in theaters and Lara Croft first graced game consoles everywhere). The series lampoons and parodies many espionage elements of pop culture, such as the James Bond novels and films, along with many others (a trend with its roots in the 1967 Casino Royale, and the TV series Get Smart). Think James Bond meets Charlie's Angels meets Indiana Jones, with the Bond Girls being the stars of the story. Actually, even better, think of it as "What if National Lampoon made a spy film?"
The spy spoof-a-rama, which went on to have numerous mini's and cross over with Batman, Army of Darkness, and most recently G.I. Joe, focuses on Abbey Chase, a Lara Croft/Indiana Jones-esque adventuress and archaeologist who is recruited into Danger Girl, a U.N.-sanctioned spy agency run by former MI6 member Deuce and made up of almost-exclusively female operatives. When she gets recruited, she must help them in their mission to recover three ancient artifacts--a helmet, a sword, and a shield--that contain the power to conquer the world. They must also keep them out of the hands of the evil Hammer Empire, a paramilitary organization made up of ex-KGB operatives and Neo-Nazis.
I first read this comic a couple of years ago, and MAN I loved it as much as I laughed at it. Campbell and Hartnell really know how to blend action and suspense with sheer comedy, right up there with the first Austin Powers film. I don't know HOW they did it. Anyway, I felt the same way when I did my first fancast, and I still feel that way now. Anyway, for my reprise fancast, here's how the film would work:
-DVD cover art by Campbell--I mean, who else should be the one to do it?
-Direction by Lauren Montgomery
-Voice direction by Andrea Romano
-Art/animation style based on Campbell's, with a bit of Chris Madden (the artist for the most recent mini, "Danger Girl: Revolver").
-Opening theme song written and sung by "Weird Al" Yankovic, as a parody of almost any James Bond opening theme and of the style of Burt Bacharach (as nod to the 1967 "Casino Royale" film).
And now, our beloved voice cast for this reprise:
Danger Girl members
Yvonne Strahovski as the voice of Abbey Chase
Chase is a Lara Croft/Indiana Jones-style adventuress and an ancient history scholar who acts as a bit of a Robin Hood. She gets recruited by Danger Girl with the task of helping them locate the artifacts before the Hammer Empire gets them.
I stand by my choice of the former leading lady of the dearly-departed "Chuck", and I would love to see (or in this case, hear) her make audiences laugh a little as she takes a potshot at the very role she once played.
Rachael Taylor as the voice of Sydney Savage
Savage is a former Australian Special Ops soldier with a skill with the bullwhip and a thing for haute couture fashion. She's the only one to rebuff the advances of Johnny Barracuda.
Taylor I know could pull off an Australian accent, AND Sydney's character--she WAS British in the first Transformers film...Plus, I thought that in the Charlie's Angels reboot from a couple of years back, she did play her character as the more 'free-spirited' one.
Lacey Chabert as the voice of "Silicon" Valerie Evans
Valerie is the team's resident tech head who wants to someday be a field agent; she's also the youngest member and a teenage prodigy that graduated from Oxford at the top of her class, and has a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Barracuda.
Chabert is still my top pick for this character's voice. Zatanna in Young Justice proves it, Eliza Thornberry proves it, and more recently, the Avenger known as Quake proves it.
Darrell Hammond as the voice of Deuce
A former MI-6 agent who bears a striking resemblance to an aged Sean Connery, he is the leader of Danger Girl and can still kick some tail.
Again, Hammond's "wickedly ridiculous" impersonation of Sean Connery (whom Deuce is visually based on) is my reason for casting him.
*Zach Braff* as the voice of Johnny Barracuda
Johnny is a handsome, pun-spouting CIA agent who helps the team with their mission. He is also essentially an American Austin Powers because of his being a ladies' man with a huge ego and libido to match, who can't go two steps without multiple women swooning over him. He also flirts with Abbey and Sydney throughout the entire mission.
*Well, MrBlueSky managed to get me to think about an alternative to my original pick, Ashton Kutcher, and I think yeah, Braff would have the right comedic chops and voice to play someone like Johnny. As Stewie Griffin once said, Braff reminds us that a sitcom doesn't have to make you laugh.
Diedrich Bader as the voice of Secret Agent Zero
Zero is a mercenary Deuce recruits to infiltrate and later aid the team against the Hammer Empire. He's a parody of the GI Joe character Snake Eyes, and unlike the Joe, he can speak. He also has a yet-to-be-confirmed connection to Abbey (her father, perhaps? He does carry a picture of a younger Abbey with him...).
I stand by choosing Bader because I just kept picturing his Batman (from The Brave and the Bold) voice for this character.
Curtis Armstrong as the voice of Duncan
Duncan is Abbey's contact and info broker who also has had some dealings with Deuce in the past. He provides intel, info, and occasionally, a rescue party.
I thought that Armstrong would be a great voice for a character like Duncan--he's almost like Snot from American Dad if he put his nerdy skills towards a job like Duncan's.
Famke Jannsen as the voice of Natalia Kassle
Kassle is an ex-KGB agent who is also the team's former field leader/trainer and skilled with knives, who turns out to be a double-agent for the Hammer Empire (*SPOILER ALERT*).
I stayed with Jannsen as I would think she'd jump at the chance to spoof her old role as Xenia from Goldeneye.
Notice I put Kassle at the very end of the good guys, since she's a pretty good transition to the bad guys of our animated film....
The Hammer Empire
Terrence Stamp as the voice of the Hammer Leader
The "Fuhrer" of the Hammer Empire, a former Nazi soldier during World War II who wants to use the artifacts to give him great power to rule the world.
I decided to use Stamp (who was my live-action pick for Hammer Empire mad scientist Kharnov Von Kripplor) as a nod to his portrayal of Siegfried in the 2008 "Get Smart" movie with Steve Carell. And speaking of the good doktor...
(Note: The powered-up/possessed version of the Hammer Leader would be voiced by Fred Tatasciore.)
Dwight Schultz as the voice of Doctor Kharnov Von Kripplor
The resident mad scientist of the Hammer Empire, he is insane "and proud of it".
I went with yes, H.M. Murdock himself, because he's played a couple of mad doctors before: he voiced a stereotypical version of Dr. Frankenstein in "Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein" and Dr. Animo on "Ben 10" and its subsequent successors.
Daran Norris as the voice of Major Maxim
The field commander of Hammer Empire's troops with superhuman strength and his face hidden by a mask, he got his power via a serum created by Dr. Kripplor.
I originally (and stand by) picked Norris because of his 'wickedly ridiculous' Arnold Schwarzenegger impression as Jorgen Von Strangle on "The Fairly Odd-Parents".
Andrew Kishino as the voice of Assassin X
The Hammer Empire's resident ninja master, he's a parody of the GI Joe character Storm Shadow, who has a deep-seated rivalry with Secret Agent Zero. Unlike Storm Shadow, he's blind.
I picked Kishino as he would then be spoofing his turn as Storm Shadow on G.I. Joe: Renegades.
Danny DeVito as the voice of "the Peach"
A former Russian weapons dealer who isn't seen without his black trench coat and his favorite fruit in hand (I'll give you three guesses), he is tasked by the Hammer Empire with retrieving one of the artifacts (the shield) and trading it at a swanky party in the Swiss Alps. I went with DeVito because I wanted to see if he could both do a Russian accent, and channel some of the evil of his old role of the Penguin in a more comedic light.
Neil Patrick Harris as the voices of Cain and Abel
The twin grandsons of the Hammer Empire's leader, they host the party in the Alps and do the exchange with the Peach.
I went with Harris because of a couple of his role as the lead on "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog", and two of his voiceover roles: the Music Meister on "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" and Dr. Blowhole on "The Penguins of Madagascar". I would love to see him channel a bit of Jack Lemmon's other character from the 1965 comedy "The Great Race".
Luis Guzman as the voice of Kid Dynamo
A dwarf enforcer for the Hammer Empire with a grudge against Johnny Barracuda, who uses golden extendable arms as weapons.
Guzman was my live-action choice, but I could see him voicing the guy as well, especially if they used a special mike to "shrink" his voice.
(Note: his cybernetic partner, Mr. Giggles, would be voiced by Corey Burton.)
Seth MacFarlane as the voice of Donavin Conrad
Despite being a stereotypical aristocratic villain, he's a bit of a cartoonish buffoon putting on an obvious charade. He wears a toupee and lost his right eye to Abbey, and tries to get back from her a golden skull (which he had stolen earlier).
I stand by picking MacFarlane as I could picture him voicing Conrad with, let's say, a less-gravelly version of his Carter Pewterschmidt voice from Family Guy.
That just leaves for us...the other characters
Danny McBride as the voice of Eddie Owen
A Texas-born game designer who created a popular online fantasy RPG that Valerie plays, he also possesses one of the artifacts (the helmet) and ends up accompanying the team when it gets stolen in an ambush by the Hammer troops.
McBride started out in television, so it wouldn't be a stretch for him to voice a character in a DTV film, and I imagine he would absolutely nail the Southern nerd that Owen is.
Christian Slater (in a vocal cameo) as the voice of Agent Falcon
A fellow agent of Johnny's who ends up captured, experimented on, and killed by Dr. Kripplor, right in front of Johnny's and Sydney's eyes.
I originally picked Slater because of a spy-spoof character he voiced on The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, named Jet Fusion.
Additional Voices
-Grey DeLisle as a Hammer Kommandant (seen in the ambush) and a few ski girls (who swoon over Johnny).
-Kevin Michael Richardson as one of Donavin's goons and a few Hammer troopers.
-James Arnold Taylor and Dee Bradley Baker as Hammer communications troopers, Donavin's goons, and a few Hammer foot soldiers.
And that is it for this rewrite! Hope you enjoyed this, all the way to the end. To thank you for taking the time to look at this, allow me to leave you with the sounds of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (featuring Mike Redway), as they play the theme tune to 1967's "Casino Royale":