Fancast: Gears of War
Hope runs deep
Gears synopsis
The game focuses on the troops of Delta Squad as they fight to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from a relentless subterranean enemy known as the Locust Horde. The game doesn't focus on backstory though there is alot to work with in the expanded universe. Ideally, there would be cuts in the film that flashback to emergence day and Marcus' relationship with his father, and other bits that can add emotional depth to the story like Dom and his wife Maria. There is also a certain mystery to the game that stems from the locust queen having an unknown history with Marcus' father, Adam Fenix.
Delta Squad
Marcus Fenix - Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy: I pride myself in knowing that just after watching Inception I cast him as Eddie Brock in my Spidey cast, so I was one of the first people to find this guy perfect for cbm roles. He bulked up considerably for Bronson so that won't be a problem and his voice can have that gruffness to it when he speaks low.
Marcus Fenix: The main protagonist of the series, he is first introduced as an inmate, serving a prison sentence for abandoning his military post in order to make a vain attempt to save his father, Adam Fenix. Fenix is noted for having a famed military career, during which he played a notable part in the Pendulum Wars. Despite this, Fenix is left for dead in a dilapidated penitentiary, until Dominic rescues him at the beginning of Gears of War.
Dom Santiago - Franky G
Franky G: I first saw him in Saw 2 where I thought he looked a hell of alot like Dom. I posted him as Dom in one of the earliest casting threads in an ign forum way back and when I saw a picture of him, I remembered and was inspired to do the whole cast. So thank him for this.
Dom: Dom has a close friendship with Marcus, his longtime comrade. Like Marcus, he is a seasoned veteran with a strong sense for family, and often thinks of his wife Maria, whom he attempts to locate in Gears of War 2. They lost their two children, Sylvia and Benedicto, on E-day, and, four years later, when that day's trauma became too much, Maria disappeared. He finds his wife eleven years later, imprisoned by the Locust, and is forced to make the hard decision to euthanize her because she has been tortured beyond recovery. Before E-day he lost his brother Carlos Santiago during the battle of Aspho Fields.
Augustus 'Cole Train' Cole - Lester Speight
Lester Speight: I love this guy, he's severely under-rated. I first caught him on Wife and Kids, which he was hilarious on, and as Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. And this pretty much has to be a given since he voiced him in the game.
Cole: He is often recognized by characters in the game for his previous career as a "thrashball" defensive lineman. Cole possesses a vibrant and often outspoken character, and is extremely enthusiastic in combat. Cole, along with Baird, is a member of Alpha squad, but joins Delta squad during the events of Gears of War, and later during the events of Gears of War 2, after saving Marcus, Dom and Carmine from an ambush attack.
Damon Baird - Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce: One of my favorite actors, he always gives a strong performance. I believe his most recent role was in The Kings Speech, which he was great in, but his stand-out roles were in L.A. Confidential and Memento.
Baird: A cynical and reluctant soldier, whose main strengths lie in his intelligence. During the events of Gears of War, he appears as a sarcastic soldier, that takes and makes jokes. He is initially a member of Alpha squad, but is folded into Delta squad. He is highly knowledgeable about the Locust Horde and, for this reason, he is a great asset to his squad.
Minh Young Kim - Daniel Dae Kim
Daniel Dae Kim: Perhaps best known for his roles on Lost and Hawaii 5-0, Kim is another under-utilized talent. His character on Lost was probably my favorite and his acting is always A+.
Kim: Minh Kim is a strictly by-the-book soldier, who closely follows the COG's rules and code of conduct. Early in Gears of War, Hoffman entrusts Kim to lead Fenix and the rest of Delta squad to locate Alpha squad. They succeed in finding Alpha squad, but fail to acquire extraction. Kim is separated from his comrades during an intense fire-fight with the Locust when awaiting retrieval. While attempting to hold off the Locust ambush from the rest of Delta squad, Kim is killed by General RAAM close to the end of the first act.
Carmine Brothers - Topher Grace
Topher Grace: Most known for his role as Eric Foreman on the ever-hilarious That 70's Show, Grace is slowly trasitioning to film. His voice is soft enough to pull this off, and it was his role in Predators that truly convinced me he could play a pussy-cat.
Carmine: Only two of the three Carmine brothers have appeared in the games so far and both have untimely deaths in the games. The third brother so far has been described as being more badass than his two other brothers.
Tai Kaliso - Mark Dacascos
Mark: Mark is an actor of hawaiian descent who is best known for his character on Iron Chef America and for playing Eric Draven in the Crow series on tv.
Tai: Tai Kaliso is a spiritual and meditative warrior from a tradition of honour-bound fighters, who fought with Fenix during the Pendulum Wars. He views the war from a spiritual standpoint, which often confuses the other soldiers. Nonetheless, he is still well-liked by his fellow squad members.Delta squad later discovers Tai inside of a Beast Barge, where he has undergone severe torture. Marcus, unaware of the extent of the psychological damage Tai has suffered, hands Tai a shotgun to help fight the Locust, but he uses it to commit suicide.
Other COGs
Richard Prescott - Jon Hamm
Jon Hamm: I first saw Jon in Mad Men, the fantastic show on AMC. He kicked ass in The Town and is best known on the site for being a fan favorite for supes.
Richard Prescott: Richard Prescott is the chairman and dictatorial military leader of the COG who has mandated several sweeping authoritarian powers to the government to control the remaining human population and fight off the Locust Horde in the wake of E-Day. These actions have made him unpopular with those who feel the COG has overstepped its bounds in the name of security, but Prescott has dedicated himself to the survival of humanity, whatever the cost may be.
Victor Hoffman - Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck - Nicknamed 'The man every other man wanted to be' for his role on Magnum P.I., Tom is a classic actor whos 'stache is just as famous as he is. Unfortunately, he'd have to shave it off to be the spitting image of Hoffman.
Hoffman: Victor Hoffman commands Fenix and Delta squad. He frequently communicated with Delta squad throughout Gears of War. Early in Gears of War, Hoffman is reluctant to reinstate Fenix into the military. However, given the COG's dwindling number of armed forces, he allows Fenix to fight. Hoffman eventually grows to trust Fenix; Hoffman allows him to lead Delta squad, and ultimately helps save him from falling from a King Raven in the game's end sequence.
Anya Stroud - Emily Rose
Emily Rose: I personally know her best from her voice work on Uncharted, but shes established herself in roles such as ER, Haven and Jericho. And shes gorgeous too.
Anya: Anya Stroud is the dispatch girl of Delta Squad. She is usually detailing location information through radio for Marcus, Dom, or Kim — particularly where to go next, if the Hammer of Dawn is online or whether hostiles are en route, and during the middle portion of Gears of War, directs mine carts used by Delta squad for transportation. Starting with Jacinto's Remnant and going into Anvil Gate, Anya starts to become a frontline soldier and shows she's really good at it and regrets not doing it earlier.
Dizzy Wallin - Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey: I've been most impressed with him with his role as The Comedian, he was a brutal jerkoff and a great one at that. Jeffrey's a generally likeable guy unless he doesn't want to be, and one of my favorite actors.
Dizzy: Dizzy Wallin is from a family of Stranded rescued by Operation Lifeboat, a COG program which evacuated Stranded families to COG-controlled safe zones in exchange for the able-bodied men of the family serving in the military.
Adam Fenix - Sam Neill
Sam: I love Sam , mostly because of Jurassic Park, in which he plays the protagonist. But his Filmography includes enough roles to show he has a good amount of range.
Adam: Adam Fenix is Marcus Fenix's father. He was considered one of Sera's greatest geniuses, and his radically advanced research figured prominently in the plots of both games. The novel Gears of War: Aspho Fields reveals that Adam had joined the COG army during the Pendulum Wars, rising to the rank of major and gaining a considerable reputation.
Maria Santiago - Kate Del Castillo
Kate: she's a beautiful hispanic actress who's a big name in Mexico. You would probably know her best from the great film, Under the Same Moon.
Maria: Doms beautiful wife, who disappeared after the devastation of losing their children. In 2, Dom finds her tortured beyond recovery and makes the hard decision to euthanize her.
Locust Horde
Queen Myrrah - Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron: She was amazing in Monster in which she was willing to make drastic changes to be ugly. But Charlize is a beauty to behold and though shes not british, she isn't american either (South-african) and myrrah is locust anyway.
Myrrah: At the beginning of Gears of War 2, Myrrah (referred only as "the Locust queen" by other characters) provides a voice-over introduction discussing humanity's violent nature, adding that, though she feels pity for the humans, they brought the war with the Locust upon themselves.Later on, Delta squad finally tracks down the queen in her palace, accompanied by Skorge, and discovers that she either is, or appears to be, at least partially human. She orders Skorge to kill Delta, and escapes on a Reaver during the subsequent battle. Myrrah appears to have known Marcus' father, Adam Fenix.
General Raam - Ron Perlman
Ron Perlman: He became one of my favorite actors after seeing him in the titular role in Hellboy. Hes also great in sons of anarchy and already has experience under heavy makeup.
General Raam: General RAAM is the primary antagonist and final boss of Gears of War. He is a savage, cunning, and mostly silent Locust general with a dark cinematic presence.
Skorge - Dolph Lundgren
Dolph: One of my favorite action stars of the 80s, Dolph first gained popularity as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, and can actually be a good actor if need be. Dolph does martial arts and is still in great shape.
Skorge: Skorge is the primary antagonist of Gears of War 2, and serves as the leader of the Kantus monks within the Locust Horde. He wields a double-edged chainsaw staff, and wears an elaborate headdress.
Crew
Director - Alfonso Cuaron, having directed the criminally overlooked Children of Men is resume enough to prove he can direct what can be a great sci-fi action epic.
Producer - Peter Jackson, one word: connections. His name is that big one attached to Lord of the Rings.
Writers - Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, always written the screenplay for Peter, they can bring in some great dialogue if they work closely with the games writers. Dont forget their low-budget humble beginnings.
FX - WETA, I love practical effects, and WETA are the best when it comes to practical. They can breathe life into the locust Horde and create top-notch gears suits. Seriously, WETAs the best in the game.