In honor of the return of CW’s Arrow these past few weeks, I thought I would create a fancast for a big screen adaptation of Green Arrow. Now, keep in mind as you take a look at my cast, that this iteration of Green Arrow would exist within the DCCU that I have created in the past year.
In my past few editorials/fancast, I’ve always had a fully developed fan fiction to go along with the casting but given how I’ve never anticipated a Green Arrow movie fitting in my DCCU plans (which obviously has already been shot to hell by what’s actually going on) I didn’t bother coming up with a plot line for the movie.
WARNING: I apologize before hand for the lack of pictures. For some reason, I am having trouble uploading pictures and thus cannot embed them into the article. I will update if I ever figure out what the problem is.
Anyway, without further ado—and I hope you enjoy—the cast of Green Arrow:
Joel Kinnaman as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Okay, yes, I’ll admit—Joel Kinnaman is an extremely generic choice to play Oliver Queen but one can’t deny his burgeoning Hollywood status what with a lead role in RoboCop and the critically-acclaimed The Killing. The latter clearly shows Kinnaman’s ability to act and given the right script, I think he has the perfect combination to bring explore all aspect of the Green Arrow persona and that of his secret identity, Oliver Queen. Kinnaman’s experience with action is also a plus and I think he only needs the right film and exposure to become a household name.
Emily Blunt/Olivia Wilde/Margot Robbie as Dinah Lance/Black Canary: I couldn’t make up my mind on who I wanted to play Black Canary so I laid out three choices for you guys (Note: Yvonne Strahovski is not a choice because I had already casted her in another role). I will explain my reasoning for all three of them.
In my opinion, the best option here may be Emily Blunt. After seeing her in Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow, I couldn’t think of anybody else who better personified a kick-ass female lead. Of all three choices, she may also be the most well-known which, given Kinnaman’s rather obscurity at the moment, is necessary. The only downside to her casting would be that she’s a little older than what I’ve envisioned Black Canary to be (more on that later).
For as much exposure Olivia Wilde as gotten throughout the past five years, it’s remarkable to see how absolute crap her films have been (barring recent award contenders Rush and Her). In any case, I look back at her role in Tron:Legacy as a blueprint as to what she can bring to the role of Black Canary. Though she is only a year younger than Emily Blunt, she does look much more similar to Black Canary (in the comics) than Blunt.
And last but not least…no one can deny the rising star power of Margot Robbie after her tantalizing role in The Wolf of Wall Street (she is set to appear next in Will Smith’s Focus). The primary reason why I wanted her on the list is because of her age (24). I’ve always been extremely interested in exploring the romantic dynamic between Oliver Queen and Dinah Laurel Lance given their magnanimous age difference. Robbie is full ten years younger than Kinnaman which I think provides opportunity to discard the cliché. The major downside to her casting would be that, unlike the previous two contenders, she has never done any sort of physical role in an action film before.
Chris Sheffield as Roy Harper/Arsenal: You might be wondering…who? Well, to be honest, I don’t really know anything about Chris Sheffield besides the fact that he appears in The Maze Runner and The Last Ship…and that he’s a redhead. He’s also a bit older than I would have liked Roy Harper to be (I wish the film could explore a more father-son relationship between Ollie and Roy instead of brother-to-brother but given Kinnaman’s young age, that would put Roy at least in the ‘teens). Another option for the role (not shown) is Landon Liborion who is younger and may portray the darker aspect of Roy’s life a little better.
Kristen Stewart as Mia Dearden/Speedy: I bet I know what you guys are thinking about this casting as well. ‘Not the girl from Twilight!’ While I hate the Twilight series—and indeed, never watched beyond the first one—I bear no ill will towards Kristen Stewart. I actually think her ability to portray somewhat depressing and moody female characters is a perfect fit for Mia Dearden—a HIV-positive hooker. Her experience in action films is also a plus and given the rave reviews for her newest film, Camp X-Ray, I’m hoping she can be forgiven for Twilight.
Zhang Ziyi as Shado: This is probably a rather generic choice of casting. Despite not having appeared in an American film in a while, I’m still willing to bet she’s one of the most exposed Asian actresses in America. This, coupled with her action experience, makes her an ideal candidate to play Shado.
Sylvester Stallone as Ted Grant/Wildcat: This casting might be a bit controversial depending how people view Sylvester Stallone. My casting for Wildcat came down to Stallone and Bruce Willis (Stephen Lang was never in the conversation for me). I only knew that I wanted an older actor to portray a veteran Wildcat. I ultimately decided on Stallone because I felt like he was a more relevant at this time for young audiences and was more in shape to play a physical role than Willis was. I also happen to think his deep, gruff voice would be perfect for Wildcat.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Werner Zytle/Count Vertigo: For the role of Count Vertigo, I knew that I did not want an American actor because I wanted to accurately portray the character’s Eastern European origin. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was born and raised in Denmark (not Eastern European but close enough) and with a burgeoning star power due to Game of Thrones, is perfect for the role. He is young enough for a physical role as the villain while also old enough to be believable as a country’s leader. His role as Jamie Lannister also shows that he has no trouble playing the villain.
Hugh Jackman/Luke Evans as Merlyn: In the interest of surrounding Joel Kinnaman with a big-name supporting cast, I chose to include Hugh Jackman on the shortlist for the role of Green Arrow’s arch-nemesis: Merlyn. There’s really nothing to be said of Jackman. Fans love him. He can act, sing, and perform stunts etc. He has the perfect dark hair for Merlyn and more recent photos of him as Blackbeard shows he can grow one hell of a beard and moustache. His older age I think would also be perfect for exploring the mentor relationship with Green Arrow. I backed up this choice with Luke Evans because he is also a rising star in Hollywood (now in a leading role as Dracula) who has already portrayed the archer (Bard in the Hobbit). He would be casted if the film was more interested in exploring the brotherly relationship between the two foes as is the case in Arrow and the New 52.
Kelsey Chow as Cheshire: I’m going to be honest here. I don’t really know anything about Kelsey Chow besides what I could glean from Wikipedia. And I’m pretty sure she has never performed any action stunts before. Too bad Jamie Chung was already casted in another role. However, she is the perfect age as a love interest to Roy Harper and her mixed ancestry makes her perfect to play Cheshire (who is also mixed—as you may imagine, given roles to less-represented ethnicity is very important to me).
Robert Knepper as Clock King: I broke my own rule and casted Robert Knepper to play the role he so expertly played in the TV series, Arrow. My reasoning is that he has already owned the role and while I don’t think most people in Arrow can translate well to the big screen, Knepper has already proven himself in a long and illustrious career (usually as a bad guy).
Omari Hardwick as Brick: Casting for the role of Brick was tough, mainly because there isn’t a lot of physically imposing African American actors with enough exposure to play such a prominent villain. Even less so with a distinguish acting career (and chops). I couldn’t take Ving Rhames seriously after seeing him in Pirahna and the Dead series and Michael Clarke Duncan is dead. Laurence Fishburne was already casted in the DCCU. I ultimately chose Omari Hardwick because not only can he perform any action sequence that the role may call for, but his lead role in Power convinced me he should be given a chance with a bigger role in Hollywood.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Komodo: This is yet another potentially controversial casting. Of all the casting for this film, this took by far the longest. I don’t actually read the New 52 Green Arrow comics so I don’t really know much about Komodo. Research didn’t turn out much either. I wasn’t really sure what ethnicity he was supposed to be but given his Asian adopted daughter and his last name (French), I sought for an Asian-French actor. Needless to say, no one of that nationality/ethnicity and of prominent enough status to portray such an important figure in Green Arrow lore turned up. In the end, I came up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt mainly because of his age (comparable with Kinnaman for that brother-brother dynamic), star power (he’s well-known), and the fact that he doesn’t look like a straight-American. I thought he might have some Asian ethnicity in his bloodline but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Oh well, he was the best I could do. Theo James of Divergent fame would have been my back-up.
Scott Adkins as Constantine Drakon: Oh my! I broke another of my rule. I had already casted Scott Adkins in another role (non-DC related but still) but he was simply too perfect to play Constantine Drakon. As one of Hollywood’s most recognizable American martial artist, he has the perfect dark hair look to play the formidable assassin.
Alan Cummings as Onomatopoeia: This is a very unconventional casting choice but perhaps my favorite of the bunch. Alan Cummings is such an amazing actor with a knack for the kooky. He may be older and unable to perform the stunts that the character of Onomatopoeia is supposed to be able to do, but I can so very clearly picture Cummings putting his kooky antics and comedic skills to use, imitating the ambiance of his surrounding to great effect. If done right, Cummings can turn Onomatopoeia into one creepy-ass villain.
Hope you guys enjoy the read...again, sorry for the lack of pictures. I will update this article if I ever figure out what the problem is. Anyways post your comments, questions, and concerns in the usual.