Who would star?

[rhcp]

Who do you guys think would star in BTVS if it was filmed today? The question is for every character of course.

[kana]

Erm I would hope the original cast. I can't see Joss replacing anyone really because people have become too invested in the actors playing the parts. Imagine someone else playing Spike? Or Willow? Too many fans would feel cheated.

[Nina]

I think that she means who would be cast if Buffy would have started now and we didn't knew the old actors.

To be honest, I don't know ... the actors made the characters and if I had to re-cast, the new actors would look like the old ones.

[kana]

Oh sorry my mistake but it's difficult to tell, because we've become so invested in the actors. Brett Harrison from Reaper has a kind of Xander like quality I guess, I don't know.

[skinless]

I could see James mcavoy from atonement as a More modern younger Giles, or perhaps as Wesley

[Wolfie Gilmore]

I could see James mcavoy from atonement as a More modern younger Giles, or perhaps as Wesley

Ooh, James McAvoy would make an awesome Wesley. Just please no Keira Knightley as Fred!

Hayden thingie from Heroes as Buffy? I think that was suggested on a former thread, but makes sense.

I'd like to see that kid from Superbad as Xander. And oooh, Ellen Page as Willow. That would make my face smile all happy day.

[KingofCretins]

I'm all about Hayden Panettiere as Buffy if they were starting over. Screw the trendy pretense of acting like she doesn't kick ass. Listen to her castmates two and three times her age talk about her. She's got all the chops.

Likewise, even though he was on "Heroes", Thomas Dekker ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles") is the first person to leap to mind for Xander, to me. Ellen Page as Willow is a great idea, too.

Maybe after this whole "Twilight" thing blows over, Robert Pattinson could come play a REAL vampire (Spike or Angel).

[blue_peroxide]

I'm SO with you guys about Hayden Panettiere as Buffy. She would be absolutely perfect: beautiful, sweet yet tough. Also I think she would add a whole new quality to Buffy's character... Damn now I really want there be a Buffy remake!!!

The other characters wouldn't be too hard to find, too, for example for Angel you can just pick any of the young actors who are all tall, dark and forehead and who can give you a good brood at the audition. Only one I cant come up with is Spike because James Marsters so defines him. I have to think a bit about this...

[NileQT87]

actually david boreanaz brought something that is more than dark, tall and brooding. here's a guy who looks like a football player (and was one) who can act more hurt, pathetic and vulnerable than a 5'3" girl, then turn on a dime into being menacing, staring-down-the-enemy and fierce or vice versa (and does so even on bones). then, can also handle comedy, be as much of a giles/wesley in his big, wise nerd mode, and boxer-style fight choreography.

i've seen a lot of actors they get for the handsome brooding guy--it's not as common as you think that they have the same qualities as david boreanaz, who often acts like he's forgetting he's built like a 6'1" football player ex-all-american jock. even his voice is pretty soft and vulnerable... and then he can go into hannibal lector-stalker, "big brass testes" or goof-ball mode. angel's a more nuanced role that you give it credit for.

spike is the sequel-lestat archetype (angel is based on louis with interview with the vampire's version of lestat in his angelus). angel is both of interview's leads thrown together into one, whereas spike is the sequel rock'n'roll fonz-cool vampire, lestat (who was an actor in his previous life whereas william was a poet). spike also has the dangerous stalker-spike, wacky neighbor/fonz-spike, fool-for-love spike and william-spike (which is an offshoot of fool-for-love spike with more dramatic, wisdom elements).

actually, i've seen more actors do the spike character more than angel--who has qualities that cast against type and is many characters in one (angel is all at once several characters--angelus has less fluctuation). spike is essentially the short, flamboyant character with sarcastic and dramatic skills.

it's actually not buffy, xander or willow who are the key roles. it's angel and spike. and i'm saying this beyond a fan-way. angel is in more episodes than any other character and more time is spent on his story than it ever was about buffy. buffy tends to grow her story around other characters who move the plot forward--angel, faith, riley, spike, dawn, the big bads, etc... are her biggest plot-movers. she's often reacting to the things they do. she lives her life and story through the stories of others. ats is different. angel and wesley, in particular, it's their actions and flaws alone that drive forward the story--darla, holtz, connor and jasmine being also catalysts. btvs isn't a story run on the main character's flaws. ats is. in fact, more of btvs was run on angel's flaws than it was buffy's. buffy's story isn't nearly so dramatic as angel's and spike's... it's much more of a growing up story where things happen to her. buffy is rarely ever a catalyst, whereas angel is in both shows. btvs didn't even find its feet until it ran with the angel story and got away from monster-of-the-week. ats was a much less monster-of-the-week show.

in a remake, the roles of angel and spike are probably of the utmost importance--because they carry the shows along and make you care about the plots outside of the seasonal or series big bad. buffy needs to be approachable and relatable, but the actors for angel and spike need to be able to carry most of the plot intrigue. wesley also needs this. giles needs to be a wisdom-exuding, comforting parental figure that sounds good giving exposition, but unfortunately tony head never got the kind of arc denisof got--so, unfortunately, not much more. xander, willow, cordelia, fred and gunn are all in the category of relatability characters along with buffy.

[Wolfie Gilmore]

I think I offered these up in the last thread but, for Giles and Spike:

GILES - Rupert Penry Jones. A younger model, which would require a slight tweaking of the character. But he can stiff and upper with the best of them

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00199/F_200612_december15_199172a.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41339000/jpg/_41339282_spooks203.jpg

http://m.gmgrd.co.uk/res/718.$plit/C_71_article_1021025_image_list_image_list_item_0_ image.jpg

Oooooh, or Christopher Eccelstone, for a very different take on a British Watcher. Lots of Sunnydales have a North

http://static.whatsontv.co.uk/images/0795_141829_22395331.jpg

SPIKE - I have found the perfect Spike and shan't be swayed from this one...

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2006/11/tomhardy071106_243x359.jpg

http://westendwhingers.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/tomhardy.jpg

And look, he's even over-eager with women who don't really want him

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2007/02/manmode_243x235.jpg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/graphics/2007/02/08/mode.jpg

http://www.spargoproductions.com/actor_thetourist.jpg

And the obligatory fag shot:

http://tomhardy.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/m_13.jpg

And the "you have GOT to be kidding" face:

http://tomhardy.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/tom_hardy_2.jpg