Camorr - News and Views from Scott Lynch's Locke Lamora books

ahh ok, now i have my conversions thats about 100 kgs, which i agree isn't that large. but i remember a few times through the book there is a small mention of him being chubby. jason statham would be good.

the lead is a very hard one...

ah yes, i can see him as the grey king! how was the capa described? i pictured him a little tubby like a mob boss that got comfy

yeah he has done some good stuff. i could imagine him doing locke after watching disturbia

Just my 2c,

Orlando Bloom - Locke
Dwayne Johnson "The Rock" - Jean (+1 to Jester's idea)
Johnny Depp - The Thief Maker
Anthony LaPaglia - The Capa

Orlando - think PoC and how he had to think on his feet.
The Rock - People were legit scared of Jean. I think The Rock could impose that fear.
Johhny D - I just think he could pull off the "shadyness" needed to get it right.
Tony LP - Hes a bit fatter and old italian mafia looking these days.

I can't see The Rock myself. Too old. He's what, at least forty?

Not sure i agree with Orlando, he's too much of a pretty boy.

Haven't seen blood diamond or the departed?

DiCaprio is brilliant in Blood Diamond. And does it all with a South African accent, too. 8-)

I don't think the Rock would be a good choice for Jean as I think he'd play the 'softer side' of Jean for laughs and that's not how I read it.
I like Shia LeBouf for Locke though,or Jonny Depp, who I think would be good at slipping in and out of masques and characters, and Jeromy Irons would have to be in there somewhere!

heehee, that's what I said! I'm glad someone agrees with me! Though I can't imagine him wanting to do the whole pirate theme again, so I'd say he wont do it. On the other hand, I can't imagine them making seven movies for the seven books anyway 0_0 Maybe they'll just make Lies? I mean, the ending is neatly wrapped up IMO. I didn't realise there was going to be a sequel for ages.

Not much to say... But it seems that things are moving forward a bit. The page lists producers, writers, creative executive and production executive as well as a release date (2011).
If things are really moving forward on that front, it might not help Scott with concentrating on finishing RoT.

If the movie blows, which it might knowing hollywood, then it'll be bad for his book sales. If it rocks the house, then it'll drive up the book sales. More people will see it and read the book.

In the publishing industry, the number off books that are published are determined by the number that are sold on the previous book. If book one had 10000 books printed, but only 8959 sold, then the next book will have 9000 printed. If only 6789 book 2's were sold, then that number drops.

With movies, if it is done correctly and makes people want to read the books, it'll drive up sales and people will want to read the book and see more of Locke Lamor.

I haven't heard much about this project for a while and the longer Scott delays with the 3rd book the less likely it is to be made. I tried doing a bit of fantasy casting, but I really suck at it. When I first discovered this site there were some manga/anime drawings of Locke and other characters in the fandom section. I quite liked them and I wish I could remember the name of the artist. Anyway it got me thinking that it would be quite feasible to make the book into an animated feature or series. Animation isn't just for kids anymore and Locke would translate well to the medium.
It would also solve the costs of building sets and arranging stunts, getting costumes, no waiting for weather conditions to be right. I think it would significantly cut down on the casting costs as well, I doubt people are paid as highly for voice work as they are for live acting.
Despite that I'd only need to cast voices I still suck at fantasy casting.
Who do the rest of you think would voice the cast of The Lies of Locke Lamora well?

Sabetha, much as I admire Depp as an actor (how does anyone get the right to be that good looking and have that much talent as well is what I want to know? Do you think he met the devil at a crossroads one midnight?) I wouldn’t cast him as Locke. I have 2 reasons. In Lies, Locke is around 24 (Scott said that himself) and although Depp looks younger than he actually is, even he couldn’t pull off a 24 year old now, the other reason is that he’s too good looking, far too distinctive. You don’t forget someone with Depp’s killer looks and Locke is nondescript, that’s what makes him such a good player. Someone like Shia LeBouef who is younger and less striking would be better, I’m not advocating casting him, but he’s an example. I agree that Dwayne Johnson would be totally wrong for Jean. He’s too old in any case and while he’s physically imposing, he’s far too well defined. It’s hard to know who could pull off Jean. If he were 20 years younger I think Oliver Platt would have done a good job, but there doesn’t seem to be anybody with the required looks in the right age bracket now. I just think doing it animated you could get some really big names and that would create a wider audience than just those who have read the books.

I wouldn't cast Depp as the Thiefmaster, that role has Alan Rickman written all over it. You'd need to ugly up Depp and it's hardly worth it for what would be a small role. He would however do a good Gray King.

Well chains was described as being some what over weight, or at least having some girth about him.

Thinking about it, someone who wouldn't be bad at playing Locke would be Adrien Brody. I think he's a fantastic actor (especially in The Pianist) and while he's not how I imagine Locke to look like, he's got that neither handsome nor ugly look that would suit the role well. Although I guess he might be too old for the role too.

Love Steve Buscemi as the Thiefmaker, haven't seen Brad Dourif recently. I like the idea of Ian McShane, but he may be a little old now. Dame Judy seems a bit too robust for Vorcenza, Maggie Smith would be a better fit. I think Locke could, and may even have to be, a relative unknown. Same with Jean. I know this is fantasy casting, but when they make these things you find that they cast one or two big actors and the rest are good, but not high profile. It cuts down on costs for one thing. The exceptions are things like Harry Potter and LotR where they know they've got a huge audience, so have a budget to match. If you look at what they're doing with A Song of Ice and Fire, they're all good solid actors, but the only real name is Sean Bean, despite all the buzz about Dinklage, Ehle and Headey.

Toran is on the money, the makers would be best advised to use largely unknowns for roles like Locke and Jean and surround them with better known higher profile actors as Chains, The Thiefmaker and Barsavi. The Falconer is also hard to cast.

They're pretty good and I'd go with Rush as Chains, need to pad him up, but he's a good enough actor to pull it off. Can't see Mark Harmon as Barsavi, though. I think more of Alec Baldwin or Anthony La Paglia. They still can't cast Jean and they admit it. Physically Ray Stevenson is a good match, and I loved him in Rome, but he's too old and they do admit that. As I said I think roles like Locke and Jean would have to go to virtual unknowns. If he was younger and a better actor David Boreanaz would have been a good Jean.

I agree with Tavrin Callas, I think unknowns, certainly for Locke and Jean, would be more effective, and considering that WB would likely be tying them to a 7-movie contract, a more likley proposition.

However, a good Locke might be ... Colin Morgan who plays Merlin in the BBC's drama of the same name. See him here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/merlin/

He has the slender frame, the 'skeletal' face that Locke is described as having in LLL, the youth - I really couldn't stand it if they cast some actor in his 30s as Locke - he should definitely be a young man (and I speak as a woman in my 30s, this has nothing to do with who I might fancy most, but staying true to the novels and the characters whom I love). Also, Morgan has that bright-eyed intelligence, a mischief about him and - important considering he is playing a thief - he has a sympathetic kind of tenderness, the kind of man who would inspire others' love and loyalty.

On a different note, when I was reading the books, I imagined Locke and Jean as Matt Bellamy and Chris Wolstenholme from the band MUSE (my other current obsession)! Here's a pic for anyone who does not know what they look like (Chris on the left, Matt on the right and Dom in the middle, heh)
http://usuarios.lycos.es/britstyle/muse_img/muse_portada.jpg

They might not totally fit, but they do kind of. And in their personalities too: Chris the loyal and supportive bass player, Matt the sharp-witted, energetic genius behind the band's creativity and direction. Heh. Y'see? ;)

As long as the actor who plays Locke has gray eyes (or gray contacts) and is a good actor I'm happy. ^_^
I'm not gonna watch the movies anyway, it'll surely ruin the books because the movie can never be as good as them.
Especially not when Scott won't be overseeing the whole thing.

If it ever gets made it may be done as a TV series, similar to what HBO are doing with George Martin's A Game of Thrones. To tell the truth I think this would suit the book/s better than a big screen treatment.

Sabetha,
This used to be the case, but since networks like HBO have had success with Deadwood and Rome siginficant money has been pumped into TV shows. They get strong casts with well known actors and usually one big name star. The fact that TV can do something over a period of weeks and use a lot more hours to cover something than a movie can is also beneficial. People are now expecting things like Avatar on the big screen and something like Lies would be seen as passe by many movie goers now. What we fans of series often don't think is that we're a relatively small audience. The only way to ensure the success of a fantasy series as a movie is if it's a monster like LotR and Harry Potter. And the delay with Republic isn't helping the buzz and won't exactly be exciting any movie makers.

There were 7 Harry Potter books, but they're making 8 movies, there was too much material in the 7th book for them to leave any out, so they've split it into 2 films, they get to cash in twice more that way, too. There's a similar issue with Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, which HBO are doing. If the pilot is successful and it gets picked up and is then well received then they'll have to do either do 7 seasons (the 4th and 5th book, one of which still has not been written, will need to take a season each for length and they'll have to find some way of splicing them together as they were meant to be one book, but reasonable deadlines are only for other mere mortals, not George RR Martin). Lies is a little different, it's largely self contained, so could be filmed as one season and end nicely. The one thing I'd hate to see happen if it ever does get made is for them to change things so that they get a happier ending.