« Nazi-looted Art - Modern Claims | Main | Prawfsfest! 7 and the economics of workshops »
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Who Plays Atticus Finch?
This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, the book that sent many a person to law school. NPR's Talk of the Nation today interviewed Mary McDonagh Murphy, author of a new documentary book on Mockingbird titled Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of 50 Years of To Kill a Mockingbird.
I present to you all a question that came up in the discussion: If they were going to remake the movie of Mockingbird, who should play Atticus Finch?
Posted by Howard Wasserman on July 8, 2010 at 04:16 PM in Books, Culture, Howard Wasserman | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c6a7953ef0133f2270c1f970b
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Who Plays Atticus Finch?:
Comments
Denzel Washington or Clive Owen.
Posted by: Charlie | Jul 14, 2010 8:47:36 AM
How about reset in France, involving racial issues in a Parisian banlieue, and with Gerard Depardieu or Jean Reno as l'Atticus?
Posted by: Jeff Lipshaw | Jul 12, 2010 12:16:33 PM
Robert Downey Jr. -- against type, but he could pull it off and put his own spin on it.
Or, reimagine it as a white supremacist (who refused to leave a al Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino) falsely accused of a crime in a contemporary small predominately African-American town in the south. Then, my choice would be Don Cheadle to play Atticus. That is a re-make I would actually want to see.
Posted by: Anon | Jul 12, 2010 11:41:17 AM
Yes, apparently BL1Y you did learn something at law school. Lack of charity of interpretation of intention. What class was that?
Posted by: Alan | Jul 8, 2010 11:50:38 PM
Alan: Your choice for Scout is very telling. You want a "male child-star" for a re-imagining of a female role, but don't have a male star in mind. It seems you want a male in the role just because you want to swap the genders, not because there is some male star who is the best candidate. So, in essence, you are merely engaging in type casting of another flavor, instead of attempting to cast purely on talent and suitability to the role, which then calls in to question whether you really think Jodie Foster would be best for the role, or is merely the best woman for a role which you had pre-decided would be female-only for purely discriminatory reasons.
HA! Turns out I did learn something in law school after all.
Posted by: BL1Y | Jul 8, 2010 11:16:09 PM
Tough call. First, it cannot realistically be remade except as a period piece, and that limits casting to caucasians in leading roles. Against type, maybe Jodie Foster could be cast as Attica, with a male child-star Scout. With type (which makes more sense in the period), movie stars George Clooney (a veritable Gregory Peck), Viggo Mortensen (close second), Brad Pitt (malleable and convincing), head my list but on the small screen Linus Roache was so good in L&O that I'd put him in good contention with those guys.
Posted by: Alan | Jul 8, 2010 10:20:02 PM
If they remade it, they should cast Pauly Shore as Atticus Finch, that way no one would ever see the remake, which shouldn't have existed in the first place. Maybe make some new stories instead of refilming old ones?
On a side note, my senior year of undergrad I met Harper Lee. She told me I didn't look old enough to be in grade school. I told her she didn't look a day over 90. ...Okay, maybe made up the last part.
By the way, any professors, admissions officers, or career counselors hold up Harper Lee as example of what you can accomplish as a law school drop out?
Posted by: BL1Y | Jul 8, 2010 10:17:43 PM
Crossover for Paul Rudd.
He could do it.
Posted by: David Friedman | Jul 8, 2010 10:14:13 PM
I'd love them to remake that movie.
I'm pulling for Sam Rockwell as Atticus.
Posted by: Ben Buchwalter | Jul 8, 2010 5:43:24 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.