Casting Puddleglum

[NolanFilm]

Hey guys! Silver Chair SHOULD be going into pre-production within a year. So recently, I have been thinking about who should be cast as my favorite Narnian, Puddleglum. I think he will probably be the most difficult character to cast in all the chronicles. Bruce Spence http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817748/ was my ideal choice, but unfortunately he's already been cast as Lord Rhoop. So having him appear as 2 characters in the series is highly unlikely. Now, my first choice would have to be Frank Collison http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0172806/. He's not perfect for the role, but I definitely think he can pull it off. What do you guys think? And who would you cast as Puddleglum?
-Frank Collison

[Salem]

I always wanted Tim Burton to direct Silver Chair, and one more partnership of Tim and Johnny Depp is welcome.

Johnny Depp is a great actor, funny, have all the caracteristics of Puddleglum.

[icarus]

The choice of who to cast as Puddleglum will to a certain extent depend on what technique they employ to portray him - i.e. normal actor / motion-captured actor / fully-costumed actor + additional voice actor, etc.

However, i think that whichever technique they use, they will at least require an actor of a suitable physique to play Puddleglum to start with, even if they then make significant prosthetic/CGI/voice additions later on. With that in mind, here are a few choices for actors who i think are of a tall and slender enough physique to play a Marshwiggle.... In height order:

Stephen Merchant (6 foot 7) - Actor/Comedian/Writer/Director, most commonly known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais (The Office, Extras, etc) but more recently has started branching out on his own - he recently had a supporting role in Walden Media's "Tooth Fairy". Stephen is one of the few actors in the world who naturally possess the weird, otherworldly physique necessary to portray a marshwiggle without the need for any additional VFX augmentation. Not only that, but he is an absolutely brilliant comedian and writer who would no doubt be able to nail the dry comedic elements of Puddleglum's character. However, as a primarily comedic actor, he might lack the dramatic gravitas necessary for some of the later sections of the story (hence as we suspect the reason for Eddie Izzard's departure)

Doug Jones (6 foot 3.5) - A highly regarded actor, especially when it comes to playing fully costumed characters (Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy 1 and 2) and motion-captured characters (Rise of the Silver Surfer). If they decided to go down either of those two routes, he would definitely be worth considering. That said, i know very litte about what his voice sounds like, or his vocal acting potential, as he is frequently used in conjunction with a voice actor, though that is somethng they could end up doing with Puddleglum anyway. However, given that Doug is a frequent collaborator with Guillermo Del Toro, he will almost certainly end up having some role in the Hobbit, which could rule him out in terms of scheduling (and also in maintaining an artistic independence between Narnia and Middle Earth).

Bill Nighy (6 foot 2) - As i mentioned in the Reepicheep topic, its a bit of a shame they wasted Bill Nighy's talents on recasting a perfectly fine Reepicheep voice, as he would of made a briliant Puddleglum. Has the naturally tall and slender physique, plus a somewhat naturally dour voice and glum looking face, and obviously has fantastic dramtatic acting ability. Also has excellent experience of motion-capture performance (as Davy Jones in POTC 2 and 3) which would be very useful if they decided to do Puddleglum in a similar way. The only obvious downside is that he has already been cast as Reepicheep, which would therefore seemingly rule him out of any other roles, although stranger things have happened, not least when it comes to actors voicing one character and playing another - John Rhys Davies did the voice of Treebeard in LOTR as well as playing Gimli, and no-one seemed to notice too much, so never say never.

Adrien Brody (6 foot 1) - Has the most naturally Puddleglum-ish face of any actor i can think of, whilst still possessing a suitably tall and slender physique. If they were wanting a strong dramatic actor (Brody won a Best Actor Oscar for The Pianist) with a big name to carry the movie (the majority of the movie will no doubt feature just Puddleglum, Eustace and Jill on screen - a big change from previous movies, and a lot of pressure on the actor as a result) then Adrien Brody would be ideal as a strong central presence for the movie. If Silver Chair is going to live or die on its choice of a leading actor for Puddleglum, then they may not wish to gamble on a lesser known.

David Tennant (6 foot 1) - Again has a good starting physique, though as with Brody, he might require a bit of VFX augmentation to give him the perfect Marshwiggle physique. Of the actors on this list, he probably has the best balance between dramatic acting and comedic acting, and Silver Chair would be coming around at just the right time for him, when his career is really about to take off - moving from being a big TV star (Doctor Who etc) to a big movie star (its no surprise that he is one of the often mentioned names for the part of Bilbo Baggins - even though his body type is entirely wrong for that of a Hobbit!). Would perhaps therefore be a good balance between an "unknown" and a "big name star".

[Valiant_Lucy]

Interesting that you mention Adrien Brody, icarus. I never would have thought of him for Puddleglum but you're right, he definetly looks the part, and he's an excellent actor. I also feel like he's famous enough to bring some "oomph" to the cast, but not so famous that he'd be taking over. Plus you don't really think of him in the sort of fantasy role, so it'd be a attention grabber for sure!

Bill Nighy would be GREAT, he would also be amazing (and my personal choice) for Uncle Andrew--but as you said, he's Reep now...so yeah.

[bkey]

Doug Jones is my number one choice to play Puddleglum by far, followed by Paul Bettany. Bettany not only has the height (6'3) and could pull off the look, he also has the acting chops to really bring the character to life.

I hadn't thought of Adrien Brody, but I could see him being amazing in the role as well.

[fantasia]

icarus, I LOVE your suggestion of Stephen Merchant. I've never seen him in anything before (That I know of), but he LOOKS perfect.

Depending on how they do Puddleglum, I would love Alan Rickman to voice the character (though unfortunately he's not built correctly to portray the character).

Oh, and welcome to NarniaWeb NolanFilm

[Liberty Hoffman]

for those of you who have read the LWW movie companion book:
remeber how Doug Gresham said that he thinks Andrew Adamson should play Puddleglum? I think he should!

[AJAiken]

I think Andrew Adamson kind of looks the part, but (as mentioned above) the part of Puddleglum is pretty large. Though it's all right for a filmmaker to have a small cameo part I'm not sure giving them a much larger, more important role is the best idea. However, saying that, I've no idea what Adamson's like as an actor!

Out of your suggestions, icarus, I think I prefer Adrien Brody and David Tennant! They're both quite like how I imagined Puddleglum.

[DamselJillPole]

for those of you who have read the LWW movie companion book:
remeber how Doug Gresham said that he thinks Andrew Adamson should play Puddleglum? I think he should!

True to that! I always thought Adamson would make a brilliant Puddleglum without knowing that from the companion.

[Kelila]

I agree with fantasia_kitty that Alan Rickman has the perfect voice. My friends all think I'm crazy for suggesting him, though, but I love him as an actor. If they did a mainly CG character, he would be perfect.

(Plus, you'd draw in all the obsessive Harry Potter fans to see The Silver Chair! XD )

[Aslans Country]

Oh, Alan Rickman would be amazing.
But yeah, I guess he would have to be mostly CG..

[Liberty Hoffman]

who's Alan Rickman?

[fantasia]

Alan Rickman would be most famous for his role as Snape in the Harry Potter movies.

Here's his IMDb link.

Though if you've ever seen the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, he voices Marvin the robot and that's pretty much the voice I hear for Puddleglum whenever I read the Silver Chair.

There are two snippets of his voice in the trailer that came out a few years ago here. (Link warning... one bad word and a girl in a bikini if either of those things offend). Snippets at 1:33 and 1:47.

[DamselJillPole]

Alan Rickman can possibly pull off the character of Puddleglum. For some reason I want someone in their 30's to play Puddleglum and have a certain innocent feature like scarecrow in Wizard of Oz.

[JillPoleWannabe123]

I don't know why, but I always thought that Johny Depp would be amazing for the part. He always plays the weirdest characters in all sorts of movies. I know he is really famous, and he would be really hard to get for the part, but he would be absolutely perfect! Plus, all of the Johny Depp fans would come to see him in the Narnia movies, which would be a great investment in the future.

[coracle]

Adrian Brophy's face looks very suitable.
I have tended to think of Alan Rickman because he does such good deadpan faces - yet I've seen him very lively in a stage play.
A well known name is definitely crucial here; as Icarus suggested this is needed to carry the movie with two lesser-known child actors as the other two leads. (Probably a known actor to play LOTGK too)