Sleeper Casting

I recently read Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Sleeper for the first time, and man did I love it. It's a beautifully dark noir crime story with fabulous characters that happen to have superhero-like abilities. I'm not big on traditional superhero stuff, so this was right up my alley. As I'm reading it, of course I'm thinking, 'Man, this would be a GREAT movie,' and low and behold, it's in preproduction with Tom Cruise as the lead, to which I say UGH...

So anywho, this is my take on what would be an awesome Sleeper cast.

Nathan Fillion as Holden Carver

I know that at this point it's hard to disassociate Nathan Fillion with the Whedon-verse, but dammit, let's try and maybe he can get some more awesome roles. I know Holden is supposed to be this big tough military trained operative, but he's also got a whole heck of a lot going on behind the scenes and the actor who plays him really needs to be able to master both of those aspects. I think if Fillion bulked up and got all lean looking (like he was in Saving Private Ryan) he'd have the perfect combination of toughness, sassiness, and genuineness.

Lake Bell as Miss Misery

The only thing I really know this chick from is What Happens in Vegas (which was less of a train wreck than I had anticipated) and she was pretty funny in it. I have a feeling that for Miss Misery, Hollywood's going to want a very bombshell-looking actress (like Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie), but I think Lake Bell has this great look that really works for the character. She's not super girly looking, and she has really strong features, and I always got the feeling that Misery's sexiness really came from her strength and persona, so steering towards a more unconventional look could make this character really pop on screen (you know the opposite of what Malin Ackerman did for Watchmen).













Kevin Durand as Genocide Jones

Okay, so I love me some Kevin Durand. He's always been in random stuff, but ever since his role on Lost I'm totally smitten. Genocide needs to be this big, tough, macho bad-ass, but he's totally lovable. I think as opposed to someone like Ray Stevenson (new Punisher) or Vinnie Jones, Durand has this sort of sweetness to his tough guy look, and that would make you really care for the character.














Ian Somerhalder as TAO

Yeah, it's another boy from Lost. So shoot me. But I've been a big fan of Ian since Rules of Attraction, and that character is why I think he would be fantastic as TAO. He needs to be charming, trustworthy, evil and completely manipulative all at the same time, as well as being insanely smart and bad ass. He needs to be young but have the wisdom and air of someone much older, and since Somerhalder is currently being all vampire-y, I'm sure he's had some practice at that.












Bruce Greenwood as John Lynch

So the only thing I knew this guy from was Star Trek (then on his IMDB page I learned he was also the president in National Treasure 2, which I kinda really liked) but there's something about him that totally seems like Lynch to me. He needs to have been able to gain Holden's trust while still be kinda scary and dark, which he's got this nice little face that I'm sure combined with the crazy ass scar would play great to both of those characteristics.















Paul Dano as XXX-Ray

I'm not entirely sure how old XXX-Ray is supposed to be, so this casting might be too young, but oh well. However I do know that Ray is a little dude with a special talent, and is totally nerve-wracked and anxious. Dano was a great dork in Girl Next Door and he did an amazing job in Little Miss Sunshine (I haven't seen There Will Be Blood yet. I know, I'm ashamed). But anywho, he seems to have the acting chops to go to all the dark places Ray needs to go. And he's sweet and innocent looking, which'll just make it all the more heartbreaking.












Christina Hendricks as Veronica St. James

Yeah, she was in Firefly as well, I don't care, it proves that she's already got chemistry with Nathan Fillion, which is really necessary since her role isn't ginormous. But Veronica really needs to be the opposite of Miss Misery--beautiful, soft, law-abiding, but still very strong, just in a different way. And it was my impression that she was probably a little older and more mature than Misery as well. And not to spoil anything, but Hendricks and Bell would be a lovely combination of ladies for that final scene, right?












Eric Christian Olsen as Grifter

Okay, so I'm pretty sure he's too young to be Grifter, but scruff him up and I think it will be fine. For Grifter, I know the actor is going to need to be tough and cool, but I think that he needs to be kinda funny and light at heart in order to really feel for Grifter. And I must say, I love Olsen. He's so precious. Most everything I've seen him in is really funny and goofy, but his resume seems to show potential for serious acting. I like it.














Bryan Cranston as Peter Grimm

Okay, I had a really hard time with this one, which is really why I saved it for last cause I'm pretty damn proud of it. I went through like, 6 other people before he popped in my head, and I was like, yes! He was wonderful on Malcolm in the Middle and though I've only seen the first few episodes of Breaking Bad (please don't spoil anything!), I know he totally deserves those Emmys. I can totally see him scaring the shit out of everyone but still having a flair about him that makes him lovable in a Heath-Ledger-Joker kind of way. It would be glorious.

So yeah. That's my cast. The real life cast will probably be absolutely nothing like this.