According to Cinescape, quoting Variety, Liam Neeson has been cast in the new Batman movie as R'as al Ghul and Morgan Freeman will play Lucius Fox. I think this is pretty good casting, especially Morgan Freeman.
Liam Neeson is one of my favorite actors. He was great in Schindler's List, excelled as the perfect jedi in Star Wars, and made a superb Jean Valjean. He was also capable of turning a fairly weak script into an enjoyable drama in that submarine movie he did with Harrison Ford.
The thing I like about Ra's Al Ghul as a villain in the movie, and I have liked the idea every since I spent some time thinking of a good movie villain for Batman to fight, is that Ghul's daughter, Talia, solves the problem of having to work in a love interest. She won't feel shoehorned in, if they follow the books.
I still wish John Malkovich or Christopher Walken was playing Ra's Al Ghul. They both have that creepy stare like Neal Adams gave the villain.
-sorry, reliving one of the first comic panels that ever burned itself into my brain, Adams shot of a crazed, shirtless Batman charging into Ra's' tent and laying him out after one punch. This was after the sword fight in the desert and after the scorpion sting, etc. YOU KNOW what story I'm talkin' about.
ANYWAY, Neesons okay but Malkovich would have been great as well. KUDOS on Freeman being Fox. -Rick
What would be the correct why to use a possessive noun with "Ra's"?
If I remember my English class in high school correctly (and goodness knows I may have been mentally and/or physically absent a lot) the correct way is to write it " Ra's' " without the second "s".
"How come no one's complaining that Ra's al Ghul isn't being played by a Middle Eastern actor instead of an Irishman?"
Ra's isn't necessarily Middle Eastern despite the fact the name he uses happens to be in Arabic. His race has at least on one occasion been described as indeterminable (I think it was in one of the first Ra's stories).
Edited to add my name.
This message has been edited by tsuhonen on Feb 20, 2004 7:01 AM
In a bit of a blunder, Variety reported yesterday that Liam Neeson was playing the villain, Ra's Al Ghul, in Christopher Nolan's Batman.
The trade has now issued a correction, saying that Neeson instead is playing Henri Ducard, mentor to Bruce Wayne in the Warner Bros. film.
This brings us back to square one with the villains. All we know is that Cillian Murphy is a villain in the film, but the studio has not disclosed who.
How come no one's complaining that Ra's al Ghul isn't being played by a Middle Eastern actor instead of an Irishman?
Easy. Because it is possible that an Irish actor can pull off being middle eastern depending on his appearance. I am Portuguese and according to many people I have features that would enable me pull off being Greek, Italian, Middle Eastern (specifically light-skinned Arabs), Spanish and even Jewish.
A white actor cannot pull off playing a black man and vice versa (in most cases).
Hearing that Katie Holmes might play an assistant DA reminds me of the Law & Order syndrome in which women who didn't look old enough to be out of law school were playing assistant DAs who were trying major felonies (in other words, women who should be in their mid-30s at least).
Harvey Dent as a District Attorney always seemed odd to me. Given the interaction he had with Commissioner Gordon and that he tried cases personally, you would expect he was an assistant DA himself (or at least an executive assistant DA).
Of course, there's no reason to think that Dent is Bruce's age. He could be in his mid to late 40s (still relatively young but old enough to have reached that position).
I recall JB making Perry White a "managing editor" rather than an "editor-in-chief" because, IIRC, that made more sense in re: White's personal interaction with Clark and Lois. Maybe Harvey might make more sense as a high-ranking ADA. And I know it's blasphemy, but sometimes I think that Gordon is played more like a lieutenant or a captain rather than a commissioner.
Worth introducing into this ongoing discussion that Liam Neeson is in fact playing Henri Ducard, the man who served as a mentor of sorts to a young Bruce Wayne. This of course still leaves in question who the film's main baddie is going to be.
visit the studios of MR. BOY
-- www.mrboyproductions.com --
I hope they just use ONE villain in the film. Over-populating the movies with villains really hurt the last batch of Batfilms, I think. The more villains they added, the worse they got. That's not the only reason for the decline, but a major one.
A fairly faithful adaptation (cuz you know they'd never be completely faithful) of the first Ra's Al Ghul story would be pretty cool.
