MovieChat Forums > Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Discussion > All-star cast for new version

All-star cast for new version

posted 8 years ago by Mortimer605
14 replies | jump to latest

I'm really not a fan of the remake idea but it's fun to discuss, though. Especially with the modern all-star cast.

(Of course, movie would be set in the 1930s. No some modern BS with computers and iPhones)

Prologue/Flashback characters:

Colonel Hamish Armstrong - Christian Bale
Sonia Armstrong - Natalie Portman
Paulette(Susanne) - Marion Cotillard

Main characters:

Hercule Poirot - Kenneth Branagh
Bianchi(Bouc) - Tom Hanks
Dr. Constantine - J.K. Simmons

Ratchett/Casetti - Daniel Day-Lewis
Mrs. Hubbard - Cate Blanchett
Greta Ohlsson - Emma Thompson
Mary Debenham - Jessica Chastain
Colonel Arbuthnott- Michael Fassbender
Countess Helena Andrenyi - Rooney Mara
Count Rudolf Andrenyi - Aidan Turner
Princess Natalia Dragomiroff - Maggie Smith
Hildegarde Schmidt - Tilda Swinton
Hector McQueen - Ryan Gosling
Edward Beddoes(Masterman) - Ian McKellen
Antonio Foscarelli - Bobby Cannavale
Cyrus B. Hardman - Paul Giamatti
Pierre Paul Michel - Daniel Auteuil

[–] jd-276 8 years ago

There are at least four cast members in that list I would not see if they paid me.

[–] Mortimer605 8 years ago

And these are...?

[–] jd-276 8 years ago

Well, if I tell you...

[–] Mortimer605 8 years ago

Please, tell. I'll respect your opinion. 

[–] jd-276 8 years ago

Christian Bale
Marion Cotillard
Emma Thompson and
Ryan Gosling

I don't like any of them. Not big on Branagh either.

I'd rather see Tilda Swinton as the old Princess, on the strength of what she did in "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and I'm sure Maggie Smith is getting tired of being cast as an old bag. I'm sure she'd rather do something more challenging (which she's definitely up to). Daniel Auteuil I'd watch in anything and I can't understand why he'd be interested in this unless he's short of cash.

I won't criticise the movie when it comes out because I won't see it.

[–] Mortimer605 8 years ago

Ok Bale and Cotillard are only in prologue/flashback but what's wrong with Emma Thompson ? 

I'm sure Maggie Smith is getting tired of being cast as an old bag

 True ! But given her age she really doesn't have much of a choice.

Tilda is still too young to play Princess but with little help of makeup I could definitely see her in the role.

[–] jd-276 8 years ago

Well, as I said, I don't like them. ;)

If you saw Tilda Swinton in "The Grand Budapest Hotel", you'd know.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] 8 years ago

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[–] DwightFry 8 years ago

Your cast is magnificent! Well, except for Branagh, who of course is not your choice. I dislike him in about anything except interestingly as Gilderoy Lockhart, because that's how I imagine he actually is!  If I had to cast Poirot for this and it had to be an Anglo-Saxon... Patrick Stewart?

And while Tom Hanks as Bouc is intriguing, I think it would be better to cast a Frenchman. How about Depardieu?

Extra points for getting Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara to work together again. I love Carol!

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[–] Mortimer605 8 years ago

Well, except for Branagh, who of course is not your choice.

I think he would be good as Poirot. He has that..."intellectual goofiness" (in the absence of a better term lol) about him. And with the help of good make-up, naturally.

How about Depardieu?

That's a good choice !

Extra points for getting Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara to work together again. I love Carol!

I love Carol too, my favorite movie of 2015. It would be a little weird for some people to see Cate and Rooney playing mother and daughter in this one 

[–] DwightFry 8 years ago

Branagh can project some Poirot-like qualities, vanity being of course one of them, but he tends to overact like hell so my fear is his Poirot will become, intentionally or not, a broad caricature. Which incidentally is the same problem I have with Finney (an actor I normally like) in the original. He was terribly forced and seemed firmly rooted in Clouseau territory. His performance and the fact that they decided to turn McQueen into Norman Bates just because Anthony Perkins was playing him were for me the only downsides of an otherwise excellent film.

I still think Patrick Stewart would be a much preferable Poirot. And he does have the egg-shaped head for the role already.

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[–] Mortimer605 8 years ago

the fact that they decided to turn McQueen into Norman Bates just because Anthony Perkins was playing him were for me the only downsides of an otherwise excellent film.

Lol...exactly my thoughts. When I watched this film for the first time 20 years ago (not knowing the ending) I expected McQueen to be the killer (with personality disorder and mommy issues ). Yeah, he was so much Bates in this movie and it really wasn't needed. Lumet should have directed him a little different.

I wanted Gary Oldman to be part of my cast list but I gave up because there wasn't right character for him. Poirot maybe ? Oldman is fantastic in chameleonic roles. If you think about it, it makes more sense than it seems at first thought.

[–] DwightFry 8 years ago

Poor Anthony Perkins was one of the worst cases of career-long typecasting in cinema history. He did always have that creepy nervousness about him, even when playing good guys and even pre-Psycho, but most of the roles he got did nothing but hammering that point home. If I was him back in the day, I would have either turned down the role or fought to make it more like the McQueen in the novel, which was nothing like the film version. Still, if the story was to have a more conventional ending I would have suspected McQueen-Perkins to be the reddest herring, since he's way too obviously the killer to actually be the killer.

Oldman could very well work as Poirot, or also as Ratchett/Cassetti (though DD-L is perfect). Oldman does have that latent thuggish factor about him that Ratchett needs and Widmark played so well.

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