MovieChat Forums > The Wild Geese (1978) Discussion > Ideal cast for remake

Ideal cast for remake

posted 16 years ago by Cobin78
29 replies | jump to latest

Who do you think would be best to play the main rolls in the remake? I think an ensemble cast of well known actors would be ideal. One of the things I felt made the original so good was that not only was it filled with known actors but a good number of them were killed. I think it makes for a better movie to be surprised. Everyone expects a bunch of extras to be killed off, but when Raffer and Sandy and Pieter were killed, you had a feeling that they might die but you were hoping they would make it. If they casted a lot of well known actors who usually play the hero main character in most of their movies, I would be on the edge of my seat wondering you would make. The actors would have to be varied in age to play the older more seasoned vets, to the middle aged fortyish, to the younger ones fresh out of the military. Also, I feel they should all be mainly European and be a period piece, set in the 70s, as in the original. I feel the characters would have more interesting backgrounds than if you set it in modern time and all the experience they have is the Gulf War. At least if it is a period piece the mercenaries could range in experience from older WW2 vets, Legionaires who fought in the far east and Algeria, and a few Americans, possibly with Vietnam experience. I'm not sure what actors would play each roll but heres a list of people I think would be good to cast.

Sean Bean
Clive Owen
Eric Bana
Jean Rene
Arnold Vaslo
Daniel Craig( Maybe as Fynn)
Michael Caine
Jason Stratham
Ewan McGregor
Hugh Jackman
Jeremy Irons
Christian Bale
Wes Studi
Djiman Hounsau (Definitely as Sgt. Jesse)
Malcolm McDowell

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Cobin78 16 years ago

That's a good line up. Morgan Freeman would be great as Limbani. Arnold Vosloo as Coetze is a good choice also, beeing born in South Africa and all. I didn't even realize that until I looked him up. Who would be a good choice for Sandy?

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Cobin78 16 years ago

That's funny, because when I watched that I could see Djiman Hounsau playing Sgt. Jesse. I think Sean Bean could play the of Sandy pretty well. I can't think of anyone else that would fit.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Cobin78 16 years ago

I thought it would interesting to see Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig play the 3 lead roles. Brosnan and Dalton are about the right age to play the "veteran" mercenaries Raffer and Faulkner while Craig is slightly younger like Roger Moore's character Fynn. Charles Dance would make a good Sandy, also being older. To round out the main cast- Sean Bean as Tosh, Arnold Vaslo as Coetze, and Morgan freeman as Limbani, Djiman Hounsau as Jesse, and Tony Slattery as the medic.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rglasby 16 years ago

I think Roger Moore would make a good Matheson.

Brian Cox as Faulkner.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Cobin78 16 years ago

I personally think it should be set in the 70s for the reasons I stated in one of my earlier postings

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] samson_k 16 years ago

I'm not sure whether I'd want this remade but after a drunken conversation with a couple of mates we had come up with this cast (this was after having watched Rambo IV and wishing that it had been a Wild Geese film)

Faulkner - Timothy Dalton
Fynn - Ewan MacGregor
Janders - Jeremy Irons
Coetze - Stellan Skarsgaard
Matherson - Pierce Brosnan
Limbani - Don Warrington
Jesse - Adrian Lester
Sandy - David Warner
Geoghagen - Brian Blessed
Arthur Witty - Harry Enfield
McTaggart - Ken Stott
Tosh - Paul Whitehouse
Balfour - Kenneth Branagh
Rushton - Roger Moore

Do you have a licence for this minkey

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Mex5150 16 years ago

Hi

It will no doubt be full of american teenagers or underwear models <shudder>

Pete Postlethwaite

Good call, always worth the screen-time.

I'll also through Sean Pertwee into the mix, possibly in the Faulkner role.

~Mex

--

Did you ever notice that people who believe in creationism look really un-evolved?

[–] rustiswordz 16 years ago

Faulkner: Daniel Craig
Janders: Sean Bean or Liam Neeson.
Fynn: Clive Owen or Pierce Brosnan

Sgt Sandy: Philip Glennister
Limbani: Denzil Washington.
Djiman: As Jesse i agree.
Sir Matherson: Michael Caine or Malcom McDowell.
Witty: Alexander Siddig.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] natrang 16 years ago

I hope it's made by an independent production company. A big Holywood producer will only mess things up for box office's sake.

[–] mhasheider 16 years ago

I agree the production should be done either by an independent and/or British company instead of one that's in Hollywood.

As for the casting choices most of which seem to be respectable:

Colin Mochrie as Geoghagen, the cranky priest.

[–] ihc53 16 years ago

For gods sake, no remakes! Some films should be
left as is. Hollyweird would just screw it up
as they have done countless times before.

[–] ashtontylo 16 years ago

It's been announced that Guy Ritchie will be doing the remake.

[–] molloy1986 16 years ago

I'd use the cast from Ronin.

Robert De Niro
Jean Reno
Sean Bean
Stellan Skarsgård
Skipp Sudduth
Jonathan Pryce

[–] natrang 13 years ago

hear hear. they'll change the characters, the nationalities, the settings, throw in a few birds, etc. basically they'll make it too politically correct which is exactly what the wild geese WASN'T (and that's what was so damn cool about it).

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ian_buchan 13 years ago

Liam Neeson as Faukner
Euan Mcgregor as Janders
Pierce Brosnan as Finn
Daniel Craig as Coetze
Eddie Murphy as Limbani

[–] glenmusher 13 years ago

Ricky Gervais as the gay medic, wether he wants to or not!

Everything will be OK in the end, if it aint OK,it aint the end.

[–] rugbyspelaren-2 13 years ago

Nice line up but please get rid of Jason Statham. He is too much of a modern bad ass wannabee. Sean Bean, Clive Owen, Eric Bana, Jean Reno are cool guys. Statham is not.

I´d also like to see actors like Ray Winstone and Graham McTavish in a remake. Both good actors with stonefaces and attitude.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TheGreatWhiteHunter 13 years ago

Sean Bean is a nice suggestion. Id like to see Gary Oldman in a straight action movie where he's not the heavy, maybe as Janders. It's getting harder and harder to find the tough as nails, hard-living, drinking and cavorting male actors that they had in the 1960s and 1970s. Watch Dirty Dozen, the Wild Bunch and this film to see how much times have changed.