I don't understand. What does Mary-Louise Parker have to do with this? She's not in the movie. (love her to bits though)

electricspacegirl | August 13, 22:22 CET

That would have been incredibly cool!

zeitgeist | August 13, 22:25 CET

(ESG... Danes was part of some very public ugly in MLP's personal life.)

barest_smidgen | August 13, 22:42 CET

I could have sworn this had been posted before but now I can't find it. Did it get deleted? Am I insane? (These two choices appear not to be mutually exclusive.)

karosurly | August 13, 22:42 CET

Saw the movie last Friday with April and kept trying to figure out how SMG would have played the role. Danes was OK (I think she was trying to be Gwyneth Paltrow), although she wasn't at all subtle. But, then, nobody was, so she fit right in. I enjoyed the film, though.

palehorse | August 13, 22:43 CET

I'm desperately trying to remember everyone's best comments from the last thread (pre-modstomp) so I can claim them. Damn memory ...

(no, you're not insane karosurly, the last one descended into SMG bashing and got wiped. Or rather you're not insane because of that, I have no idea in other regards ;-)

Not seen it (it's not out here yet) so I can't judge if SMG would've been good for the role or not. Having said that, I don't have any book-led pre-conceptions and seeing as how she's a pretty decent actress I doubt she'd have done the film any damage.

But having said that, not every actor is suited to every role and it's not always the case that a verse actor would automatically do a better job than someone else IMO. Joss has worked with a lot of talented people but he also hasn't worked with a lot of talented people too.

Saje | August 13, 22:55 CET

palehorse, I can't believe you mentioned the Gwyneth Paltrow channeling. I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw the trailer, but figured it my aforementioned Danes iss-ues that had me making the snarky observation. Still - Danes or no Danes, any film that gets the "If you liked The Princess Bride..." nod, gets my 8 bucks.

barest_smidgen | August 13, 23:02 CET

I loved Danes in Stage Beauty so I can see her in this role. I haven't seen it yet but plan to this week. I saw the preview months ago online somewhere and couldn't wait for it to come out. I'm just a big freak for this type of film.

madmolly | August 13, 23:07 CET

"Stardust" looks like a really interesting film and I will go to see it sometime in the future.

I still fail to believe that the quote given it the article is entirely accurate. Michelle Pfeiffer is quoted as saying that Stardust took her six months to film. To my knowledge Sarah was busy filming and completing somewhere in the neighbourhood of eight projects during the 2005 to 2006 timeframe in which Stardust was filming. Given Sarah's workaholic schedule, Freddie would appear to be a lucky man to be in the same city as his wife. LOL.

Anne 5_by_5 | August 13, 23:39 CET

Saw the film this weekend and LOVED it. I can definitely see SMG in that role (although Claire Danes was fine). The character is innocent yet wise, magical, funny, beautiful.

Go see Stardust. Seriously.

jkalderash | August 13, 23:43 CET

Oh, whoops. I didn't know that this news had already made an appearance here and caught fire. (An archive search apparently doesn't cover those threads that got shot out of the big delete canon in the sky.)

I haven't seen the film yet either, but from the snippets I've heard, and thinking back on Sarah in Halloween, Who Are You?, and others, I think she could have been delightful. Clearly, the Stardust folks thought so, too. And gosh, would I have loved to see her in a movie with those heavyweights. Still... others who share my Danes-ire tell me not to worry: it's quite fun.

barest_smidgen | August 13, 23:52 CET

Well I certainly hope my comments in the previous incarnation of this thread didn't count as "SMG-bashing." To very briefly recap what I said then, I absolutely believe that Sarah is an amazing actress, better in some regards than Ms. Danes. She totally deserves every adulation she rwcieves and more besides. However, completely my own issue and through no fault of her own, I find it nearly impossible to separate her from the role of Buffy in my mind. Ignoring for now the REAL reason why that's a problem for me let me instead just say that the story of Stardust has a deeper importance for me and i would have been too distracted by SMG to truly enjoy the film. So for that reason (if no other) I'm glad she didn't take the role.

Besides all that nonsense, I really loved this movie. Charlie Cox was a revelation as the "hero" Tristan, and Danes did a fine job as the titular star Yvaine. Book was better, as they always are... but the movie was really good.

Haunt | August 14, 02:14 CET

I wasn't on board with Claire Danes and I really don't think SMG would have worked out. I was hoping for Emilie de Ravin. Maybe Kristin Bell as Victoria. Somebody, anybody with more screen presence than Sienna Miller.

Delirium | August 14, 02:32 CET

In the first thread I complained that I wish SMG had taken the role because I cannot stand Claire Danes, and loved the book and everything Gaiman. And now, after just having seen the movie...... I can say my opinion stands! I kept imagining how much beter SMG would have been and there was MUCH for me to imagine. Calire Danes just was not funny and some of the scripted lines I could just hear how cute and funny Sarah would have made them. Danes had one expression thoughout the whole movie. And word on Team Parker.

narky | August 14, 03:30 CET

I haven't seen the movie but have thought about this since reading the article. I think Claire Danes' ability in many of her roles is to be beautiful, but not overtly. SMG is more of an overt beauty, regardless of how you gauge their attractiveness individually. I don't think it would have worked as well.

CaffeinatedSquint | August 14, 04:59 CET

I just saw the movie and I really enjoyed it! It was delightful, my biggest kudos go to Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Rupert Everett (tiny part, HUGE fun). I enjoyed Claire Danes, but I kept thinking that I would have loved to have seen Sarah's take on the role (and it would have made me happy to see her in such a good film working with great co-stars).
I wouldn't compare the film to Princess Bride, but I do recommend it.
Oh, and karosurly? Sometimes I find that my post is lost because I forget that entering the post is not the final step, that after you preview your comment you still have to hit the final 'post' button.

embers | August 14, 05:15 CET

Well, it's nice to know why my thread went away. I'd assumed it was something I did. Like maybe it was too trivial to be on Whedonesque. Pity, it needed any publicity it could get.

The movie looks like it's bombing big-time, but anyone who hasn't watched it, have a look.

Dym | August 14, 14:13 CET

Pity if the film's not doing well, I like Neil Gaiman and I think it's Jane Goldman's first screen-writing gig. Hope it doesn't damage her future prospects, she seems really nice and down-to-Earth (and by most accounts did a very decent job writing the film).

Well I certainly hope my comments in the previous incarnation of this thread didn't count as "SMG-bashing."

No idea what the mods thought but it didn't as far as I was concerned, your comments were just weird Haunt. Kidding ;-), I do sort of get what you mean about having trouble separating actors from their roles, it can be hard to do, especially when the role becomes an icon.

(and anyway, I think with any thread you can have one or two comments in a negative vein and probably just get a warning, it was when the entire direction of the thread became "She's great", "No, she sucks" that it went bye-bye)

Saje | August 14, 14:32 CET

I want to see this film, since I really like Gaiman's work. Has anyone seen Neverwhere? I've only read the book, and loved it. Stardust is wonderful, too. And Good Omen is nearly best fun ever.

I heard part of a radio interview with Gaiman last week. He was talking about actor choices, but unfortunately it took me a while to realize that it was Gaiman talking about Stardust ;-) I remember him saying that the character that Michelle Pfeiffer plays now has her features, smile and movements in Gaiman's mind. He didn't expect that to happen since those are his characters originally. So it works that way,too.

Karenina | August 14, 18:23 CET

I think I enjoyed Claire Dane's portayal more than any other in the movie. She, more than any other character, seemed the truest to her character in my mind. Everett and Cox did well, too, but only Yvaine and Dishwater Sal turned out like I imagined them. This was a strange movie for me. It's really the first movie where I first read and ADORED the book and then saw it portayed on film (never read HP or LotR). In my head the story was much darker. The silliness and the almost cartoonish aspects were pretty uncomfortable at times. I didn't think Pfeiffer was evil enough. I missed the lion fight and the unicorn's head. The twisted ending bummed me out quite a bit too. That's just loyalty to Gaiman, I guess. And something about the timing seemed a little off throughout. DeNiro's new character was fun, but I still couldn't help feeling like it was fake.

I didn't know SMG was up for the role before hand, so I didn't think about it, but Claire Danes was the best part of the movie for me so I wouldn't trade her in. I would trade Pfeiffer for her, though..


Edit:
You know, the more I think about it.. that would be awesome. Evil SMG as the witch queen is sounding pretty awesome right now.

[ edited by Awkward Saw on 2007-08-14 16:48 ]

Awkward Saw | August 14, 19:37 CET

I own just about everything Neil has done (including a fair number of limited things like his 24 hour comics and the barking dog press prints of some stories with hand tilted prints from wood carvings), so I'm fairly excited to see this and glad to hear it getting good reviews from those who've seen it. I do, in fact own the BBC Region2 DVDs of Neverwhere, which is fun, but as you might imagine fairly low budget. Worth a peek if you are a fan of the book, probably. I don't think the Princess Bride thing is supposed to be a direct comparison, but more of a 'if you liked that, check this out'. Word to Team Parker! And not to rumor-monger, but the first paragraph under Personal Life in the MLP wikipedia article tells the tale.

ETA - lets not turn this into trying to recreate the previous thread and its comments :) At least, not the negative ones, yeah?

zeitgeist | August 14, 20:06 CET

"Return of the Son of Gellar and Gaiman: What Could Have Been". 2. The Extended Edition. Of The Director's Cut.

Worth a peek if you are a fan of the book, probably.

Especially if you're deathly afraid of cows with stuff stuck on their head ;-).

'Neverwhere' had its moments and fans will still dig it I think but if you're unused to the Beeb's "tuppence ha'penny" budgets and consequent shaky sets and unintentionally hilarious monsters you may well be disappointed.

Saje | August 14, 20:15 CET

Well, yes, what Saje said. Being a fan of old school Doctor Who, I'm quite used to the tuppence ha'penny aspect of it. So let this be a more explicit warning than my "fairly low budget" non-hyperbole above ;)

zeitgeist | August 14, 20:23 CET

Didn't see Stardust yet, but I do love Claire Danes.

I'm rewatching My So-Called Life right now in fact. I think I remember there being a post recently about the new My So-Called Life DVDs being released with commentary... some from Joss? So Claire Danes gets Joss-cool-points there!

debrjean123 | August 14, 21:34 CET