Is it Edward Woodward's portrayal of Callan that makes it work?
Or could the character be played by someone else, and still work? Rather like Sherlock Holmes whose been played by a heap of different actors?
Does Callan stand up on his own, or is he purely a creation of Edward Woodward?
Given the current glut of television remakes it's probably only a matter of time before they spew out an awful remake of this one. They'll inevitably cast an impossibly handsome, square jawed pretty boy type in the lead.
This seems to be the casting standard these days. Long gone are the times when unglamourous, fairly plain looking actors such as Woodward or John Thaw were cast in tough guy leading roles like this. Glamour is in, dour grittiness is out.
They'll also probably update it, to make it 'current and relevant' to today's audience; so the all new handsome Callan will be hunting down suspected terrorists and Putin's 'New Russia' type gangsters.
Let's hope that a remake never, ever happens. Watch the original and savour it.
Daniel Craig in his Bond persona has the requisite dourness. He'd seedy up pretty well.
shareToo physically big and strong. The point of the original concept for Callan was that he was an ordinary looking man and of only average height and build. That made his skills all the more remarkable, here was an agent who didn't look at all like what he actually was. That's why the casting of plain looking, average sized and balding Edward Woodward worked so well in 1967.
Rival killer Toby Meres was, by contrast, the tall and handsome one who seemed to have all the physical attributes (and an aristocratic background to match) that would make him the natural 'top man' in the section. However, Callan had the geniune talent that put him ahead of Meres in the eyes of successive Hunters.
(From the feature film 'Callan')
Meres: Why don't you leave Schneider to me, sir?
Hunter: Because Callan's better than you!
Daniel Craig has become far too famous and too much of a romantic leading man star to fit in with the original concept for the Callan character. He's big and heavy, ruggedly good looking, projects supreme masculine self confidence, and is not a convincing underdog. In a scrap you know he would win easily. Completely wrong for the part.
Woodward's Callan on the other hand was convincingly underestimated by several physically bigger and highly confident opponents who all made the mistake of judging him by his average appearance.
If you were thinking to cast a remake, and wanted to stick to the original unglamourous casting concept, you would possibly be thinking along the lines of a Keith Allen type. He's too old now, but might have been right for it a few years ago.
Nothing a bit of ctreative costuming couldn't fix.
shareIf the BBC were to produce the remake it would likely be Ross Kemp in the title role with Keith Allen as Lonely and it would be as camp as Christmas.
Names that come to mind for me would be James Nesbitt (or Peter Mullan) as Callan and someone like Gary Lewis as Lonely. They are strong characters and these are the level of actors that could deliver the parts with some degree of conviction. It's not really viable as a series today but a feature film would be an interesting project.
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James Nesbitt? Can not picture Callan with an Irish brogue. He may have an Irish surname, but he's an English boy through and through. Parents died in the blitz.
shareI find Craig a bit unrealistic as spies go. Spies are supposed to be inconspicuous.
DC seems like a perfectly pleasant, friendly man in interviews. But let's face it, he has a very grim, hard face, of the sort that looks like it's had to make many hard decisions in its time. That, and the fact that he's built like a brick sh$@house, means he'd be the first person I'd notice in a pub, and the one I'd be most likely to give a wide berth to.
I'd like to see Gary Oldman do it. But it's the scripts that would make this a winning revival. Woodward is unique and irreplaceable, in my mind, but everyone is replaceable in the cookie cutter garbage spewing (TV) industry.
shareIs it Edward Woodward's portrayal of Callan that makes it work?
Or could the character be played by someone else, and still work? Rather like Sherlock Holmes whose been played by a heap of different actors?
Does Callan stand up on his own, or is he purely a creation of Edward Woodward?
Anthony Valentine was busy working on two different television series in 1974. He had a regular role in the legal drama 'Justice', and was a household name for playing Nazi Major Horst Mohn in 'Colditz'.
He was already committed to working on 'Colditz' during the period when the film version of 'Callan' was set to go into production. It was just a question of clashing schedules.
Thanks, duke-verity. Makes me wish that the Callan people who made the movie had gotten in first and secured his service for the film. Never heard of Justice before but I was aware of Colditz.
shareI think the series was very much a product of its time (which isn't a criticism at all), as was Callan the character - the anti-hero, owing far more to Harry Palmer (the Ipcress File) than James Bond. If it were to be set in the present day, Callan would have hi-tech gadgets coming out of his ears and there'd be no part at all for Lonely. Callan was a lone wolf - now, with all the surveillance equipment available, he'd be part of a complex team. Edward Woodward made the part his own (as did Russell Hunter and Anthony Valentine with their own roles - neither of the other two actors who played Meres came close to AV). I don't think the series could ever really be remade - it would be too slow and introspective for today's audience, quite apart from the technology element.
On a separate topic, I've just received Callan: The Monochrome Years (and it does have a properly edited version of The Worst Soldier In The World on it) - looking forward to revisiting those old episodes.
Cheers
Jim
On a separate topic, I've just received Callan: The Monochrome Years (and it does have a properly edited version of The Worst Soldier In The World on it) - looking forward to revisiting those old episodes.
On a separate topic, I've just received Callan: The Monochrome Years (and it does have a properly edited version of The Worst Soldier In The World on it) - looking forward to revisiting those old episodes.
Let me know how good or bad the picture is, for the episodes. I have almost a week to wait until mine arrives, damn overseas shipping <grumble, grumble>.
Only watched the first two so far (the Armchair Theatre pilot and The Good Ones Are All Dead). The second episode is far better than on the dodgy DVD I bought on Ebay a few months back (although that isn't saying much - the dodgy one was barely watchable). OK, so there are obvious signs that they were working with old source tapes, but, so far, they've both been a pleasant surprise in terms of picture quality.
Cheers
Jim
Edward Woodward's portrayal is very much the lynchpin of the series as originally envisaged, but if it were re-made I suspect it would be a rather different animal anyway.
I rather fancy Kevin McKidd for the role. He has a certain dour charm that puts me in the mind of Woodward...
"Duck, I says..."
It's already been remade. It's called The Fixer though.
shareI've thought for some time that Kevin McKidd would make a good Callan.
"Duck, I says..."