You need some big strapping fellow who can play Upper Class Brit who can do comedy yet seem like a smouldering hero and isn't afraid to look like an ass. I think I'd go with Rupert Everett.
@@@What happened to my cigar commercial? What happened to my AGENT? Bastard must've died.@@@@
Okay,but isn't he a man whos "good with colours"?
shareJonathan Cake, british, a bit toff and big and tall. Or Liam Neeson, he looks rough and tough as Flashman should.
sharea man who looks rascally. i dont trust cillian murphy as far as i can throw him, and i reckon he'd be off with me missus given half a chance. the good looking bastard would probably look good in flashy's whiskers too.
I think that Toby stephens would be perfect.
shareGood suggestions above. Cillian Murphy might be too short though. He's nauseatingly good-looking, but in an almost spooky way, whereas Flashy should be very traditionally good-looking - strong jawline, broad shouldered etc. Neeson is perhaps TOO tall, and again, while he undoubtedly has great looks, I think with his pointy nose he isn't traditionally handsome enough.
Rupert could play the cad, but he's too old now for the earlier stories.
I'm not keen on Ben Affleck, but he's kind of how Flashy is described in the books - 6'2", strong jaw, dashing, slightly annoying.
ben affleck. i thinks thats pretty perfect in terms of looks, he looks evil and he'd be playing off his womanising media image to good effect. but can you imagine affleck pulling off a seriously upper class english accent? he struggles enough with his roles in the american-english dialect.
You got it. Affleck would be perfect - height, looks, build, jawline. He would play it roughly similar to in Shakespeare in Love.
shareLOL no American could carry it off. My vote is for Rufus Sewell or Christian Bale.
shareRufus is a bit too ravaged now - he no way looks hale and hearty enough. Chistian Bale could do it.
shareChristian Bale wouldn't be a bad choice, but I would have to say that the best choice unfortunatly wouldn't be able to do it anymore (to old). That would be Bruce Cambell from the earlier days of army of darkness. When I was reading the novels he was the only one I could see play flash.
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We are also forgetting Clive Owen or Daniel Day Lewis, though both are getting a bit old for the earlier roles...
sharei think you are right,he was excellent in sharpe and the ballad of mangal pandy.he has the victorian arrogance to a tee.
shareCeltic Films is planning on making a movie adaptation of _Flashman at the Charge_. If Wiki is to be believed, James Purefoy (Marc Antony in "Rome") is set to play Flashman.
shareIf that is true, he is a great choice. He played Antony as a studly looking cad and bastard and yet you still liked him. He would be a great choice.
shareCould be worse. I thought he was quality as a some how likeable, murderous rogue in Rome
shareNow just a min you want someone big and tall for Flashman and yet many here like Danny Craig as 007 who is neither. HELP
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Liam Neeson is not British and he's too old.
Unfortunately, we missed out on David Niven playing this role. He was born for it.
Now I think we'd have to go for a tall good-looking guy with some serious acting chops. Christian Bale, maybe.
"Play the best song in the world...or I'll eat your souls!"
Despite what GMF himself might have said, Niven was too skinny for the role. Flashman is supposed to be a big fellow, thick legs, big shoulders etc. Not Niven.
sharealthough flashy was a big bluff fellow (god i love the way i talk on this board) this wasnt big and bluff like modern hollywood says. He neednt have been able to push out 500 push ups, just be taller than average and have fairly large shoulders. physically were talking michael caine in get carter rather than daniel craig in casino royale.
niven wouldve been good, and it wouldve been fantastic to see him play someone so filthy.
I'm sure in the books he refers to his thick legs too. Certainly he shouldn't be 'buff' like Craig. It's more someone like Oliver Reed — doesn't look like he works out, just a big bloke. That's why I think Niven wouldn't be right. What's more, Niven had a really skinny face.
shareWhoever first said that Niven would have been a good Flashman was totally right on. Maybe they'll CGI it when actors are no longer used in 10 years.
The problem with casting the role is that the guy has to look badass but be totally able to convey cowardess and ineptitude. That is a really tough sell. You kinda have to embody both extremes (half Daniel Craig and half Rowan Atkinson!) Show me a guy who can pull that off and I'll show you your Flashman.
Niven never looked badass. He was a skinny guy. Useless for Flashman. And Flashman wasn't really inept either. He was a coward, but was brilliant at surviving and getting out of bad situations through being wiley.
shareTwo words. Hugh Grant.
He needs to do it while he's still young enough, though. But I think Grant can go both ways in a role like old Flashy - both as the dashing hero and the shallow cad.
And he can do the accent well.
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Any James Bond actor would have done. Roger Moore perhaps the best, because his good looks were so cheesy. Notice how in the latest Flashman book cover they've made him look quite a lot like Sean Connery.
shareAlthough he is too old now, I always thought Kevin Kline would do justice to Flashman.
-John
I don't know, but to me this is rather obvious - Cary Elwes!!
He has that snide, Errol Flynn-like n'er-do-well air about him - plus, as I just discovered, he was born in London. (All this time I thought he was American - I suppose because he's played so many U.S. roles...)
"I do not want to not live because of my fear of what could happen."
- Laird Hamilton
Heh...
Yeah, his accent shows a bit in "Glory" and for sure in the "Princess Bride."
When I see him in a role, Elwes can never totally mask the accent. You can catch it as it occasionaly rolls off his tongue...
Anyway - How are you? :)
Remember the past; the past often repeats itself -Me
Hiya, Jess! How are you?
Sorry I haven't been "around" much this week...kinda busy at work.
By the way, Jess, have you ever read any of the "Flashman" novels upon which this movie is based? They are all good fun - especially for Anglophiles like us!
"I do not want to not live because of my fear of what could happen."
- Laird Hamilton
Hiya, Jess! How are you?
Sorry I haven't been "around" much this week...kinda busy at work.
By the way, Jess, have you ever read any of the "Flashman" novels upon which this movie is based? They are all good fun - especially for Anglophiles like us!
They're about as well-written as they get. Fantastic novels. Like Princess Bride: action, fights, romance, violence, history, adventure. Not much true love though...
And Cary Elwes would be excellent. Just need to dye his hair black.
Having never read the books, and basing my suggestion solely on Malcolm McDowell's performance and looks, I'm going to suggest Dominic Monaghan. I know he's smaller in stature but he's who I thought of immediately when I re-watched this film recently after so many years. *hides from novel series purists*
shareMalcolm McDowell is great, but is nothing like Flashman. Way too short. Monaghan would be even worse. Think more Sean Bean. He's got to be big and bluff - over 6 foot. In Tom Brown's Schooldays he's a big bluff bully.
shareJeremy Northam? Leftfield choice could be Rhys Efans, tall, got the right look and if played straight with correct accent then he could fit the bill maybe?
Trouble is having read all of the books its so difficult to think of someone who could carry Flashy off.....
Yes, Northam might be good. Though he's getting on a bit now.
Now, if Bates had swapped roles with McDowell...
Ian Ogilvy made a great Flashman-ripoff in "Ripping Yarns", and could easily have played the real thing.
To the poster who said "any James Bond actor": really? Lazenby? Even assuming you were leaving him out, Moore hasn't the range and Brosnan hasn't the presence. Craig might get away with it but doesn't really look the part; Connery would have been good except for the accent, but I suspect that might have undermined him. Timothy Dalton would indeed have made a great Flashman.
As for youngish actors today: Jonathan Cake or James Purefoy. I can't think of anyone else. But Cake's 39 and Purefoy 43. They could play a young Flashman now but what about ten years down the line? We'd be better off starting with an actor in his twenties. Can anybody think of one?
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"An inglorious peace is better than a dishonourable war" ~ John Adams
Roger Moore wasn't that bad an actor! Certainly he could do everything necessary for Flashman. Admitted, Connery's accent might be a problem, but he's got away with playing Irish and Russian already! Plus, the cover of Flashman on the March seems to have been taken directly from Connery in 'Man Who Would Be King'.
And, yes I was forgetting Lazenby - but doesn't everyone?!
Jude Law, the man can play a perfect cad.
shareI don't know, after watching Tailor of Panama I could definitely picture Pierce Brosnan as Flashman. My only objection (if it's an objection) is that he's too obvious a choice.
Connery would have been physically ideal for the part, but like you say the accent would disqualify him. Not sure I can see Moore or Dalton as Flashman.
"Lola, I love you, you selfish bitch!"