Horus Heresy - the series: who would play each Primarch?

[SuperDann]

So, whilst watching Game of Thrones, I thought how cool it was that a long-loved and highly popular fantasy series got through to a much larger and mainstream audience via the medium of a TV drama series. And then I thought, why can't the same be done for the Horus Heresy? I mean some of its books have topped the Sci-Fi charts on both sides of the Atlantic and have even cropped up on the New York Times bestsellers lists.

But, that point aside, I think the more interesting question is if it were to be made then who would play who? I'm thinking specifically the Primarchs here, as supplementary characters are too many and diverse. Here's my thoughts on a few, and remember this is theoretical (as Guilliman would say) and so I'm including movie actors who would likely not star in a TV series as well as some late actors who clearly wouldn't be able to.

Horus - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0425005/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
He's got the physique, for one, but more importantly the charisma. One of the things that I really liked about the opening trilogy of the Horus Heresy was that Horus was not fated to turn evil from day one and it wasn't all "Oh my goodness, how could we not have seen this coming? It was so obvious!" He was popular and his appointment as Warmaster was upheld by the majority. I think The Rock has the necessary likeability for such a role.

Vulcan - Michael Clarke Duncan (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003817/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Between his John Coffey (The Green Mile) and Kingpin (Daredevil) I think he could portray both the humane and furious side of the Primarch.

Roboute Guilliman - Chris Evans (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0262635/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
He's got that good-guy-ness as displayed in Captain America, but I can see him having the slightly darker side hinted at in Unremembered Empire

Angron - Dave Bautista (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1176985/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Too obvious?

Sanguinius - Chris Hemsworth (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1165110/?ref_=nv_sr_3)
Good looks (a must for this role) and dynamism.


So there's just a few I thought of. Who would you suggest? Who would you change?

[YorkNecromancer]

The Rock is too good a face to waste him on Horus. He needs to be one of the 'good guys'... such as they are.

My choices would be:

Horus: James Purefor. The man is raw, dangerous charismatic masculinity, not to mention he does regal incredibly well.
Gulliman: Kevin McKidd. Watch 'Rome' and see why.
Ferrus Manus: Ray Stevenson. The man has great intensity, and does cold-eyed killer like no-one else.
Fulgrim: Natalie Dormer. Her turn as SPOILER:Moriarty in 'Elementary' is one of the greatest interpretations of the character I've seen.
Rogal Dorn: Idris Elba. His whole 'unyielding badass' shtick is awesome.
Angron: Jason Statham. Because Statham can actually act (he just often chooses not to), and Angron is actually a well-developed character who requires nuance, not simple rage, because he's not a daemon prince yet.
Lorgar: Iain Glen. Watch him in 'City of Vice': the man is ****ing terrifying.
Sanguinius: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Does the whole 'Handsome, charismatic, and wearied by his burdens' impeccably well.
Malcador the Sigilite: Polly Walker. Just for her delivery of the final line of 'Rome': after having successfully defeated her every enemy, a new challenger appears, and gets shut down with the phrase - "You are swearing now that some day you will destroy me. Remember: far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go look for them now."

[SuperDann]

Gulliman: Kevin McKidd. Watch 'Rome' and see why.
Ferrus Manus: Ray Stevenson. The man has great intensity, and does cold-eyed killer like no-one else.


These two suggestions I like. A lot, actually.

[Myreknight]

Khan - Mickey Rourke

[Angelofblades]

Ken Watanabe as Khan

[The Traitor]

Ckuck Norris :The Emperor
Arnold Schwartzenegger :The Terminator- i need your bolter,power armour and battle barge

[Psychosplodge]

Christopher Lee :The Emperor


ftfy

[Dlatrex]

The Rock is too good a face to waste him on Horus. He needs to be one of the 'good guys'... such as they are.

My choices would be:

Horus: James Purefor. The man is raw, dangerous charismatic masculinity, not to mention he does regal incredibly well.
Gulliman: Kevin McKidd. Watch 'Rome' and see why.
Ferrus Manus: Ray Stevenson. The man has great intensity, and does cold-eyed killer like no-one else.
Fulgrim: Natalie Dormer. Her turn as SPOILER:Moriarty in 'Elementary' is one of the greatest interpretations of the character I've seen.
Rogal Dorn: Idris Elba. His whole 'unyielding badass' shtick is awesome.
Angron: Jason Statham. Because Statham can actually act (he just often chooses not to), and Angron is actually a well-developed character who requires nuance, not simple rage, because he's not a daemon prince yet.
Lorgar: Iain Glen. Watch him in 'City of Vice': the man is ****ing terrifying.
Sanguinius: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Does the whole 'Handsome, charismatic, and wearied by his burdens' impeccably well.
Malcador the Sigilite: Polly Walker. Just for her delivery of the final line of 'Rome': after having successfully defeated her every enemy, a new challenger appears, and gets shut down with the phrase - "You are swearing now that some day you will destroy me. Remember: far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go look for them now."


GREAT choices. I just mentioned in the other thread how much I'd insist on casting Idris (and while he can capture any role, he'd probably need to stop tanning to play Rogal ;-) )

I might also prefer Nikolaj for Fulgrim, but your choice is good as well.

A few I could see:


Ferrus Manus: Gerard Butler. I think he could pull of the bipolar attitudes just fine.
Magnus the Red:Hugh Bonneville. Should be great for the tragic components.
Corax:Colin O'Donoghue. I'd like to see how he could do the 'haunted' look.
Night Haunter:Hugh Laurie. Speaking of haunted looks. He could do the descent into madness wonderfully.
Perturabo:Mark Strong. I don't imagine Perturabo needs to speak above a low growl most of the time.
Horus:Michael Fassbender. He could pull off both halves pretty convincingly I think.
Alpharius /Omegon:Martin Freeman. I know he usually does comedy, but I think if given the chance to show his sinister side, he could pull of the Primarch that you forget to fear until it's too late.


Bonus: Jeremy Irons as Malcador, mostly because I'd love the delivery of his lines.

[Tom Visser]

I think I would choose actors for vocal talent, because I just can't see the series being live action. I think the budget would be too high. If they were to do a series, it would likely be animated or cgi. Without enough time to think, I would definitely have.Clancy Brown be Horus.

[Crimthaan]

I instantly think of Stephen Lang as Dorn. Uncompromising and dedicated to his cause.

8239

[atrox_futurus]

Fulgrim - Jason Isaacs
Leman Russ - Vladmir Kulich
Rogal Dorn - Gerard Bulter
Conrad Curze - Christopher Walken (he can pull off that gaunt look, besides that idk)
Sanguinius - Viggo Mortensen
Ferrus Manus - Dave Bautista
Angron - nathan Jones
Vulkan - Kevin Grevioux

[Vangrail]

Ferrus manus- bautista or tyler mane.
Leman russ- sean bean
Vulkan- michael jai white
Fulgrim- tom hiddleston or brad pitt

[kickboxerdog]

for fulgrim I really like Lee Pace I think the way he plays Thranduil in the hobbit would really suit fulgrim

[DaveTycho]

Fulgrim: Natalie Dormer. Her turn as SPOILER:Moriarty in 'Elementary' is one of the greatest interpretations of the character I've seen.
Malcador the Sigilite: Polly Walker. Just for her delivery of the final line of 'Rome': after having successfully defeated her every enemy, a new challenger appears, and gets shut down with the phrase - "You are swearing now that some day you will destroy me. Remember: far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go look for them now."
[/LIST][/QUOTE]

Why are you suggesting women's names for male characters?

[Psychosplodge]

If you only need a voice its been done before.
It would probably work for the sigilitte and for Fulgrim quite well.

[Warriorsong]

Anime pure and simple is how this would look best - Similar in style to Highlander Vengeance. If you have seen the sword fight at the start with the big dude and the chainsword, you'll see why (Gaunt's Ghosts done like this would make GW a fat stack o' cash).

CG is so old hat these days and lets face it Ultramarine was not GW's finest hour.

Live action:
Malcador - Patrick Stewart / Jeremy Irons - awesome suggestion
Angron - Clancy Brown is great as The Kurgan in Highlander (get him for the anime too, he's a supremely talented voice actor).
Dorn - Russell Crowe, a'la Gladiator
Fulgrim - Lee Pace (Thranduil) aloofness - awesome suggestion
Lorgar - Gary Oldman (he can do driven and creepy)
Perturabo - Steve Austin
Curze - Kevin Bacon
Sanguinius - Brad Pitt, channeling his Louis (Interview with The Vampire) angst
Manus - Ray Stevenson (is this the guy from Punisher Warzone?)

Some other posters suggestions were great - I would say make sure they are older actors (like over 30 to middle aged) to add to the gravitas of the character and their experiences. Regional actors like an Scandinavian actor for Russ would bring in a wider audience as would relative unknowns as well as Oscar winners. I not saying make Tom Hanks as Horus by any means :P Cast for range as well as matching the established look and physicality.

I couldn't take a young actor as a Prim arch seriously in the context of the 40k Mythos.

[MadLarkin784]

Fulgrim-Tom Hiddleston or Benedict Cumberbatch
Dorn-Stephen Lang
Ferrus- Sean Pertwee
The Lion- Vladimir Kulich
Horus- Ray Stevenson
Alpharius- Charlie Hunnam
Lorgar- Gary Oldman
Khan- Byung-Hun Lee
Sanguinius- Paul Bettany
Mortarion- Mads Mikkelson
Curze- Alan Rickman
Angron- Kevin Durand
Corax- Johnny Depp
Magnus- Clive Owen
Perturabo- Jason Statham
Vulkan- Idris Elba or Djimon Honsou
Guilliman- Russel Crowe
Leman Russ- Ryan Hurst

[Wolfshade]

Sanguinius - Tilda Swinton

[SuperDann]

Angron- Kevin Durand
Leman Russ- Ryan Hurst

I would have Kevin Durand as Corax, as he just has that bird-like look to him.
Ryan Hurst as Russ I can most definitely see.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I wouldn't have Michael Clarke Duncan as Vulkan, he's too busy being dead. xD

[Cactus]

Horus - Dwayne Johnson
Leman Russ - Norman Reedus
Ferrus Manus - Marc Strong
Fulgrim - Orlando Bloom
Vulkan - Djimon Hounsou
Rogal Dorn - Daniel Craig
Roboute Guilliman - George Clooney
Magnus the Red - Christopher Meloni
Sanguinius - Tom Hiddleston
Lion El'Jonson - Bruce Willis
Perturabo - Tom Hardy
Mortarion - Kevin Bacon
Lorgar - Benedict Cumberbatch
Jaghatai Khan - Ken Watanabe
Konrad Curze - Viggo Mortensen
Angron - Vin Diesel
Corax - Benedict Cumberbatch
Alpharius Omegon - Michael Fassbender

[SuperDann]

I wouldn't have Michael Clarke Duncan as Vulkan, he's too busy being dead. xD

I know. I did acknowledge that in my opening post.

[The Herald of Corrosion]

See...my problem with all the people they've chosen for Perturabo so far would probably stem form one of two things: 1) it misses his characterization or, 2) I'm not familiar enough with the actor to know their work.

With the Lord of Iron, you need someone who can be both a physically imposing (yet relatively withdrawn) presence and voice and also someone who can balance a quiet brilliance with centuries of bitterness over it going unappreciated. Perturabo at once cared deeply about his siblings and yet was simulataneously distant from all of them. He was a loyal, a hardworking soul twisted by the unthinking contempt and underestimation of others.

Likewise, with Angron, you need someone capable of being terrifying when angry, but also capable of perfectly showing how that hatred and anger was utterly corrosive and ate him alive from the inside out. And they need to do it without simply descending into froth-mouthed cartoon berserker-dom, because the tragedy of the Red Angel is that he was a noble soul trapped in ignoble circumstances which left him a fundamentally broken person.

For Dorn...there've been good suggestions, but ultimately you need someone capable of being uncompromising, straight-arrow. I'm tempted to say Stephen Dillane (who did an excellent job of that sort of uncompromising straight-up-and-down-character thus far as Stannis Baratheon) should probably play either Dorn or Perturabo.

Alpharius / Omegon / Sheed Ranko: You'd need someone of an appropriate skintone who is simultaneously visually unassuming otherwise.

And I feel like if you're going to have the before and the after you need more than just ability to be sinister with Lorgar. You need someone capable of portraying empathy and idealism of his beliefs before he was rebuffed, then they need to be able to show how warped the pain of that fundamental rejection by his father and god made him.

Actually. On further thought, I'm almost tempted to suggest Ron Pearlman as Perturabo.

[banicrhys]

Sanguinius or Lorgar - Viggo Mortensen
Horus - Brian Blessed (maybe a 80's/90's version of him, I don't know how well he's aged.)
Mortarion - Benedict Cumbersnatch
Angron - Michael Chiklis

That's all I got.