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>>Previous Mental Notes >Songs For Dilandau & Casting Dilandau |
Mental Notes
This is the place where I'll share a bunch of little thoughts about Dilandau, and Escaflowne in general, that just don't fit anywhere else. My brain throws these things up and I may as well do something with 'em, right?
Songs for Dilandau
1. Firestarter by the Prodigy. What can I say? Whenever I hear it I get a mental montage of Dilandau... starting fires.
2. Fire by this bizarre group from the late sixties called The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. They were sort of Alice Cooper before there was Alice Cooper. The song would begin with Arthur dashing onstage wearing a specially-made flame helmet, which he had to remove within eight seconds or it would set his hair on fire, and screaming 'I am the God of Hellfire, and I bring you... FIYAH!' Another member of the group wore a hood which I think was supposed to make him look like a Ku Klux Klansman but really made him look like a pointy Smurf. I just think Dilandau would have enjoyed them.
3. Disco Inferno by Tina Turner, if only because 'Burn, baby, burn' is everyone's favourite Dilandau catchphrase that Dilandau never actually says *^.^* I'm not sure he'd like disco, anyway; really annoying techno, perhaps. (It's always interesting to think what music anime characters would listen to - I'm sure Folken likes Creed and gloomy stuff like that, frexample. Van might like U2's 80s output; I can picture Hitomi listening to Bic Runga and I just know Dryden has a bunch of old Split Enz and Beatles records in his library somewhere.)
4. They're Coming to Take Me Away by Napoleon XIII. It's a happy song about being insane. And why not?
5. I wanted to have five but I couldn't think of one more. *blush* But there are so many songs that, when you're listening to them, you just get this invigorating sense of total madness, like Basket Case by Green Day, I See Red by Split Enz and Bad Habit by the Offspring, and at moments like that, you know you're in a very Dilandau place *^.^*
Casting Dilandau
No no no, I'm not finding fault with Minami Takayama - but one of the things I sometimes think about is how I'd like to cast a live-action movie of Escaflowne. (Assuming you could get such a movie made, and assuming it wouldn't get ruined in the process.)
Well, my choice to play Dilandau would be Leonardo DiCaprio. I didn't arrive at this decision without a lot of thought; rest assured I am not suggesting DiCaprio merely because he is one of Hollywood's bishonen favourites. In such movies as What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, The Basketball Diaries and Marvin's Room he has proven his ability to play disturbed (or, in the case of Marvin's Room, really obnoxious) characters with aplomb. As a result of his recent success in romances like Romeo + Juliet and Titanic (he complains that his character, Jack, was impossible to play convincingly because he had no dark side) he's in danger of being typecast as a non-threatening heartthrob, to the point where a rumour that he was thinking of playing a serial killer in American Psycho set off a storm of rather hysterical opposition among Leo fans.
Dilandau would be a wonderful role for DiCaprio as it would allow him to be gorgeous and dangerous at the same time, retaining his heartthrob status while really freaking people out. Besides which, I think he'd do a wonderful job. He already has a semi-feminine quality which would make him ideal for a gender-ambiguous role, and I bet he'd really enjoy screaming 'Burn! BURN!' *^.^*
As long as we're on live-action casting, here are my picks for some of the other characters, in no particular order.
Dryden
Fassa - Joseph Fiennes (Will in Shakespeare in
Love) - he's perfect.
Kanzaki Hitomi - assuming we didn't cast her as
really Japanese (a name change could be in order - it's a
good thing Iris sounds just as pretty), Anna Paquin or
Allyson Hannigan (Willow in Buffy the Vampire
Slayer)
Zongi the Deceptant - Marilyn Manson. Not only would
Marilyn probably really enjoy this part, but he would be
very economical as he could be relied upon to bring his
costume and makeup from home *^.^*
Folken Fanel - David Duchovny. The world needs
David Duchovny with wings.
Millerna - Kate Winslet. If you've seen her in
Heavenly Creatures you'll know why. (Uh - just to
clarify, subtract the lesbianism and madness. I'm talking
about the princess quality and the gorgeous prim voice. 'The
balloon has gone up!')
Lord Dornkirk - Sean Connery. I don't think I need to
justify that one.
Allen Schezar - Ewan McGregor. C'mon! They already
taught him to sword-fight for The Phantom Menace,
he's got the most wonderful blue eyes, and if we can just
get him to wear a long blond wig this movie will be the
world's greatest droolfest! (I'm sure Sean Connery could
recommend a good wigmaker.)
Chesta - Topher Grace (Eric in That 70s Show).
I just really like Topher Grace at the moment. And he's kind
of got the hair already, and knows how to take a slap.
Migel Labariel - Scott Wolf (Bailey in Party of
Five). I admit I'm not being quite fair to poor Migel
with this one. It's just that I really hate Scott Wolf and
his annoying quacking voice, and to see him get killed by
Marilyn Manson in a movie would give me such a thrill.
Van Fanel - is very very hard to cast. The only good
actor of the right age I can think of is Lucas Black (Caleb
in American Gothic), and he looks nothing like Van.
Although it might be funny to give everyone in Fanelia a
Southern accent... hey, 'Merle' sounds very
Southern!
