"A new Waterloo movie..." Topic

Ok, so a prior post about the movie Waterloo got me thinking about this question. They stated that a new remake of Waterloo with CGI would be pretty epic "if done right with the right actors". Who are the right actors? Who would you cast as Napoleon, Wellington, Ney, Blucher,etc.? How about Tom Cruise as Napoleon (he's the right height…), Benedict Cumberbatch as Wellington, Neal McDonough as Ney, and …. Arnold Swcharzenegger as Blucher. Who would you cast in YOUR version?

Hmm. Start by getting a good script written with enough dialog/exposition to set the stage. Something that isn't just the stereotypes. I think the 1970 did a fair job of getting the back story of 1814 and the return set. MAybe a bit more on QB, Ligny and Wavre as well as key points of Waterloo.

Then finding actors that look the part, are close to the same age and can act. Maybe a multi-national approach with key actors from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, UK and France.

My version would be directed by Martin Scorsese. Napoleon would be played by Joe Pesci, Wellington by De Niro, Blucher by Harvey Keitel. The only open question is who Willem Dafoe would play, but I'm sure we can find a role for him.

I hope they never remake Waterloo. The modern version will have Wellington played by a female, the British will be Americans, and the French will be British. And Arnold Schwarzenegger will be Napoleon.

I agree with wargamer blue.

The Political Correctness brigade will ensure that it will be completely bizarre and there will be more explosions than extras. Also the battle will be depicted as a struggle for 'freedom' and 'liberty'.

The 1970 version is still the best even with its flaws.

If they were really daring, they'd use deep learning technology to stick on actors the faces from the historical portraits.

I just wish they made a movie so solid it'd be a massive rebuff of History deniers.

Wait ten years or more. Right now, Wargamer Blue and Wargamorium are right. This will eventually pass, but ten years is a minimum. Could be as much as 70.

Not going to happen. Waterloo was an aberration even for it time.

"Master and Commander" was a critically acclaimed film and yet didn't get the sequel because it bombed at the box office. I don't see tastes of the viewing public changing any time soon.

If made if's going to be largely CGI because you're not going to get the Russian Army to provide all those extras. You could, I suppose, make it with reenactors, but do you really want a second "Gettysburg"?

"The only open question is who Willem Dafoe would play……"
Ney, surely?

Perris- I have to say that Arnold as Blucher is a "mind-worm" that I will never get out of my head.

As has been stated, I would be afraid of what a new production would look like. After the movie Gettysburg was released, feminists were complaining that there weren't enough women in it.

Shouldn't somebody crazy play Blucher – like Gary Busey

Now that Kevin Spacey's out and based on his role in Hunters, Al Pacino for Napoleon

Tom Cruz for Ney

Willim Dafoe for Wellington

Ron Perlman for Blucher

Kubrick had wanted David Hemmings and Audrey Hepburn, I think, but I don't remember if he had developed notions of a supporting cast. Because Waterloo isn't an American story, I doubt it would do well as an epic in the Hollywood mode, released in the US. There might need to be an 'angle', like a secret agent with someone's battle plan. Or maybe vampires. Or perhaps the Prince of Orange shows up with a crate of AK-47s.

Wait, that's been done, hasn't it?

Or, one could go all Terry Gilliam on it.

Peter Dinklage as Napoleon
Bill Nighy as Wellington
Christoph Waltz as Blucher
Ed Begley Jr. as Ney
Nathan Lane as Grouchy
William Shatner as Friant
John Torturro as the Prince of Orange
Patrick Warburton as Hill
Tom Hiddleston as Uxbridge
Jim Gaffigan as d'Erlon

Think of the script.

Well, if I were the producer, I'd ask Quentin Tarantino to direct. I would insist on Danny Trejo as Wellington.

Can you see and hear Arnold S. saying "I'll be back" as night falls at Ligney!!!

@JMcCarroll

Well, Arnie is the right age for Blucher I suppose.

I've recently toyed with the idea of animated talking heads speaking their eyewitness accounts. We could overlay faces from portraiture and give them reasonably realistic digitally generated uniforms and headgear.

I've actually got the animation software, the stumbling block would be getting people willing to provide the voices, with the appropriate accents.

Would that be something people would enjoy? If so, I might knock something up later in the year?

Men, I had some great laughs here! Fred Mills REALLY got me busting a gut though. Shatner??? Too funny!

"Peter Dinklage as Napoleon"
That's going to upset the Fanboys.

The Danny Trejo contribution was inspired!

There would be a subplot where Marie Louise is desperately trying to get back to France but her father sternly forbids it. Ney's wife, Aglaé Auguié, will be a strong central character, driving the plot of whether Frenchmen should support Napoleon or not.

You know, I can kinda see William Shatner as Napoleon.

William Shatner is 89 years of age. Napoleon was 45 at Waterloo. ??????

Shatner, like Alec Baldwin or Christopher Walken, can play absolutely anyone, even Marie Louise in a pinch. :-)

Come to think of it, Walken as Wellington would also be sublime, with the right script.

"Ya know…..the French…..are….comin'…..Prepare yahselves." Long pause. Then he soft shoes out of the shot.