Genderflipped Force Awakens Casting

[ladyofleithian]

Haven't done one of these in a long while. Anyway, I figured that I'd do this just because it kind of struck me out of nowhere.


Andrew Garfield as Rey:

















Freema Agyeman as Finn:


















Michelle Rodriguez as Poe Dameron:











James Earl Jones as Maz Kanata:





Kathy Bates as older Hana Solo:











I haven't seen Misery, but I remember seeing her in Dolores Claiborne and she did a wonderful job of playing a mother trying to protect her daughter.

Gary Oldman as General Luke Organa:















Nana Visitor as Lor San Tekka:









Danielle Harris as Kyla Ren/Padme Solo:

Without the mask:



























As a teenager (pre-massacre, as apparently, Kylo Ren committed the massacre when he was at least a teenager, so...my bad):













And during the massacre:






As little Padme Solo:
























Karen Gillan as General Hux:















Benedict Cumberbatch as Captain Phasma:








Debrah Farentino as Supreme Leader Snoke:


















This is going to sound like a very weird choice for Supreme Leader Snoke, but one of my factors in characterizing Snoke (from what we've got of him) is that he's very calm, in control, kind of has the appearance of a Reasonable Authority Figure (at least in comparison to Palpatine) while being really manipulative. And this is a weird connection to make to Debrah Farentino, but from what I saw her in (Storm of the Century), she's a usually calm, controlled, sort of mother-to-the-team figure with a bit of a dark streak (such as suggesting to her husband to make the main villain's death look like an accident). So I think she could play Snoke as this mysterious character with his (or her, in this case) own agenda, calm on the surface while still being kind of...like Snoke is in the film. Plus her voice is quiet, but demands attention and respect. She probably wouldn't even have to shout to shut up Hux when (s)he speaks out of turn.

Fun fact: Snoke was originally supposed to be a woman. I can imagine that if they'd gone that route, it would play out...a bit like Sion and Kreia actually. The manipulative mentor with her own agenda and the apprentice with...plenty of emotional issues. And a bit of a soft spot (however you want to interpret it) for the main female character. It would have been very KOTOR II-ish, I think.

Comments

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

Wow, I did not know that Snoke was originally intended to be a woman! I guess it’s sort of like how Luke was originally envisioned as female.

Interesting fan casting (especially with James Earl Jones, coming back to “Star Wars,” but this time as a featured actor and not a voice actor).

Since I’ve seen on Tumblr that the much of the reaction to the Rey/Kylo ship mirrors the reaction to Zutara (i.e. “you’re disgusting and stupid for shipping this clearly abusive relationship!!!”), it makes me wonder if this reaction would be the same if your fan casting was the case in the films, i.e. it was Rey and Kyla Ren, instead of Rey and Kylo Ren.

[arkan2.livejournal.com]

I think actually, Luke - or rather, the character whose role Luke eventually filled - was originally envisioned as male, and Lucas only considered making the protagonist female in between some of the later drafts. I only found that out in the past year, and I was sorely disappointed when The Star Wars (the comic based on Lucas' original script) came out, and the protagonist was male.

I hadn't heard that about Snoke, either. Too bad, having a female main villain could have been almost as groundbreaking as a female main hero - both in the same movie would've been a great thing. Plus, it would've helped the esteemed Supreme Leader feel less like a blatant Palpatine knock-off.

Of course, you know in a parallel universe where they did cast Snoke as female, (and Phasma as male, which was apparently also the original plan), people are submitting Andy Serkis as Snoke for the gender-flipped Force Awakens casting, and other people are rolling their eyes and saying things like "Oh, sure, go for the obvious."

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I heard about that. I think it would have been interesting (and for the time, ground-breaking!) if Luke were a girl. I think elizabeth_hoot wrote some stuff using that premise; I can link you if you want. It's very good.

(And I just realized I forgot to cast older female Luke. *Headdesk* I guess I can fix it, though)

Exactly. I think one issue with fiction -- and I admit I myself am guilty of this -- is a lack of female main villains (and while there are some good ones, some of them can -- at least in my opinion -- kind of fall on the same old stereotypes). I think Snoke as a woman would have been very interesting -- a commanding, competent woman who's been through hell, is manipulative, is charming and charismatic, things like that. And I admit I do like Snoke, though it's more of the possibility of what kind of history he has, what he's planning (Andy Serkis mentioned him being kind of a long term schemer, which could be interesting), stuff like that. And how he got those scars. But yeah, I like Snoke, but I admit his character is kind of thin.

Yeah. XD Poor Andy Serkis, so typecast. And I heard about the Phasma thing -- apparently it was after a complaint about there not being enough women. I think she was kind of underused in the film (I mean, she's got an awesome design and one hell of an awesome voice, and they underused it, which is a bummer), so I'm looking forward to Episode Eight. (2017 cannot come soon enough!)

[(Anonymous)]

Oh thanks, I'm afraid I don't really read a lot of online fanfiction, but I appreciate the offer.

Not too surprised you forgot to cast female Luke, considering how much (by which I mean, little) there was of him in the movie.

Yeah, whenever I contemplate creating a female main villain, I find myself either slipping into sexist cliches, or worrying about doing so - so I can relate to you there. But I'm sure we'll both do just fine when we set our minds to it (it's not really an issue with any of my current projects.)

I agree that a female Snoke would be pretty cool. I think I see what you mean about the character as he is: he's potentially quite compelling, if what Serkis has said about it comes through in later films, but in Force Awakens he's pretty bland.

Phasma was definitely underused - I sure hope they do better with her in later movies, too.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

No problem. :)

Yeah, that's true. I'm interested to see what they do with him in Episodes Eight and Nine. I mean, I admit I was pretty burned on Luke after LOTF, what I heard of FOTJ, and reading Crucible (yeah, Crucible is...pretty bad). But I think that they'll do a good job with Luke in Episodes Eight and Nine. I just have a feeling they will. I mean, Episode Seven managed to redeem Han for me personally after I got burned on him in LOTF, so they'll do a good job with Luke. (I guess besides his trying to save Kylo -- even if he failed -- he seemed like an older and wiser version of the Han we knew: funny, a bit cocky, but definitely a lot wiser. Basically, how I pictured Han as a mentor figure)

I think you'll do well. :) I really think you will.

Yeah, I admit I wish we'd gotten more of what Serkis said in interviews in the film. I can only assume that it mostly made it into deleted scenes, or they're saving it for a really big twist for the next two movies. (I'm kind of wondering what exactly Snoke wants. It says in the novelization that Snoke was watching Ben/Kylo from infancy -- also, *shiver* -- and Snoke talks about, in the novelization, how Kylo has aspects of both the light and the dark in him, which I'm kind of wondering if Snoke was talking about the matter of Force potential or something else. I mean, Palpatine wasn't really looking for aspects of both the light and dark when he was corrupting Anakin. I guess we really won't find out what Snoke wants -- if he wants anything -- until Episodes Eight and Nine) But yeah, Snoke...thing about Palpatine is that he had a certain presence and personality to him even when he was no more than a hologram in ESB, but Snoke...Andy Serkis is a brilliant actor, don't get me wrong, but they didn't give Snoke as much of a character as Palpatine. (I'm kind of writing some stories in the TFA-period, and I'm fleshing out Snoke a bit more. I'm thinking of him as a really suave, charming sort of Visionary Villain, and a bit burned in the past by the Jedi. Considering the First Order and their ends-justify-the-means mentality, I think Snoke has a bit of it too)

Fortunately, Phasma's going to get a larger role in Episode Eight. Which I'm definitely happy about.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

It's pretty cool, isn't it? Now that I think about it, as much as I do like Snoke in the film, it would have been cool if Snoke was a woman. We kind of need more Evil Overladies, as it were.

And thanks! Yeah, I was stuck regarding some roles (some were easy to cast, like Poe, Finn, Kylo Ren), others took some searching (I was pretty much looking forever to find a good male Rey, and an older fem!Han and male!Leia. Those were pretty tough calls) and some took a bit of a "Eureka" moment (Snoke and Maz Kanata). For Maz, I knew James Earl Jones could be wise and funny all in one, which Maz very much is (Lupita N'yongo was awesome in that role) so casting James Earl Jones just worked.

Yeah, I saw that, and frankly, I think it's ridiculous. I don't really ship Reylo, but I wouldn't cast judgment on anyone shipping it. And honestly, I can definitely see the groundwork being laid there, from some of the gestures to the fact that in comparison to everyone else, he's quite gentle towards her. (I'm actually curious if they had any prior history because in the novelization, he actually says "It is you", and his freak out when one of his officers first mentions "the girl". So I think they might have had some degree of prior history, whether Kylo met her in passing or otherwise) I think Kylo kind of has a group of people he doesn't have contempt for: Vader (who he hero-worships), Snoke (who I think he's blind to the true character of) and Rey (for whatever reason).

As for Rey and Kyla Ren...well, I don't think we would have gotten the "abusive" accusations. I mean, as far as I can gather, I don't think villainess/hero relationships get the backlash that villain/heroine relationships can get at times. I mean, stuff like Batman/Catwoman...far as I know, stuff like that's never been called abusive. (Then again, I could be wrong) I think that it would have been sort of a case of the-villainess-tries-to-corrupt-the-hero-the-hero-tries-to-save-her thing. It might have gotten its share of criticisms, but probably not the "abusive" criticism.

(I hope this made sense)

Honestly, that's a very good question. And now I almost want to turn this into a whole 'verse.

[miss-bushido.livejournal.com]

OMG HUX AND PHASMA ARE THE BEST! (not that the others aren't good). I would love to see Kathy Bates kicking ass and taking names as an awesome smuggler

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

First off, your icon is just gorgeous. Seriously.

And thank you so much! And I know, right? Kathy Bates kicking ass and taking names as a smuggler...it would be amazing. <3