2004 Film- Actors (Thunderbirds)

[ray gower]

2004 Film- Actors

As it doesn't look as if this is going to go away perhaps we ought to get our threads on the road properly

Please let us hear the character rumours here:

 

[ray gower]

Looks as if most ot the casting has been done:-

From Fanderson

Working Title Films have just announced that 48 year-old American actor Bill Paxton (right) has been cast in the role of International Rescue patriarch Jeff Tracy in the $70 million live-action feature film of Thunderbirds, currently in pre-production at Pinewood Studios. Paxton is well-known to genre fans, particularly for his work with James Cameron in The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), True Lies (1994) and Titanic (1997), but it is probably his role as astronaut Fred Haise in Ron Howard's Apollo 13 (1995) that will most influence his performance as former astronaut Jeff Tracy in Thunderbirds.

Casting for four of the five Tracy brothers has also just been announced, all of them relatively unknown to film and television audiences. Scott Tracy will be played by Philip Winchester who has previously been seen in a small role as a young militiaman in the Steven Seagal film The Patriot (1998) (not the Mel Gibson film of the same name). He will soon be seen in a bigger role in the low budget British horror film LD 50 (2003). Virgil Tracy will be played by Dominic Colenso whom British television viewers have just seen as David in Stephen Poliakoff's two part drama The Lost Prince which concluded last Sunday on BBC1.

John Tracy will be played by Lex Shrapnel who recently appeared in the low budget British horror film Nine Lives (2002) and then as Kornilov in the Harrison Ford film K-19: The Widowmaker (2002). Gordon Tracy will be played by newcomer Ben Torgenson.

Working Title Films previously announced that 22 year-old British actress Sophia Myles (left) has been cast in the role of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward. A little-known actress whose most notable film and television appearances have been in period costume dramas such as Mansfield Park, Oliver Twist and The Life And Adventures Of Nickolas Nickleby, Sophia Myles has also appeared in guest roles in Heartbeat and Foyle's War and will next be seen in Underworld, a Vampire horror fantasy due to be released in October.

She will be partnered by British character actor Ron Cook as Parker, Lady Penelope's faithful retainer. Notable for his roles in feature films such as The Cook, The Thief, The Wife & Her Lover (1989), Quills (2000), 102 Dalmatians (2000), Chocolat (2000) and 24 Hour Party People (2002), Cook has also appeared on television in episodes of Whoops Apocalypse, The Young Ones, Bergerac, Boon and The Singing Detective. He was last seen on British television on Boxing Day when he appeared as Barrymore in the BBC's lavish adaptation of The Hound Of The Baskervilles and on January 5th and 6th as Doughty in the latest installment of ITV's Hornblower series.

 

[Tabitha]

Ben Kingsley has signed to star in the live-action film version of the 1960s cult U.K. television puppet series Thunderbirds, opposite Bill Paxton, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Kingsley will play the Hood, the movie's international master criminal.

From www.scifi.com/scifiwire

I think this is definitely happening, Ray!

 

[ray gower]

And it was such a pleasent evening!:crying:

Hope they find a real script soon!

 

[ray gower]

More Bad News

The Tracy brothers have been announced:-

From Fanderson:-

Alan Tracy will be played by 14 year-old Brady Corbet (left), an Arizona-born actor who has guested in an episode of the American sitcom The King Of Queens, while Gordon Tracy will be played by newcomer Ben Torgenson. John Tracy will be played by Lex Shrapnel who recently appeared in the low budget British horror film Nine Lives (2002) and then as Kornilov in the Harrison Ford film K-19: The Widowmaker (2002).

Looks like a nice kid, if only he was ten years older!

The perhaps?

 

[Tabitha]

Cripes, 14!

Newest news tell us that ER's Doc Green Anthony Edwards has nabbed the role of Brains!

[ gleaned from www.corona.bc.ca ]

 

[ray gower]

A little more about the gentleman from Fanderson:-

Working Title Films have just announced that 40 year-old American actor Anthony Edwards (left) has been cast in the role of International Rescue engineer and Thunderbirds designer Brains in the $70 million live-action feature film of Thunderbirds (2004), currently in production at Pinewood Studios. Edwards is best known for his starring role as Dr. Mark Greene in the long-running American medical drama series ER, which he left last year after eight years in the part. Prior to ER he appeared as the ill-fated Lieutenant Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw in Top Gun (1986) and took a regular role in Northern Exposure as former lawyer Mike Monroe, living in a huge plastic bubble after developing an allergic reaction to toxic chemicals in the environment.

Born in Santa Barbara, California in 1962, Anthony Edwards made his screen debut in the 1981 television movie The Killing Of Randy Webster and went on to appear in films such as Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982), Heart Like A Wheel (1983) and Revenge Of The Nerds (1984). He also appeared as Andy Quinn in the short-lived ABC sitcom It Takes Two, but it was his role as Tom Cruise's best friend in Top Gun (1986) that first brought him to the attention of cinema audiences. He appeared in leading roles in Mr. North (1988), Hawks (1988), Miracle Mile (1988) and Pet Semetary II (1992), as well as a guest role in Beverly Hills 90201 before being cast as Mike Monroe in Northern Exposure and then Dr. Greene in ER, a role for which he was Emmy nominated four times as outstanding lead actor. Edwards also directed three episodes of ER and has produced the films Don't Go Breaking My Heart (1998) and Die, Mommie, Die (2003), and the television movies Border Line (1999) and My Louisiana Sky (2001). He will next be seen as Happy in Northfork (2003).

I can't in all honesty see any similarity between the two, except he wears glasses.
Still it makes him closer to the game than the rest of the cast!

 

[Dave]

The Tracey Brothers

I've attached a picture, courtesy of 'The Sun' online.

The article in full is here:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,5-2003270846,,00.html

No new news though -- well it is 'The Sun'!

 

[ray gower]

For some reason, when I saw this photo of the Brothers Grimm, I had a startling flashback to Steve Martin in the Three Amigos (My mind must work in funny ways).
Actually they are actually dressed in boilwashed Enterprise uniforms!

Fanderson continues:

Unlike their counterparts in the television series, Scott, Virgil and Gordon all have the same hair colour. Their uniforms bear no resemblance whatsoever to the television versions, being pale grey jumpsuits with red piping more akin to the uniforms worn by the members of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol in Gerry Anderson's earlier series Stingray. The uniforms include a simplified version of the International Rescue motif, the word 'Thunderbirds' down the left arm and, bizarrely for an organisation whose operatives must remain secret from the world at large, the character's name on the left breast.

The feature film appears destined to court further controversy amongst fans with the revelation that John has become the eldest of the Tracy brothers, rather than Scott, as in the television series. The relative ages of the five brothers has been a long-argued topic amongst fans, as the intentions of the series' producers (illustrated by the order in which the brothers appear in the programme's title sequence: Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon, Alan) were contradicted by a series of character biographies published in the mid-Sixties British comics magazine TV Century 21 (later used as the basis for information published in several books, magazines and comics published in the 1980s and early 1990s), which suggested that Virgil is older than John. Since 2000, the official character biographies endorsed by Gerry Anderson and the series' owners Carlton International Media have restored the programme-makers' original vision of the Thunderbirds chronology, but in the Working Title film, John is Jeff Tracy's first-born, followed by Virgil, Scott, Gordon and Alan who are all still teenagers.

The final two additions to the film's main cast have been announced as juvenile actors Soren Fulton and Vanessa Anne Hudgens who will play Brains's son Fermat (named after the 17th century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat) and Tin-Tin respectively. In the film, these characters will join Alan Tracy to overthrow the evil Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley) who takes control of International Rescue's Tracy Island headquarters after Jeff and his other four sons are stranded on Thunderbird 5 during an emergency. Intended to act as a prequel to the events of the TV series (and an introduction to what is hoped will become a long-running film franchise), the film will tell how Alan manages to 'earn his wings' and become a fully-fledged member of the International Rescue organisation as the pilot of Thunderbird 3.

Is there much left for them change?

Well, I daresay they will find something or other. Sadly it does look as if they are deliberately dumbing this lot for the Tweenies

 

[Dave]

I don't like it when they change too many things either, especially things such as this, Star Trek, Dr Who and Battlestar Galactica. All of which I've watched since I was knee high to a grasshopper. But something in your quote made me see some sense in the plot now:

"Intended to act as a prequel to the events of the TV series, the film will tell how Alan manages to 'earn his wings' and become a fully-fledged member of the International Rescue organisation as the pilot of Thunderbird 3."

If it is to be a prequel to the TV series, a lot of what I complained about earlier is not relevant. This is the problem with us commenting upon spoiler rumours when we don't have all the facts. The producers of 'Stargate' recently complained about the same thing (though the final product WAS still worthy of the complaints IMHO.)

Anyway, maybe we should go and see this first --- and THEN critise it

 

[ray gower]

I agree, it is easy to criticise based upon the rumours and speculation. But then the plot bunnies that are being released are not helping the film's cause.

They are opening huge gaps between the film and what is canon either in the series, or Andersons own potted history and appear to be changing the nature of the series:-
Like the relative ages of the sons.
That we still have a youngster left almost permanently in space.
That the first time the Hood saw or heard of the Thunderbirds was in Fireflash and that he was only ever a minor part to add more excitement and not the centre of the film.
That Alan was a trained astronaut and racing car driver before Thunderbirds got off the ground.

I can live with them mucking around with the periperals:
Modernising the shapes of the craft (perhaps even easing a few of the practical scale problems of the old models).
I doubt I would notice if there were no folding palm trees.
And the change in uniform makes sense.

 

[Tabitha]

Originally posted by ray gower

I can live with them mucking around with the periperals:
Modernising the shapes of the craft (perhaps even easing a few of the practical scale problems of the old models).
I doubt I would notice if there were no folding palm trees.

Ironically enough, these seem to be the elements that they aren't really mucking with at all!

IMDB has an article with new pics of the ships and Tracy Island HERE.

 

[ray gower]

I know they aren't changing the peripherals very much.

The folding palm trees in particular seem to be a major feature to Frakes, he seems to mention them in almost every recorded statement. Makes it seem a tad shallow. 'Dam the story. Just make sure the tree folds over!'

Perhaps he could make it a 120 minute documentary about a forest of folding palms?

 

[ray gower]

I know they aren't changing the peripherals very much.

The folding palm trees in particular seem to be a major feature to Frakes, he seems to mention them in almost every recorded statement. Makes it seem a tad shallow. 'Dam the story. Just make sure the tree folds over!'

Perhaps he could make it a 120 minute documentary about a forest of folding palms and its unfortunate and confused residents?