The Authority Movie

[foolish_m0rtal]

There has been a recent flux of comic book/general geekery movies coming out lately. I'm not sure whether the industry is doing this because they recognise we are an untapped demographic and find our culture interesting (optimistic) or because they are completely out of ideas and are now bastardising our stuff (probably) because they're lazy and have all their shotboarding already done for them. And really, who in the mainstream is going to complain about integrity of the work? Not many mainstreamers are geeky enough to hold the industry to exacting standards. Thank gods the people that have directed most of the comic book films are in love with them.

So there's been the common Spiderman, Batman, Superman. There's going to be a Green Lantern (I want John Stewart instead of Hal Jordan. I think the screen needs more diversity) and there's a Wonder Woman in development. (Why don't they just do the justice league?)

So maybe because there's a war going on, but there have been a LOT of hero movies. With the production of Watchmen earlier this year, maybe this will be the impetus for more daring unique comics to step forward. I've personally been looking forward to Doom Patrol or Batgirl (not the 2-D "Batman and Robin" garnish, ptth) making it to the movies.

But one comic I think would be completely awesome as a movie is The Authority. What sets the Authority apart from other superheroes is the lack of candy-coating. A lot of the superheroes prevailent in comics find that with their power also comes a respect or union with authority, be it the police or the government. Even the X-men take up a more defensive approach to crime-fighting. Even Batman lets Gotham's finest do their thing.
No, the Authority says we can do it better and stay the hell out of our way. It asks the question if you had superpowers, would you put yourself under another authority or go out and be your own? Would you look to someone else for command or go to fix the worlds wrongs yourself? With the Authority, it's always the second. Sure, they make good decisions and bad decisions, but they are uncompromising and believe in what they do.

Here's a rundown of many of the early characters in the Authority and who I'd like to play them.

Team Leader: Jenny Sparks, The Spirit of the 20th Century
Sparks is a tough as nails foul-mouthed chain-smoker who is also quite literally "The Spirit of the 20th Century" and stopped aging in 1919 when she came into her powers. The thesis given by the Doctor says humanity as a whole thinks that a century begins with the centennial year, so the mass unconscious of humanity creates these heroes in the beginning moments of the centennial year. Jenny is most closely tied to the 20th century and many times ends up at the centre of it. She has the power of electricity, having "enough power in her little finger to power Mahatten Island for a year."



Actress: Katee Sackhoff is IT. There can be NO other. I don't mean this in a hyperbolic fangirl way at all. I mean, the acting background she's had with Battlestar makes her perfect. (yes, I'm shamelessly typecasting)

Jack Hawksmoor, The King of Cities

Hawksmoor is cocky yet quite stylish with possibly the classiest superhero uniform I've seen yet. As a child, he was repeatedly kidnapped and surgically modified by humans from the 70th century, who were preparing him for a future threat. He can literally feel cities and has many vaguely-defined superpowers connected to the city like strength and agility. manipulation of architecture, and precognition. (Because the city shares its eyes and ears and mind with him). He can't survive outside urban environments for long and the larger the city, the stronger he gets. He is distinctive for ihis red eyes and the ribbed/metallic soles of his feet, which let him walk without shoes and be more in contact with the city.
 

Actor: Julian McMahon. This guy was unanimously picked as Hawksmoor in the sites I went through. (I couldn't decide for myself) He was Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four, which pretty much seals the deal.

The Engineer

The Engineer is Dr, Angela Spica, a brilliant doctor from Brooklyn. She distilled intelligent machines into nine pints of liquid machinery, which she then pumped into herself, replacing her own blood. This nanotechnology gives her powers such as encasing herself in a metal skin, flight, the creation of fantastic machinery, and self-replication. She is mostly drawn in her machine-encased state though she is seen in her human form at times.


Actress: Lisa Edelstein. In one arc we see the Engineer in her human form and by god, she looks exactly like Edelstein. Edelstein with her acting background in medicine due to her work in House M.D. makes her a solid choice. I think the women who play superheroes should be tough and capable. A lot of the people in the forums who were discussing actors for the Authority were casting supermodels in the female role, and that's not what this is about. I think this is exactly why I don't usually like the women characters in movies- they are just there for show. When I choose an actor, I look at his/her acting background, roles they've played, and perhaps their hobbies. Looks should be second to personality.

Swift
Shen Li-Min is a Buddhist Tibetian woman who possesses the power of flight as well as growing claws and talons on her feet and hands. She is called the fastest winged mammal on the planet, able to match superspeeders. She also has enhanced durability and strength, able to fly straight through a person. She has birdlike senses like enhanced hearing and eyesite as well as an ability to"read" the wind currents and eddies to locate moving things, perhaps using a "butterfly effect." She has also demonstrated excellent cooking and singing skills despite her tough exterior.


Actress: Okay, Michelle Yeoh doesn't look a lot like Swift, but she is a badass and very skilled in action scenes. (she actually does her own stunts) And that is the first criteria that I consider when casting actors, as you well know from my rant with Lisa Edelstein. Yeoh has my utmost respect.

Midnighter
Midnighter is former black ops who, along with Apollo was genetically enhanced by Henry Bendix. He has a metal combat compter as well as neural implants that allow him to run all possible scenarios of a fight in his head before making a move, thus being able to predict an enemy's moves before he/she makes them. He also possesses strength, a superhuman abilty to heal (he claims to have beaten AIDS in six weeks), and superhuman speed. He and Apollo are the Authority-verse archeotypes of Batman and Superman respectively.


Actor: Ray Park, a British actor, stunt man, and martial artist, so pretty much perfect for the part. He's also familiar with geek movies, having played Toad in the X-men films and Dark Maul in Star Wars. It doesn't hurt that Park pretty much looks like Midnighter, excepting the colour of his hair.

Apollo
Apollo, along with Midnighter, gained his powers through Henry Bendix's experiments and was also part of the Stormwatch organisation's black ops team. He and Midnighter went rogue after their first mission and spent five years undercover fighting crime in America's alleyways. Apollo is like a solar battery, recharging from the sun and possessing some of its powers, concentrating his solar energy into laser blasts. He has the power of flight, super strength, and durability, able to stand walking on the surface of the sun and diving into a volcano to correct a tectonic plate. He and the Midnighter are revealed to be in a permanent relationship later on in the series. They are married and adopt Sparks's reincarnation Jenny Quantum as the series progresses.


Actor: I really don't know what to say. One suggestion someone gave was Ryan Reynolds, but I don't know. I would recommend whoever they wanted to cast as Adrian Veidt before some loser suggested Matthew Goode. Apollo is one of the strongest most powerful superheroes in the Authority-verse, so they need a suitably intimidating person to play him. Maybe the guy who played Peter Rasputin (Colossus) in the X-men films.

The Doctor
The Doctor is the latest in a long line of shamans that protect the planet. There is always one Doctor alive, and he has the memories and powers of all his predecessors. Once a Doctor dies, his spirit goes to the Garden of Ancestral Memory, where he may be called on by the next Doctor for advice. The Doctor communes with the earth and has many earth based powers, including the ability to dematerialize a substance from one thing to another. Jeroen Thorndike,  a Dutch heroin addict, became the Doctor after a renegade Doctor was stripped of his powers. Jeroen was once a dot com millionaire, but gave up his money and tried to have an ordinary life. after inheriting the previous Doctor's powers, he refused the responsibility until Sparks was able to convince him to join the Authority.


Actor: Names like James Earl Haley and Edward Norton have been thrown around, but the Doctor is a really young guy so I'm not sure these actors would fit the bill physically speaking, though from an acting standpoint either actor would be outstanding.

FEW MONTHS LATER: Seth Green would probably be pretty good. I liked his character on Buffy, and I feel he's one of those versatile younger actors that could manage the Doctor's simultaneously silly nerdy side and dark angsty side quite nicely.

 

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Comments

Not bad, may I make a few suggestions?

[(Anonymous)]

I can mostly agree with your version, especially seth green, and Mcmahon (although Mathew Fox , Tahmoh Penikett, or Adrian Pasdar come to mind) But the rest had some problems for me. Katee Sackoff has two problems when it comes to playing Jenny Sparks, she doesn't look 19 and I dont't know if she would pull of a british accent that well, but right direction with the attitude. For Jenny I would have to go with Anna Popplewell, dye her hair blonde and she's a dead ringer, plus I bet she's got more acting chops than she's letting on. As for Swift I do like Yeoh but Dichen Lachman also has some merrit for the role. And Apollo would have to be somebody like (and I hate to say it) Matthew McCanahay (however you spell it) for the build and hollwood sex appeal. As for the Midnighter, if Parks can speak american english awsome, if not try Chris Pine, has the attidtude and some fighting skills when directed.

Re: Not bad, may I make a few suggestions?

[foolish-m0rtal.livejournal.com]

Oh, good CALL with Dichen Lachman. She's great in Dollhouse and would be pretty good for Swift. Aha, I saw McConaughey in Reign of Fire, so you're right, he COULD possibly do it. I agree that a lot of times comic book movies have at least one or two big names, which seems to get it past production hell.