So really, who would YOU have cast in the leading role of Valkyrie?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

Who would YOU have chosen to play the part of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg?

Count Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf<1> von Stauffenberg (15 November 1907 21 July 1944) was a German army officer and Roman Catholic aristocrat who was one of the leading officers of the failed 20 July plot of 1944 to kill German dictator Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazi Party from power in World War II Germany. He was one of the central figures of the German Resistance movement.

Stauffenberg was the third of three sons (the others being the twins Berthold and Alexander) of Alfred Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the last Oberhofmarschall of the Kingdom of Württemberg, and Caroline Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg (née Gräfin (Countess) von Üxküll-Gyllenband). Claus was born in the Stauffenberg castle of Jettingen between Ulm and Augsburg, in the eastern part of Swabia, at that time in the Kingdom of Bavaria, part of the German Reich. The von Stauffenberg family is one of the oldest and most distinguished aristocratic Roman Catholic families of southern Germany.<2> Among his (Protestant) maternal ancestors were several famous Prussians, including Field Marshal August von Gneisenau.

In his youth, Claus and his brothers were members of the Neupfadfinder, a German Scout association and part of the German Youth movement.<3><4>

Like his brothers, Claus was carefully educated and inclined toward literature, but eventually took up a military career. In 1926, he joined the family's traditional regiment, the Bamberger Reiter- und Kavallerieregiment 17 (17th Cavalry Regiment) in Bamberg. It was around this time that the three brothers were introduced by Albrecht von Blumenthal to poet Stefan George's influential circle Georgekreis, from which many notable members of the German resistance would later emerge. George dedicated Das neue Reich ("The new Reich") in 1928, including the Geheimes Deutschland ("secret Germany") written in 1922, to Berthold.<5> The work outlines a new form of society ruled by a hierarchical spiritual aristocracy. George rejected any attempts to use it for mundane political purposes, especially Nazism.

more at link:
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0031768/bio

[SPKrazy]

1. Val Kilmer

:shrug:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. Damn! That is off the wall

brilliant. :o

[Robeson]

2. In his younger days, Maximilian Schell...

...

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. Sadly, we must live in the here and now .

Excellent choice when time travel becomes available to us mere mortals though ;)

[Robeson]

6. It is kind of sad, because he was the first one of thought of when I heard....

...about the movie. Had it been made years earlier, it would have been tailor made for him.

[Demoiselle]

32. Yes! He would have been perfect...

and the right height, too.

[jobycom]

3. Some Brit who could fake a German accent in English so the dildoes would stop whining

about Tom Cruise not having a German accent, since that's apparently all that mattered in the whole film.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. Truly...

either that or his affiliation with Scientology. :shrug:

[sarge43]

11. Well, as long as we're considering Blokes, my nomination

James Purefoy or Dominic West. Both have the dark good looks, the bearing, the acting chops and they're both skilled with accents, especially West.

Agree about accents. Better not to try than do one badly, ala Costner Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

[jobycom]

25. Waitwaitwait... Costner's NOT British?

Then how do you explain that fake American accent?

[sarge43]

28. ....

:spray:

[CBHagman]

27. Besides, if they wanted to be truly realistic...

...the script would have been in German, and each actor would have spoken in the authentic accent of his character. And Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves woud have been performed in Middle English, of which no contemporary recordings exist! Damn that Edison for being born too late...

[sarge43]

31. My favorite was the time some folks were having hizzies about

the accents in Troy, ie not realistic. As we don't know who the Trojans were, what language(s) they spoke, let alone the phonetic system, English accents were as good as any. :shrug:

English in the 1190's was in transition from OE to ME. Even with contemporary recording, I'm pretty sure Costner couldn't have coped.

[CBHagman]

37. Oh, that's even better...

My favorite was the time some folks were having hizzies about the accents in Troy, ie not realistic. As we don't know who the Trojans were, what language(s) they spoke, let alone the phonetic system, English accents were as good as any.

I hadn't heard that one. Priceless! :rofl:

For my money -- anachronisms be damned -- the best medieval verbal smackdown in any language is the much-loved (and -quoted) big-screen adaptation of The Lion in Winter.

[sarge43]

38. Yup. Like watching fencing masters at work ...serious work.

One critic had an interesting point about the accents in TLiW. O'Toole, Hopkins, Castle and Terry all had similar accents whereas Hepburn's was slightly different. Makes historical and casting sense as Henry and his boys would have spoken Langue d'oil (Northern French dialect) and Eleanor grew up speaking Langue d'oc (Southern).

[SKKY]

7. Viggo Mortensen would have been good.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. Yes, I can see that. Very close, look wise and good skills. Name recognition, too

[SidneyCarton]

19. Yeah Viggo works...

Intensity, power and just a hint of menace.

[sasquatch]

10. Maybe that guy who played the blond killer in Fargo

:shrug:

[DS1]

16. Yo! V-Duhb in the haus!

Peter Stormare

[geardaddy]

23. I have a question...

Where is pancakes house?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJUvPZI3Cr4

[JVS]

12. Mike Myers. Basically think of the character as Dieter in a uniform.

It would have also created a time conflict so that The Love Guru could have never happened.

[raccoon]

13. Chevy Chase, but I expect now he's too old. nt

[siligut]

14. kyle mclaughlin, then maybe I would go see it. nt

[SidneyCarton]

20. Also good...

But he would need to use "the voice"

(Sorry, obligatory Dune reference)

[Symarip]

15. John Holmes (nt)

[AwakeAtLast]

17. Ralph Fiennes

or Liev Schreiber

[Aristus]

18. If it had been done back in the mid-eighties, I would have suggested Ben Cross.

Eerie resemblance...

[FloridaJudy]

21. Daniel Day Lewis

That man could play anything. I've always hoped someone would remake "The Last Temptation of Christ" with him in the lead. Eat that Mel Gibson!

[mnhtnbb]

36. I agree. Tom Cruise was horribly miscast.

[kentauros]

22. German actor Moritz Bleibtreu

The actor from Run Lola Run and Das Experiment. I read he was in Speed Racer, but I had no interest in seeing that movie.

Haven't seen Valkyrie, but Germans usually do best playing themselves in such movies. For instance, Das Boot or The Longest Day :)

Moritz Bleibtreu

[LanternWaste]

24. Clive Owen...

Clive Owen. I think he'd bring a pensive, weighty, deliberate and stolid sense of gravity to the role.

[jobycom]

26. Oooo. Nice choice. nt

[meegbear]

29. Ah-nold ...

he'd have a better accent.

[JCMach1]

30. Sean Bean

He would have looked a lot like him as well...

[Skittles]

33. I saw the movie last night and I thought Cruise was great

sorry, he just was

[crimsonblue]

34. ANYBODY but Tom Cruise

I'd even take the late Rodney Dangerfield, rotting corpse and all.

[Merrick]

35. Woody Allen

Didn't Valkyrie fail because it was too chilly to make the meeting?

[DFW]

39. Sebastian Koch

He's the German actor that played Stauffenberg in the German TV film.

[MrSlayer]

40. Samuel L. Jackson

We have to KILL that MOTHEFUCKIN' Hitler!!

[elshiva]

41. John Barrowman