Casting Fablehaven

I've taken it upon myself to cast the upcoming Fablehaven movies. ;) Not really, I've just been thinking about which actors would do well in what roles, and these are what I came up with.



Kendra - Dakota Fanning. Duh. She's an amazing actress, and she looks the
part. She might be slightly too old by the time they start filming,
but she has a youthful appearance and she'd still be able to pull it off.




Seth - I know he's British, but Freddy Highmore has already shown that he can pull off an American accent. He's an extremely talented actor, and while he's definitely too old (did you know he just turned SEVENTEEN????) he still looks 12. I realize that things could change, and he might suddenly start looking his age, in which case we'd have to find someone else. But all the actors I've seen who would have been able to pull off "Seth" are getting too old - chances are, we'd need a fresh face. But someone like Freddy Highmore would be great - someone who looks mischevious.



Grandpa Sorenson - Never mind his tendancy to play gangsters, Robert De Niro is one of the best actors of our time. He's the right age, and has the right look (if you ask me) to play Grandpa. And after Meet the Parents, we know he can do comedy. Doing family-friendly movies shouldn't be a stretch.





Grandma Sorenson - Jane Lynch is a little on the young side, but she looks tough, like Grandma Sorenson is supposed to be. I haven't seen her in a lot of shows, but I've seen a few, and she's got the chops to pull it off. I think she could be great as Grandma.




Dale - It's hard to find a normal-looking actor. They all seem to be more beautiful than regular people. Dale, as we all know, is supposed to be pretty average, even a little awkward and geeky. My first thought was the kid from Juno, but he's only 19. So I thought back to other shows I enjoyed in the past, and Xander from Buffy came to mind. The actor's name is Nicholas Brendon, and he's recently been on Criminal Minds, even geekier than he was in Buffy. I thought he would make a great Dale!




Lena - You might remember her from the TV show Lost - Yunjin Kim is beautiful, talented, and Asian (just like Lena is supposed to be). Since Lena maintains her youthful face throughout the series, even when she's "old", it makes most sense to have one actress for the role, and use makeup to age her. Yunjin Kim would make an incredible Lena, if you ask me.






Muriel - Remember the cute old lady from The Wedding Singer? Her name is Ellen Alberti Dow and I think she'd make a great Muriel. She's tiny and ancient, and while most of the time the characters she plays are endearing, I have little doubt that she could pull off Muriel extremely well. Then, after Muriel is released and uses her magic to become young and gorgeous, Charlize Theron would make a great Muriel. Her face is shaped much like Ellen's, small and round, so they could convincingly play the same person. She's very classically beautiful, and her face seems almost innocent, which means she'd be that much scarier.




The Sphinx - Isaiah Washingon. I've only seen him in a few things, but if I remember correctly, he's got that great, deep, mellow voice the Sphinx is supposed to have. His skin isn't as dark as described in the book, but makeup can take care of that. And he's got a handome, mature, knowing kind of face.



Vanessa - This is one I'm torn on. Angelina Jolie would have been the obvious choice, but it's almost TOO obvious. Not to mention, you'd probably have to pay her an arm and a leg. So I'm torn between two actresses who are (slightly) lesser-known: Eliza Dushku and Erica Durance.
Eliza has the talent, no question. Her new show Dollhouse has her playing a different kind of character every week. But her face isn't classically stunning, the way Vanessa is supposed to be. She's beautiful, but it's almost in a weird way. Erica Durance is much more classically gorgeous, but having only seen her in Smallville, I couldn't tell you how strong an actress she is. She's great as Lois Lane, but can she do more? I'm not sure. She'd have to have darker hair if she were to play Vanessa, though. Good thing dyes and wigs are so easy to come by in Hollywood. :)




Tanu - There is a shortage of Polynesian actors in Hollywood. I know that Dwayne Johnson isn't what I pictured for Tanu, but who else is there? He's big, that's for sure, so he meets that qualification. He's also proved that he can do family-friendly movies. So until someone better suited to the character comes along, The Rock has my vote.




Coulter - Dustin Hoffman is one of the best actors alive! He can play any character! Who better to play paranoid, crusty, soft-on-the-inside, complicated Coulter? That one is a no-brainer.





Warren - I realize I'm a little biased here, but I love Milo Ventimiglia. He was great in Gilmore Girls, he's great in Heroes, and he was great in Rocky Balboa. When I think of Warren, I picture Milo. He's got the dark hair, he's slim but muscular, and he's extremely handsome. He's already proved he can play a hero, and that's what Warren is when you get down to it. And he and Nicholas Brendon look similar enough, I think they could pass for brothers.



Gavin - He's by far one of my absolute favorite characters in Fablehaven. You have to love the little romance between him and Kendra. Plus, the stutter is adorable. An endearing character like that needs an endearing actor to play him. Taylor Lautner hasn't done a lot, but he's currently making a name for himself, playing Jacob Black in the Twilight movies. He's so cute, I want to take him home and put him on my shelf. He makes me smile. He's tall, handsome, and muscular, too. He certainly looks like he could tame a dragon. And he's only a couple of years older than Dakota Fanning, which fits the age difference between the characters. And, like Gavin, he looks like there's more to him than meets the eye.



Patton Burgess - The world's greatest adventurer requires a smooth, handsome, action-hero type actor to play his character. The first person who came to mind (for me, at least) was the newest James Bond - Daniel Craig. He's not as youthful as I think the Patton Burgess we get to meet in book #3 would be, but he's handsome, and makeup does wonders. He's certainly got the physique, and he makes the ladies' hearts melt, the same way Patton does. Plus, I bet he'd look really hot in the old-school-style costume.


I realize this doesn't cover all the characters from the books. We still have the satyrs, the centaurs, Dougan, Mara, Rosa, Hal, Maddox, the parents, not to mention numerous fairies, demons, etc. But these are the mainest characters, and I think that's enough for now. :) After all, I'm not REALLY casting the movie. All those other characters are someone else's problem. ;)