Retroactive Castings: 'L.A. Confidential' (2010s)

2010s L.A. Confidential 

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Who else? It's interesting to note that in his varied, two-decades-plus career, QT has yet to make a period crime piece, which just feels like something that'd be right up his street. In a parallel universe where the original L.A. Confidential in 1997 never fell through, I'd love to see his take on James Ellroy's magnificent source material. The whole tightly knit noir plot in abundance of corruption, crime and absolutely compelling characters would provide a whole lot for Tarantino to dip into with his style, 1950s Hollywood providing not only a backdrop for a whole lot of pop culture references he would salivate at, but also the framework for some excellent mystery and tension building he exemplified most recently with The Hateful Eight.

Ed Exley (Guy Pearce): Ben Foster

This would be a fascinating change of pace for Foster, who's more accustomed to playing characters like the next one I'll get to. Exley's the character who goes through the most dramatic arc throughout the whole ofL.A. Confidential, starting out as a stick in the mud, by-the-books stiff and 'perfect' officer who doesn't mind being unappealing or ostracized, and ending it as...I'll not spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. It's a fascinating sort of character and presents a challenge for the actor, to make an initially extremely charmless character compelling. Foster, who made the well-worn character of the Western sheriff so unique and intriguing in 'Aint Them Bodies Saints and Lance Armstrong of all people have smidgens of humanity in The Program would be perfect in bringing the same sort of incisive drive and determination to Exley as Pearce did. As the character gradually becomes disillusioned and grows much more craftier and interesting, Foster would be eqaully great at bringing out more of his usual Foster intensity as the story goes on. Plus, like Pearce, Foster is the king of silent, subtle reaction shots, which provide most of the meat of his performance.

Bud White (Russell Crowe): Matthias Schoenaerts

I've made no secret on this blog that Schoenaerts is one of my new favourite actors. Any proof you need that Schoenaerts would be pitch-perfect as the complete brute, menacing force of nature Bud White is can be found in the likes of The Drop and Bullhead; the man may have a normally rather amiable grin and inviting eyes like Crowe himself, but put him in a role like this and he's one very scary force of nature. Like Crowe, however, Schoenearts would be brilliant in finding what motivates the man's violent nature. His character in Bullhead, Jacky, was traumatised by a childhood incident much in the same way Bud White was traumatised by his father's alcoholic abuse of his mother; it's in this sort of disturbed psyche I think Schoenaerts would thirve as well as he finds the physical presence of the character. I also think him and Foster onscreen would be something to behold. Both are considered chameleonic actors who have their own respective brands of intensity to their acting styles. I would absolutely love to see scenes like the 'you don't know the meaning of the word, you ignorant bastard' scene, or the interrogation of the DA scene. Please, Hollywood, let these two lead a film someday, please.

Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey): Robert Downey Jr.

I've criminally underrated Spacey's career-best performance in this in the past. It's now not only my MVP performance of this film, but also in my opinion one of the greatest supporting performances of all-time. Thus picking out an actor to play the deeply complex role of Vincennes, a Detective Sergeant who 'can't remember' why he's in the profession anymore, consumed by the hedonism of the Hollywood scene and the self-loathing of a man who knows his decadence, was tricky. I thought Tom Cruise, I thought George Clooney, I thought Joaquin Phoenix, all under different sorts of direction, but in the end I got it. RDJ. The man carries himself like a superstar in his very best roles because he is a superstar. Downey Jr. would nail the showman aspect of Vincennes immediately, but moreover I think he'd be utterly brilliant at showing the inner torments of the man; if Captain America: Civil War is anything to go by, we're seeing that side of the man once again. Plus, RDJ and QT seem like a match made in heaven; I'm not the biggest fan of the former in Natural Born Killers but I would love to see them work together as star and director.

Dudley Smith (James Cromwell): Richard Jenkins

Jenkins and Cromwell fit perfectly in terms of the whole character actor spectrum. Both incredibly well-respected old-timers with Oscar nominations as kindly sweet men under their belts. Well this would be as brilliant a bit of subversion as Cromwell's casting was. I won't go more in depth, due to the nature of the role, but Jenkins would be marvellous at playing up both sides to Captain Dudley. Bone Tomahawk showed what a lot of people have not realized Jenkins is capable of; this would be another great opportunity.

Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito): Steve Buscemi

Been awhile since Buscemi's worked with QT, hasn't it? Well I'd love to see this as Buscemi would bring sleaze like no other, making Sid Hudgens so engaging but also so reprehensible like no other actor really can do when Buscemi's on point.

Patchett (David Straithairn): Michael Parks

Pimp in a QT film? Call me predictable, but I'm going to go for the guy who nailed it last time round in Kill Bill Vol. 2 Michael Parks.

District Attorney Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin): Alan Ruck

Ruck's a terrific actor at portraying abrasiveness and sleaziness as can be found on television shows like Spin City and the likes of Speed. Wouldn't it be darkly humorous to see Cameron Frye being in a position of power finally, and acting like a complete dick about it?

Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel): Neal McDonough

I've only seen him in the first Captain America where I thought he was rather good. He has that look about him that'd make him perfect for this small but vital role.

Buzz Meeks (Darrell Sandeen): Don Harvey

I found out the other day Casualties of War is one of QT's favourite films, and this would probably be a pretty good opportunity for him to slot in a cameo for this chap.

Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger): Sarah Gadon

Second to Vincennes in terms of the trickiest role to cast, and I'm still not entirely sure which Hollywood actress Gadon resembles enough to make the role work. I thought of Elizabeth Debicki for starters, but she's played this sort of role a couple times now. Gado, however, stands out to me as a perfect choice because Gadon, from the very little I've seen of her, is a fantastic, very old-school type of actress. In Maps to the Star, a lesser Cronenberg film is greatly bolstered by some excellent performances. Gadon played the ghost of a Hollywood star there and in the limited screentime she got, made an indelible impression. I'd love to see the sort of impact she could bring to a role like this, and also how she'd play off Foster and Schoenaerts.

Also she's great at generating chemistry with co-stars, from what I've seen of her Cronenberg input, and I really, really need to see 11.22.63, I've been hearing and reading nothing but raves for it. Watching the clip below makes me determined to catch up on it soon enough (James Franco seems to be great here, goodness me).