Kiefer Sutherland Headlines Dragonlance Movie

Pre-production on the animated Dragonlance film is continuing apace, and the voice casting for the Companions has been completed. Kiefer Sutherland will be headlining as the voice of Raistlin Majere. Other case members will include Michael Rosenbaum (Justice League's Flash) as Tanis Half-Elven, Lucy Lawless as Goldmoon, Michelle Trachtenberg at Tika Waylan, and Jason Marsden as Tasslehoff Burrfoot. From the site: "The film is based on the first book in the Chronicles series, "Dragons of Autumn Twilight". The director is comics and TV animation veteran, Will Meugniot, and the screenplay has been adapted by George Strayton with plenty of involvement from Margaret and Tracy."

Sutherland as Raistlan? I'm not so sure...

[MrNash]

I have a lot of trouble putting Sutherland and Raistlan together. It's probably just the whole Jack Bower thing, but Keifer Sutherland has built such a tough-as-nails, show no mercy personna around himself thanks to 24 that I'm having a lot of trouble picturing him as the sickly, yet sinister Raistlan. Granted it's a voice acting gig, so hopefully that will help with any potential suspension of disbelief issues some may have with this casting choice. :\

Kiefer is a horrible choice.

[Jerk City Troll]

Raistlin is a subtle, quiet-spoken, calm, cold and calculating character. Kiefer could not be more different. Based on his antics in 24 and other roles, he does everything over-the-top. His gestures and voice are always exaggerated and phoney. As silly as it may seem, Sir Ian McKellen, speaking softly might do it (I honestly do not mean to type-cast him, but the man is could be perfectly suited for this). (And damn, there is another actor I am thinking of who would be just as good, but I cannot remember the name at the moment.)

It's going to be crap

[Anonymous Coward]

How do I know? In browsing their website I found these two little nuggets:

Who's written the script for the film?
The script for the film has been adapted from "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" by George Strayton. Strayon has penned several episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and was a key staff writer on Xena: Warrior Princess.

What will be the running time for the film?
The movie is an animated feature film and will have a running time of approximately 90-100 minutes.

So it's written by a guy whose best work is absolute tripe. The dialogue of Xena and Hercules is one of the worst parts of those shows. And 90-100 minutes is not "feature length" for a book adaptation like this. 120 minutes would be a bare minimum, and 150 would make me feel a lot more comfortable. I would love to think this movie is going to be decent, but right now it looks like a disaster.

Re:Sutherland as Raistlan? I'm not so sure...

[shotgunsaint]

Yeah, but think about the breathy, nervous scientist in Dark City. I think he'll definitely be goot as ol' Raist.

Re:Ten Novels I'd Rather See Made Into Movies

[paedobear]

Most of those are unfilmable - Hyperion certainly is. It'd require a TV series - perhaps several seasons worth of TV series - to work.

Re:Ten Novels I'd Rather See Made Into Movies

[crawling_chaos]

And in the current religious and political climate, Childhood's End is a total non-starter as well.

Why use "actors"?

[mungtor]

Why bother with Keifer and Lucy at all? Why not hire some real voice actors to bring some personality to the characters? That way we could become involved in the story and the characters without having to think of Xena at all.

Billy West is right... this is a strange trend of animating characters around who you want to do the voice rather than the other way round.

Re:Kiefer is a horrible choice.

[Telastyn]

On reflection, I disagree. Kiefer was quite good as an anonymous voice in Phone Booth, which is similar to the calm malevolance needed for Raistlin. Add Kiefer's general raspy overtone and you've got the vocal parts for the character. I'm a little more skeptical of the Lawless choice though.

Re:always been a fan

[fritzk3]

I think an animated/CG version of the film would make it easier, or more cost-effective, to generate the special effects (spells, dragon breath weapons) that come along with any D&D-based story.

I imagine it also makes it easier to draw the characters in ridiculous proportions (think of an over-muscled Caramon, or a Sturm with layer after layer of armor) without having to come up with the costumes or makeup that would accomplish the same effect.

I'd watch whatever version came out, just to see how that particular director interpreted the written word and the landscapes that he/she created from the descriptions in the books.

Re:It's going to be crap

[Achoi77]

Here is a quote from Margaret Wies:

...Suffice it to say, Tracy and I have been working with the production team for over a year now. They've been wonderful to work with! They've allowed us to have script approval and asked for our suggestions. They've shown us all the art work and allowed us approval on that (as well as the WoTC art director in charge of Dragonlance)...

Weis and Hickman haven't lost complete control (yet), so let's reserve judgement untill we start seeing more material. They'll have a say on the script, and I don't think they are willing so mess this chance by jumping the shark on their fans.

I do think, however, that 90-100 minutes will be way too short. I'm actually more worried that the movie is animated! :-( If it looks like a Don Bluth film, I'm gonna cringe.

Re:Priorities

[ultranova]

I haven't even read Dragonlance for over a decade, but I'm stoked.

I have, and I'm scared :(.

The Chronicles were good, as were the Legends, but after that quality went down faster than a dragon that's been turned to stone mid-flight, and the ending of "War of Souls" had to set some kind of record in sheer stupidity. Constant retcons didn't help either. Or maybe it was because Dragonlance gods were turned into glorified janitors a la Forgotten Realms that it got a bit difficult to take the whole thing seriously. Takhisis, especially, became truly pathetic, in more ways than one... Oh well, another cash cow milked to death and beyond.

So, this movie might be good, but more likely it's a thinly veiled commercial that sucks harder than the whirpool of the Blood Sea.