What Might've Been

[oselle]

How disappointing is the casting for The Hunger Games? With the exception of Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss, who looks pretty spot-on now that she's not a blonde, the rest of the cast is just...meh.

No character is more disappointing than Katniss's battle partner and eventual love interest, Peeta Mellark. I'm too lazy right now to look for the picture of the kid who's playing him, but he is not nearly lovely enough, nor does he look like he'll be able to pull off all the demands of being Peeta. What a tremendous pity that Jensen Ackles is too old for this part. He would have owned this. He was born to play Peeta Mellark. Why, you ask? Let me tell you.

1) Peeta is fair-skinned, fair-haired and beautiful, but also athletic.

2) Peeta is kind, caring and sensitive.

3) Peeta is the most important character in the story after Katniss herself.

4) Peeta suffers. Peeta suffers A LOT. Over the course of three books, Peeta is horribly wounded, nearly dies of blood poisoning (OMG feverish Jensen!), has his leg amputated, is electrocuted and then he is TAKEN PRISONER AND TORTURED after which he GOES PSYCHOTIC, all while stoically enduring a nearly endless case of unrequited love in the middle of a post-apocalyptic rebellion. I mean come on, people. Who could have rocked this much suffering more beautifully than Jensen?

What we need is one of those witches or genies or some sort of Acme Fanfic De-Aginator® that will shave 10 or 12 years off Jensen, thereby rendering him young enough to play an 18-year-old. Then he can go back to being our Dean Winchester, but in the meantime, we'll all get to bask in the Peeta that we so rightfully deserve. This one:



Sigh.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Wow. I had never thought of that but he really could have been a great Peeta. I think mostly because he'd undercut the schmoopy lovesickness with some snark. Or at least I feel like he would. I think he'd be able to be in loev and devoted to her as his own thing without making it seem like he's whining and pining for her.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I was just being my shallow self and thinking of baby Jensen all feverish and bloody in that cave, but you're right that Peeta could easily come across as all emo and whiny without the right actor. Jensen has a knack for fleshing out a character and making it his own.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

But I wouldn't like it him with his leg amputated. :(

[kinkthatwinked.livejournal.com]

Man, if we had a de-aging machine, I'd have used it on Sting so he could play Lestat in Interview with a Vampire, instead of slapping a blond wig on Tom Cruise. How was THAT for some weird-ass casting?

Just checked out a pic of the kid playing Peeta - Josh Hutcherson, right? Granted the guy's not a troll, but 'beautiful?' Peeta-beautiful? You could close your eyes and point to any actor from the CW who'd fit the category of 'beautiful' better than this guy.

Excuse me while I right-click-save that pic of young!Jensen. Whew! Peeta-beautiful, indeed.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, he gets an artificial leg and then he just has a nice angsty limp.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Vampire was made long-ago enough that Sting probably COULD have played that character. I would've also accepted Rutger Hauer or even Sebastian Bach. But Tom Cruise? That was some of the worst casting of all time.

Right-click-save away. That's Jensen playing Ben in the first season of Dark Angel, so he was about 22 years old. Not hard to see why the producers brought him back as a regular in Season Two, is it?

[ramalama.livejournal.com]

I think? That if Jensen played the part, you would die. Literally die. (Based on past history.)

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Nah, but I'd probably go broke considering it costs about fifteen bucks to see a movie in New York these days.