Heath Ledger or Daniel Craig to Play Satan in Paradise Lost
He has been portrayed on screen by Al Pacino in The Devil’s Advocate, Viggo Mortensen in The Prophecy, and Gabriel Byrne in End of Days, and now it looks like our good friend Lucifer may be materializing in yet another form soon… a form that will closely resemble either Daniel Craig or Heath Ledger. Producer Vincent Newman, who is working on an upcoming adaptation of Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, has named both actors as front runners for the lead role of the fallen angel Satan.
I’m curious to see what comes of this movie; it is reportedly being directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Hellraiser: Inferno) but with a $100 million budget, it sounds like they’re going all out in the effects department. Paradise Lost is one of the primary sources cited in just about any movie that has to do with demons and witchcraft and dark Christian undertones. It’s about time it got a full blown adaptation of its own, although I’m sure it won’t be released without controversy. Who do you think makes a better Satan? Personally I think Craig is more intimidating, but after Ledger shows us his evil side as The Joker, maybe I’ll change my mind. (Thanks to Henrik for the link!)
» Related Link: Dark Horizons
Comments (5)
I say Danny DeVito as Satan fighting Arnold ‘The Governator’ Schwarzennegger in a call back to his End of Days role.
Posted by Jay C. on March 5th, 2007Those two can’t fight each other, they’re brothers!
Posted by Matt on March 5th, 2007I think what interested me the most about this movie is the fact that they mentioned they would put alot of emphasis on the battles of the Archangels vs. the demons. Fuck the religious aspects, armored warriors with wings that wield giant flameswords sounds pretty kickass.
Obviously the movie will have next to nothing to do with the poem itself (Which I haven’t read. Have you seen the length of it?) it’s just a recognizable name to slap on there, but there aren’t many John Milton fanboys out there, that I know of anyway, so I doubt that’s going to be an issue.
I think this could be a sweet fantasy movie. I just hope there’s somebody with a PSP deciding the tactics of the army of god!
Posted by Henrik on March 5th, 2007If only it could guarantee something more than just a plot relation with the epic poem. The characters of Sin and Death, the palace of Pandemonium, and of course the battles (that’s right, more than one) are some of the more intriguing aspects of the story. I recommend anyone read the original or the Lanzara novel edition. As for who should play the role of Satan, it must be a person who is still youthful in appearance and with a smooth, charming voice. You shouldn’t be able to tell he’s evil from the beginning, it should be a more subtle change, making his apparent perfection become tarnished over time.
Posted by sTeve on June 16th, 2007Please…why do Western films have such blasphemy about God and angels and Christianity in general? It’s disgusting, to be honest. Supernatural, Legion, Constantine…I don’t think God likes any of it. But of course, none of it matters, to probably none of you here. Then if God doesn’t matter, what does matter to you?
Posted by Rafa on August 31st, 2010Leave a Reply