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The Great Outdoor Fight Netflix Series that Almost Was, Pt. 3 — More Casting
🕑 Added 2024-06-17 23:19:50 +0000 UTCPlease do not share any of the photos from this post anywhere. I don't think it would prick any of these actors' dander-sheathing, but I worry nonetheless. If my experience in television taught me anything (jury's out), it's that studios specialize in sweeping litigation first, and entertainment a distant second. But only if the litigation has first flattened and bleached any delicate grasses of spontaneity and comfort.
Voice casting was the big 🎶la-la🎶 indulgent part of the project. You swan in, a virtual nobody, and are allowed to play with the Fabergé bonbons — in this case, veteran actors who have to use the drive-through instead of the cafe when ordering the Starbucks beverage that's always on the desk next to them — like you were Anna Wintour elbowing unpaid interns in the throat. That is to say, it took a moment to adjust to a position of power that came so suddenly, and without apparent training or merit. It was another of my many sudden Hollywood insights.
When last we spoke on the Achewood/GOF Netflix series — which, to my discredit, was September of 2023 — I was waxing on the great shakes Noel Fisher had turned in when reading for Roast Beef. With Noel locked, it was time to cast Ray.
Because it is impossible, casting Ray is a daunting undertaking. Since the earliest days of his existence, I imagined him to sound a lot like Chef from South Park, but over the years it became apparent that for every reader he was very, very certainly somebody else. Pendleton thought Jack Black had the right suite of lovable, chaotic energy; others had suggested everyone from Sinbad to Bernie Mac to an Apple //c silently scrolling pi to one billion places.
(I also reminded myself frequently that if this thing actually got on the air, 99.999% of the Netflix audience would be a tabula rasa with no preconceived notion of what anybody was supposed to sound like, and I'd just stop accepting email from long-time readers.)
So, knowing that any casting choice was certain to make absolutely everyone mad, I went with Steve Howey, who had worked with Noel on Shameless for eleven seasons. Steve's character on Shameless was very Ray: a deeply loyal, unflappable, hedonistic doofus who was often seen in a black thong and large bathrobe. I also thought their history together would be a boon in the voice booth, as their Zoom-call chemistry had been natural and brotherly.
I wasn't, surprisingly, wrong.
Because Steve was born effortlessly tall and handsome, it's easy to assume his life has been a cakewalk of limbsy models and Persols; either by nature or through studious application he turned out to be quite conversant with that modality. His performance captured Ray's easy-money, never-saw-a-challenge-he-could-recognize-as-such persona, and his inherent popular-guy friendliness played off of Noel's fifty-pound lines so well that I grew paranoid I wasn't directing them hard enough.
Next time: assembling the pilot.
Comments
Stavro
Many of the facial-haired among us have experimented as such, but few have documented it so well
C C
I think you are correct about pissing everyone off no matter what.. I love Maria Bamford, one of my favorite comedians, but in my mind Sondra Smuckles sounds like Ingrid Bergman in her 50's or 60's. I can hear Ray and Beef in my head but not my ears, because every suggestion I've heard is not right. The rest of the cast is even harder for me. Whenever I see one of my favorite books turned in to a movie or TV show, I know I'm going to hate it. The characters never look or sound right and they murder the story lines, dialogue and tone. However, I do want you to taste some of that sweet, sweet TV money. I think you should write a 'made for the screen' kind of story, I know you would kick some ass doing that. *I will say the TV show Jeeves and Wooster actually did work very well for me. The actors, voices, sets and tone slid themselves in to my head seamlessly. For a show based on stories I read and re-read when I was very young, it was shockingly accurate to my inner voice.
Conor Nelson
Johnny Pemberton is amazing. From the "GARMBIDGE TRUCK!!" guy to being on Fallout. What a guy.
Nicholas Williams
Look we all know that Roast Beef sounds like my friend Rob and Ray sounds like my friend Dan, I don't know why we're doing all this work pretending otherwise.
J Hardy Carroll
I for one am really glad this never happened. Even the best adaptations of comics (Ghost World) pale in comparison to the original work. Most wind up like Fritz the Cat. Achewood has a unique voice and tone, and getting some celebrity Jack(Black)ass to define Ray and Beef would have been disappointing at best. The GOF was my least favorite Achewood arc, though. I'm a curmudgeon with ridiculously high standards, and I have literally read Achewood since the first few months so I formed my ideas early and often
Michael Akey
You probably could have simply cast the entire Shameless cast and been done with everything right then and there. Bill Macy would make a good Theodore.
