The preacher of the title, Jesse is cut from the same cloth as the classic American hero, as able to let his fists do the talking as his newly gained power. He drinks too much, smokes, curses and enjoys pleasures of the flesh, and as we pick up the story, is suffering from a serious loss of faith. Not your average priest, then.
Raised by his sadistic Cajun grandmother, Jesse entered the seminary under obligation to her and at the cost of his relationship with girlfriend, Tulip. Liberated by the arrival of Genesis, it isn’t long before Jesse and Tulip bump into each other again and this time he ain’t gonna give her up without a fight. As Jesse is fond of saying, he’ll love her ‘til the end of the world… and with his newfound mission to take God to task, he might just live to see it.
Who should play him?
James Franco. Ennis modelled Custer partly on James Dean, and Franco successfully played Dean in the 2001 biopic, so we know he has the looks and the cooler-than-ice demeanour.
An Irish Vampire, Cassidy doesn’t look a day over 30, which, for a 95-year old, isn’t half bad. Turned in Ireland in 1916, Cassidy travelled to New York as part of the mass immigration of the period, making the US his new home. Finding it hard to keep friends (as they keep growing old and dying on him) Cassidy takes to travelling the country and getting in misadventures. Until, that is, he meets Jesse. Shortly after they first encounter Jesse and Cassidy become fast friends, sharing a love of alcohol, cigarettes and comedian Bill Hicks. But is their friendship as fast as Jesse believes...?
Who should play him?
Colin Farrell. He’s Irish, he swears like a trooper, smokes like a chimney, and would look with spiky ginger hair and mirrored sunglasses. For us, this is a no-brainer – but would Farrell accept a third banana role?
Tulip O’Hare is a no-nonsense, tough-as-nails girl. She won’t just kick you in the balls, she’ll rip them off and feed them to you. Raised by a single father after her mother died during childbirth, Tulip was raised like the boy Papa Jake O’Hare never had. She can shoot a weapon, fix an engine, and throw down with the best of them. We meet Tulip at the start of the story as she botches her first job as an assassin and flees the scene. She promptly runs into Jesse once again and the rest, as they say, is history.
Who should play her?
Jessica Biel. Casting Tulip is going to require some serious balance - an actress who can handle herself in a brawl but also the kind of woman men would tear their arms off to talk to. Biel’s kicked ass before, in Blade: Trinity, and she looks great blonde.
An ex-German Special Forces operative, Starr now works for The Grail, an organisation with links to heaven itself. Sent by the leadership that he secretly despises to recover Jesse Custer, Starr has his own plans to put into place… Bald, with a glass eye and a hideous scar on his face, Herr Starr is one of the most distinctive and colourful villains in comic book history, glibly torturing, killing and/or screwing anything that gets in his way. One great running gag is the physical punishment meted out to Starr throughout, as he picks up a series of artificial limbs and organs. For a top actor, this is going to be a juicy role, and then some.
Who should play him?
Talented German actor, Christian Berkel. Berkel has recently featured in films such as Black Book and Valkyrie, and has Starr’s stonefaced demeanour down pat. Shave his head, scar his face, and a Starr is born.
Modelled on William Munney from Unforgiven, the Saint of Killers was a bitter, vengeful old man with a face carved from the toughest granite and an iron-coated demeanour forged in the desert plains of the 19th Century, the Saint of Killers was killed on a mission of revenge and his hate was so powerful that it literally froze hell. Seeking a solution to the problem, the weary Angel of Death decided to allow him to return to seek his vengeance in exchange for becoming the Patron Saint of Slaughter and Assassination, answering only to whoever sat on the throne of heaven. He accepted this deal, and took up the Angel of Death’s sword, refashioned into a pair of Walker Colt revolvers – weapons that never need reloading, and never miss.
At the beginning of Preacher, the resting Saint is awakened by the naïve angels who have been left in charge of Heaven, in order to track down and retrieve Genesis at all costs. He constantly proves to be a nasty thorn in Jesse’s side.
Who should play him?
Clint, sadly, is too old now, so we’re going to plump for Scott Glenn. The gravelly voice, the gritty attitude… this is a man who you’d believe could kill an entire army, without even blinking.
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Casting
Preacher: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Robert Carlyle, Matt Damon.
Cassidy: Kevin McKidd, Douglas Henshall.
Tulip: Megan Fox
Saint of Killers: Lance Henriksen, Ted Levine.
... Read More
I think Josh Holloway would make a good jesse he is very like the character, would obviulsi need a hair styling or a wig but character wise, scarlett johansson could pull of tulip well , kevin spacey as herr starr could work , cant see past the idea of colin farrel or gary oldman as cassidy. adam baldwin as jody ... Read More
Jason Patric as Jesse, Kiefer Sutherland as Cassidy, or if you want a real Irishman Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Ali Larter as Tulip. Ron Perlman is big and gruff enough to be the Saint of Killers. A bald Matthew Kelly would make a great Herr Starr. Sam mendes will be a bit too sentimental, Kevin Smith would be a better choice. ... Read More
WARNING - SPOILERS CONTINUE!!
... in Masada and in need of rescuing.
The New Orleans episode has some essential elements in it, not least the truth about the Saint of Killers. You could probably lose the wannabe vampires, but if they're not there there's no threat or tension in that whole sequence, plus it's a great set piece (the graveyard fight) that we would be denied.
The whole Arseface story is a problem, I think and I wouldn't be surprised to see the... Read More
Having recently read Preacher for the first time I am seriously excited about a movie being made from it. As I am also excited about any new Sam Mendes movie I suppose that's double excitement.
However, I am a little worried about the sheer amount of plot involved. Considering that "the plot" is always related as Jesse searching for God to make him answerable for crimes against humanity, there are a lot of episodes that really have nothing to do with that. While some of these episod... Read More
Gary Oldman is surely a shoe-in for Cassidy. Go check him out as a vampire in the BMW shorts collection if you're still not sure. Hell - he IS Cassidy in that movie.
Now onto JC. It's got to be our man Clive Owen. Cool, calm and utterly collected... ... Read More
Ben Affleck for JC, Paddy Considine for Cass, Tom Hanks as SoK, Kate Hudson for Tulip and Liam Neeson as Starr. Chuck in Elijah Wood as Arseface and hire James Gandolfini as the Allfather and you can have my 5 quid... ... Read More
Really worried about the idea of a film-Sam Mendes did a great job with Road to Perdition,but Preacher has so much going on.
It needs to be done as a series or a trilogy,at least.I dont want another comic/graphic novel turned into a piece of shit film.
Jesse:Jason Patric Tulip:Rosanna Arquette has the look but the voice is all wrong.I agree that Jessica Biel could pull it off Cassidy:Colin Farrel or Tim Roth SoK:Why is Clint too old?The Saint was killed way back in the 1800's so he's going ... Read More
L: ElSloano64
Preacher the comic is crap! It`s juvenile wish fulfillment for nerdy bookish sorts who have to live vicariously through fantasy literature - the `hero` has a voice who can make ANYBODY do ANYTHING (rather handy power, that), the `hero` also has a very sexy girlfriend (unlike the majority of people who read Preacher/comics in general) and there`s a hard drinking, violent "Oirish" vampire who`s pals with the `hero` and guess what! He swears! A lot!! Wow - really mature an... Read More
L: ElSloano64
Preacher the comic is crap! It`s juvenile wish fulfillment for nerdy bookish sorts who have to live vicariously through fantasy literature - the `hero` has a voice who can make ANYBODY do ANYTHING (rather handy power, that), the `hero` also has a very sexy girlfriend (unlike the majority of people who read Preacher/comics in general) and there`s a hard drinking, violent "Oirish" vampire who`s pals with the `hero` and guess what! He swears! A lot!! Wow - really mature and a... Read More
It's obvious when you think about it:
Jesse: Ben Stiller.
Tulip: Owen Wilson.
Cassidy: Jack Black.
Starr: Will Ferrel.
Saint of Killers: Leslie Nielsen.
Arseface: Tom Cruise.
Simple. ... Read More
Preacher the comic is crap! It`s juvenile wish fulfillment for nerdy bookish sorts who have to live vicariously through fantasy literature - the `hero` has a voice who can make ANYBODY do ANYTHING (rather handy power, that), the `hero` also has a very sexy girlfriend (unlike the majority of people who read Preacher/comics in general) and there`s a hard drinking, violent "Oirish" vampire who`s pals with the `hero` and guess what! He swears! A lot!! Wow - really mature and adult! Typi... Read More
I loved Road to Perdition, although they have completely different looks, i am sure Sam will do a great job. I am sad this cant be a miniseries on HBO or something like the John Adams series, because i am sure awesome story lines are going to be dropped. Will they even have Arseface?
As for castig i think James Franco could be awesome
Tulip: Eva Mendes (not the exact look, but the right idea), Jamie King, Gemma Arterton, or Taryn Manning
Cassidy: i love the idea of Ewan McGregor or R... Read More
I'm a big fan of both Watchmen and the Preacher series, but I'm not so sure about these casting ideas! I think they're gonna need someone a little more grittier than James Franco. Also, Jessica Biel has the look, but does she have the fiesty attitude that Tulip's character posseses. As for Colin Farrell, well, that was just an obvious choice really right? However, what are they gonna do about length? surely the series is just too long for film. I always thought a T.V mini series would be far bet... Read More
Just because Sam Elliott was a cowboy once doesn't mean he should be every cowboy ever. Bruce Spence for SoK!
Oh, and I second Michael Smiley, although he might be too Irish for the American audience to understand. ... Read More
Not sure about Jesse, it's a pretty tough role to pull off, but ever since I read the comic books I have always imagined Michael Smiley (Tyres in spaced) as Cassidy.
Back then i thought that would never happen, but as he keeps popping up in real movies (outpost, the other boleyn girl, perfume) these days i can only hope that this will be the start of the campaign to make it happen.
Tyres for Cassidy! ... Read More
Haven't read the comic but I will be heading promptly out to purchase it. Just from the pictures and the profiles I'm thinking Giovani Ribbisi for Cassidy for some reason... but like I said, not familiar with the source material ... Read More
But I think True Romance Patricia Arquette as Tulip (or Juliette Lewis or Asia Argento). Alan Cumming as Cassidy. I think a roughed up Hugh Jackman might work as jesse but definitely not James Franco. I don't know the aforementioned German actor , but Patrick Stewart would be a great Herr Starr. I just wish Marlon Brando was still alive to be the all father. Daniel Radcliffe gets my vote as a post-Harry Potter arseface. And while t'is a pity about Clint, I think Scott Glenn or Ed Harris. Sam She... Read More
But I think True Romance Patricia Arquette as Tulip (or Juliette Lewis or Asia Argento). Alan Cumming as Cassidy. I think a roughed up Hugh Jackman might work as jesse but definitely not James Franco. I don't know the aforementioned German actor , but Patrick Stewart would be a great Herr Starr. I just wish Marlon Brando was still alive to be the all father. Daniel Radcliffe gets my vote as a post-Harry Potter arseface. And while t'is a pity about Clint, I think Scott Glenn or Ed Harris. Sam She... Read More
Deffinately think sam elliot should be the Saint of Killers. Clint would still be my favourite choice for the role (You can see he's still got it from the trailers for his new flick gran torino)
As for the others not so sure about the choices put forward here. a bit more thinking is needed. ... Read More
