Posted on by Dunc

Dominic Monaghan up for an Episode VII role?

Dominic Monaghan as Charlie on Lost

Will Star Wars be gaining an ex-hobbit for Episode VII? Bleeding Cool thinks they might be. They point to some potentially suspicious behavior from Dominic Monaghan at The Lone Ranger premiere, and note he could be a good fit for the thirtysomething intellectual role in last week’s casting call.

Naturally he’s a big Star Wars fan (who isn’t?) but Monaghan may have an in with the Bad Robot team from his days playing Charlie Pace, one of the original castaways on Lost. He’s also known for playing Merry in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.

It’s only speculation, of course, but I can see where they’re coming from… Particularly if the role turns out to be a supporting one. Look, I generally hate this kind of thing, but the idea of Monaghan in Star Wars does not make me immediately say ‘nope,’ and that a rare thing.

As for other actors who’d like a go at Episode VII, Totalfilm has released a third edition of their video series.

12 Replies to “Dominic Monaghan up for an Episode VII role?”

  1. “…but the idea of Monaghan in Star Wars does not make me immediately say ‘nope,’ and that a rare thing.”

    I totally agree, for whatever reason he seems like a fit in my mind. I think it’s because I know he can act but he’s not *too* well known.

  2. I generally love this kind of thing, in a way. It tells me Christmas is coming (except Christmas is Star Wars).

    I always had a hard time articulating my views on spoilers and casting speculation. But I think Rinzler’s excellent Prequels Storyboard book has helped me with a good visual example. How we hear things and how they’re presented is such a personal thing that is not how it will look. In that book we see alternate casting and we see alternate views of everything. I enjoyed that book a lot and I enjoy this time period of pre-film in the same way.

    I won’t lie, in that video, Monaghan convinced me where there is smoke there is fire. He practically said “yeah” with his body language. Maybe he’s just a socially awkward dude and that’s all there was to that.

    We really haven’t had anything like this since Christopher Walken was rumored to be Count Dooku, at least I think that was the real last of the rumors with big casting. I like when possible actors are speculated. I enjoy the discussion when the potential is actually there. I look back on the prequel era fondly so perhaps that made me all too welcoming this time around?

    What has driven me crazy recently are the Twilight actors having Star Wars stories written about them. “Are they in Episode VII?” No one asked that! Yet they made it into a story. All of the coverage is an answer to a question no one asked.

    I’m not a Lord of the Rings fan, I found them to be well made, but boring. However, I love Monaghan in Lost and he was great in Lord of the Rings too from what I can remember (I only saw them in the theater and couldn’t watch them at home without doing something else). Friends think I’m trolling when I say I like Willow better, but I do…

    Without having read the script, it is impossible to say if anyone is good for a role in Star Wars Episode VII. Can I see him as an intellectual/academic in the Star Wars universe? Yeah, and it isn’t hard at all.

    I would not suffer any cognitive dissonance if he were cast.

  4. Monaghan’s a decent actor but what about the hungry / competent unknown actors, out there waiting to be discovered?

  5. I mostly agree, Mike. I do wonder how many competent actors are discovered in their 30s though.

    But I do feel that a great 90 year old undiscovered actor is just waiting to voice Ikrit.

  6. Mike: I’m actually completely in favor of a cast of mostly unknowns or folks who’ve only done a few smaller movies (like Ewan MacGregor was back when his TPM casting was announced.) Part of the reason I hate fancasting is that fans always go for the ABSOLUTE MOST OBVIOUS CHOICE there is.

    Like, Scarlett Johansson had a catsuit and red hair in The Avengers, so she’d obviously be perfect for Mara Jade! Except Mara, if she’s even in the movie, probably isn’t going be young enough to be Mark Hamill’s daughter, no matter how they paint her on book covers. If you cast a Mara who’s of an age with Luke and Leia, you’d be looking at actresses in their 50’s and 60’s. And preferably someone who didn’t play a major, very similar role in another big popcorn movie mere years before. It’s just ridiculously uncreative, and I dearly hope that the pros are better than that.

    Now you’re thinking Helen Mirren, right? The only ‘old’ ‘hot’ lady you can think of? Who just happens to be playing an assassin in a franchise as I type? Yeah. Thanks, Hollywood.

    (I don’t have any beefs with Johansson or Mirren – I mean, who hates Helen Mirren? She’s AMAZING. I just… Really hate fancastings, okay? So please don’t take this as a sign to tell me your ideal Mara. I really don’t want to know.)

    I’m not a fan of how they constantly cast the same actors in similar kinds of movies, over and over again. So yes, I am all for fresh faces! But that doesn’t mean I’m going to write off actors who I’ve actually heard of before. I mean, yeah, Zoe Saldana is great and I love to see how far her career has come since Center Stage, but does she really need to be in Avatar AND Star Trek AND Guardians of the Galaxy? Spread the franchise love.

    And yes, Dominic Monaghan has had two fairly iconic roles, but he’s not in Saldana, or, let’s say, Christian Bale/RDJ/Johnny Depp territory. Yes, he can be cute and charming, but he’s short and kinda funny looking, he’s not going to have that kind of career. I’m not endorsing him as a lead, or in fact endorsing him at all, but as a supporting character? I can see it. That’s all.

    Jason: Aside from the obvious (Harrison Ford, carpenter) Jon Hamm. Lots of bit parts going back a decade before Mad Men, but who’d recognize him on the street before he played Don Draper? That role took a struggling/making-do actor and made him a genuine star.

  7. Dunc: Thank you for reiterating the fact that Mara (or any Skywalker wife should she not be Ms. Jade) will not be a young girl! This is hands-down my biggest peeve, far more than fancasting (though your points are exceptionally well taken; I remember the Dina Meyer days, too)

    Jason: I’m going to agree with Dunc here, too. There are a great many actors who are steadily working and not famous; far more than any of us can imagine, I’d expect, and I know quite a few. That said, I say bring on the unknowns, and maybe have a “name” to stand alongside the returning OT3 (Mrs. Skywalker, perhaps, to hearken back to my earlier point?).

  9. So what you’re saying is that Mara Jade is in Episode VII and she’s played by Joan from Mad Men. We know because… red hair. Got it.

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