Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter

Because there's already one female vampire slayer out there. Regardless of the differences, the title alone would elicit cries of "rip off" from most people.

Well, in all fairness, she also does a whole lot of raising the dead stuff.

The first few books are great. After awhile though, they just become a self-indulgent porn fest. Which is a shame.

No studio has ever not made a film because they considered it too similar to an already succesful franchise.

EVER.

Rath If you like the Anita Blake series Try reading the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher. The Dresden files are a less sexual(sort of) supernatural noir. The first book in the series is Storm Front(about murders happening whenever a lightning storm comes).

Alice, if you haven't read it yet pick up Obsidian Butterfy, its a return to form. Without giving anything away Anita leaves the extended family behind to pay back the debt she owes Edward...no nookie being the rule here. Haven't picked up the new one yet though.

Yeah there might be comparisons to Buffy but this story line is pretty separate. Whereas Buffy is a superhero, Anita is more of cop...even if she is more of shooter than Dirty Harry.

Could anyone really do it justice? Aside from the overabundance of hormones in the latter installments, Hamilton harkens back to the Detective Noir films of the fifties. The V.O. is a must and I seem to remember hearing somewhere that it's a no-no now. We run into the other problem as well. How many good adaptations have there been? I'm pretty sure I can count them on one hand and have fingers left over.

Man, when I first looked at this thread, I thought it said "Anita Baker: Vampire Hunter". There's a movie idea for ya--"This R&B singer spends her evenings hunting and killing the undead!"

Oh, until you reach The Killing Dance, it'd be very easy to make these books into a series. You simply take the Witchblade route, minus the strobe effects when powers are used.

You've not going to find anyone who fits Anita exactly AND has the acting chops to pull it off, so you're going to wind up sacrificing something in the looks department, whether it be her height or her coloring. Personally, I'd go for the coloring, if you had to. (In which case, clone Yancy Butler to age 24 and run with it)

Jean-Claude would be nigh-impossible to cast.

Rath, check out her Fae books as well; they're what got me to read the Anita Blake series. Up til then, from the original covers (cheesey bands across the top with a bat and the words Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter across the top. Ironically, she's not a hunter, she's a necromancer who's also the State Vampire Executioner...which sometimes involves hunting, but....), I thought it was a pre-teen horror series.

Another great series you'll have to hunt for, in the Mystery section, is George Chesbro's Mongo series. Dr. Robert Fredrickson, ex-circus tumbler (and a dwarf) teaches criminal law at a NYC university, and gets a PI license because, according to his giant of a brother on the police force, he's an over-achiever.
He then proceeds to get caught in cases that would make Mulder rather excited, long before the Xfiles came out. GREAT stuff.

I think Dushku just looks to young. There's something in the eyes that comes with age and I haven't seen that from Dushku so far. Anita may look cute and cuddly but there has to be something in her eyes that tells a different story.

I think Clancy Brown so works for Dolph, though.

Jean Claude: Possibly the guy from Dracula 2000 (but it might be hard to see him as something else) or just hit up some no name french actor. If we can get a semi big name to play Anita, with Clancy Brown pulling up the rear it should go over fine.

Well, Dolph's blond. wink You sure Ludgren isn't available?

Dushku's actually technically about the right age...Anita's 24-25. But you'd need to get an older actress that looks young to play her, because her eyes and body language suggest someone older (case in point: repeated references to her treating Larry like a kid, even though he's only a year or two younger than she is).

Plus, Dushku's not cute. I think she's damn attractive (strangely, only in motion. She doesn't look good in stills), but it's the wrong type of attractive. Anita's a cupie doll with the attitude of Yancy Butler. My guess is, we'd need an unknown.

Roy Dupris (Michael from the TV series La femme Nikita) would make a good Jean-Claude. He can be completely passive and blank, or charmingly condescending. Plus, he's pretty...which Gerard Butler isn't. Make Dupris's hair black, he'd be even prettier. And he's french, I believe. An added bonus.

What about Richard & Edward?

A long haired buff pretty boy, hmm, not too hard, I think.

Will Patton might do a good job as Edward, he can be non-descript and menacing as well.

I finally read Narcissus in Chains and damn did it suck, the only book in the series that I found uninteresting...as far as casting

Anita about the only known actress I can think of is Winona Ryder, the right height, the right look, the only question is if she has the chops to pull it off (Heathers was so very long ago)

Edward (also my favorite, then again I have a thing for hitmen) ideally Rutger Hauer from his Blade Runner/Hitcher days. Barring breaking any laws of nature I think the best choice would be Keifer Sutherland. He's got a look of indeterminate age of something in his thirties and just enough menace.

Richard either Brendan Fraser (think boyscout and I'm not that far off here) or Aaron Eckhart

Actually, Sutherland is nigh-perfect. I mean, I always thought of Edward as thin and non-descript, like, oh, Sean from Mage: the Hero Discovered, but Sutherland could nail it.

"I finally read Narcissus in Chains and damn did it suck, the only book in the series that I found uninteresting..."

This doesn't bode well, since I just bought the hardcover for Hastur.

I need to buy all these in hardback. The new covers look DAMN impressive in hardback.

I found Edward.

Billy Zabka, aka that blond badguy kid from the Karate Kid movies, can currently be seen in the painfully bad Pythons 2 on the Sci-Fi channel. He's ther one in the previews that asks if you're afraid of snakes. Think a blonder, slughtly less charming version of Bruce Boxlightner...disarmingly open-faced, but able to turn cold in a heartbeat.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?Zabka,+William" target="_blank">http://us.imdb.com/Name?Zabka,+William</a>

<img src="http://www.zabka.com/Billy.jpg" alt="" />

And hey, he already has "Acting with Giant Indestructable Snake" experience.

Here are my thought of who would be good playing two of the roles in the books. (Before you yell in protest just think about it.)

Anita Blake played by Michelle Rodriguez.
Edward played by Macaulay Culkin.

Rodriguez has the attitude...she doesn't have the look. Anita is terminally cute, a cupie doll that hates being short and cute. If she snarls all the time like a feminine Stallone, it ruins the effect. wink

I have no idea if she has the chops to pull off the toughness, but it just occured to me that if you dyed Amy Acker's hair black, she's the right height and cupie doll look:
<img src="http://liquid2k.com/shadowbox/a3promo-3.jpg" alt="" />

Again, I know she act, but because we've only seen her in Angel, I don't know if she could pull of Anita, but she looks the part.