Despite a pretty downgrading last year in which his superhero epic and raunchy comedy failed to ignite much buzz, Ryan Reynolds remains a guy I think most of us wouldn’t mind seeing succeed. Meanwhile, Highlander is an aged, opposite-of-sacred IP with a decently catchy idea at its center. Seems like a great match for a potentially interesting reboot, no? You know, the kind they should be doing instead of going after classics simply to modernize or “ground” them?
Be that as it may, there’s still something clearly incongruous about Reynolds in the role of a loner immortal who spends his centuries-spanning life wacking other immortals via decapitation in a quest to become the only one left. I can buy Reynolds as a lot of things, but a time-weary traveler of the world and quiet, bloody conqueror of men I can not.
It’s great that the production made the call not to cast someone completely humorless in this inevitably gritty reboot, but this reflects the ever-narrowing short list off of which every major project seems to pull.
If you get sick of the nerd cry to “Cast Idris Elba!” every time a new role is announced or rumored… this is why.
Seriously though, they should have got Idris Elba.
Source | Tracking Board





7 comments
The Highlander franchise is the most inexplicable piece of IP in history. Who was clamoring for more Clan McLeod after Highlander II? No one. Yet they’ve made numerous sequels, a TV show, and now a reboot with Ryan fucking Reynolds. Who are the Hollywood money-men with a hard-on for Highlander??? WHO ARE THEY???? I demand to know.
Shoulda got Thomas Jane. Sure, it would have failed miserably in theaters but at least he looks like McLeod
That it’s the Highlander franchise does sort of disarm any complaints against the reboot/remake epidemic, doesn’t it? The damage is done. Hell, retconning the character as an alien was the very first thing they resorted to.
Seriously, though. Cast Idris Elba as the Scottish Spaniard mentor character or GTFO.
Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod as played by Ryan Reynolds? Fuck this!!! Get Fassbender on the line! Or Elba! Hell, get Keneth Branagh if you want! Fuck the Green Lantern!
Thomas Jane?
Good call.
To be fair all us scottish men look like Ryan Reynolds.
My theory is don’t remake good or bad movies. But there’s an interesting idea somewhere in the HIGHLANDER franchise and you can actually improve upon the mythology and possibly get it right if all the planets are in alignment. And not sure what the hate is on Ryan Reynolds is yet. Although, I’d like to see him do that fucking DEADPOOL movie first.
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