My over-active imagination has been fueled by a caller from Hollywood who inquired about film rights to my book. And so I’ve come up with a fantasy cast for King’s Gambit the movie:
The Cast (in order of appearance)
Johnny Depp as Paul Morphy
Rosie O’Donnell as Morphy’s mother
James Gandolfini as my father (because Rodney Dangerfield, Jackie Gleason, John Belushi, and John Candy are unfortunately unavailable)
George Clooney as me
Angela Landsbury as Mrs. Perrutz (my kindly therapist when I was three)
Jake Gyllenhaal as Pascal Charbonneau
Natalie Portman as Irina Krush
David Blaine as David Blaine
Scarlett Johanssen as Jennifer Shahade
Reese Witherspoon as Susan Polgar
Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Garry Kasparov
Jim Carey as Nigel Short
Ben Kingsley as Bruce Pandolfini
Anthony Hopkins as Claude Bloodggod
Mel Gibson (behaving like he did when he encountered the trooper) as Bobby Fischer
thepHtest 
July 26, 2007 at 8:45 am |
OK, while some of Paul’s casting decisions are slightly optimistic, one is downright unacceptable. As long as I’ve taken chess seriously, and envisioned one day the story of Bobby Fischer finally being adapted on screen, there has been one man and one man only who could fill that role. Not Mel Gibson…Dennis Leary! Not only do they have an uncanny physical resemblence, but Leary’s comcial tirades could arguably put Fischer’s to shame. I’ll let George Clooney slide, if Leary is replaced as Fischer.
July 26, 2007 at 1:14 pm |
Yes, Dennis Leary is a much better choice. How about Karpov? Who should play him?
July 26, 2007 at 1:59 pm |
For Karpov, possibly Udo Kier as an older more recent version. Sam Rockwell could portray a younger Karpov. I should have been a casting director!
September 14, 2007 at 7:32 am |
Who will play Truong?
December 6, 2008 at 2:16 am |
why do you have to be in the movie at all? Paul morphy looked a lot like an oversized oompa loompa. that exludes Johny Depp. Phillip Seymore Hoffman would be much more convicning. It should be done in period style without reference to the present. It should capture the zietgeist of Victorian New Orleans.
January 9, 2009 at 9:11 am |
Another possible choice to play Fischer is Nicholas Cage…check out the physical resemblance.