Hannibal...

[Colovion]

Carthage is neither black nor white in a modern American sense.

Most of us here know this, we know he's from Lebanon originally and that he's pretty Arabesque in color - but a full on black man is not period correct from what we know of the Ancient Lebanese.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I know you all know that, Colovion. And I'm happy that we all seem to agree on this one.

I was bashing the PC movement. A line of thought which has led to a full black man being casted as Hannibal - out of deliberate ignorance. They refuse to let cold fact get in the way of welcome emancipatory myth and will thrash anybody who dares to state the obvious.

The obvious being that to cast a black man (or a blue eyed one, for that matter) is a political decision, and not a historical one.

[Barkhorn1x]

I was bashing the PC movement. A line of thought which has led to a full black man being casted as Hannibal - out of deliberate ignorance. They refuse to let cold fact get in the way of welcome emancipatory myth and will thrash anybody who dares to state the obvious.

Indeed - here is an interesting link;

http://skepdic.com/afrocent.html

Barkhorn.

[Red Harvest]

From what I've managed to find so far, my impression is still that Hannibal was more Lebanese/Mediterranean looking than black (or lily white.) I'm not sure how Vin would do in the role from an acting stand point. He is enough of a "mutt" that he could probably "physically" portray Hannibal in a believable sense, but I have lots of questions about other aspects of his performance. And it really depends on the script and what the director/producer are trying to make. I would hope for something of an epic sweep (Spartacus, Gladiator, Braveheart, etc.)

Denzel on the other hand is a great actor, but I'm not sure his voice would be one I would choose as a casting fit for Hannibal. Seems to me you want someone that could look and sound as if he was from the elite of Carthaginian society (well educated) while at the same time incredibly charismatic and inspiring to the average soldier, and able to walk amongst them comfortably. Denzel is probably a bit darker than I would want to cast Hannibal--but that really doesn't bother me too much. I'm not sure what Denzel is missing in the part, I can't put my finger on it at the moment. He often plays a well educated, and/or charismatic person, or a military officer, but there is something about those portrayals that say, "not quite Hannibal" to me. Perhaps it is the maverick, lone hold-out nature of the roles I've seen him in. I see Hannibal as someone that would unite his officers strongly behind him. There is another matter...if you make Hannibal, you must also put together a reasonable "family" of his brothers Hasdrubal and Mago who will also be prominent. Obviously, if Denzel is one then the other two will need to be of rather dark complexion and not look entirely unlike their on screen brother. There is also the father Hamilcar who would be prominent early in the film.

I am having a hard time coming up with someone who is a "natural" for the part--let alone the rest of the family. Just don't cast Travolta...ugghhhh.

[Kraxis]

Well, it is obvious that Denzel will do a better job than Vin. But I won't allow myself to think that Vin can't act well. So far he hasn't done all too good, but don't forget that his roles have so far been something like Rambo. And remember that Stallone has managed to put out a number well acted movies. The way I remember Vin from Saving Private Ryan was a thoroughly positive one, it is not enough to say he is good, but I think it is enough to say we should give him a chance.

The problem with the colour of the main character, in this case Hannibal, can be significantly more than that character himself. Like Red Harvest said, the other main characters have to be like Hannibal, they too were of his social class. But worse yet is that it fairly well accepted that the lower classes were darker than the rich merchant and landholder class of Carthage. That means the army in general should be at least as dark as Hannibal. The result would be an afro-invasion of the quite white Rome... See my drift? That doesn't pose all too well.

Well, I hope that the casters of the movie won't fall into the pit of the black and white armies. It would ruin such a great story.

[Colovion]

IF Denzel gets cast as Hannibal I'll end up saying: "well Hannibal wasn't originally Black... but he was great in the role regardless"

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Andy garcia wouldn't be bad in hte role, but he looks too Italian. What about that guy from Robin Hood, prince of theives?

[Red Harvest]

The problem with the colour of the main character, in this case Hannibal, can be significantly more than that character himself. Like Red Harvest said, the other main characters have to be like Hannibal, they too were of his social class. But worse yet is that it fairly well accepted that the lower classes were darker than the rich merchant and landholder class of Carthage. That means the army in general should be at least as dark as Hannibal. The result would be an afro-invasion of the quite white Rome... See my drift? That doesn't pose all too well.

Well, I hope that the casters of the movie won't fall into the pit of the black and white armies. It would ruin such a great story.

That is a very good point. They could get around it a bit by having a bit more of a melange of races for the soldiers/arimies of Hannibal, but it does pose some issues. Probably need to pick a general "ethnicity" for the Numidians, and another for the "african infantry" as well as the spanish, gauls, and various italians on both sides. I don't think you would want to cast it as black vs. white because that is not what I've heard in the history. I have not read anything that suggests it was a race war.

On a positive note, this provides opportunities for using a variety of actors of various colors and backgrounds to represent the consortium of troops under Hannibal and the nature of Carthage. Properly done this could be an eye opener for the general public, and be rather exotic, yet reasonably historic. Hmm, I could even see having the commanders all speaking a common language (as they most likely did), but the common troops conversing in a number of different languages...

I would hate to see this done as "all caucasian" with a couple of negroes on elephants.

Andy Garcia had crossed my mind as well. I even considered Antonio Banderas even though I'm not really a fan (and I'm not sure how well he could carry such a serious part.)

[Kaiser of Arabia]

lemme think...

I know, Wes Bentley!

[Daevyll]

Leaving aside the white/black thing, I disagree with the assumption Hannibal was tall, muscular and goodlooking.

Cast Danny Devito for the role I say.