Characters in the Dollhouse

[cabri]

Ausiello has names and descriptions (http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Ausiello-Scoop-Help/800034438?rssDate=12345678) of our soon-to-be favorite characters. I don\'t agree with many of their casting suggestions (especially the Whedonverse actors), but one or two could work.

[ThisYearsGuy]

Wow exciting - interesting set too. Are we sure this is definitely real?

It is hard to form a proper impression from such small snippets of information but its great to have some news! :cheer:

Does anybody know if the casting has already begun or do we assume that this list suggests it is just about to start soon?

Oh and I like the idea of November as a name too lol.

P.S. I don\'t much agree with all their choices either and I am not overly keen to see Buffyverse faces reappear in this brand new show - but I like seeing what others think of. :)

[GrahmWaters]

So, I\'m sitting at home, took off from work to do a lil extra studying. I decide to check the forum while onst a break. I see the bulletin, damn near spit my lovely glass of Coca-Cola against the screen and come SPRINTING across the information super high way to get a gander.
*gasping for air*

First off, I TOTALLY read the article wrong the first time, I thought that it meant that 1 of the 2 actors in each role would be chosen. Like the Echo father figure WILL BE either Anthony Steward Head or Mitch Pileggi and as I read each one, I seriously almost quit the forum, changed my name, and disavowed any knowledge of the project all together. (which of course with my new alias I\'d probably still watch the show)

Now that I see that the sets of actors per Character are merely SUGGESTIONS, I feel much much better.

Anyway, let\'s begin analyzing shall we?

1) Adelle:
First off, LOVE the name Adelle, definitely one of my baby names, actually partially where I get the girl\'s name Adylin from, just a little background history on moi. (ps, you can all feel free to reply to my post just to simply say you LOVE that name, I know I do)
Tangent aside (this is a double entendre): The article doesn\'t give us a whole lot to go on as far as Adelle, but generally speaking, heads of major organizations are often loaded with potential and things to do, it will be nice to see if she\'s maternal to her dolls or a stone cold matron of the dolls.
I\'m conflicted because I don\'t want a Whedon-verse cast rehash: but Juliette Landau would DEFINITELY fit into the Doll House series quite nicely, let\'s just keep the accents to a dull droll thank you. (disclaimer: the slight anti-Buffy casting thing is my own personal opinion, I don\'t think less of any reader that wants to see a few or more Whedon-verse actors on his new show, I just like fresh...Blood (If you can\'t get my reference, step back, and think...this is an easy one).
Outside Buffy choice: how about an action adventure alum: Lucy Lawless? Might be stretching that. But give her pin straight black hair and an women\'s armani suit. She\'s 5\'11 so she could definitely put some authority behind Adelle\'s roll. Think about it, it\'s not the worst idea.

2) Paul
Okay Love interest, WHAT are you? Looks like we\'ll have to wait and see how he comes in contact. I like that he\'s 30 something, none of that campy 20 something don\'t know how to handle women b.s. PS: For all the Casanovas out there in 20 something land, I\'m 21, and I don\'t mean to offend, but 30 year-olds by virtue of age; usually, have more experience than we do and I definitely would prefer to see a well grounded love interest who knows what he wants (not that all 30 year olds know what they want) but blah, you know what I\'m getting at. If you don\'t then let\'s skip to the next character because I\'m having trouble typing out what I mean.
My actor suggestion for him would be : pick up Brian Krause, Leo, from the WB\'s Charmed. Give him a 5 o\'clock shadow and he\'s pretty much Paul.

3) Boyd
Okay, poppa man, big part, Biiiiiig part. I was interested, perhaps too much so, in the term, \"handler\".Now what exactly does that mean? He works for the doll house, okay, but what\'s a handler\'s roll? Are we ripping off slayers\' Watchers? Or was that just a term used quickly when writing out the list, though I doubt it. Are Dolls more like puppets? Can he exercise some kind of control over dolls, override their wills, wipe their minds? Or is he like a physician who makes sure the brain wipes and general health of the dolls aren\'t affected by their missions?
Either way, this roll is going to be tricky in my opinion because it\'s going to be DIRECTLY compared with the Buffy/Giles relationship, (though Echo/Boyd or Echo/Langton don\'t give me that same ring as Buffy/Giles, but let\'s see how the chemistry plays out). I kinda hope he\'s a more flawed father figure than Giles, who despite his foibles was a pretty good father figure. I really look forward to this relationship.
Actor Suggestion: Sean bloody Connery, just kidding. Umm, I kinda wanna give Charles Shaughnessy a shot. He played Maxwell Scheffield on the Nanny and did a few Sci-Fi things. Haven\'t seen him in a while. And for all you Giles Die Hards, he\'s British as well (http://www.charlesshaughnessy.com/ his website if u wanna quick pic w/o googling)

4)Topher
Topher totally sounds like a techno-geek, I didn\'t even have to read the sentence when I read the name I got that feeling. He\'s going to be one to watch because the dolls are his life and passion, he\'s going to be pressured to do one thing by the Doll house and he\'s going to inevitably choose to help the dolls, or at least Echo, or maybe not? I have been wrong before
Who to cast: Now, I remember reading an article saying Seth Green had thrown his hat in the doll house ring....this I think is where he\'s going to fit, and would fit well. I just hope Topher is not laid back and cool like Oz because I think I don\'t need to re-hash my opinion for each character I post about. That Said, I think I would choose my boy Seth for this roll.

5) Sierra
Reading the character description, and seeing how we\'re classifying the dolls, I got a little nervous or a little excited, I\'m really not sure, if this is going to start out with a sort of, burlesque Charlie\'s Angels, which is a concept I sort of, well, Love. And if Doll House doesn\'t go this route, which it probably won\'t, I\'ll start writing my show with that in mind and make it a less dramatic and more funny action show. (you know, in between me doing all the other things I complain about doing on this forum).
Actor choice: I Agree, Kendra (Bianca Lawson) would be stellar for the roll (does anyone else hear that chewing? It\'s me eating my own words.)

6) Victor
Ahh, a male doll, makes me happy to see my own gender also able to have their brains wiped. Not much is given, will there be inter-doll hots? Who knows where he\'s going to go. He could end up on the sidelines like an early Buffy Cordelia Chase or get more involved, it\'s too early to call.
Actor: I kinda smelled Alexis Denisof for this roll which I would personally push AGAINST even though he did a great job when he got serious on Angel. But I have this funny feeling that if he gets involved, this would be his role. Anyway, my choice: maybe Joshua Jackson, Pacey from Dawson\'s creek. I think he\'s an alright actor and has done big and small screen like Eliza. And he gets ratings, which I want for this show.

7) November
Love the name again. Enjoy a fleshy woman on the doll scene. Want to see her do action as well as drama and do it well. Though, \"the Tracy Turnblad of the Dolls\" does not give me a whole heck of a lot go on. And the term hoofer in the dictionary is defined as a slang term for dancer...So now I\'m just lost. I don\'t know if I\'m completely closed minded because when I read Tracy Turnblad I thought \"oh big actress\" or if we\'re on the same page.
Either way I will use this time to express how I would love to challenge traditional images of empowered women who are usually super models with good punchlines (not that I don\'t LOVE women with punchlines, but our big girls do generally get side lined for those kinds of rolls) So if such is the case, I totally want to see her come out swinging, if not, I\'m really sorry I\'m an idiot and assumed it meant fat.
Suggestion: I don\'t mind Nikki as a choice; however, I\'m going to step OUTSIDE the actor\'s box and recommend recent American Idol cast away Joanne Borgella. While she has no acting experience, she does have a modeling contract so she knows the camera, and the camera LOVES her, I thought she was one of the prettiest contestants. Like I said, it\'s a little far out there because I have no clue if she has an interest in acting, but I can\'t say anyone saw Jennifer Hudson coming either and she hit it out the ballpark too.

8) DR. CLAIRE SANDERS
She\'s a Dr. Okay. Medical or otherwise? Does she just have a PhD, if so what in? What\'s her function, Topher liking her doesn\'t characterize her it characterizes Topher, and all we get there is that he\'s (probably) heterosexual. So what about her? Okay, well, I can type all I want I\'m not going to find out. I take it she\'s part of the Doll House because she is around Topher enough for him to get smitten, so odds are she works there. Function: she may be another Handler? She may be the physician that makes sure that all the cerebral technology (I\'m assuming it\'s cerebral since it affects memories, skills, and motor functions) that dolls are subject to is not killing them? Hell, she may have pioneered the technology which makes her pretty much Adelle\'s right hand woman. In which case, these two titans might be a force to be reckoned with.
Choice: If only Kate Walsh didn\'t have a spin off series going for her...(ps: Marti Noxon writes for Grey\'s and Private Practice, so that\'s probably why she\'s not on Doll House and why Grey\'s anatomy was one of the most riveting shows I\'ve ever watched). Since Kate\'s busy, I\'m shouting out Holly Marie Combs. Yes, she was the counterpart of an earlier suggestion Brian Krause from Charmed, but since I doubt all if any of my suggestions are going to go through, there\'s no reason not to throw her name in the ring. Besides, I only know so many actors and actresses for a guy who literally has no TV (don\'t ask me how I\'m going to watch doll house, I still don\'t actually know, but I\'ve got friends in high places....and by that I mean high def )

Okay so there you have it, I praise you for reading the whole thing, and feel free to tell me that my post is lame and that I have no clue what I\'m talking about, so long as you can back it up
Of course by that I mean, let\'s discuss! Let\'s hear more ideas! Go! Go! Go!

Plugging his own baby names shamelessly,
Grahm.

[ThisYearsGuy]

Wow cool summising there! I actually really like that suggestion of Holly Marie Combs - intriguing and not what I\'d have thought of lol.

I hear casting sides are out too or something - anybody know anything about that?

[GrahmWaters]

I don\'t know anything but wanted to comment back and thank you for your feedback! :P

Keeping his finger on the pulse, and by that I mean clueless,
-Grahm

[dev]

ThisYearsGuy wrote:
Wow exciting - interesting set too. Are we sure this is definitely real?


Yeah the character names and basic info is correct, but given how fluid a process making a TV show is that doesnt mean it\'ll be accurate by the time we have an actual TV show to watch.

[lilbird]

Still... fun to speculate.

Nice comments GrahmWaters. I like Adelle as well. From German, nobel and kind.

Paul, latin, small. I like Ben Browder for this. Well, I just like Ben Browder. ;)

Boyd, yellow or blonde.... hmmm

Topher, sorry, I can\'t not associate the name with Topher Grace.

Sierra, saw-tooth mountain range.

Victor, latin, conquerer.

November, I like month names.

Claire, bright, clear. I\'m not as crazy about this name.

[GrahmWaters]

thanks for the nice words lilbird :)

[malcolm]

Cool

\"Kilo\" could be the reeeeally anorexic doll :woohoo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

[hap]

Nice catch to see that the Doll names are from the phonetic alphabet!

That implies that there are no more than 26 Dolls in the organization at any one time?

We could also guess at some future recurring or guest roles with interesting names:

Bravo, India (my would-be favorite), Juliette, Papa, Romeo, Tango, Zulu.

And names that probably wouldn\'t be used:

Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, Uniform, Whiskey.

And what would a character named Alfa, Delta or X-ray be like? Just some idle speculation!

[JadeHand]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

[cabri]

Oscar Mike Golf!

[Farmhand]

I\'ve been thinking a bit (a little bit, but it\'ll have to do) about this, and here are some of my suggestions:

Adelle: Sarah Clarke or Stephanie Romanov. Both are foxy ladies with the interesting ability to be beautiful and sophisticated while playing ruthless characters. Me like!

Boyd Langton: Either Mitch Pileggi or Stellan Skarsg?rd. Stellan rules, but Mitch is good too.

Claire Saunders: Here I would like to see Jennifer Morrison, but she\'s already busy playing doctor. Maybe Sarah Wayne Callies is interested?

[dev]

hap wrote:
Nice catch to see that the Doll names are from the phonetic alphabet!

That implies that there are no more than 26 Dolls in the organization at any one time?

We could also guess at some future recurring or guest roles with interesting names:

Bravo, India (my would-be favorite), Juliette, Papa, Romeo, Tango, Zulu.

And names that probably wouldn\'t be used:

Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, Uniform, Whiskey.

And what would a character named Alfa, Delta or X-ray be like? Just some idle speculation!

Well as the hide tags dont seem to be working, i feel I should point out that what I post here could be considered a SPOILER (I dont think it is, but some might)



Well Alpha would be the kind of character to say \"You are a man of great integrity. I\'m thinking about lighting you on fire.\"

[cabri]

I am never gonna hear the end of that. :P

[ZachsMind]

Back in November when I first heard about Dollhouse maybe happening, I wanted to see all Whedon alumni on the cast. My heart still wants to see the bulk of regular casting be an eclectic mix of faces we\'ve seen before on Firefly, Buffy and Angel. I could recast the names we now know three times over with past talent.

Five or six months later, and a writer\'s strike come and gone, and I\'ve sobered a little bit. If this show\'s gonna fly out the gate win place and show no looking back, it\'s gonna have to find its own voice fast, it\'s own momentum, it\'s own engine, it\'s own everything. That won\'t happen if Nathan Fillion\'s playing Paul Ballard. Sad to say. Dushku\'s face is familar enough, and she\'s supposed to be someone different every week. How many of us will look at that face and think Tru? Or Faith? Or the daughter in True Lies?

Aside from Dushku, we need all fresh faces to see this work. That doesn\'t mean they should pick big names we recognize from shows outside the WhedonVerse. It means casting should look at all available and interested parties and choose the best person for each part, regardless of whether or not they\'d be recognized by you or me. In fact, the potential for this series is so rich in intrigue and there\'s so many layers here and so much complexity, that we don\'t need familiar faces constantly pulling us out of the story.

Best actor for each role. If that turned out to be a Buffy Reunion Tour, fine. My heart wants that. My brain says we can do better.