Morgan’s out….who’s in?

We love them.  We hate them.  We love to hate them.  I’m talking about movie adaptations of popular books and characters, of course.  And the single most debated topic when it comes to these films is casting of the central role.  As we’ve seen with the debate over who should play Mitch Rapp in the movie version of Vince Flynn’s Consent To Kill, opinions abound among fans of the books when it comes to casting their hero.

Now it looks like detective Alex Cross, creation of writer James Patterson, is stepping up to the movie plate for the second time.

Morgan Freeman first embodied Alex Cross in Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider.  The movies were good if not great and Freeman did a good job of capturing the essence of Cross.  But the passage of time being what it is, Freeman is a little too old now to reprise the role.

First it’s important to recognize that the passage of years hasn’t been particularly kind to Alex Cross, either  As

Idris Elba

James Patterson has become an odd almost-parody of a thriller writer (how many times now has he sold his name to a “co-writer”?) his series has gone from decent critical acclaim to, well, kind of a parody of decent critical acclaim.  I have to admit that I gave up on Alex Cross books years ago as I saw the series begin to deteriorate.  I gave up on James Patterson when I saw “his” books become shells written by others.  I just lost interest.

But not so Hollywood.  For a time it was said that Idris Elba (who I recognize mostly from his stint as Charles Miner on The Office but most normal people undoubtedly know him as a gritty, intense actor from projects like The Wire) would be the next actor to embody Alex Cross and be directed by David Twohy (who as a screenwriter went from the sublime to the ridiculous with The Fugitive and Waterworld).

But apparently not.  Word is that Tyler Perry will now take on the Alex Cross reboot with Rob Cohen directing.  Perry isn’t how I envision Alex Cross.  Cohen directed The Fast and the Furious and xXx.  That’s a fairly major change in direction.

Tyler Perry

I know that Tyler Perry pretty much owns the whole world, but what can he bring to Alex Cross?  I guess we’re going to find out, but I can’t quite see Cross solving murders in drag.  My biggest question, though, is whether or not anyone cares anymore since Patterson flushed his reputation down the toilet (and the quality of his work right along with it).  Are there any Alex Cross fans left out there?  Or is this just another Tyler Perry vehicle masked as the reboot of a book to film series?

I guess we’ll find out.  Personally, I’m skeptical – but what do I know?  Oh, that’s right – I know whether or not I’d buy a ticket to see Tyler Perry play Alex Cross on the big screen.  The answer to that one is no, I wouldn’t.  Elba, maybe.  Perry, no.  They’ll need to put out a hell of a trailer to make me consider otherwise.

So who would you cast as Alex Cross if you had the chance?

photo by lukeford.net

Sue Millinocket

Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills  She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.