Subject:
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Casting Satan and Jesus for The Brick Testament
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.build.ancient
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Date:
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Wed, 7 Apr 2004 12:33:09 GMT
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In lugnet.build.ancient, Terry Prosper wrote:
Please do.
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As most people, I love your creations. Although I’ve said in the past I don’t
read your website because I don’t like any religion, I have recently taken a
great pleasure in keeping up to date with all your updates. I enjoy your
creations and your sense of homour, even if I still believe that the irony of
your website may be too subtle for some.
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Thanks for saying so, Terry.
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But anyway, i’m out of focus here...
I must say that I’m disappointed with “your” Satan. I don’t think the Snape
heap fits the character and overall, the whole Minifig seems a bit too normal.
It lacks the hypocrisy and the evilness the character should have IMHO.
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No matter what sort of visage I chose for Satan in The Brick Testament, I knew
that it would not please everybody. Choosing a Satan was a lot trickier than
choosing, say, Jesus or God, because for the latter two we have well-documented
evidence for what they look like. @8^) Everybody knows Jesus has long hair and
beard, and that God looks like a grandfatherly figure with a long white beard,
but there’s a lot more latitude in depicting Satan. It probably won’t change
your opinion of my decision, but let me explain a little more about the
selection process I went though...
How Satan Was Cast
The Bible offers no physical description of Satan. He could look like just
about anyone (or anything). In the Gospels and Job he seems to be written of in
fairly anthropomorphic terms, in Revelation he is equated with a dragon and a
serpent, and yet he also sits on a throne.
Traditional depictions of Satan have several trademark features: horns, a tail,
a red body, a pitchfork, a mustache and a pointy goatee. Often he looks like
a human, but things like the horns and tail give him a decidedly beastly
quality.
Below are the possibilities I chose from in casting Satan for The Brick
Testament:
Photo #1 depicts the most beastly version of Satan I considered, having only a
roughly human shape to him at all, and a coloration that suggests something like
Dante’s vision of the lowest circle of hell (ice, not fire). Being almost too
large for minifig scale, this conception was rejected in favor of something more
“human”.
I very much liked the design of the Satan of Photo #2. It was the only minifig
scale Satan costume that had nice horns. And with its blank black stare, it is
suitably menacing. And yet I decided to go with something even further along
the spectrum toward human -- something that could show real signs of
intelligence and cleverness. I started to think of these more beastly visions
as more along the lines of Minions of Satan, rather than Satan himself.
The photo #3 outfit was a neat idea, in that it had something vaguely like horns
attached to the mask, but it looked sort of too goofy to me, and lacked
personality I was now going for in a more human Satan.
Using the Darth Maul head (Photo #4) seemed the most obvious choice in some
respects. Being a combination of red and black, and looking fairly evil, he
makes for a decent Satan. But then again, Darth Maul was such a memorable
character (or at least a memorable character design) that I felt people might
have difficulty not just seeing this Satan as a slight variation on Darth Maul.
I wanted something more original.
And so it came down to choosing just the right ‘human’ minifig to play the role.
Although many others tried out for the role, Photos #5-8 show the final four who
contenders.
Photo #5 shows actor Vern Gillis whose somewhat menacing facial features
(accentuated with make-up) at first seemed apt for the part. It was later
decided however that he did not strike the necessary balance between looking
supremely evil and supremely clever.
In Photo #6 is J. Chester Halibut who eventually won the role. His almost
inhumanly pale complexion has severely limited his roles in other productions,
and had, to date, kept me from casting him for roles in The Brick Testament.
But his devious and sinister expression was right on the money.
Photos #7 and 8 show Markus Bloot and Simon Uvell respectively, both offering a
portrayal of a fully-human Satan, and each having impressively Satan-esque
facial hair. Uvell had previous seen work as Balak the king of Moab in
“Balaam’s Talking Donkey” and its sequel “Balaam’s Curse”. Bloot had yet to
appear in The Brick Testament, but it discovered that he was already ear-marked
to play a very significant upcoming role in the Old Testament, and as such would
be inappropriate for Satan.
In the end, it was decided that a fully-human Satan was not quite right, and so
Halibut’s unique complexion only added to qualifications to fill the role.
I might also note that brief consideration was givrn to the tradition of viewing
Satan as a fallen angel. As such, depicting him like other angels of The Brick
Testament might have been appropriate (white robes and gossamer wings). But
this idea was rejected early on as visually unsatisfying, and since Satan’s one
big story in The Gospels includes other angels ministering to Jesus, it was
important to set Satan apart.
Casting Jesus
While we’re on the topic, I thought I’d also share some info and images about
the choice of casting the role of Jesus. As mentioned above, this, for me, was
a far easier choice. Here were the top contenders:
When it was first announced that The Brick Testament would be covering The New
Testament, there was much speculation about who would be cast for the central
role as Jesus. The early favorite was Sir Roderick Doogan (Photo #1) who is a
veteran actor of many works, particularly known for his roles in various pirate
and medieval fantasy epics. While Doogan has gone on to be cast in many other
roles for The Brick Testament (including Jesus’s disciple Matthew), it was
thought that his countenance lacked a certain expressiveness that one would need
to portray a compelling Jesus of Nazareth.
The part of Jesus went instead to one Richard Chalmers (Photo #2) whose stern
look was a fitting match for man who represents the son of the God of the Old
Testament. His ever-serious face matched his ever-serious message of salvation,
hell, and the coming end of times.
Photos #3 and 4 show Victor Ipswitch and Mort Chuckworthy. Though some have
said he would have made a “friendlier” Jesus, Ipswitch was unavailable at
casting time due to a previous commitment to star in an elaborate space fantasy
production. Chuckworthy was in consideration for the role of Jesus, but was
seen as “too beefy” for the part. Most of his previous roles having been that
of various action heroes, Chuckworthy was not used to delivering significant
amounts of dialogue, and so was eventually removed from consideration. He was,
of course, later cast in the more military action-oriented role of Jesus’s
namesake Joshua, leader of the Israelite army under Moses.
Although it was decided early on to present a fairly traditional-looking Jesus,
the idea of casting something along the lines of a more “historically accurate”
Jesus was briefly toyed with.
Recent speculation
into what Jesus may have actually looked like has produced the re-imagining of
Jesus as “dark skinned, curly-haired...swarthy, coarse, vacant-eyed,
short-haired man”. As such, an actor named Abdul Hotchkins was called in to
read lines, but it quickly became apparent that the public was not ready for
such a radically re-envisioned savior of mankind.
Did You Know?
Hard to believe, but true:
The actor who plays Satan originally tried out for the role of Jesus, and the
actor who plays Jesus also tried out for the role of Satan.
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Anyway, I still think you are making us look bad with such beautiful
creations.
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Thanks. And um, sorry about that.
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I’ve got nothing to compare to them in my brickshelf folder. So I hate you
:-P
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Well, that’s a fittingly Satanic sentiment with which to end this post.
Regards,
-Rev. Smith
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Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: Casting Satan and Jesus for The Brick Testament
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| In lugnet.build.ancient, Brendan Powell Smith wrote: (snip) Wow. thanks for all that background! I'm not sure I agree with your final choices (in either case, but especially with Jesus... there is something strangely compelling about casting someone (...) (20 years ago, 7-Apr-04, to lugnet.build.ancient, FTX)
| | | Re: Casting Satan and Jesus for The Brick Testament
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| (...) I'm happy with the choice of Satan, altho I prefer a larger, more beastial depiction. Perhaps I can suggest using different versions of Satan to depict the different ways that Satan acts. My reading of the Bible has suggested that perhaps (...) (20 years ago, 7-Apr-04, to lugnet.build.ancient, FTX)
| | | Re: Casting Satan and Jesus for The Brick Testament
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| Just adding my $.02. I have a personal preference for Satan #8, mostly because he looks a lot like me. Don't get me wrong, the one you picked works, but I like #8 better :). This is starting to get really creepy. First the guy in The Law (the main (...) (20 years ago, 8-Apr-04, to lugnet.build.ancient)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Satan Tempts Jesus
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| If I may... As most people, I love your creations. Although I've said in the past I don't read your website because I don't like any religion, I have recently taken a great pleasure in keeping up to date with all your updates. I enjoy your creations (...) (20 years ago, 7-Apr-04, to lugnet.build.ancient)
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