Tommy_Harn

Shooting starts this month on a film based on Dennis Lehane's fourth installment of the Patrick Kenzie-Angie Gennaro series. Lehane also penned Mystic River, which was his most recent stand-alone effort.

I checked the film's IMDB page today, and I must say, I'm quite worried. Cast as the lead of Patrick is Ben's little brother, Casey (although it doesn't specifically say he has been tagged for the lead role, I'm assuming that's the case).

Now, I'm not an Affleck hater, and I think Casey is a fairly talented actor. With that said, this has the potential to be one of the worst mis-casts in recent memory. Kenzie is a guy in probably his late 30's, and all the make-up and effects in the world aren't going to make Little Affleck appear anywhere near that age. Not to mention the fact that I'm not sure he's the type of actor who could carry a film, at least at this point in his career.

I mean, am I crazy here? or does anyone else who have read this series agree with me?

RyoHazuki

Casey Affleck is 31. Good luck getting him to look in his mid 30s. Those makeup people got their work cut out for them.

maingon

Hes only got to look a few years older, so hes not gonna need to look that much different

Nesbit

Hmm I've read all of the Kenzie/Gennaro novels and I don't remember one reference to Patrick looking like a man child.

That having been said I will see this in the theatres. Love the books.

Tommy_Harn

OK, so he's 31 years old. Does anybody really think he looks 31?

Drexl

Does he absolutely have to be in his mid 30's? Are there things in the book that depend on him being that age? Things get changed from books to movies all the time. Look at The Shawshank Redemption: in the short story, the major character of Red was a white guy with red hair, but the movie turned out just fine (although Casey Affleck is no Morgan Freeman).

Tommy_Harn

That depends on how much they develop his character. Part of his personality is the fact that he's been hardened by years and years of dealing with Boston's worst element. So, to some degree his age is relatively important.

Nesbit

Yeah the fact that he has been hardened comes into play in the basement scene. Anyone who has read the book knows what I'm talking about. Kenzie's reaction won't mean as much comming from young pup Affleck.

Drexl

Okay, this does sound like bad casting.

Charlie Goose

Was Spencer Breslin unavailable?

DJariya

The trailer just came out.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/180970...standardformat

It actually looks really good. The supporting cast looks solid with Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton.

PixyJunket

That trailer looks outstanding!

Iron Chef

Red only existed in Andy's mind.

Iron Chef

it's Taggart from Beverley Hills Cop!

Charlie Goose

Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan are not the first actors that come to mind for Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro.

PacMan2006

This movie was shot very close to me in Boston. About a 30 sec walk, and I also visited the set and took a couple pics.

Unclejosh

my buddy was an extra on this movie...he hung out for 2 days met all the principles and Morgan Freeman played a joke at his expense while filming...he plays one of the cops who comes to bring in Morgan Freeman’s character and Morgan was supposed to come out of the house and go quietly to the police car, but on one take he rushed out of the house and ran down the porch screaming something like "you'll never get me!" My friend didn’t know what do to he as shocked, but everyone was cracking up and Morgan apologized to him. He said Casey and Ben were especially nice and Michelle wasn’t as hot as he thought she was in person, but still very attractive.

Tommy_Harn

This comes out Friday. I'm cautiously excited about the final product, but excited nonetheless. I found this blurb on IMDB kind of interesting:

Ben Affleck was so determined to keep costs down on the set of his feature film directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, he refused to use extras in bar and street scenes. Instead, the canny actor/director gave Boston, Massachusetts locals the chance to become film stars for the day. He explains, "Basically, what we did was, wherever possible, we went down to locations - say we shot in a bar - and we basically said, 'Whoever's at your barstool, we're gonna show up and make the movie, stay where you are. We're gonna make the movie around you.' A lot of times, and I'm not sure if this is legal, we were just buying people drinks. We would come into neighborhoods... we'd set the scene, bring the cameras and, as people came out of their house to see what was going on, say, `You folks are in the movie...' We cast all our smaller roles from people who were not only local to Boston but people who were in that neighborhood."

Brent L

I'm really going to be pulling for this flick, and more specifically for Ben Affleck. People have been giving him shit for years, myself included, and with good reason. However, maybe behind the camera is actually his niche, and where he belongs in the grand scheme of Hollywood. The trailer looks fantastic, the leads appear to be doing a great job, the direction looks very solid, the screenplay is great, and overall the film looks to me like it could indeed be of high quality.

Linn1

Ditto. And it's been a LONG time since I've heard so many radio ads for something. I think the film will be worth checking out.

BuddhaWake

I saw a preview last night and thought it was very good. both afflecks did a very good job, I don't think I've seen casey before but he did well. The above is very interesting because a lot of the people look real, very real, for a while it felt like I was watching something done is south philly. Ed Harris was great, Freeman was pretty much faxing it in though. seems he's been doing that lately. Overall, I liked it way better than mystic river and I'm recommending it to everyone.

Michael T Hudson

I have never read the book but is this true?

DVD Josh

Really now? Then who got him the poster and rock hammer?

PacMan2006

What makes you say that about Freeman?

uncle-frank

saw the advance screening of it monday. its definatley one to check out.