Although some people might pigeon-hole the J. Scott Campbell comic series Danger Girl as a vapid cheesecake story by looking at their covers, it’s more than that. Although no one will deny it has a heavy dose of of unabashed sex appeal, Danger Girl is a modern descendant of Charlie’s Angels and 70s James Bond movies made for a whole new generation. Movie makers have swarmed around Campbell’s comic for years with Benderspink finally snapping up the rights last year, but not a word has been heard since. Instead of waiting on them, we’ve worked out the hard part to getting a Danger Girl movie right — the story and the casting.
The Concept:
There are a lot of moving parts in the Danger Girl universe, and the best place to start to give viewers an ideal introduction is the beginning as Abbey Chase is inducted into the group. It all starts as Danger Girl’s former lead agent goes rogue for the company’s main adversary, and Chase is hastily brought into the team with big shoes to fill. Between dealing with her catty co-workers to her shaken-not-stirred new trainer to the Swatiska-wearing villains in the Hammer Empire, she’s got her hands filled.
For tone and direction of the movie some might push for a Charlie’s Angel-esque vibe, but honestly that’s not what Danger Girl is. It’s a tongue-in-cheek genre piece that’s able to make fun of itself, like Sam Raimi’s works before Spider-Man or the non-horror movies of John Carpenter such as Big Trouble In Little China. And then just add sex appeal.
The Director:
The director of a film like this needs to be someone who can balance a lot of things going on at once without the film turning into a muddied mess. Likewise, it needs to also be a young director with something to prove. For this, I’d bring in french director Olivier Megaton. A protege of epic film director/producer/writer Luc Besson, Megaton directed the recent Zoë Saldana-starrer Colombiana as well as the last Transporter flick. He’s shown he can easily handle the action, but there’s been only tingles of the humor needed to capture the Danger Girl movie. It would be a challenge, but a great script that understood the material and reveled in it could make Megaton’s direction a home run.
The Cast:
Abbey Chase – Dianna Agron: Although relatively unknown when it comes to moviegoers, this Glee actress looks to have all the tools to be a breakout star and this could be just the vehicle to make that happen. She stood out for me in 2011’s I Am Number Four, and I’d love to see her take an action role like this and lead a feature as a treasure-hunter turned spy.
Sydney Savage – Vanessa Hudgens: She’s still trying to shake off the Disney vibe from her roles in High School Musical, and Sucker Punch did a bit to win me over to her side despite the disappointing movie in general.
Deuce – Pierce Brosnan: When J. Scott Campbell created Danger Girl he did it as a female-centric send-up of the James Bond movies, with the Girls’ mentor being a thinly-disguised version of the Sean Connery-era Bond. With Connery unfortunately retired from acting, I’d instead use Pierce Brosnan as the aging agent with a penchant for the ladies.
Silicon Valerie – Mia Wasikowska: As the DG’s team’s resident brains of the group, Silicon Valerie would be in excellent hands with Alice in Wonderland‘s Mia Wasikowska. Wasikowska can really exude a nervous energy and I’d love to see her pining to be a field agent and get out from behind the computers.
Johnny Barracuda – Matthew Bomer: Bomer is a movie star waiting to happen, as people who watch him in the the USA television series White Collar can attest. Once in the running to play Superman, he’s still waiting for his comic-to-film adaptation and this could be it. As a bonus, he’d be slightly reprising his secret agent role from his time on Chuck.
Natalia Kassie – Amber Heard: Confident and conniving, actress Amber Heard could really chew things up as the Danger Girl-gone-rogue. I had initially penciled her in as Chase herself, but Heard would be better off striking a villainous pose as the Russian Kassie.
Major Maxim – Til Schweiger: Schweiger really sold it for me as Lt. Hugo Stiglitz in Inglourious Basterds, and he’s done a lot to entrench himself as one of Germany’s most successful actors. I’d love to see Schweiger camp it up in the Maxim role while still being threatening and ominous.
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There’s not enough silicone in the world.
Sounds like the worst Bond title ever.
The Living Daylights or Quantum of Solace are worse.
I didn’t mind either of those.
Living Daylights is one of my favourite Bond movies. Never really understood what a Quantum of Solice was though. Off topic I know
I like the casting Chris, I do, it’s all spot on. But if Pierce is your biggest star no one is going to see this movie. Abbey should really be someone with a little more star power or this would sink like a stone. I wish I could think of a good Abbey but damn it’s a tough one.
Abbey played by Sara Underwood, just cause I love her but I would see this just too watch Til Schweiger play Major Maxim.
Abbey could be played by Scarlet Johanson. Dianna Agron is pretty but she does not have nearly large enough chest for the role
Really, no one alive has a large enough chest for the role.
Abbey can’t be more than a full C. Besides, you don’t HAVE to slavishly follow the physical look of the comic.
Hey, at least we’re not talking about Red Monika from Battlechasers!
Red Monika is easy, Christina Hendricks is like a dead giveway for her, heh.
I would sleep overnight in a parking lot to see that…
Needs some Udo Kier in there somewhere in order to make it work. But this is excellent casting.
As a straight man, i’m not afraid to say that Matt Bomer (aka Bryce from Chuck) is the best looking person in this cast
Is Danger Girl worth a read?
It’s a fun guilty pleasure sort of read.
Thanks – the Zero issue is free on comixology – I’ll give that a whirl
no. not really
Schweiger? Seriously? Incredible. I laughed so hard. That guy is a joke in Germany.
Really, why?
He was pretty badass in Inglourious Basterds, but that’s all I know him from.
Yeah but the German’s also think hasselhoff is a great singer.
@nbca he’s pretty badass in SLC Punks too
Because he can’t act to save his live and he’s a pretty embarrassing dude. He directs (pretty succesful) shallow romantic comedies (in which he stars) that are all alike, and constantly whines about not getting an awards for doing so.
But I agree, he’s pretty fitting in Inglourious Basterds. But that is thanks to good casting and not so much of him being a descent actor. It might work for Major Maxim, too. It’S been a while since I read Danger Girl.
If you like to see one of Germanys best actors in action, look at August Diehl as Sturmbannführer Dieter Hellstrom.
Not to be mean but I guess all the ladies will have to stuff their bras!
CGI like the hulk
Abby Chase – Charlize Theron
Sydney Savage – Elizabeth Hurley
Natalia Kassle – Rebecca Romijn
This is one of the best Comic Book Casting segments I’ve read!
I hate me for writing this, but they are too old.
Ups…this was supposed to go as an reply to nbcabaniss post.
Even though I only read a couple of issues of DG (mainly because they sold out and were so damn expensive as back issues!), I would totally see this movie. I bet I can get these cheap enough now to read them, although they might be a bit dated.
Ha! Haven’t read a Danger Girl book in over a decade. Good to know there’s no new characters to worry about.