Quite often, many of these types of discussions usually revolve around an actor's style or approach; or reputation. Could they fulfill the expectation? Could they accurately portray a character whose personality has been mapped out intricately by the writers and then dissected by the fans?
A long while ago, a web site popped up called My Heritage, which sported a face recognition app. Eventually, the app found its way onto hundreds of MySpace pages, with people showing off the celebrities which closely matched their own face.
I began thinking at one stage: what would the app generate if I threw a few images of some expanded Star Wars universe characters at it.
So, being the geek that I am, and finding myself with a little (too much, perhaps) time on my hands; I decided to give it a shot.
Because the face recognition app at My Heritage generates all celebrities from all fields (modeling, acting, music, sports, etc.), I decided to only focus on actors that could be easily perceived as close-in-age to the characters on screen.
There were some complications though. The images I began providing to My Heritage were predominantly paintings or drawings of the characters, not photographs. This generated some interesting results at times (Tom Cruise as Jacen Solo - WTF?); and other times generated absolutely nothing.
In the end, it came down to finding the right illustration that the computer app would "perceive" to be a photo.
At any rate, here are the results that My Heritage came up with:
Uma Thurman as Asajj Ventress
Ventress was the first character I threw into the face recognition app, and Uma Thurman was the very first result. At first, I was a little let down... but then thought about it. Thurman clearly has some sword skills (Kill Bill), portrayed a power-hungry villain (as Poison Ivy), and is clearly very versatile in acting. If there ever was a Clone Wars movie, she would probably be a good choice for Asajj Ventress. However, there is a perceivable age difference, though Ventress' age has never really been specified in the expanded universe. Despite this, Thurman could probably pull it off.
Kim Rossi Stuart as Exar Kun:
Exar Kun was a Jedi who, 4000 years before Luke Skywalker, turned to the dark side and became a Sith Lord. My Heritage ran the above picture through the app and its first suggestion was Kim Rossi Stuart; an Italian actor. While the Exar Kun image shows a rugged man deranged and twisted by the dark side, Rossi Stuart's image above shows a man who could believably portray a young Kun just before he falls.
Jensen Ackles as Jacen Solo:
With his character taking a much darker turn in the most recent novel series, Legacy of the Force, I was hoping to find a resulting actor who both "looked" like they could convincingly portray a "good" Jacen Solo and an "evil" Darth Caedus. As with Hayden Christensen for Anakin Skywalker, there needed to be an aura or a look of convincing dichotomy. After a couple of Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves hiccups, the result that came through was Jensen Ackles; an actor who has been in TV shows such as Dark Angel and Supernatural. The two images of Ackles I found above seemed to look like the portrayal style needed for someone like Jacen.
Elisha Cuthbert as Jaina Solo:
Like the Asajj image from earlier, when I ran this picture of Jaina through the My Heritage app, the very first result was a photograph of a dark-haired Elisha Cuthbert. I had only seen Cuthbert on TV in 24 with her well-known and trademarked blonde hair, so I was surprised; but with darker hair, she does look similar to Jaina; and also has the acting skills to match. Oh, (did I forget to mention?), she's hot, too...
Jeff Bridges as Thrawn:
Grand Admiral Thrawn is perhaps mostly known for being a master strategist - an expert, or a genius if you will. So it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of fans dislike this result. Admittedly, this one completely threw me as well; but it was the first result that My Heritage provided. Never in a million years would I ever picture Jeff "The Dude" Bridges playing Thrawn; but after a lot of thought and reflection on the wide range of roles he has played in the past, if George Lucas ever decided to make Zahn's Thrawn trilogy into a sequel trilogy, Bridges could probably pull it off. Besides, he has been in Tron and Starman... why could he not be in Star Wars?
Hunter Tylo as Ysanne Isard:
While I cannot see accurate resemblances between the two images above, this was the first result generated by My Heritage. Hunter Tylo is notable for her role in The Bold and The Beautiful; which isn't exactly the best zone to choose Star Wars actors from (though haters would probably say the acting is just as wooden). However, a debate that has been ongoing among soapie fans for some time now has been Tylo's extensive plastic surgery. The character of Isard is one that strives for perfection - militarily, but also physically. It is conceivable that the vanity of Ysanne Isard would be motivation enough for augmentation surgery. This kind of image would work for the character. Yeah, I know, it IS a stretch... but you work with what you get, I guess...
So there you have it. What do you think of the results? If anyone is willing to stretch their Photoshop muscles to show some of these actors portraying these characters, feel free to send in your art and I'll post it up here for everyone to check it out.
While there is only very slim chances that any expanded universe material ends up on the big screen (and by slim, I mean smaller than an electron), it is interesting to see what a computer app would suggest for something like this...
