Volpone on the Big Screen

While reading the play, I tried, as suggested, to think of who I would

cast in various roles. I ended up creating images in my head that

weren’t necessarily actors, so afterwards I went back and thought about

what I thought defined each character, and went from there. I had a

lot of fun thinking about who I would cast for each role in the play. Some of

the roles were a little bit of a stretch for me to come up with an

actor to fill them (I’m not exactly the biggest movie buff) so I am

looking forward to hearing who others thought to cast as each role.

Volpone was of course the first person I had to cast. The most striking characteristic

about Volpone is his lack of immediate family, as well as his greed and

deceitfulness. I ended up deciding to cast George Clooney as Volpone,

the protagonist. First George Clooney, is not currently married and has

no children. Second, but more importantly, I kept thinking back to

George Clooney’s role as Danny Ocean in Ocean’s 11. In Ocean’s 11,

Clooney’s character is involved in a scheme to trick a casino out of

money, which parallels Volpone’s behavior in the play. Also if a movie

is going to make money, you need to have your main character be

attractive, and George Clooney obviously has that characteristic

covered.

I would cast Taylor Swift as Celia. Not only is Swift beautiful but

she is the ultimate good girl in Hollywood; never have the tabloids

caught her indulging in any inappropriate acts. Furthermore, Celia’s character

tends to be predictable, which is reminiscent of Swift, who is not one

to shock with her play by the rules antics.

For Celia’s husband, Corinvo I decided to cast Mel Gibson. The

rant Gibson recently unleashed on former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva has

similarities to Corinvo’s threats to Celia. Playing this character

should not be too far-fetched for Gibson.

I picture Corbaccio as Gene Wilder. For only one reason in particular,

he is getting pretty old and looks it, he certainly looks much worse

for wear then George Clooney. This provides irony in Corbaccio’s

character. Corbaccio himself is relatively more ill than Volpone,

however is expecting and hoping for Volpone’s death.

Nano, would have to be Chuy Bravo. He is hilarious on Chelsea lately,

which would lend him well to the character of a fool or jester. Of

course Chuy is also in fact a dwarf which makes him the perfect for

the role of Nano.

As for Mosco, he is the character I had the most trouble casting,

Mosco’s character to me is very specific, and would take a special

kind of person, which I am not sure I have exactly came across in my search.

 Any Suggestions?