With the announcement yesterday that Oscar winning producer of The Departed Graham King and his company GK films are set to reboot the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider franchise, tongues have been wagging about just who might fill the boots and don the tank top and tinted shades of the video game heroine.
Submitted for your approval – or disapproval – as we always like to do in our Fantasy Casting series, I’ve selected eight actresses who could play the British, butt-kicking belle.
Angelina Jolie
36 years old
Why: For many, she already is the real life embodiment of Lara Croft having starred in two financially successful summer blockbusters that caused something of a media circus. There’s no other actress in the world who comes close to the physical resemblance of the video games’ Croft. Salt proved that Jolie was still the closest thing we have to an accomplished action heroine in Hollywood, and her accent in the Croft sequel was a vast improvement on her dodgy Dick van Dyke-esque one of the first. Though lord knows what accent she was putting on in The Tourist.
Her latest vehicle The Tourist was fully financed by Graham King’s GK Films, so there’s already a strong relationship with Jolie…
Why Not: All signs point to a reboot rather than a sequel, which means reinventing and reimagining a character, which would rule Jolie out. Furthermore, Jolie’s stock is not what it once was; The Tourist was a monumental failure critically and financially and Salt didn’t quite prove she is the global megastar Hollywood hoped she was. Since embracing the adopt-one-from-every-country attitude, her popularity has fell with the red-blooded males – The Tomb Raider demographic – and one can’t dispute that her sellability on her sex appeal has waned somewhat as with every new arrival she seems to drop a dress size. Plus, she seems to be kinda done with this franchise and probably wouldn’t want to return even if asked.
Scarlett Johansson
26 years old
Why: She’s probably the right age for what GK Films are casting their net for and she’s already effectively done the kick-ass heroine thing as Black Widow in Iron Man and the forthcoming The Avengers. Scarlett surprised many in her superhero debut and there’s no doubting she would fill the costume in a way that would sell the character to horny men of all ages and on magazine covers, etc, like the ‘Jolie’ factor had a decade ago.
Why Not: The British accent might be troublesome and she’s probably going to fill her blockbuster quota as Black Widow for the near future.
Mila Kunis
27 years old
Why: Her natural personality is of a strong, highly self-confident woman who can be scrappy, aggressive and terrifying in her own way as OWF’s Rob Beames found out when he interviewed her last year for Black Swan. She’s certainly someone who looks like she would hold her own in a fight and she’s a great actress who is due a major leading role.
Why Not: Although she clearly looks tough, she does come across as maybe a little sleight for the role, height-wise. Plus there’s no doubting her toughness but could she convince as the immensely smart, Anthropology-degree explorer? Plus the accent thing again…
Emily Blunt
28 years old
Why: Queen of versatility, Emily Blunt can do no wrong at the moment; as competent voicing a Gnome as playing a sexy siren or tomboy, or queen bitch. Her performance in The Young Victoria shows she could carry off Croft’s blue-blooded upbringing while performances in Irresistible, My Summer of Love and Wild Target shows she can dispense the alluring charm Croft exhibits with such ease. She was long courted by Jon Favreau to play Black Widow in the Iron Man franchise but only contractual obligations to Gulliver’s Travels stopped her from already playing an action hero.
Why Not: She doesn’t have the strong background in martial arts and hasn’t yet displayed her kick-ass ability in a big budget action-adventure movie. Plus she may not be a big enough name for GK, and we reckon they’ll be looking for an actress on the other end of 25.
Anne Hathaway
29 years old
Why: The Hath is as hot as they come right now. Her nude frolicking in Love and Other Drugs cemented her status as a firm sex symbol while Rachel Getting Married proved her worth as an actress and got her an Oscar nom. And with those big brown eyes and long dark locks she could certainly easily capture the Croft look.
Why Not: Not British, and her accent in Becoming Jane could be described as ‘decent’, at best. Despite her outing in the God-awful comedy/action Get Smart – someone should have got smart and dumped that movie in pre-production – she’s untested in an action movie. Though that will change with the massive Catwoman role in The Dark Knight Rises… such a huge part that would probably rule her out of this.
Kate Beckinsale
38 years old
Why: She’s British, she’s a brunette, she’s beautiful and the Underworld movies proved that she’s more than capable of pulling off the acrobatics and the martial arts that Croft is known for. And with her currently reprising her role as Selene in the fourth instalment of the Underworld series, she’s obviously still up for the gruelling schedule of an action movie. If that proves to be a success at the box office, Beckinsale’s sellability as an ass-kicking sex symbol will be back on.
Why Not: Her age is a big disadvantage if the rumours of a ‘Batman Begins’ angle that follows a younger Croft are true. It’s also difficult to look through her body of work and find a performance that was anything more than lukewarm. And she has her own action series already…
Chloe Moretz
14 years Old
Why: We fully expect a Lara Croft reboot to skew younger and with Spider-Man and X-Men: First Class ‘supposedly’ going back to their respective characters early days, why not actually go one further with teenager Chloe Moretz. Her tour de force performance as Hit-Girl in Kick Ass showed us she has the moves and martial arts skills of Croft, while her portrayal of a vampire in Let Me In shows she has the acting chops to do justice to a much deeper heroine than the one we were privy to with Jolie. Left-field, risky, but can’t argue the originality of the choice in what would be an A Young Indiana Jones style adaptation.
Why Not: The biggest objection amongst execs would be her age. Is 14 too young to play Croft? Well as we’ve said above, if they went for a ‘Young Lara Croft’ series that appealed to a young teenage demographic – an inspiring hero for young woman everywhere, then we think it could work. Though GK Films probably wouldn’t want to lose the unsubtle sex appeal of Lara Croft which might be the character’s biggest selling point. True she would be sixteen when the movie is due for release, but given the sex appeal of Lara Croft there would no doubt be protests about exploiting her in this respect.
Gemma Arterton
25 years old.
Why: In four years she has gone from an unknown drama grad from Gravesend to an International sex symbol on both sides of the Atlantic. She’s been sexy in Tamara Drewe, resourceful and dogged in The Disappearance of Alice Creed; played the posh, charming and witty Bond Girl and last summer saw her turn in two action movies in Clash of the Titans and the Prince of Persia. Neither might have been good films, but the blame shouldn’t be put on Arterton’s shoulders.
Why Not: You got me. Perhaps not as accomplished in specific areas as her competition, but she resembles the total package for a rebooted Lara for the next generation.
Arterton is my HOT favourite to land the role.
What are your thoughts..?
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31 Comments
Gemma Arterton’s the most likely – she has the look, she’s British, she’s the right age, her career could do with a big iconic role. I’m not sure if she’d be physically able to pull off the physicality, but it’s possible.
I wouldn’t totally discount Emily Blunt. Considering she was the first choice for Black Widow, my guess is someone knows she can handle the action. But I don’t get the impression she wants her career to go in this direction – she’s more serious-minded, by and large. And, while she’s attractive, she’s quite stern-faced. I don’t quite see her in the role.
i think anne hathaway would make a good lara croft
What about Olivia Wilde?
Yeah, Olivia Wilde is the studio favorite at the moment; Megan Fox has refused the role saying she doesn’t want to typecast herself as a new Angelina Jolie. http://www.csicon.org/olivia-wilde-looking-likely-for-tomb-raider-reboot-2/ is a good article on the subject.
Olivia Wilde would fit also, I liked her performance in House and Tron and we know she could kick-ass. A way better fit than Megan or Jolie.
Arterton should receive a large amount of the blame for why Titans and Persia are so unwatchable. Her voiceover in the former was excruciating. A genuinely unlikeable screen presence and a hideous line delivery in everything she does. I look forward to her 15 minutes of fame ending.
Interesting factoid: She was born with 6 fingers on each hand and crumpled ears. Perhaps a role in X-Men would suit?
That is incredibly harsh. She’s a fantastic actress.
Yeah, I’ve got to agree with Frank here. I find Gemma Arterton to be hugely unwatchable in every role I’ve seen her in. She doesn’t quite ruin the films she’s in single handedly, as most of them have been fundamentally poor, but she certainly helps to drag them down. Not very convinced by any of these suggestions – perhaps an unknown surrounded by an excellent co-cast would be the best option. But based on the first two films, I hold very little hope of it being a good film anyway. There has never been a good film made from a game. Never.
Angelina Jolie is Lara Croft forever
I would love Olivia Wilde in the role the most. Also, The Tourist was not a flop LOL does the media check their sources anymore or just repeat whatever dumb and false information someone else said? It’s already made over $250 million worldwide.
I might be wrong but I think the overseas money from The Tourist, a huge chunk goes to the distributors and not GK films, who financed it.
A larger part than domestically obviously, but with $250M already in back you really think GK Films lost any cent on this? Not to even mention DVD/BD sales and rentals.
No idea. I do know that less than $100 million domestically for a Depp/Jolie vehicle is horrendous numbers and would constitute a flop.
OLIVIA WILDE. end of story.
Maybe Megan Fox?
She is supposed to be the new Angelina Jolie.
drew barrymore
Um… why isn’t Rhona Mitra on the list? Pft… She was the model for Lara Croft once upon a time, shes hot, and still is very kickass in action films, shes perfect and who cares if shes in her mid 30′s, shes better than Jemma Arterton.
I do like Rhona. In fact I wrote an article a few years ago hoping she would take over the franchise.
No Lauren Cohan on the list? The only two I would not pick are Jolie (reboot not sequel) and Moretz (no doubt she could pull it off but she is kind of young and we do not want another Young Indiana Jones series). 20-25 (or someone that looks that age) should fit based on the screens from the official game reboot.
Cassidy Freeman aka Tess Mercer from smallville
Looks amazingly Like croft from the original games
My picks: Diora Baird, Kelly Brook, Olivia Wilde, Kelli Garner.
Kelly Brook could have done the modelling aspect of Lara Croft for video game promotional material four years ago. I’m not so sure now… and she certainly shouldn’t be anywhere near a Hollywood production of this size.
Ah how I love to incite such an intense debate about a video games heroine.
Rhona Mitra – granted she has the look and she was great in Doomsday, but I think she’s too old and not marketable enough to an American audience. Plus, she’s wooden as an actress. I like the idea of an actress who can really pull off a complex portrayal of Croft as opposed to the somewhat shallow one of Jolie.
Olivia Wilde I reject for the same reasons. And Megan Fox – look yes, acting ability, non!
None of those. If anyone at all, pick Olivia Wilde. In terms of action flicks no other woman can bring in audiences like Jolie. Who else could have made those numbers for Salt? If it weren’t for Jolie the movie probably would have flopped. The Tourist is sitting on $250M+ and counting worldwide, that’s far from a financial failure. Salt and The Tourist weren’t good flicks either, I imagine they’d make much more dough if they were hits with the critics.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!
Gemma Arterton FTW she will do the role justice. Clash of Titans and Prince of PErsia were crappy films but Gemma fulfilled her roles and her performances did their best to save the movies.
Gemma, please
Choosing Chloe Moretz just gives them the ability to have a young Lara Croft develop her sexuality, along with her fighting, driving, and lying.
It all goes together.
Well how do we work a sex scene in?
You don’t! She could kiss boys to get what she wants, or maybe just subtly cut away when she’s about to get nasty.
A name that hasn’t been mentioned yet, Janet Montgomery. It may be a bit of a stretch since she’s still relatively unknown, but she’s British, 25 years old, has the look of Lara Croft and has some experience in action roles with the FOX series Human Target. She had a small role in Black Swan and I think she’s on the verge of a breakout role, which I think Tomb Raider would be perfect for.
How about Lyndsey Fonseca? She’s quite pretty, got a following from Kick-Ass, in the age range..In my estimation, she can act. Why not? Or for a far more left-field suggestion..the girl from Chuck, Yvonne Strahovski? Far be it from me to let my opinions about Chuck and it’s degradation through the seasons to color opinions of her. But she seems like she can act, she’s really pretty, and she’s Australian, which is just a short jump from the English accent, as well in the age range. This project could be the ideal launching pad for her..
What about that hot chick from resident evil she’ll make an awesome Lara croft
Alice resident evil for Lara