Jon Hamm is proposed for the father, with sideburns and rougher styling; another participant objects that he is too handsome for a long-haul trucker. — Bill Simmons
In the formal casting what-ifs, most having been covered already, the one new item is that Fincher cast Emily Ratajkowski on a recommendation from Ben Affleck, which the hosts find the funniest thing they have heard and worth a shout-out, joking about hiring her as a football writer to cover the NFC.
Jon Hamm was going to play Nick but Matthew Weiner would not let him out of his contract for the last season of Mad Men, the way The Office accommodated Ed Helms filming The Hangover at night; the part could have ignited Hamm's career as Don Draper in a bad marriage, though whether Hamm would have done the side dick is called the only question that matters.
The case against Hamm is that the role needs innate likability, and nobody ever simply liked Don Draper even if Hamm is loved in The Town and Baby Driver; the counter is that Nick is supposed to seem rationally likable yet somehow repellent, which Hamm could swing.
The relationship we have with Hamm is with Don Draper, while with Affleck it is with Affleck the public person; a Hamm version would still have been a good movie, because the film is about marriage, what women and men say they want, stardom and the media, bigger than Fincher's narcissism explanation; another voice thinks Hamm would have been good but loves that Affleck did this at the point of his completed comeback.
Tom Cruise as Nick Dunn is floated, with one voice calling the idea amazing, and rejected by the rest: he is too short and lacks Affleck's bulk and wide shoulders, you need to believe Nick can keep up with Amy, you need to see his belly exposed when he rolls over, and nobody can picture Cruise sitting down for Battlefield 3; Clooney fifteen years earlier is possible but a little too skinny.
Reese Witherspoon obtained the film rights intending to produce and play Amy, met Fincher and somehow gave the part up; the hosts cannot picture her riding Neil Patrick Harris covered in blood, finding her too earnest, open and likable to go dead-eyed the way Amy requires.
Other names reported for Amy: Charlize and Natalie Portman, both of whom would have been interesting though Charlize carries baggage as an actress, Emily Blunt, Rooney Mara whom Fincher had just worked with, Olivia Wilde, and strangest of all Dancing with the Stars' Julianne Hough, who got far down the road before her bid at a serious acting career stalled.
Fincher wanted an actress with a Faye Dunaway in Chinatown persona, someone who has experienced avenues of pain no one can articulate; he settled on Rosamund Pike because at 35 she could pass for 29 or 40, she was an only child like Amy, and after four or five of her movies he had never got a beat on her, an opacity he found interesting, when the natural move would have been Charlize.
Fincher has always had an eye for unproven, on-the-cusp talent, Pitt in Seven, Eisenberg and Rooney Mara in The Social Network, Mahershala Ali and Taraji Henson in Benjamin Button; the hosts expected Pike's career to go somewhere else after her Oscar nomination, and before this her notable role was Jack Reacher, an embarrassing part two years earlier.
Asked whether baggage with a real celebrity hurts a part like this, the answer is that for Amy you need to be totally confused about the person, the opposite of the Affleck character whom you must root for implicitly, so somebody you have never seen before makes it scarier. — Shea Serrano
Pike's biggest role until then was Jane Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, the book that turns up in the bookshop where they have sex.
The movie started with John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell and then went and found actors, so the only real what-if is Derek, for which Jon Hamm and Thomas Lennon auditioned during Mad Men (as transcribed, 'Badman'); something in Adam Scott's audition won them over.
Hamm as Derek is called one of the better what-ifs the show has had, more intimidating and still funny, but Adam Scott has something evil and punchable about him, and it would be scary to punch Hamm.
Scott told the oral history he modeled Derek on moneyed, douchey people he found online and in the Rob Report (as transcribed), a guy who reads a magazine with a speedboat on the cover; the name-drops at the first dinner are all people who seem douchey, Mark Cuban as 'the cubes', Chad Michael Murray, Bobby Flay and Seal, plus the Dane Cook pay-per-view, and being name-dropped by Derek is a tough beat.
A 10-episode Netflix series including the CIA half, cast with Elgort as Chucky, Chalamet as Will, Jon Hamm as the therapist and Tessa Thompson as Skylar; a Black Good Will Hunting is Stomp the Yard
Asked whether he would watch a 10-episode Netflix series remake with the second half of the script and the CIA wrinkle, the answer is 100%, having watched the Limitless series. — Shea Serrano
Anyone smarter than everyone else figuring things out is loved; although remaking rewatchable movies is usually avoided, the obvious casting is staring them in the face: Elgort as Affleck and Chalamet as Damon, who went to the same high school, love the Knicks and are playing this out on Instagram, Elgort the empty-headed pretty boy and Chalamet the nervy energy; the first three episodes are the movie before the CIA stuff.
For the therapist, Ruffalo, Jeff Bridges, Russell Crowe and Jon Hamm are floated, Hamm with a beard, older, available, with Affleck ties and ready to go back to Boston; Tessa Thompson as Minnie; Ringer Films is jokingly producing the 10-episode adaptation.
Gus Van Sant did a version of this with Finding Forrester, a movie with issues that should have been good and was a missed opportunity, though it invented the modern internet with you're the man now, dog.
An 11-episode Netflix show is accepted; the Devlin MacGregor plot is more believable now than in 1993. — Bill Simmons
One participant picks Mark Ruffalo as Kimble for his mix of intelligence, innocence and looking aggrieved.
Jon Hamm is proposed, then said to also have been another participant's choice: a believable doctor with a great jaw and big charismatic TV star.
Ruffalo's case is defended with a 'they knew' sequel joke, but he is later dismissed as busy with the Hulk.
The marshal should be Black or a woman to change the dynamic, with Viola Davis suggested; the pairing lands on Hamm and Viola.
Joey Pants could come out of retirement as an older Cosmo.
For a male minority Gerard, someone with a comedian background is suggested, with Chris Rock raised, and Idris Elba is proposed; Elba is questioned on sarcasm but defended via Molly's Game and Luther.
Liam Neeson as an older fugitive would not survive the dam; Brad Pitt would have been a great fugitive in a movie version. — Chris Ryan
A tech-era version would need to handle the internet, which makes it less of a pure ride; Will Smith basically already did it. — Andy Greenwald
Michael Shannon is suggested as Sam Gerard; one participant dislikes him.
The Fugitive should be a binge-watch show; a series could have a different fugitive, director and writer every season.
