Rendition of Antigone proposal by Director: Dawson Gundlah For my rendition of the famous play of Antigone from the Oedipus Trilogy I propose a new age adaptation to the play. I propose we make it a little more fun, and lighter, but we should not change what the play supposed to do and that was to be a tragedy. It will be the best of both worlds and provoke emotion in the reader like the original.
Antigone is a powerful story about a daughter of a man who married his mother on accident, a sister of brothers that got power hungry and ended each others lives, a niece to a new King who has no remorse towards her actions, and a sister to a girl who would stand by her side and help her. Our actors/actresses must fit the roles of the characters, and be able to be funny, but also serious. I have a few in mind that would be able to fit this new age contemporary version. Charecters/Actors Creon- Creon is the new ruler of Thebes after his nephews Eteocles and Polynices both kill each other in battle.
Creon is trying to assert him self as a no nonsense king to show his power. He wants order and doesn’t want to watch the Theban laws to be defied. Creon gives Eteocles a proper burial because he was the king of Thebes before him, but he leaves Polyneices’ body to be eaten by the vultures because he was a traitor who went to Argos to use their army for war. Creon only cares about justice and will defy his family and the gods to have things go his way. For Creon I am thinking of using Kevin Spacey. Kevin has played serious roles such as House of Cards, and has also host SNL because he is a comedian too.
We have spoke to Kevin about the position and he is open to negotiation. Antigone- Antigone is the daughter/sister of Oedipus and Jocasta. After a turn of event where her parents and brothers die, she and Ismene are the only people left from the Labdacus family. She gets into trouble from Creon for wanting to bury her brother Polyneices even though he was a traitor. Antigone is a strong girl and isn’t scared of Creon and what he will do to her because of it. For Antigone I am leaning towards using a more serious and strong actress that has played a powerful role before.
I have been told that Shelley Hennig has played the role of Malia on Teen wolf greatly. Malia is a tough character that fights for what she needs. This intensity would work great with the role of Antigone. Ismene- Ismene is Antigone’s sister. Ismene is the complete opposite of Antigone. She thinks that Antigone should lay low and not disobey Creon. Ismene doesn’t want to disobey Creon and break the rules. Ismene loves her family, but isn’t willing to help Antigone. For Ismene lam thinking of using a softer actress that can play the role of Ismene.
I think that Lily Collins could play this role well and help show the differences between Ismene and Antigone. Lily has stared in movies such as Mirror Mirror, and a small role in the hit movie The Blind Side. Chorus- The Chorus is comprised of older men who are Theban elders. The Chorus speaks their mind on Creon and his decisions. They play a key role throughout the story by giving advice when it is needed. Chorus being comprised of elders there will need to be multiple people of the older age. I propose we use Jeff Bridges and Liam Neeson.
They are old enough for the roles and would portray the Theban elders the way it needs to be. The Sentry- Is the person who brings the news of someone in the process of burying Polyneices. The body was covered by only a thin layer of earth. The proper burial of Polyneices had not been completed. He was scared to admit this at first because he knew Creon would be angered by this news. After telling Creon of this deed he tells the Sentry to find whoever did it. After some time of the Chorus speaking the Sentry returns with Antigone, speaks his story of how he caught her and was free from blame and allowed to go.
The Sentry doesn’t value other people lives, but he thinks it’s a pity to do this to a person that he has no grudge against. The Sentry uses Logic and reason and doesn’t have many feelings. Tom Hardy came to mind for me for this role because of his acting in the movie Mad Max. In Mad Max he played a role where he cared about his own skin and didn’t expose his feeling and help until it was truly needed. Haemon- Haemon is the son of Eurydice and Creaon. He has also be arranged to marry Antigone. Haemon cares for Antigone and doesn’t want Creon to harm her. He stands by here and tries to convince his father to let her be.
When Antigone dies he shows his love for her by trying to kill his father and then killing himself. Haemon is a pretty big character in Antigone, so I was thinking that we should use Zac Efron. He has matured with a little bit more age and work work phenomenally as our in love Haemon. Teiresias-Teiresias is a blind prophet who tells Creon of his wrong doings with the burial of Polyneices. He tells Creon that the gods are not happy with the way he has handled the situation. Teiresias is important to the story because he is tells the mortal people of the gods and there thoughts.
For Teiresias me and my colleagues think that Morgan Freeman would fit the role. Morgan could play that role of the wise prophet. Morgan has shown his talents through out his acting career. He is a great option for Teiresias. EurydiceEurydice is Creon’s wife. She plays a role of just adding to the heart break of Creon. After Haemon dies, she kills herself as well because she can’t handle the loss of her son. For this role Julia Robert would work because she is old enough to be considered for the role and would bring a little publicity to the movie because of her career in the business.
The Messenger(s)- The Messengers are the people that reports the deaths of Antigone and Haemon to the Chorus and Eurydice. Eurydice kills herself because of the loss ofher son, and the messenger reported this to the Chorus and Creon. The Messenger is a term for someone who bring news on something. It is not clearly stated if the is more then one, but for production stake I think we should stick to one messenger. For the role I think we should use Liam Hemsworth. We are going for a cast full of stars so Liam fits that well. Now that we have got all of the characters out of the way the setting of this story is very important.
Because we want to switch things up a little bit but still want to have the same plot and story line it should still take place in Greece. Just because it is still in Greece doesn’t mean it has to take place in the same time era. I think we should make it in the 21 century. It would mean that we have to switch up the look of some of the characters, but that helps us achieve the comedic version that we want. The changes would happen in the way that makes sense for this age. Creon would have to be Antigone’s Uncle because that is important to the story.
He is in charge of looking after Antigone and Ismene after their father dies. If Creon is related to Antigone that would make it weird if Haemon and Antigone loved each other in this day and age. Haemon is a close family friend of the Labdacus family. That changes the sadness that Creon feels at the end of Antigone, but that is probably the better option for my rendition. Eurydice is Haemon’s mother who is seeing Creon. This adds a cool aspect to our story because it shows the love that is between Haemon and Antigone, and Creon and Eurydice.
Eteocles and Polynices fought against each other for Thebes and Argos in a war between them, the same as before. Antigone’s mother Jocasta died in a car crash when she was very young. Then her depressed father could have not been able to go on anyone after raising Antigone and Ismene alone. He died in his sleep from a broken heart. Teiresias is someone sent by the gods to advise Creon on how to deal with the burial process of Eteocles and Polynices, and the punishment of Antigone after she buries her traitor brother Polyneices, going against what Creon said.
The other character can be the same for the most part because to much change would make the movie to different from the original story. I think that this movie would do very well in the box office because of the world that we live in today. The characters have been adapted to fit the roles. Antigone has been around for a long time and it is such a great story written by Sophocles that it needs to be brought to live in a motion picture film. Thank you for considering my proposal and I hope that you help me create the next great romantic comedy. Sincerely Director Dawson Gundlah
