Think I'll finally translate out of hyperspace....
I say that acting ability definitely should be the top priority when it comes to casting the character of Honor, not physical similarity. There's got to be a million examples of this in movie history, but here's two examples:
1. The
Jack Reacher movie starring Tom Cruiser. I didn't know a thing about this book series, but in following the movie discussion I learned that in the books the title character is 6'5 and 220 lbs, and of course Tom Cruise isn't anything near that. Apparently the author of the series, Lee Child, requested Cruise.
2. In the
Master and Commander movie, apparently Russel Crowe doesn't match the written description of Aubrey, but Crowe certainly has the ability to play the character.
So if you're the type who is demanding that whoever plays Honor in the movie match her descriptio exactly, then I think you'll be very disappointed. The ability to portay her personality, charisma and leadership skills are what's important, not the physical appearance. If the producers can find someone who DOES look like her written description AND can pull off the character (hmm, maybe the next breakout star?), then all's the better. Otherwise, I'll be perfectly happy if Honor in the movie is 5'5" and a blonde American. Remember, makeup, both the physical and CGI kind, can do a lot with physical appearance.
As for the movie in general, I think someone here said that there's going to be a certain group of the fandom that's going to be very disappointed with it; it might end up being a rather large group. Face it, OBS as written can't be filmed as is, and so the movie version of OBS is not going to the same as the book. I'll be happy, as with Peter Jackson's LOTR movies, that the movie perfectly captures the essence and themes of the book, but as for the plot, a lot of things will have to be changed to make the movie work. For one thing, given the movie's relatively short planned length, it's going to have to be action-packed, as it's just not long enough to be a detailed character and political study. Of course, as mentioned, OBS doesn't actually have that much action, so either what action there is will have to be expanded or additional action will have to be added. Stuff from the other books in the Homor series can be easily added (think what was done with
Master and Commander, where two of the books were combined), or alternatively, the Mesan Alignment can be introduced, maybe they can do something like instigate pirate attacks that Honor and
Fearless have to deal with; this would be a great way to introduce the Honorverse style of space combat.
Something WILL have to be done with the lightspeed lag in communication, as that simply cannot be done in a movie. It's no problem at all in a book, but you can't have 2+ minutes between lines in a movie version. So either all long-range comms are eliminated and everyone talks within radio/laser range of each other (i.e. not millions of kilometers) so they can have real-time conversations, or just have Manticore at least already using the FTL grav-pulse comm system, and you might have to give it to everyone to simplify things (it would be a "standard" feature like the impeller drive). I like the latter option, even if it is a departure from the books, but it's one of the changes people will have to expect.
This was also mentioned, but I also think the treecats should already know how to sign in the movie. Nimitz is so important to Honor that she has to be able to talk with him, and this would be the ideal way to handle all of her internal monologues and thinking, by making them external dualogues with Nimitz.
I think the best way to handle the book's prologue and the whole introduction of Haven is create a scene where Honor is briefed on her mission to Basilisk. This can be used to present a short summary of the whole Manticore-Haven-Basilisk situation. Later on you can then maybe show the Havenite leaders dicussing their plans and such. No way should there be a narrated intro sequence or similar at the start of the movie, it's too short to waste the time on on. This isn't LOTR where you're dealing with thousand of years of history, it's just one relatively simple and short story.
I think the best way to intro the movie is to have Honor battling some of the aforementioned pirates, maybe it could happen in Silesia. The Honorverse at its core started off as military SF, so let's kick off with the military side of things. In fact, the whole wargames thing in the book can be dispensed with, instead have Honor ruffling someone's feathers with her actions in this new Silesia action so she gets "banished" to Basilisk as a resultt. Or to exand this furthur, Basilisk isn't a "punishment" station at all, it's a high-value area and Honor is recognized a s rising star and is sent there because the RMN needs her there. See how the story can be altered while still keeping the essence of the book and the Honorverse in general?
and, Mangy Fur the Smart Alick Spacecat.
