So much for that, then….

Updated on March 6, 2011 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

This is the guy they’re hiring to play Edgar Allen Poe for that new murder mystery pilot ABC is doing.

Looks like my earlier joke about casting Matthew McConaughey wasn’t far off at all.

This show really could have worked, and been an updated version of the tres cool Chamber of Horrors pilot from the days of yore. Needless to say, though, they bolloxed it up. Amazing. Poe was a manic / depressive drunk with a flowery vocabulary (to say the least) and a raging case of egomania. He would have been the classic temperamental detective. A darker Monk, pretty much.

The thing is, then, they easily could have cast somebody like Egan as Poe’s assistant. A cop or reporter or something. A major screw up, and at this point it’s almost impossible to believe that show ain’t going to suck.

No modern actor immediately pops to mind, but surely someone like this…

Or this…

…would have made a lot more sense.

Sigh.

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  • alex

    They should hire Charlie Sheen. He’s got the creepy vibe going and he’s looking for work. Duh, winning!

  • Which comes first in these things: the idea pitch for the show or a few scripts? In my experience, some things sound good…then you start writing and you see otherwise.

  • I don’t know, Sheen playing an egomaniac, combative drunk?

    Can’t see it.

  • Another casualty of Hollywood Prettyboy Syndrome.

  • Poe should have a special cross-over with Chris Hemsworth’s HP Lovecraft.

  • fish eye no miko

    Poe was a manic / depressive drunk with a flowery vocabulary (to say the least) and a raging case of egomania. He would have been the classic temperamental detective. A darker Monk, pretty much.

    So… Sherlock Holmes?

  • Yes, he certainly could be worked into that tradition. I’d say Poirot was closer to the mark, however.

  • Ericb

    This reminds me of a quote I heard in the Civil War Documentary Long Shadows. Some news person was interviewing Gore Vidal on his Lincoln book and asked “Is Lincoln sexy enough for television?”

  • sandra

    I shudder to think who they will cast in the lead for ABRAHAM LINCOLN – VAMPIRE HUNTER. Sure this guy isn’t Monster #213 ?

  • Sure this guy isn’t Monster #213 ?

    No, Cthulhu Zoidberg was a bonus, not an official number.

  • Boy is his face punchable!

  • Foywonder

    If you think this pretty boy casting is questionable then perhaps now would be a good time to mention Sony is planning a new Peter Pan movie starring… Channing Tatum?

    I’m afraid I’m not making that one up.

  • I’m assuming then that Fabio will be playing Captain Hook?

  • Ericb

    Fabio is too old and wrinkly at this point.

  • zombiewhacker

    Stallone must be miffed. He’s been trying to get a movie made about Poe for like, forty years (since around the time he wrote Rocky).

    Not a joke, BTW.