The part of Aragorn was originally given to Stuart Townsend (who played Dorian Grey in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). He realised pretty quickly that he had bitten off more than he could chew and left soon after filming started.

I agree that Viggo's accent goes all over the place at times - but that is completely understandable when you think that his preparation time was three days and then straight into the Weathertop fight. His fabulous performance is definitely worth a couple of accent slips.

One thing that I have often wondered is, if Stuart Townsend had played the part - and we were discussing it here, how many of us would have considered Viggo as a replacement?

Anyway I think the eventual casting of all of the characters was spot on.

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I loved the entire cast. It was probably the most sound cast I've seen.

okay i do agree with your quote on Faramir's hair color but it's not BLONDE! it's coppery! i would know because i have the same color hair as him!

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Lips, ripe as the berries in June
Red the rose, red the rose
Skin, pale as the light of the moon
Gently as she goes

as always a hero comes home

I think that the cast was perfect. Some of the actors(Viggo,Ian,Sean A.) seem to have been born for the rolls, like they jumped right out of the book. I cant imagine Townsend as Aragorn(Sorry, Stewart). Also, P.J. originally wanted Sean Connery(Another Sean?!) as Gandalf, but he turned the roll down.

Mablung, your statement about if another actor had played aragorn's part and we might be talking about what would it be like if viggo played the part made me think way too hard

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"Welcome, Frodo of the Shire, one who has seen the EYE!!!"---Galadriel

if i had a choice iwould have picked a better Bilbo, because in the Hobbit i imagined him way different, but Bilbos actor (blanking out ) did a good job

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Hello, I'm Amoniel
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Like a lot of you are saying, they all fit pretty well, and I can't imagine anybody else replacing anyone. But when PJ and the others were choosing the cast, they were very meticulous and extremely careful, so I think they knew what they were doing.

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I think the movie was absolutely perfect this way. The actors were brilliant and I cannot think of other actors for their roles.

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Gil-Galad was an Elven-King,
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and fee
between the mountains and the sea.

His sword was long, his lance was keen,
his shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's field
were mirrored in his silver shield.

[...]

Glad to be of service!

I think the main reason why the casting was so successful was that PJ and the gang were not constrained by having to bring in big star names just to get the studios interested. They were allowed to cast in the interests of the characters, not by the desires of the money men.

That is why we can't really think of anyone who could have been replaced.

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I loved the cast, and I don't think I could ever find any other people to play those parts.

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Still not Queen.
Fangirl of Eclan Graven.
If you have noticed this notice, and read it, you will have noticed that this notice isn't worth noticing.
<><Ringer for Christ><>

No way would I change anything! LOTR was perfect the way it was!!! I don't mean to sound snotty, but they could have used me, maybe for a battle scene or cameo appearance. LOTR rox my sox!!

YAY!!!
~~Lady Aramel 8)

I heard about the other actor for Aragorn too. I'm happy he canceled
I also heard that Kylie Minogue did audition ofr the part as Galadriel, but they found her too short. I'm also very happy about that because I love Cate so much, she's just so good.

For the rest...I don't think I could say any different than you, the cast was just perfect!

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what a glorious feeling

The only thing I might change would be perhaps Théoden... Bernard Hill was good, but I wish they had kept the older, white-haired and wise Théoden. (Don't even get me started on the whole "possessed by Saruman thing" ...)

I have to say I was pretty happy with the casting... (but yes, they could have dyed on of the boy's hair dos )

I was very happy with the uptake of Viggo, the other chap is a good actor, but visually could not have pulled it off.

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Wow that's a really good point! I never thought of it that way! Viggo did such an amazing job as Aragorn, but I doubt many people would have said "he would have been a good Aragorn" if he hadn't been cast. You don't really know how someone will portray a character untill you see them do it; It's unfair to say that Stuart Townsend wouldn't have done a good job because you never know and it's hard to say who would have been a good replacement for the actors chosen because we haven't seen them play the part...I hope I'm making some kind of sense

Well anyways, I think that the cast was perfect. I wouldn't change anything, except perhaps orli as legolas. That didn't work for me, but I coudn't tell you who I think would have done a better job

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Proud Member of the The Evilishy Nazgûl Alliance for World Domination
{Beri}

I know what you mean and you are right - how can we truly know if Stuart Townsend would have been a terrible Aragorn when we never actually saw him play the part?

And at least he was honest with himself and was not too proud to withdraw when he felt he could not do the part justice. Too many times you read a review and the reviewer mentions the dreaded word 'miscast' when referring to an actor. I think it was a brave decision on Stuart Townsend's part, and good on him for being prepared to make it.

To be honest, I am not a great movie watcher, so I had never heard of Viggo before he played Aragorn (hangs head in shame ). I would never have even thought of him for the part of Aragorn - so I am very glad indeed that I was not the one casting the film!!!

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