Did You khow, that Alan Rickman (as everybody expected) had to play the part of Valmont? He played it on Broadway, AND that's where he was seen by the producer of "Die Hard"! And after that, when viewers were enchanted with his potrayal of Hans Gruber, rumor has it, that the producers of "Dangerous Liasons" said, that they don't want to give the part of Valmont to the star of an action movie!
Unfair, isn't it?
Possibly. But to be fair John Malkovich played that part to perfection too.
"Huckleberry Hound! What, are you nuts?"
"It's been suggested."
Urgh I think Alan Rickman would creep me out as Valmont, I wouldnt wanna sleep with him!!! lol
shareI think Alan Rickman would do an excellent job...He has this excellent charme...;)
shareI have never envisgaed seeing past John Malkovich in that role as he was simply perfection. I was not though aware that Alan Rickman played the role on Broadway (thankyou for that) and I believe he would have been excellent in the part, I can see him playing the character very well.
'I like the darker side of life'
John Malkovich could have retired from films after playing the viscount. He ate the part up. You couldn't imagine someone else playing the role. It's like Katherine Hepburn in "Lion in Winter."
sharei liked colin firth in "valmont" better. john malkovich is actually my least favorite version. phillipe being better (although he technically doesn't play "valmont") malkovich just seems too evil. i just thought he was too predatory.
we can't stop here, this is bat country.
I think Alan Rickman would have done it as good as John Malkovich, though I thought that John Malkovich did an excellent job.
sharealan rickman might have done as well as malkovich, but both aren't as good as colin firth. they're too ugly and mean looking.
we can't stop here, this is bat country.
The Vicomte was evil and predatory. How can you say that Phillippe was better? Are you serious? I have yet to see Firth in Valmont but yeah Malkovich... nothing tops him.
sharepatrick bateman was evil and predatory, yet he was beautiful. malkovich's Valmont was less evil and maybe as predatory, but he looked like a serial killer. (the ugly/mean looking ones)
Valmont was just a guy having fun. what else was he supposed to do?
i thought phillipe did a good job. he's got the innocent look that you need to pull off the things that he did.
malkovich does not have that look. malkovich looks too predatory. just the look in his eye would make his "job" a lot harder. so i think he's a less believable Valmont. not that he's a bad actor, i think he's one of the best. he just doesn't look right for the part.
response is a little scattered, but i think you can get the point.
we can't stop here, this is bat country.
Rickman is in Valmont-mode in An Awfully Big Adventure, scooping up young girls and overall being quite the costumed rascal.
shareThe character is meant to be predatory, that's the whole point. Malcovich plays him exactly as he was meant to be played. Kudos to Frears for casting him. Best performance of Malcovich's career, and by far the best Valmont there has ever been. And I include my own fiance, who has played him on the stage, in that.
The Colin Firth "Valmont" is a travesty that should NEVER have been made. It makes a mockery of a brilliant brilliant book, which had already been fantastically adapted into a film and play by Chris Hampton. "Valmont" changes the plot so much it may as well have changed the names of the characters and stopped claiming to be based on Les Liaiason Dangerueses. No wonder it was never that successful.
i have never read the book so i concede in that i don't know how the character is actually written. but i stand by my view that i believe it's harder to be predatory in that sense if you look like a predator. am i wrong?
we can't stop here, this is bat country.
So...your view is that it's harder to be a predator if you look like a predator? I can see merit in that, but there's also something erotic about being pursued by an obviously predatory person - they used to call it "the chase" or "the hunt", in reference to seduction (i.e. referring to a predator/prey relationship between the seducer and the seduced).
And sexual predators who are charismatic, charming and confident, like Malkovich in the film, can be very difficult to resist, looks notwithstanding. It's that sense of danger, the bad boy/femme fatale allure that so many people fall for.
Our modern society places a great deal of importance on outer beauty, but I've known men (and women) who were not very good-looking, but were still very attractive. It was their intelligence, wit and charm that made them sexually desirable instead - as in the case of Malkovich's Valmont.
<<Urgh I think Alan Rickman would creep me out as Valmont, I wouldnt wanna sleep with him!!! lol >>
I would. I think he's dreamy. I have to say that John Malkovich is NOT my type and Alan Rickman would have been, imo, a much better choice. Still, DL is wonderful, wonderful movie.
Alan Rickman would have been an amazing Valmont! I really wish I could have seen him in my play. I remember reading a review which said he that each night people left the theatre 'ready' to have sex, he turned them on so much in his portrayal of the character. I think Alan Rickman has a definite charm about him for seduction. His voice alone stands out a mile; add that to a domineering/highly masculine personality and you have a winner. I truly believe they missed out on a fine actor for this role, I know I would have certainly enjoyed the film more with an alluring Valmont.
shareFollow the link below for an interview with playwright Christopher Hampton about the original production and clips. I saw it twice in London and it was phenomenal. It was the role that made Rickman, though some might say he has been playing it ever since. Matched by the equally brilliant, ice cold, Lyndsey Duncan, they were and still are the definitive Valmont and Merteuil, lethally seductive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIkTue5N9WE
You're boring me. I already have a husband.
loved malkovich in this and i guess i`d love rickman too. saw him in Dark Harbor yesterday. a gem!
shareI love this movie, but for my senior poject read the play script wich is a little darker, the stage directions say it s1792ish and the final scene is the old lady, the marquise, cecile and ceciles mother playing cards and a silouhette of a guilltine is shown on a scrim behind them. I desined all the costumes as if they were ghosts or at least apparitions, as it was done in nyc, the costumes were all shades of white black and grey, sorta like the opera Ghost of Versailles.
shareHonestly, I'd be interested to see what he did with the part. I don't hate Malkovich's performance in this movie but I never got the impression that he loved Madame De Tourvel until he was on his deathbed. The version of this film I like is the one that stars Colin Firth in the role and I think he really got the whole "seducer" part of the character done perfectly wheras Malkovich just got the kniving part of the character perfectly. The only other Valmont I've seen is the one in Cruel Intentions and...he went to the Hayden Christensen school of acting.
"I have always valued my lifelessness."