I know this is a bit off topic and probably better suited to the Classic Toy Trains forum. But since most of us got into the hobby because of Lionel, I thought I’d post it here.
If they made a movie about the history of Lionel, who should be cast as Joshua Lionel Cowen?
I would say the late Jamse Gandolfini would have been perfect. But unfortunately, he’s passed on. I say when I doubt, Tom Hanks. What do you guys think?
I didn’t start with Lionel.
Anybody except Tom Cruise.
Mike Wolf.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050201/mth.html
And they could make a bunch of sequels about the litigation between all the parties involved! Much of which has a familiar ring over in the “Big Dawg” thread.
Ed
Well it’s “Cowen”, variation of “Cohen”. Gandolfini was way too big, Cowen was average or slightly below average height, and wasn’t fat either. He went bald fairly young.
https://americangallery.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/t-e-stephens-joshua-lionel-cowen.jpg
Allen Arkin when he was younger unless it has to be the way someone looks now.
Jim
Why, oh why, would it have to be a “name” actor?
After watching years of Law and Order, I’m convinced that New York is full of excellent actors, some of which would look exactly like J. Lionel.
And since this kind of film is, uh, low budget; you might even have a chance of making it, if you didn’t have to pay big bucks for an actor.
Ed
I think Patrick Stewart;
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=Joshua+Lionel+Cowin&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002
"A depot with a moving forklift that can load barrels onto a flat car?..
Make it so!"
[:D]
What is a Lionel?
Oh yeah, that fake looking 3 rail stuff. Heck, up here in the Chicago area, the only thing with three rails was the elevated mass transit.
I grew up on the real deal - - - American Flyer.
Rich
I, too, grew up on American Flyer, which is now owned by Lionel.
I grew up on Long Island, tuning with three rails is totally prototypical there.
LOL
Well, that explains it.
No matter, I still prefer American Flyer. [8D]
Rich
Frank Fritz lol. Nah, probably… Hmmm. Christopher Loyd? (He was Doc brown in Back to the Future, right?)
I think Bob Hoskins would be a good older Cowen.
Jason Alexander… He pulled off AC Gilbert, Give him a crack at Cowen!
To tell the truth, Jason Alexander looks a LOT more like J.L. Cowan than he does A.C. Gilbert!
“Why a big name actor?” was said earlier. Reason is you need a good “hook” to get people to watch, whether it’s a theatrical release or a TV movie. As good as a no-name actor might be, without that “star” attraction there’s no attention getting.
I’m not sure how you’d do this. The young J.L? The middle-aged J.L? What era?
I think I’d do it like this: Give it a title of, say, “Lionel, The Third Wing of Christmas.” There’s the attraction of the Lionel name, hey even non-train people know who Lionel is, and the attraction of a Christmas movie. In a two hour period do the rise, fall, and rise again of the company through the various eras centering on the Christmas season, you know, first trains around the tree and such, then trains around just about EVERYBODY’s trees, then they go away, and then magically come back.
From the Cowan to the MPC to the Kughn to the Calabrese era. Tell the story of an American icon that refused to die. Make it fast-paced and it just might work.
It might be a tad confusing to use the same guy for Cohen and Gilbert, just a minor point…
Is there a need to start a my brand is better than your brand war?
Not as confusing as Sally Field playing the roles of Tom Hanks’ love interest in one movie and his mother in another, but hey, that’s just me.