Who's Who in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse

[goldenboy]

A character breakdown, from Ausiello. How does he get all these exclusives?

Exclusive: Who's Who in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse

With Buffyverse ringmaster Joss Whedon at its helm and Eliza Dushku as its star, Fox's sci-fried Bourne series, Dollhouse, is pretty much required to have a cast that redefines the term "top-notch." And since a top-secret list of the show's principal characters just landed on my desk, the dynamic duo have us to help them. Below you'll find our (read: me and TVGuide.com contributor Ben Katner) casting suggestions for all of the major roles. But feel free to add your own. You know you want to.

ADELLE DEWITT
The 40ish iceberg who runs the Dollhouse where the human Etch-a-Sketches reside.
• If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Juliet Landau, so creepily heartbreaking as ubervamp Drusilla. They don't come any cooler, or hotter, than her.
• If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Shohreh Aghdashloo. The onetime 24 Mommie Dearest is the scariest thing we've ever seen that didn't have fangs.

PAUL BALLARD
The 30something G-man who is slated to become an offbeat love interest for Dushku's "impressionable" Echo.
• If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: J. August Richards, whose long run as Angel's sidekick, Gunn, only hinted at the dark side we have zero doubt he would bring to this conflicted character.
• If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Hands down, Ben Browder. The Stargate SG-1 heartthrob has proven a million times over — or at least in every single episode of Farscape — that he was born to speak Whedon's zippy dialogue.

BOYD LANGTON
Echo's handler and father figure.
• If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Duh. With its Watcher overtones, Boyd is a character tailor-made for Anthony Stewart Head, aka Buffy's surrogate dad, Giles.
• If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Mitch Pileggi, who brought unexpected heart to what could have been the one-note role of The X-Files' gruff taskmaster, Skinner.

TOPHER BRINK
The technogeek who enjoys his job as a Doll programmer maybe a little too much.
• If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Tom Lenk, who made such an indelible impression as Andrew, the amoral, ambiguously gay member of the Trio, Buffy's dorky "archnemeses."
• If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Jason Yachanin, the adorkable Troma action hero who deserves so much better than Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead. (Hey, don't judge him based on his resume!)

SIERRA
The knockout Doll who is as close to a friend as Echo has.
• If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Bianca Lawson, if only so we can finally see alterna-Slayer Kendra play a part without the Jar Jar Binks patois.
• If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Die Hard 4 butt-kicker Maggie Q. Too bad, what with her busy film career and and all, she's probably gonna be a little too busy for the gig.

VICTOR
The distractingly handsome Doll who is called upon to play everyone from Errol Flynn to Robert DeNiro.
• If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Charlie Weber, who had the thankless role of bubbleheaded goddess Glory's male alter ego, Ben, during Season 5 of Buffy.
• If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Matthew Bomer. The Tru Calling/Traveler alum who's as versatile as he is pretty.

NOVEMBER
The Tracy Turnblad of the Dolls.
• If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: How about giving a second chance to Riff Regan, the plus-sized actress who played Willow in the Buffy pilot?
• If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Well, we did describe the character as the show's resident Tracy Turnblad, so who better than that Hairspray hoofer's portrayer, Nikki Blonsky?

DR. CLAIRE SANDERS
The beautiful older woman with whom Topher is smitten.
• If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Angel and Firefly's Gina Torres, who is as adept at throwing a punch as she is at landing a punch line.
• If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Try Battlestar Galactica's sublime Michelle Forbes. She seems so like Whedon's kind of actress, it's a wonder they haven't collaborated before. — Additional reporting by Ben Katner
Ausiello Scoop: Help Cast Joss Whedon's Dollhouse! - Ausiello Report | TVGuide.com (http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Ausiello-Scoop-Help/800034438?rssDate=12345678)

[Allycat]

Thanks for posting this topic. Interesting stuff. Quite a large cast, I wonder if they're all gonna be regulars. Victor sounds like a role for Jonathan M. Woodward... either that role or Topher. And who else is hoping for an appearance by Kristen Bell?

[nerd4hire]

And who else is hoping for an appearance by Kristen Bell?

She could be Sierra, and how about Tina Marjorino as November. There's a few Veronica Mars actors who wouldn't look out of place in here. Must admit though, I don't mind Ausiello's casting suggestions.

[alexa]

Thanks for posting gb. I wouldn't mind some Alexis Denisof. :D Maybe as Victor or Paul.

[JCC]

Okay, so:

Carlos Jacott needs to be in it, for he is a hat-trick guy. (Ken, Richard Straley and Lawrence Dobson)

Andy Umberger, another hat trick guy. (D'Hoffryn, the crazy 'I separate my body parts with my mind' doctor and the Alliance captain of the Dortmunder)

Jonathan M. Woodward (Knox, Holden Webster and Tracey)

Jeff Ricketts (Blue Glove Man #1 and Weatherby [in Angel and Buffy])

And there needs to be some Angie Hart music, yahh!

[white avenger]

With characters named Echo, November, Sierra and Victor, I'm wondering if there are supposed to be a total of 26 "dolls," one for each letter of the phonetic alphabet.

[goldenboy]

And it makes you wonder if there's any specific military or governmental agency related to all this stuff. It's supposed to be secret, and illegal. Have we heard anything else? Paul's the the "G-man"...

[goldenboy]

Just rounding up all this stuff whedonesque has been scooping...

“DOLLHOUSE” Series / FOX

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION
STATUS - Early April 2008 LOCATION - Los Angeles
PRODUCER: Elizabeth Craft - Sarah Fain WRITER/DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon CAST: Eliza Dushku

The drama, stars Dushku as Echo, a member of a group of men and women who are imprinted with different personalities for different assignments. In between tasks they are mind-wiped, living like children in Dollhouse, a futuristic dorm/lab. A group of people, known as "Actives" (or "Dolls"), have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas and hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies and occasional good deeds. When not imprinted, the Actives live, childlike and unremembering, in a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse". Although the Actives are ostensibly volunteers, the operation is highly illegal, and under constant threat from a determined federal agent on one end and an insane rogue Active on the other. The story hinges around a greater and more subtle threat: Echo, a female Active, begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.
http://www.productionweekly.com/030608.pdf


An insane rogue Active. Dollhouse has a "Faith", looks like.

[nerd4hire]

Echo is becoming self aware. Why doesn't she just leave, I wonder. Are there guards? Do her handlers know the programming is fading? It's going to like Lost, I bet. The more you know, the more questions there are.

[Evilyn]

The whole concept of this show reminds me of that movie, "The Island" with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. I guess really the only similarities are the characters live in a hidden facility and they start becoming self aware. But I still think of this movie anytime I read anything about Dollhouse.

I would love to see J. August Richards as a potential love interest for Echo. I always wished for more Faith/Gunn interaction anyway. I just think the two could bring a whole lot of sizzle to the screen.

[alexa]

From what I've read I think Alexis should play the English dude... he'd be awesome. Or maybe the Alpha guy who's kinda evil... wonder if he's auditioning. Suppose we wont know for a while.. but production starts in around 6 weeks.. so we'd know soon though?

[goldenboy]

Updated descriptions. Whedonesque says it's legit.


DOLLHOUSE,
TV Pilot / TV Series - 1 Hour for FOX.
CAST, Eliza Dushku;
EXEC PROD, Joss Whedon;
PROD, Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain;
DIR/WRTR, Joss Whedon.
Contract: SAG.
Shoot Dates: Spring, 2008 (in Los Angeles, CA).

Adelle DeWitt
40 something, any ethnicity, beautiful, sophisticated, cold as an alp. Runs the Dollhouse with an efficiency that is both ruthless and protective. Would die before she showed anyone how lonely she is. Series Regular;

Paul Smith
30s, any ethnicity, good-looks hardened by a cynical distaste for most of humanity. An FBI field agent, he's been chasing the urban myth of the "Dollhouse" long enough to have lost any shot at promotion. Becomes obsessed with, and twisted romantic foil for, Echo. Series Regular;

Boyd Langton
Late 40s-60, any ethnicity, gruff, about to make the descent from 'good-looking' to 'fatherly'. An ex-cop, Boyd is Echo's 'handler' - her guard/bodyguard. Hates himself for taking this job, but he'd lay down his life to protect the people he feels he's exploiting. Series Regular;

Topher Brink
20's, any ethnicity, genius programmer who's articulate, nerdily attractive and blithely amoral. He's responsible for imprinting the dolls - and making sure they stay unaware of anything. Is fascinated by the science and kind of digging the illegality. Fun to be around, but might not be remotely trustworthy. Series Regular;

Sierra
20's, Asian or any ethnicity - certainly not Caucasian. Strikingly beautiful. A Doll like Echo, she has every personality in the world but her own. Is not as self-aware as Echo, but is instinctively drawn to her as a friend. Series Regular;

Victor
20's, any ethnicity, handsome and fit. A Doll, and the other closest thing to a friend Echo has. Childlike when he's inactive, and everything from Errol Flynn to (young) DeNiro when he's active. Series Regular;

November
20's, any ethnicity, beautiful and heavy. Another Doll, a hopeful child in the house and everyone else you need her to be outside. A comforting, radiant presence, who tends to get fewer of the criminal gigs and more of the personal ones. Recurring;

Dr. Claire Saunders
30-60, attractive, smart and a little sad. Looks after the physical well-being of the dolls. Has an acid wit that she usually reserves for Topher, who may only be kidding about being smitten with her. (Or he may not). Recurring.
Spoiler TV: Dollhouse - Casting News (http://spoilertv.blogspot.com/2008/03/dollhouse-casting-news.html)

[nerd4hire]

Do you get the feeling were going to be following around all the dolls on their particular missions. Would you call them missions?

[goldenboy]

You'd think different eps would follow a particular doll's mission. Or maybe they'll cut back and forth between parallel storylines.

Initially, I'd imagined a Matrixy, holodeck kind of thing...or do they go out into the world? How would Paul the G-Man interact with them otherwise?

The have handlers. Do the dolls know the handlers when they're in program mode? Is the handler perceived as someone they'd know and trust?

Could multiple dolls be involved in any given scenario?

[goldenboy]

Audition tidbits from gossi of the dollverse blog...

Casting process rumours

Posted by: gossi in dollhouse, casting on Mar 12, 2008

A source emailed to say Brennan Elliot (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254392/) auditioned for the part of Paul Smith in Dollhouse.

Additionally, Ian Anthony Dale (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1406333/) and Paul Campbell (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1353748/) auditioned for Victor.
'citing!

Dollverse - Joss Whedons Dollhouse - gossi's Blog (http://www.dollverse.com/index.php/Dollverse-Blogs/64-gossi/)

[alexa]

Owh interesting. :D
Damn Ian Anthony Dale looks hot! Owh and apparently he was in Angel.
I can see Joss casting Paul Campbell though.. has a very soft look.

[goldenboy]

I notice you can now actually find physical scans of some of the Dollhouse casting sides, just by googling. It sounds interesting. The dialogue between the dolls when they're in innocent child mode is pretty funny. An interesting scene between Claire and Topher.

[nerd4hire]

That is interesting. If you can find them on the open web it's OK to quote them here I think.

[goldenboy]

...OK. Feel free to delete if it's a problem, lol.

just thought this was amusing...


SIERRA
Broccoli.

VICTOR
I like broccoli.

They eat awhile.

SIERRA
I like broccoli.

ECHO
We had broccoli yesterday.
(thinks)
When was yesterday?

SIERRA
Broccoli has vitamins.

VICTOR
I swam thirty laps.

SIERRA
Good for you!

VICTOR
I'm tired now.

SIERRA
I get tired after swimming. I work hard to be my best.

VICTOR
Good for you.

[nerd4hire]

No prob, just give a link next time.

[goldenboy]

Alrighty, for those who are interested...

Morning Spoilers: Script Pages From Joss Whedon's Dollhouse! (http://io9.com/367279/script-pages-from-joss-whedons-dollhouse)

[Lily]

Does anyone else get a slight Dark Angel feel about certain elements - the missions with the different personas etc? not that i mind that at all!

[goldenboy]

Yeah. Just finished watching Dark Angel for the first time. There's definitely an overlap of themes here...with the secret facility, the covert missions, the human experimentation, manipulation.

Dollhouse sounds like it's gonna focus even more on defining what it is to be human, human nature itself.

[Lily]

Dollhouse sounds like it's gonna focus even more on defining what it is to be human, human nature itself.

Hence the morally grey areas Joss mentioned right? Seeing as how the human condition is generally a mess of character flaws and the possibility for ethical battles. I'm getting more and more intrigued by all the possibilities for storylines.

[Randy Giles]

I personally never get real "Dark Angel" vibes when reading about "Dollhouse"...there are a few themes that are similar but nothing striking, IMO.

[DarklyDreamingDrusilla]

I just thought this was interesting when I read it in a thread over at imdb.com and people were suggesting that Sean Maher (Simon in Firefly) would be good for either the part of Victor or Paul and can I just say that I totally agree and I would be so excited to she Sean in another Whedon show.

[alexa]

casting news (http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/)

Yeeee!!!! Just in case you need more reason to get excited about Joss Whedon's return to television with the upcoming FOX drama series Dollhouse, here is some just-leaked casting scoop on who is joining the gang, including a certain Battlestar fan favorite (Helo!). Awe. Some.

Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Smith: 30s, good looks hardened by a cynical distaste for most of humanity. An FBI field agent, he's been chasing the urban myth of the Dollhouse long enough to have lost any shot at promotion. Becomes obsessed with and a twisted romantic foil for Echo (Eliza Dushku).

Fran Kranz as Topher Brink: 20s, genius programmer who's articulate, nerdily attractive and blithely amoral. He's responsible for imprinting the Dolls—and making sure they stay unaware of anything. Is fascinated by the science and kind of digging the illegality. Fun to be around but might not be remotely trustworthy.

Dichen Lachman as Sierra: 20s, Asian (or certainly not Caucasian). Strikingly beautiful. A Doll like Echo, she has every personality in the world but her own. Is not as self-aware as Echo but is instinctively drawn to her as a friend.

Enver Gjokaj as Victor: 20s, handsome and fit. A Doll, and the other closest thing to a friend Echo has. Childlike when he's inactive, and everything from Errol Flynn to a young DeNiro when he's active.

That Dichen chick is Australian, which makes me like her! But omg she was in Neighbours.. eww! lol. (Semi-crappy tv Aussie soap I used to watch as a kid)

[goldenboy]

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/12/tahmoh2.jpg

Paul Smith (Tahmoh Penikett)




http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8149/frankranzls4.jpg

Topher Brink (Fran Kranz)




http://www.neighbours-source.co.uk/Media/Gallery/Cast/Misc/DichenLachmanPortraitSession/DichenLachmanPortraitSession007.jpg

Sierra (Dichen Lachman)




http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9600/envergjokajog8.jpg

Victor (Enver Gjokaj)

[ckg927]

Penikett should draw the ladies to Dollhouse,just as Dushku will draw the guys(not to mention all the Joss-aholics).

It should be interesting to see what chemistry the two have together.

I think Joss chose well with the cast we have so far. (Reax I've seen is mostly good(ESPECIALLY when it comes to Penikett,though Kranz is getting some love),but Lachman has some worried(more than a few who posted at TVGuide.com,where Mike Ausiello posted the casting news,said she wasn't that good on Neighbours. They also added that possibly Joss could work some magic...).)

[TheHeartist]

Penikett should draw the ladies to Dollhouse,just as Dushku will draw the guys(not to mention all the Joss-aholics).

It should be interesting to see what chemistry the two have together.

I think Joss chose well with the cast we have so far. (Reax I've seen is mostly good(ESPECIALLY when it comes to Penikett,though Kranz is getting some love),but Lachman has some worried(more than a few who posted at TVGuide.com,where Mike Ausiello posted the casting news,said she wasn't that good on Neighbours. They also added that possibly Joss could work some magic...).)

I would have thought JOSS would draw the Joss-oholics! ha, just kidding :) I like Penikett being in the show, the guy's a good actor, could match Eliza on screen for intensity (something Eliza has the masterclass in, in my opinion.) I'd also like to see prominent Buffy alumns as guest stars, one off characters, that'd be cool. Marsters as a client or a villian springs to mind, he's been doing the rounds in EVERYTHING since his Buffy/Angel tenure. Also, Charisma as a season ice queen uber villian (I could see her channeling Evil Pregnant Cordy in this kind of role.)

[Frenchy Faith]

I'm glad to see you guys say some of these selected actors are good, cause I don't know any of them and I got worried that they wouldn't be so good... even more knowing that one of them was playing in Neighbours... not that I know the show, just watched it once and it looked more like a drama soap than a proper serie, I'm predjudiced I know :S ... but like you said, Joss might manage to work his magic on them *cross fingers* and with Eliza to show them what acting's all about... they hopefully will be brillant :silly:

[ckg927]

And another role is cast...

TV Guide's Michael Ausiello reports that Olivia Williams(who's appeared in,among other movies,The Sixth Sense and Rushmore)has been cast as Adelle DeWitt.

[ckg927]

Down to two roles left to cast:

Harry Lennix(last seen on the series 24 and Commander in Chief)is on board in the rold of Boyd,an ex-cop who's now Echo's bodyguard.

(That according to TVGuide.com .)

[Hello Cutie]

Haha I love that Dichen Lachman is going to be playing Sierra. Why?? Because only 3days ago, my friends and I were discussing the ridiculous storylines of Neighbours (because we're all sad students that have to watch it), and how they have a habit of making characters disappear to work on farms and the such. And I brought up the subject of a female character who disappeared and I don't remember if there was a storyline for her leaving and where they said she was going to (it may have been a farm). Now I know that she left to pursue a career in Hollywood and landed a role in Dollhouse! It made us all laugh, anyway.