It's truly one of my childhood darlings. It meant so much for me, it formed a part of my film taste.
I just read some facts about the production of the original film.
Then I remember the talks of a remake that never came to be.
The author hated the film so I doubt we'll ever see it happen. But who knows, he wasn't preventing all the horrible sequels.
For a new version to work, it must be really, really amazing. Only being good is not enough.
It has to surpass the original on every level, including how to tell the story.
Would it need a big budget with production values close to LOTR? Almost!
The world-building deserves nearly an equal effort.
But we shouldn't hope for Jackson. He's done with the genre. He would only repeat himself.
Neverending shouldn't be too mature and greyish either. It can still be serious of course, but it needs to be brighter and more colorful. Like Narnia, mixed with Cameron's Avatar. Perhaps a little bit of the fictive Oz too. Fantasia is a fantastical fairy-tale place.
Granted that the realm has gloomy regions, so maybe a little inspiration can be picked from LOTR.
And not in any case whatsoever, should it be Disneyfied!!! That's the irony of it because they are otherwise the best studio for creating fairy-tale worlds. But that's only when their heart is in it.
Did someone mention Warner Brothers because of Potter? Please NOOOO.
We don't need left field casting that none of the involved know will work or not, and in most cases the faces won't suit the final product anyway. WB have for the most no clue what to do, without guided by a strong shepherd (Rowling/Nolan).
Neverending story must have obvious actors for the roles. I come back to that later.
Wolfgang Petersen to direct again? Probably not, he has become more of an action guy. Can he ever go back to Fantasia and have it be as magical as it once was? He even decided against the gods in Troy. It still was a piece of well-created escapism but NS can't be done without the supernatural. What else is there to focus on? Troy had atleast the war.
The old film had practical effects and now it will be all cgi. I'm not sure Wolfgang can handle that.
Chris Columbus? Too childish approach for something of this scale. His style became evident with Percy Jackson. He couldn't even make the gods feel like gods (the wrecks of the Titans films did it better)
Sam Raimi? His Oz adaption had moments that were too silly and dorky, I don't want that amount of comedy in NS. Otherwise, that Raimi film worked.
I leave the director question for now.
Then we have the actors.
Last year or so, I got the idea that Jacob Tremblay could play Bastian.
Going with an unknown would be a waste when there's already someone who would really suit the character. Sorry if I judge by his earlier work.
Bastian:
smart kid, bookworm, different, neglected by father, bullied, sensitive, prefers to escape the world for fiction (maybe somewhat autistic), power to make imagination come to life.
He's portrayed some of the traits for other characters. Mostly dramatic stuff. In his only pure comedy Good Boys, there's a scene where he gets harshly lectured by his father. So it's also been done.
Tremblay is Bastian, by default.
Go watch the film, imagine him as Bastian, and see for yourself!
And he's talented too. Any outburst of emotion won't feel forced or flat. He could even give a better performance than Barret Oliver in the very same film.
Atreyu is more difficult. Let's see....
"Stereotypical fantasy hero" looks... noble and otherworldy... boyish quality... kinda like a brown haired Link/Legolas, but younger and not originally meant to be caucasian (but we can take liberties).
Kodi might work... if he didn't outgrew the character almost a decade ago.
Actually, I can imagine Jaeden Martell being able to do it, perhaps...? If he doesn't think fantasy is below him now, and only wants realistic roles.
If you prefer the character to be kind of "native american" as in the book, I haven't any suggestions. The closest thing I can come up with is the recent Mowgli actors who I believe are Indian-American.
Atreyu is supposed to have green skin so we might not tell the difference between "indian" and (asian) Indian.
Sorry, I can't do better.
Child Empress then. I would go for Dafne Keen because she has onscreen presence to the max (and I don't know about young blond actresses anyway).
I was at first thinking she's too edgy for fantasy because of Logan. But she's apparently doing Golden Compass (not yet seen) so I won't rule her out.
Give her more scenes in the remake. It was not much more than a cameo in the original, and she would not be keen to do someting that small (see what I did there)
But already as I write, all of them are aging out of the possibility to be cast.
The years will go by and it will become another missed opportunity (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin was never Artemis Fowl, and he was a fan favorite)
EDIT: Perhaps the kid from Locke & Key can be Bastian? He has also done horror so there's some diversity in previous roles.
