Still no update on whether or not a Miss Saigon film is a “go” but I figured that as an extension of my original “wish list” in regards to a possible Miss Saigon film adaptation… I’ll provide my idea / vision of the character breakdown for various character parts.

Keep in mind I prefer to stay away from “fantasy casting” so don’t be expecting me to do any “name dropping” as it were. Though thinking this through I think it would be best if I broke this down into two posts… one for the Vietnamese only characters and another for the non-Vietnamese cast. Also (time-permitting) I’ll list out all the side characters from the original Miss Saigon musical that have bit parts in the songs that I think are significant enough to have decent cameos (if necessary).

So to make my life easier (and I’ll explain why in the next post) I’ll work on the non-Vietnamese characters first… these will include the obvious: Chris, John and Ellen… and I will add in “The Engineer” as well to which I will explain at the end of this post, but first:

CHRIS and JOHN
I think this would have been obvious. Americans… doesn’t have to be the stereotypical blond haired / blue-eyed Americans… or Caucasians, but heck anyone that you can see from the Army at some point during the 1970s. Sure the traditional look from musical theatre between Chris and John is one African-American and the other Caucasian, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. What is more necessary is how they look… do they look like they have been through the military boot camp of evil and tossed into an exotic place like Vietnam and rampaged through the jungles of the city of Saigon and not know what the heck is going on? Do they look worn down by the stress of war to the point that they are about to break?

ELLEN
So by extension Ellen (though obviously American) I feel should have a quiet strength to her. Someone that is steadfast, but not overbearing. A light at the end of the tunnel, someone who worked to be a sounding board for Chris for so long and is not only incredibly patient, she stands her ground… after all she is willing to “fight” Kim to keep Chris.

THE ENGINEER
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