In 1949, Anthony Pratt released a board game called CLUEDO. The rights to the game were bought by the Parker Brothers and it was renamed CLUE. Even though this game is nearly 75 years old, it is still beloved and is a game night staple. Before the game was bought by Hasbro in the early 90s and the release of CLUE the Musical, it was made into a movie in 1985. Watching the movie now, almost 40 years later, I can admit that it is definitely a little corny. That being said, it is also funny, interesting and definitely worth the watch. But it got me thinking, what if they remade this movie today? This is my own recasting of CLUE.

For those of you who don’t know how CLUE works, here is a brief rundown. The goal of the game is to figure out “who, where and what”. Who killed Mr. Boddy? Where was he killed? And what killed him? The movie works slightly differently being that Mr. Boddy isn’t the only one to die. Everyone has a motive and everyone is guilty until proven innocent.

There are a handful of characters that make brief appearances, which are almost all connected to the main group in some way. The singing telegram, the motorist, the cop, and the chief of police. I thought I’d just knock them all out at once. Sophia Lilis as the singing telegram with the shortest amount of screen time. John Krasinski as the motorist, which will make more sense later on. Idris Elba as the main cop, mostly because I just really love Idris Elba. Finally the chief of police disguised as a Jehovah’s witness will be played by Christopher Walken.

Next are the people who work/live in the house. “Mr. Boddy”, the owner of the house, will be played by Justin Baldoni. Yvette, the maid, I struggled casting. I ultimately decided to go with Dakota Fanning. Conversely, I had no trouble casting the cook. I couldn’t imagine it being anyone other than Pam Ferris. Even at the age of 74 that woman still strikes fear in my heart. There is also Wadsworth of course, but I’ll get to him later.

Now onto the main group. Mrs. White is a shady widow woman accused of killing her past husbands. From the beginning her connection to Yvette is obvious, even called out by Wadsworth. She also doesn’t seem to hide her hatred for Yvette as made clear by her infamous “flames on the side of my face” line. While ruthless, she has an elegant and beautiful nature to her. I chose Anne Hathaway to play her because of her semi-recent role in the movie The Witches. Having seen her as Jej Wysokość Wiedźma, Polish for “her majesty the witch”, I have no doubt she would make a perfect Mrs. White.

Mr. Green is being blackmailed by Mr. Boddy because he is a closeted homosexual, but he has more secrets than that. Throughout the movie he is witty and funny, having a slapstick and one liner approach to his comedy. Neil Patrick Harris is first to come to mind for this character. Knowing that he can be both extremely theatrical and extremely serious, I would love to see his approach to this character.

Wife of a politician and lover of monkey’s brains, Mrs. Peacock is definitely an interesting character to say the least. She spends the majority of the movie in a state of panic, having to be snapped out of it more than once. She makes the mistake of revealing her relationship with the cook very early on while enjoying her meal, making her look very suspicious when the cook turns up dead. I’ve chosen Kirsten Vangsness because of her character Penelope Garcia in Criminal Minds. I see a lot of parallels between the two and believe she would do the character justice. 

Professor Plum is personally my least favorite character.  He was a psychiatry professor who specialized in “helping paranoid and homicidal lunatics suffering from delusions of grandeur”. He ultimately lost his job for having relations with his patients. I decided to cast him as an actor I truly love in hopes of changing my mind about the character. I think Jack Black can add a lovable comedic value that this character didn’t have before.

Colonel Mustard is a war veteran, revealed to be a war profiteer, selling stolen radio parts. When the motorist had arrived at the house he made a comment that Colonel Mustard looks familiar. It is later revealed that the motorist was his driver during the war and that he knew about the stolen military equipment. I thought it only fitting to pair our motorist, John Krasinski, with someone he too has worked with. That’s why I decided to cast Steve Carell as Colonel Mustard. This is a well loved duo that I feel could really work for this movie.

Mrs. Scarlet is a “business owner”. It is revealed that she knows multiple people in the house, some being her employees, others her clients. She is effortlessly elegant and extremely confident. I have chosen Helena Bonham Carter because every role I have ever seen her in she exudes the same level of confidence. Also the fact that I just absolutely adore her.

I arguably had the most trouble recasting Wadsworth. It was difficult to find someone that could measure up to Tim Curry. After a lot of thought I think I have found the perfect person. I decided to go with Johnny Depp. He is the only other person I can imagine in this role. Wadsworth is the most theatrical character in the movie so it is only fitting to have one of the most theatrical film actors of our time play the part.

Ultimately whether they remake the movie or not, it was so fun to imagine a modernized version of the absolute classic. I challenge you to think of your own recasts to your favorite films. I highly recommend it.