We all know that Karen Allen was chosen over Sean Young for the part of Marion.
I know Karen Allen is really popular on this board, but I personally think she was miscast. She just doesn't seem to be the type of girl Indy would be attracted to. In my opinion, Sean Young would have been much more sultry, and just as feisty as Karen Allen. I just think Allen is too much of a tomboy for the role.
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Heratic! I prefer Karen Allen. Allen is a much more interesting character actress than Young, even in her other films. I feel Young would have been too subtle, she probably would have played Marion like Rachel in "Blade Runner", and I for one, am not in favour of that. The tomboy quality is an essential part of the Marion character. How else would she have survived everything she went through with her father, in the worst places, growing up? Marion was far from well taken care of, so she learned to take care of herself. How else would Marion be his equal? She is believed to be dead in Raiders just like Indy in LC! Not dissimilar. Allen has way more spark to her and she knows how to kick butt and that is another very defining quality of the Marion Ravenwood character.
Do you really see Young playing a woman who has to deal with being in The Raven bar, slugging drinks to the rough and tumble drunks and living on her own without a man? Plus Allen knows how to have a laugh and that's another quality important in Marion. Indy and her always seem to laugh and worry at the same moments. I saw chemistry between the two especially in the verandah scene in Cairo, the Cairo streets and the Bantu Wind love scene. As if Marion and Indy don't seem to be into each other in those particular scenes. It played very well by Allen and Ford.
Karen Allen was the definitive heroine, a tough, independent woman with the fire and spirit to go with it. I never thought of her as a tomboy; tomboys usually lack (or hide) their femininity. Marion is very much feminine, and alluring.... Who says being tough and being feminine are not incompatible?
As for Sean Young, I loved her in BLADE RUNNER...but she was far too young (no pun intended) for the role in RAIDERS, and everyone knows how much she and Harrison Ford hated each other while making BLADE RUNNER.
Besides -- and let's be honest here, guys -- Sean Young is pretty crazy. Karen Allen, on the other hand, was one of the nicest actors I've ever met. It was at a charity ball back in 1991; she had just given birth to her son a few months prior, and she looked stunning. She even showed me some of her son's baby pictures!
Here's a picture my sister took of us, back when I was skinnier and had more hair on my head. (It was from a low angle, so that's why we're both looking down.)
Personal problems aside, I think Sean Young is a fine actress. She was very good in Blade Runner. But I feel she would have been very miscast as Marion. Karen Allen was the perfect Marion.
Other actresses could have played the part just as well, possibly better than Karen Allen did. However, given choice between Karen Allen and Sean Young, I'd have to stick with Allen. Perhaps I just find Young too irritating, so it may be just my bias towards her personality, but I really think that Allen was better suited for the role than Young.
I think Karen Allen was perfect casting. She was just brilliant in the role. Marion is by far the most interesting of the female characters in the indy films. I could watch a film with marion as the lead, and certainly couldn't for willie or elsa, as great as they are.
Marion was favorite girl for Indy, I didn't care much for Elsa, and I couldn't stand Willie, Marion just seemed to be right, and I think Karren Allan did a good job and I'm glad she's playing Marion in KOTCS insted of having some other random girl.
I abhor Sean Young...can't even really tell you why. Part of it might be the infamous Catwoman story for Burton's Batman Returns...but when I think really back...I hate her hairstyle in Blade Runner.
I abhor Sean Young...can't even really tell you why. Part of it might be the infamous Catwoman story for Burton's Batman Returns...but when I think really back...I hate her hairstyle in Blade Runner.
I dunno...I could go on forever...
Whenever I think of Sean Young I think of the revelation that her character's actually a former male quarterback in Ace Venture: Pet Detective.
Heratic! I prefer Karen Allen. Allen is a much more interesting character actress than Young, even in her other films. I feel Young would have been too subtle, she probably would have played Marion like Rachel in "Blade Runner", and I for one, am not in favour of that. The tomboy quality is an essential part of the Marion character. How else would she have survived everything she went through with her father, in the worst places, growing up? Marion was far from well taken care of, so she learned to take care of herself. How else would Marion be his equal? She is believed to be dead in Raiders just like Indy in LC! Not dissimilar. Allen has way more spark to her and she knows how to kick butt and that is another very defining quality of the Marion Ravenwood character.
Do you really see Young playing a woman who has to deal with being in The Raven bar, slugging drinks to the rough and tumble drunks and living on her own without a man? Plus Allen knows how to have a laugh and that's another quality important in Marion. Indy and her always seem to laugh and worry at the same moments. I saw chemistry between the two especially in the verandah scene in Cairo, the Cairo streets and the Bantu Wind love scene. As if Marion and Indy don't seem to be into each other in those particular scenes. It played very well by Allen and Ford.
Karen is a spunk! I thought that when I was 13 and I still do. She's got spirit, looks and that smile... I know she's older now, but what the hay, so am I.
I'll add that Karen did a fine job and was perfect. You can tell in the audition takes if an actress has that something, and she did. Young didn't, although I think she's hot too, but not for Indy.
Poor old Young was supposed to be in Batman, as the Basinger role. She never got the breaks did she! She missed out there as she fell off a horse and broke something so got a break there! I think Basinger did a good job despite all the screaming...
Bump...Given Karen Allen's so-so performance in Skull, do you think in the long run Sean Young might've worked out? She was awesome with Harrison in Blade Runner, good chemistry on screen (despite hating each other off screen). I'd have loved if they brought her back as Elsa or a femme fatale type character.
The fact that she was MUCH more attractive than Karen factors in for me here.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Raiders112390
The fact that she was MUCH more attractive than Karen factors in for me here.
To each their own, but I just find one of her more prominent features to be way to distracting for me:
"I just flew in from Peru, and boy are my ears tired."
Not to mention her turn as the tranny in Ace Ventura kind of kills the idea for me. It doesn't matter wether or not she would have taken that role if she had been cast as Marion in ROTLA, it didn't happen, so this is the mental image I have of her now. A big-eared gal with male equipment.
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when i saw the behind the scenes of indiana jones and the shown sean youngs screentest and she was mad at tom selleck i knew right then and there she was not the one to play marion. it was over the top acting, she was much more suited to play rachel in bladerunner where she was scared and just plain.
Had Tom Selleck been free to accept the role, perhaps Sean Young would've been the best Marion for his Indy.
I think this is dead on because of this......
Quote:
Originally Posted by indyclone25
when i saw the behind the scenes of indiana jones and the shown sean youngs screentest and she was mad at tom selleck i knew right then and there she was not the one to play marion. it was over the top acting, she was much more suited to play rachel in bladerunner where she was scared and just plain.
Tom Selleck would've made a terrible Indy. He would of come off cheesy as Indy if the screen test are an example of what his portrayal would have been. Young was also very corny in the screen test and I believe the movie would have had a very Romancing The Stone feel to it had they got the parts. But I also believe they would have been perfect for each other in "that" version of Raiders just like Harrison and Karen are perfect in the "real" version of Raiders.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Indy's brother
To each their own, but I just find one of her more prominent features to be way to distracting for me:
"I just flew in from Peru, and boy are my ears tired."
Not to mention her turn as the tranny in Ace Ventura kind of kills the idea for me. It doesn't matter wether or not she would have taken that role if she had been cast as Marion in ROTLA, it didn't happen, so this is the mental image I have of her now. A big-eared gal with male equipment.
She definitely could have starred in Dumbo or she could fill in for Snuffalupacus on Sesame Street. Those are some serious ears.
Last edited by Henry W Jones : 02-28-2012 at 11:59 PM.
I prefer Karen Allen. Allen is a much more interesting character actress than Young, even in her other films. I feel Young would have been too subtle, she probably would have played Marion like Rachel in "Blade Runner", and I for one, am not in favour of that. The tomboy quality is an essential part of the Marion character. How else would she have survived everything she went through with her father, in the worst places, growing up? Marion was far from well taken care of, so she learned to take care of herself. How else would Marion be his equal? She is believed to be dead in Raiders just like Indy in LC! Not dissimilar. Allen has way more spark to her and she knows how to kick butt and that is another very defining quality of the Marion Ravenwood character. 
