The pitch: Gold-plated know-it-all Threepio graduates from the droid factory and takes his first job as a translator at the Galactic Senate. But for all his intellectual prowess, our hero wrestles with loneliness and depression. Enter cheeky, barrel-chested blue-collar astrodroid R2-D2.
Why he’s perfect: Disney has announced its intention to craft a series of standalone ‘Star Wars’ origin stories. And even though we’re aware that George Lucas covered Threepio’s early years in the ropey ‘Phantom Menace’, we’re suggesting a rethink. It’s basically ‘Sherlock’ in space: superior, self-satisfied smart-brain meets cuddly, humorous sidekick. Bromance ensues.
Suggested title: ‘Protocol’
Are there many flawed geniuses left for Benedict Cumberbatch to play? The actor has already stepped into the shoes of Stephen Hawking, Vincent Van Gogh and Sherlock Holmes. Right now he’s making a film about troubled wartime codebreaker Alan Turing. And here he is in ‘The Fifth Estate’, sporting lank white hair, puffy eyes and a paranoid glare. He is Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder and, depending where you stand, radical crusader or crazed egomaniac – or both.
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