Sad News And Awesome News- Life Is A Rollercoaster, RIDE IT!

As many of you may have heard the company behind the upcoming Hack/Slash motion comic (or is it animated movie) made the official announcement at Comic-Con of which actress will be the voice of Cassie Hack. Contrary to what we originally reported here, Allison was not that actress. Instead Heroes alumni Brea Grant will provide the voice of Cassie. During the con I happened to be close to a lot of the major players in this decision, and I felt I should say some words here about that announcement, the decision behind it, and my thoughts on it.

First off let me say here that I won’t be directly quoting anyone involved in this process. I did speak with Allison, Brea, Tim Seeley, and Matt Pizzolo (who is directing the animated feature) but I wasn’t speaking to them in my persona as reporter so their words will remain off the record. I will share some of my impressions of those conversations, but nothing more out of respect for those who were willing to speak with me candidly on this issue.

Let me make it clear that Allison was in the running for this role until the very end. I would say with confidence that she was the only candidate for a very long time. As the date of the official casting announcement got closer, logistical issues arose that caused scheduling conflicts between the production and Scags. At that time it seems Halo-8 (the production company) became concerned that Allison’s television career (and its time constraints) would become a conflict with their increasingly expansive vision for the film. They began to consider other candidates and for reasons that are largely their own, they chose Brea instead.

It wouldn’t have been my choice… but if I was the one making these choices we wouldn’t have needed an #A4C movement, as I just would have given her the role anyway!

I should say here that while I disagree with their choice, Brea Grant IS a very talented actress. I very much enjoyed her in Heroes, and I have read and enjoyed her comic book “We Will Bury You”. I think Allison is the better fit for this role (as you might all have guessed) but I wish Brea well with the part and I hope she does Cassie justice. I suggest, as much as I can, that all the #AllisonScag4Cassie team take my example and wish her success. We all know we’d prefer Allison, but that doesn’t mean that Brea, or any actress that gets the final role, doesn’t deserve the support of our fanbase. After all, we are about fandom, and the power of fans, and that holds with it the responsibility to use that power for good. So please join me in wishing Brea Grant the best of luck with this coveted role, as well as Halo-8 a big bunch of luck with their revolutionary production.

All that said the battle for #AllisonScag4Cassie is not lost. The live action film, though still in development hell, is up for grabs. I will continue to tweet #AllisonScag4Cassie and mean it for a very long time. Look on the bright side, we were mentioned in each and every piece of coverage about this event. Some bloggers at popular sites even took time in their articles to mention they wished Allison had got this part, and that means we did something that had a serious effect and reach. We are easily one of the first twitter fan movements that has managed to touch the world of film and television, and this small loss of momentum will not change that.

So keep up the fight tweeters and knock out a few extra #AllisonScag4Cassies in celebration that this movement is not over.

PS: I got a chance to spend some time with Allison at SDCC this year, and as you can imagine it was pretty amazing. Hell I got to spend time with her and Neil Grayston at the SAME TIME. I almost died of awesome.

PPS: SPEAKING OF “SAME TIME”! I finally put Tim Seeley and Scags in the same place at the same time at Comic-Con this year. (see attached picture) and not only that but I got them both to put some words and art on a postcard that will be sent to one lucky winner on an upcoming contest on the next episode of Fandom Planet. So tune in and win this (more photo fun)!!!