I just got sent this article from MTV Movies Blog, that I somehow missed the other day, with news that Tom Hanks has dropped out of Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 due to scheduling conflicts with other projects he’s committed to.

“I see this movie so clearly in my head. It’s flowing in my veins,” Darabont said. “And just because you think of books first when you think ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ don’t expect something akin to Jane Austen. One character in the script says, ‘It’s not really even about books. It’s about control.’ It’s about the control of government and authority. It’s one of the greatest books ever written. It’s got all that great political stuff underneath the skin of it but really what it is is a great galloping tale.”

We’ll get to talking about the character here in a minute, but I’m a little skeptical about Darabont’s interpretation of Ray Bradbury’s masterpiece. While the book certainly has elements of politics and governmental control, I never felt that was the main message Bradbury was trying to convey with his novel. The last thing we need is another “Oooo, the American government is bad and controlling” kind of movie. In my eyes (and I believe that this was Bradbury’s intention), Fahrenheit 451 was more about the ignorance of society and the obsession with easy, mindless entertainment such as television over books – the way he felt society was headed when he wrote this. I think this is especially relevant today with movies like Meet the Spartans being made and the 7 billion mindless, stupid reality shows on television.

As for the new leading man though? “It needs to be somebody like [Hanks] who has the ability to trigger a greenlight but is also the right guy for the part. It’s a narrow target. It’s a short list of people.”

I wasn’t upset that Hanks was cast as the lead character Guy Montag, the guy can do great work, but I always felt the role was miscast. I say this for just about every movie, but why not get Guy Pearce (I mean, they even share the same first name! FATE)? Sadly, I think the studio would never agree to this, since he really isn’t a big, money-making Hollywood name and this is such a high profile project.

Any ideas on who would be the perfect Guy Montag (waiting for the inevitable Christian Bale and Johnny Depp suggestions)?