What charachter should be the STAR of the movie?

[LostOne]

glen danzig as the anti hero head hunter ,scott steiner as the juicer,arnold as the voice of the euro borg,gary sinese a mind melter,anthany hoppkins as the dimension traveling shifter and there you have a solid line up and thats a great rifts style group

So you want:
A musician with limited acting history as the anti-hero head hunter.

A pro wrestler that has pretty much zero acting history except for fake wrestling as the juicer.

The governor who I doubt will return to acting if his political career continues as a voice.

?

I have no issue with your choice of Gary Sinese or Sir Anthony Hopkins, but the first three seem like bad choices to me.

[csbioborg]

The charecter should be a dead boy. Rifts is so bizaree and such a mismash of genres you need someone the audience can idneity with. A regualr grunt fighitng his way through the horrors of a post apoc world is a charecter they can idenify with.

[psam_rage]

My take on the classes: ((Just the ones in the Ultimate Edition Core Rules or else I would be up all night.... and I would need copies of the Rifter I don't have.))
=================================
Men at Arms
- Borgs full and partial: Every one is going to start thinking Terminator.

- Crazy & Juicer: Not as a main. They are to disturbed to be the main.

- Cyber-Knight: Maybe but the Psi-Swords and their design will scream Jedi Knockoff

- Glitter Boy: A GB pilot doesn't seem right.... although a vagabond finding a GB and learning to pilot it might work.

- Merc Soldier: Sounds like a secondary character.

- Robot Pilot: See Glitter Boy
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Adventurers
- Body-Fixer: He is a doc so most likely someone that save the Hero.... or the women/man the main is head over heels for. ((God No more! We don't need every movie to end with a kiss.))

- City Rat: See Vagabond below

- Cyber-Doc: Bit Character or minor villain

- Operator: Secondary for he is to Technical

- Rogue Scholar: No! Just no! Don't even let one be a secondary character! If you do they will make the movie a flashback/book being read.

- Rouge Scientist: "Gordon Freeman" anyone?

- Vagabond: The most likely choice since the Main character will probably go from Zero to Hero.

- Wilderness Scout: A secondary character meant to help the the main. But not the main or else he will probably a Dark Brooding Hero that only ever shows half of their face.
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Practitioners of Magic
- Elemental Fusionist: No..... he is worthless in a city and we all know Chi Town is necessary for this movie.

- Ley Line Walker/Rifter: Could be done..... but as it was said 2 years ago... to many Harry Potter movies....

- Mystic: To difficult for non-rifts fans.

- Shifter: Only a villain (or evil main....... which won't happen)

- Techno-Wizard: Not as a main. The main could use a TW invention but a TW is more about creating things than anything else.
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Psychics
- Burster: I personally loved the Idea for this........ until I remembered the Fantastic *Gag* Four.

- Dog Boy: Not likely..... you have a better chance that the main character is a Wolfen.

- Psi-Stalker: To vampire like.....

- Mind Melter: Not enough people are into Psi powers.....
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-Dragon: No just... No....
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And an CS character would fit I guess..... although it will be a movie about his/her moral dilemma
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Here is an idea I was told by someone who wishes to remain anonymous((He said something about knowing where I sleep )). "Rifts: The rise of Prosek" -Starts with Prosek as a lowly grunt and ends with him taking power. Plus It leaves room for a "Good Guy" sequel.
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My opinion...... break out of the bloody Cliches America!

Oh and how about full CGI..... not like this new Star Wars movie but like FF7 Advent Children.

[Overlord Rikonius]

Men at Arms
- Borgs full and partial: Every one is going to start thinking Terminator.

Plus, you can't identify with a full borg. And the actor will likely want his face seen.

- Crazy & Juicer: Not as a main. They are to disturbed to be the main.

Yeah. But they could star in a viral tie in

- Merc Soldier: Sounds like a secondary character.

A merc could pull it off. Especially if someone like Statham was playing him.

- Mystic: To difficult for non-rifts fans.

He's a psychic who knows spells. Not too diffcult.

- Techno-Wizard: Not as a main. The main could use a TW invention but a TW is more about creating things than anything else.

A TW could work. If they played him off as some sort of hopped up steampunk-style adventurer.

- Mind Melter: Not enough people are into Psi powers.....

What are you basing this on?

Here is an idea I was told by someone who wishes to remain anonymous((He said something about knowing where I sleep )). "Rifts: The rise of Prosek" -Starts with Prosek as a lowly grunt and ends with him taking power. Plus It leaves room for a "Good Guy" sequel.

"Prosek, you were supposed to be the chosen one!"

[psam_rage]

- Merc Soldier: Sounds like a secondary character.

A merc could pull it off. Especially if someone like Statham was playing him.

Ok it can be done... it just sounds more like a secondary character to me.....

- Mystic: To difficult for non-rifts fans.

He's a psychic who knows spells. Not too diffcult.

Yeah but to fully understand a Mystic you have to read up on them..... besides there powers are to... intuitive.

- Techno-Wizard: Not as a main. The main could use a TW invention but a TW is more about creating things than anything else.

A TW could work. If they played him off as some sort of hopped up steampunk-style adventurer.

-.- Exactly ((I loathe Steam Punk))

- Mind Melter: Not enough people are into Psi powers.....

What are you basing this on?

People picking things up with there mind and calling forth a gleaming blade of light but not using power words? It would be a split... some would like it some wouldn't. I would love it.... but there are some people that think of Magic/Psionics like people think about laser... It has to have noise.

Here is an idea I was told by someone who wishes to remain anonymous((He said something about knowing where I sleep )). "Rifts: The rise of Prosek" -Starts with Prosek as a lowly grunt and ends with him taking power. Plus It leaves room for a "Good Guy" sequel.

"Prosek, you were supposed to be the chosen one!"

Hehe basically.

[Overlord Rikonius]

- Mystic: To difficult for non-rifts fans.

He's a psychic who knows spells. Not too diffcult.

Yeah but to fully understand a Mystic you have to read up on them..... besides there powers are to... intuitive.

You could say the same about ninjas or shoalin monks or Jedis.

- Mind Melter: Not enough people are into Psi powers.....

What are you basing this on?

People picking things up with there mind and calling forth a gleaming blade of light but not using power words? It would be a split... some would like it some wouldn't. I would love it.... but there are some people that think of Magic/Psionics like people think about laser... It has to have noise.

The Jedi are very popular psionics. And people don't have a problem with them in Star Trek, Hellboy, X-Men, the Buffyverse, X-Files.
The psi-sword might be a WTH moment for some, but some quick exposition (which you'd need just as much if you're gonna have a secondary character use a psi sword) and that's handled. And as for the psi sword making noise? Why not?
Besides, tech is sci-fi. Magic is fantasy. Psi is sci-fi (psi-fi? ) or fantasy. The general audience is better geared to accept a psionic running around a post-apocalyptic world fighting giant robots and cyborgs than a mage doing that.

[romanwarrior]

I think the main antagonist of the story should be the Federation of Magic. And the main villian should be played by Jason Isaacs (Dragoon Colonal from the Patriot). he would make the perfect bad guy for whoever the heroes are!

[dragon_blaze_99]

Christopher Walken ALWAYS matters...

with cow bells

[LostOne]

Lately, everytime someone mentions Erin Tarn I picture Judi Dench.

[Giant2005]

I'd like to see a CS Grunt or someone allied with the CS being turned into something else by the Gene Splicers and becoming an enemy of his former friends.
Something like that would be a great gimmick to use to show how villainous the CS are - any movie that successfully convinces the audience that the last hope of humanity is something we shouldn't be hoping will be victorious is a winner in my book.
Also I'd like to see something like the Cyber Horsemen of Ixion involved. A Cybernetic Centaur is exactly what we need to show the fusion of fantasy and sci-fi that is Rifts.

Failing all that, a party of a dozen Amazons. Who wouldn't want to watch them in action?

[LostOne]

One of the group members should be a blind warrior woman.

[The Galactus Kid]

One of the group members should be a blind warrior woman.

Agreed

[Incriptus]

I don't know but angelina jolie would make one hell of a blind warrior woman

[Overlord Rikonius]

Responding to OP:

It should be a Juicer (Kurt Russell) who is beginning to go through Last Call and is seeking to find peace with old demons before the bio-comp does him in for good.

Along the way he befriends a hot-shot Glitter Boy pilot (Leonardo di Caprio), a haunting Mystic (Helena Bonham Carter), and a Crazy (Andy Dick) who help him track down the Coalition general responsible for torching his hometown when he was young (Gene Hackman). Along the way, they are forced to contend with one of the Coalition's newest and deadliest Juicers (The Rock). They find the general in Minnesota, preparing to launch an assault on the Xiticix with General Holmes (Samuel L. Jackson). When the Mystic communes with possessing entities (voices done by Tilda Swinton and Ice T) in the area and persuades them to wreak havoc upon the Coalition forces, it provides them with just the distraction they need to approach the general and get their revenge.

Ugh, not Andy Dick. If you need a Crazy, Andy Sandberg would be a much better choice anyway

[Overlord Rikonius]

-The Coalition would need to be good and gritty. They shouldnt be treated as Stormtroopers; where they are all in shiny armor. This is post apoc; so they should take cues from real soldiers and have their armor's nice and dirty; gritty and have character.

Agreed. The power armor in Fallout 3 is good inspiration for how it should look.

[Xar]

STAR, as in single character...nope, I don't think it would work. Rifts is all bout the teamwork, the combination of disciplines, the multiracial group united under a common cause. Be it the acquisition of credits under more than dubious means or the protection of the innocent from supranatural forces, the proper portrayal of the Rifts setting should not fall on the shoulders of an individual.
How about a team like the guys from Machinations of Doom...

I quite agree. The Lonestar Raiders--That's your cast list.

[Overlord Rikonius]

I put this up on another thread, but this is a more appropriate thread...

The Rifts novels, beginning with "Sonic Boom" by Adam Chilson, are excellent. In fact, I think they're a perfect outline for "HOW" any script writer, director, ect should develop a first Rifts Film. It's hard to get all or even much of the Rifts content into a single film, particularly a first where you're introducing the whole scene and 'concept' to an unexposed audience.

Adam Chilson pulls it off very well. Start very focused. He chose Chi Town. Get the audience to get the feeling and empathize with a small cast of 'human' characters in a particular environ/culture (like the Coalition military and Chi Town 'life'). Then start to take the story further and further... also taking some time in the later half to actually 'characterize' another set of different people. In this case people on the inside or at least involved in the Federation of Magic. And, yes, there needs to be pleanty of action... cause Rifts is full of incredible Action!

The more I think about how the first Rifts novel was written, the better I like it for adaptation to film... or at least, just HOW it took Rifts and PRESENTED it to a new audience.

...and to remark on those who think the Rifts Movie should include a big cast of characters as a "'party" cause that's what we role-players do... Naw... it get's to close to the D&D movie. They tried to take too many character types... all stereotypes with thin backgrounds and real character interest... and turn it into an epic story. It takes a little time to really characterize each role... I agree that there needs to be one (maybe two) main characters that the audience really falls in love with/empathizes with. Even in "Sonic Boom" the character I remember best is the tech wizard ... he was the most individualized. It was a little hard to follow all the different people in the CS platoon but for those few who Adam Chilson spent some considerable time developing back story on.

-Rifter6

I dunno, I think a movie with a lot of different types could work, if you tweak the format a bit. Like, instead of a "hey we're the player character party" vibe, have some sort of objective they're all after, where they have to work together sometimes, and as rivals or enemies at others. Something where the characters are thrown out of their comfort zones, nobody's sure who to trust, everyone has an angle and is scamming everyone else. The kind of thing where you're not entirely sure who's coming out on top because you could conceivably say that any one of them is the protagonist, and even then you're not entirely sure what side any particular one will be on by the end.
Where they're not together all the time, but a lot of it is parallel maneuvering.

[Crucible]

Erin Tarn!!! Whether you like it or not, she should be the star. With Vin Diesel as Sir Winslow Thorpe...would not have to be as written to the letter. Heck Erin Tarn can be easily played by Jennifer Garner.

[Overlord Rikonius]

I dunno, I think a movie with a lot of different types could work, if you tweak the format a bit. Like, instead of a "hey we're the player character party" vibe, have some sort of objective they're all after, where they have to work together sometimes, and as rivals or enemies at others. Something where the characters are thrown out of their comfort zones, nobody's sure who to trust, everyone has an angle and is scamming everyone else. The kind of thing where you're not entirely sure who's coming out on top because you could conceivably say that any one of them is the protagonist, and even then you're not entirely sure what side any particular one will be on by the end.
Where they're not together all the time, but a lot of it is parallel maneuvering.

Hey I really like this 'angle'.

Ok... I'm not the movie buff..actually not one at all.. so how bout we compare "Successfull" movies. I'm not going to say "good" cause everyone (specially movie buffs) has a different idea about good and is usually more critical than the average movie goer (me).

All of us would like to see a Rifts Movie be a blockbuster hit. So lets compare blockbuster hit movies. What content, plot styles, twists, background do you think would fit ... and has PROVEN it 'fits' with wide audiences?
-What movies successfully use the "big diverse party concept" (not D&D!!)

I never saw the Oceans movies, but I figure those might be close.
Star Wars (you had a smuggler, a space ape, a royal, a wizard, and robots).

-Do people gravitate more to movies with "one big star" and which ones/types would fit for Rifts?

I think one big star could work, but several stars, maybe of slightly lower caliber, would also work.
As for which ones to get?
People:
Vin Deisel: It's a violent (it better be violent) sci fi movie based on an RPG. That's his specialties and interests right there
Jason Statham: Hey, somebody's gotta drive, may as well get the best. Seriously, if you watch his movies, he's got 98% in all piloting skills, high level martial arts and lots of WPs. Sounds like a Rifts PC to me
Kate Beckinsale: Preferably in shiny black formfitting body armor
Djimon Honsou: Hero of villain, this guy is just pure badass
Someone should be a rogue scholar who has or is looking for some cryptic info key to the plot. This person should either be an older and refined actor (like any number of revered british actors), a crazy-eyed loon (Kramer, Cramer, or Christopher Lloyd), or else a sarcastic egotist.

-Combat scene types? (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Saving Private Ryan?)

Both!
A Rifts movie should have epic battles with lots of soldiers in the thich of it and big mechs and bigger booms. It should also have a few one on one and few on few fights.
Also, toward the climax of the movie, while the armies are fighting, the hero(es) try to sabotage a CS facility or steal a datadisk or somesuch, and are met by the protectors of their target. Ideally this fight is somehow crucial to the outcome of the larger battle.
Of course not every fight is gonna end in death. Most of the best action films have fights that end when one side knocks the other into a trap or cripples their vehicle or creates a diversion and splits or something of that nature.

[Overlord Rikonius]

I really think it would be awesome to have Hagan Lonovich be the main character of the movie, played by an older actor like Bruce Willis. Make the story center around him and ARCHIE and their fight with the Republicans. Along the way there are plenty of opportunities to describe and introduce encounters with the Coalition and the Splugorth. At the outset, we see a lone man and a super-computer fighting in a hostile post-apocalyptic world against all kinds of enemies human and alien. But as the story develops, we slowly see glimpses of Hagan's past, how he came to be with ARCHIE, and how he replaced James T (for those who don't like the obvious reference to Kirk, just call him James or actually come up with a last name). Then, as their struggle with the Republicans develops, more about their past with ARCHIE is revealed, until finally we learn the true history of both characters. The sympathetic Hagan and ARCHIE are finally revealed to be the villains they are in a dramatic closing scene in which the Republicans attempt to breach ARCHIE's security systems and free the Sleepers.

...of course they fail.

While that movie could be good, it's highly doubtful it'd be the first Rifts movie. The first movie has to be kind of "Generic Rifts" in theme. For the most part, it'd be the sort of campaign you just need the main book for. The movie you describe would make for a good sequel at some point, assuming the movie does well enough to become a franchise.

[Crucible]

You know Lord Coake's story would be nice.

[Overlord Rikonius]

Anyone who knows the first thing about Rifts knows that the obvious choice for the main and secondary rolls would be a Headhunter and a Rouge Scholar. Think about it

The latter played by Eddie Izzard?

Actually, though I did think of that just as a rogue/rouge misspelling joke, he'd make for a good rogue scholar.

[Legend]

The name of the game is Rifts.

Have a mundane from today fall into the world, have to be saved, and eventually become part of a group or band that saved them. It doesn't matter who they fight, doesn't matter if the underdog(s) take out a dozen or a thousand bad guys; what matters is an exploration of the world, and an introduction for more people, perhaps even converts, and let's go so far as to say new people, to come play the game, to buy the source materials, support the habi... I mean, hobby, hehe, and expand the player base again.

And, it doesn't matter who the star(s) is/are, as long as they are able to act with a LOT of green screen, hehe.

I want to see Kevin and crew's vision(s) of the world. Mix it up in the Federation of Magic, skirt the Burbs, fight a D-Bee or three, and beat back the darkness. My definition of the darkness is anything NOT friendly to the main character(s) living. Heck, go down to Ciudad Juarez for a little visit.

What would be really cool would be to have a MMO in development to be released the same day as the movie, and to be able to climb screaming into the world you've just been witness to on the silver screen. THAT would make my day.

Just ol' Legend's two cents.

[Eclipse]

Perhaps the movie could start with a narrator talking about 'it's the year 2063.. blah blah.. and 'unknown to man, magic is real, but cyclic and ebbs and flows like the tide. The last x,000 years have seen magic and psychic abilities recede and science and technology rise to dominance' then you see some of the wonders of this advanced technology like robotics and power armor - particularly glitterboys - show the event that triggered the nuclear exchange - perhaps make it seem more plausible by altering it a bit, then show the rifts opening and everything going to crap, natural disasters, monsters etc plenty of cool cgi like in the movie 2012, which I just saw.

Then, after this opening sequence, you could do a retrospective: e.g. introduce the hero of the story, and put on the screen a 'counter' e.g. 24hrs before the coming of the Rifts - a normal person, some youngish kid or young adult who's going about their normal life when the rifts first open. Then you could show the effect of these rifts on their life and have them swallowed up by one expanding.

Then your main character is a 'vagabond' or 'D-Bee' and the audience share his discovery of the changed world of the future. I'm assuming he's american of course and you could have him shifted only in time not space and one of the early scenes would have him run into the fascistic Coalition, captured and taken into custody, luckily freed when the Coalition patrol (dogboys, coalitions soldiers and maybe a power armor or two) runs into a motley 'player character' group that includes a couple of oddball humans with unusual but rifts-representative occs and maybe a couple of D-Bees. I'd personally limit the framework of the movie to north america (fleshed out the best and obviously the main target audience) and not do too much of a parade of OCCs/RCCs.

It would be a cool part of the movie if this group and their clueless vagabond stumbled into an old robotic facility and a glitterboy that the pre-rifts vagabond hero might be best able to interface with/read the instruction manual. Suddenly our vagabond isn't so useless and you can have them run into more of the coalition or some significant non-humans to show off the glitterboy in all it's glory. Having the coalition troop and our PC group run into a slaving party from Atlantis and band together to survive, followed by an amicable parting of ways as the coalition troops expand their minds a trifle might work.

[Legend]

First, I say it's a good idea with the Splugorth Slavers... the Warrior Women, etc., because that might tie them to the original main book cover, if that cover is put on a new printing, of course. Second, I would say don't announce any of the O.C.C.s, make Rifts players have to guess, and don't burden mundanes with that idea of character classes. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't make it too obvious it's a role-playing game the movie is based on, lest it become a shameless commercial advertisement. However, tying identifiable elements from the game into the movie might help mundanes going into a Barnes & Noble or other book store chain to stop and look when they see it.

I'm interested in player proliferation.

[Eclipse]

Well it definitely goes without saying that you don't do too much name-dropping of too-specific things like OCC/RCC names. You need to make it flow more organically than the role-playing game does, if you want broad appeal.

[Balabanto]

I think that the main characters should be a group of adventurers, caught up in the conflict between the Federation of Magic and the Coalition. You can't have a situation where either of these evil groups are "Right." The heroes of the story have to have sympathy. Remember that the audience will pass a moral value judgement on this film based on modern values.

And I think the movie should be set a couple years in the future of Rifts, around 111 PA or so.

Hey, wait? Aren't I working on a novel about something like this...I might be...

[Lord Z]

I predict that the film will be about a disgruntled Coalition postal worker and the feral dog boy who chases him.

[Kagashi]

This should be animated...not live action.

[Legend]

I think animated something like Spirits Within, yes, and serious. I understand, though I've never seen, that the animated cartoon was too... "cartoony"... for serious Rifts gamers; the words I've heard most often is, "it was a joke". They said that about the BattleTech cartoon, also, and a lot of it was, but it had a good story, so I'd like to see for myself before I take everyone's word.

Heck, if they could even do an Avatar style movie, that would rock, with real actors who are, then, animated.

[Legend]

That might not be a bad idea at all. Might take some legal foot work, but it would certainly be a way to introduce people to Rifts, especially older generation folks who loved the Turtles but never played anything.

[Legend]

I don't think they ever lost their rights to produce the game. Besides, didn't I read something in one of the newsletters this past year about a new chapter for the Turtles?

[Legend]

I actually really like that idea. We can only hope whomever is actually writing the script for this thing is as imaginative, or moreso, as that.

[Legend]

Oh, there's all manner of hidden meaning that could be placed into this, for sure. However, I think a core for the story should be laid down, first, something of a base, and once the basics are built in, figure out how much time remains for the film -figure about one page of script per minute of film, or about 120 pages to allow for up to 30 pages or so to be cut out- and then write in anything that could fill out the remainder of the 120, and you'll be good.

[Secondhand Smoke]

Psi Battalian, Psi Slinger, propoganda et al

[Vrykolas2k]

It will probably feature a steampunk Techno-Wizard (and yes, most of my TWs are steampunk), a Cyber-Knight, a Ley Line Walker/ Shifter combo (since it's a movie, you know it will happen), and probably a CS Military Specialist.
Might have a Juicer, who will likely die about mid-way through.
Maybe a dragon... we can hope.

[mastermesh]

Glitter boy would be neat... HOWEVER, on screen, all of them will look alike so it'll be really hard to follow the battles if there's a bunch of them... sort of like the ol star war movies were all the ships and foot soldiers all look identical for the most part - that's a bad thing. both good guys and bad guys need to be unique for good movie ratings/character build up. Also, YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE ACTOR'S FACES to get emotional depth in a movie.

[Vrykolas2k]

Glitter boy would be neat... HOWEVER, on screen, all of them will look alike so it'll be really hard to follow the battles if there's a bunch of them... sort of like the ol star war movies were all the ships and foot soldiers all look identical for the most part - that's a bad thing. both good guys and bad guys need to be unique for good movie ratings/character build up. Also, YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE ACTOR'S FACES to get emotional depth in a movie.

Not really.
Darth Vader provided plenty of emotional depth.
In fact, the first time he showed up, I said, "I want to grow up to be THAT guy!"

[say652]

I vote for the crazie. People love crazies.

[Eclipse]

Glitter boy would be neat... HOWEVER, on screen, all of them will look alike so it'll be really hard to follow the battles if there's a bunch of them... sort of like the ol star war movies were all the ships and foot soldiers all look identical for the most part - that's a bad thing. both good guys and bad guys need to be unique for good movie ratings/character build up. Also, YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE ACTOR'S FACES to get emotional depth in a movie.

Not really.
Darth Vader provided plenty of emotional depth.
In fact, the first time he showed up, I said, "I want to grow up to be THAT guy!"

Cool voices help. And of course the mystery of his identity and his obvious badassery can be appealing.

[Warshield73]

My vote - Cyber Knight, but you have to distinguish him or her from a Jedi. Dog Boy, played by Andy Serkis. Glitter Boy.

Glitter boy would be neat... HOWEVER, on screen, all of them will look alike so it'll be really hard to follow the battles if there's a bunch of them... sort of like the ol star war movies were all the ships and foot soldiers all look identical for the most part - that's a bad thing. both good guys and bad guys need to be unique for good movie ratings/character build up. Also, YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE ACTOR'S FACES to get emotional depth in a movie.

Not really.
Darth Vader provided plenty of emotional depth.
In fact, the first time he showed up, I said, "I want to grow up to be THAT guy!"

Cool voices help. And of course the mystery of his identity and his obvious badassery can be appealing.

This problem in movies has been solved by Iron Man. You can show there faces in the helmet. It works.

[allmarduk]

Emperor Prosek should be the star of the RIFTS movie.

[Ranger]

Coalition Technical Officer should be the star.