Welcome, one and all!  Here are the poll results from last's issue's D&D Live- Action Movie Casting Call!  And to those of you who wrote in asking me if I had any news about the actual movie, all I can say is: I WISH!  If I won the lottery, I would buy the rights to the characters from whomever it is who owns them now, so that we could actually make a movie!  But until that happens, no, I haven't heard any news.  It seems like a pretty obvious blockbuster idea, but apparently no one has noticed of yet.  Anyway, here are the results:

(1) Hank should be played by:

Well, it's a resounding 'yes' to America's most popular dashing blond hero,
Leonardo DiCaprio!  Leo won out with half of the votes.  Up-and-coming
Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek got 38% of the vote.  One of the most
interesting casting suggestions in the poll was in this category, where a
voter gave two thumbs up for Jerry O'Connell (from the series 'Sliders').
Have to say I hadn't thought about that one, but Jerry does have a great
heroic-yet-the-weight-of-the-world-is-on-his-shoulders quality in the
character he plays that he could carry off the role of Hank pretty darned
well.

(2) Eric should be played by:

Xander fans unite!  Nicholas Brendon, wisecracking and sarcastic sidekick of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, won out with 50% of the vote in this category.  The
witty Joshua Jackson, Pacey from the show Dawson's Creek, received 30% of the
vote.  Some other suggestions in this category included Ben Savage ("Boy Meets
World") and Johnathan Taylor Thomas from "Home Improvement", who also garnered
votes in the Presto category as well.

(3) Sheila should be played by:

This was a landslide victory for Claire Danes, who received a whopping 72% of
the vote.  Since she and Leo have already proven their on-screen chemistry in
"Romeo and Juliet", the dynamic between her Sheila and Leo's Hank would be
very, very interesting. :)  Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle Gellar
received 19% of the vote.  There was one write-in vote that was actually
against one of the nominees, from Patrick Drazen -- "One vote AGAINST Alicia
Witt; I love her work, but her voice is pitched about an octave below Sheila's
voice in the series.  She may also be too old by now to play it.  Now,
Christina Ricci MIGHT be able to pull it off."

(4) Diana should be played by:

There was a tie in this category: both Tatyana "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" Ali
and gymnast Dominique Dawes received 33% of the vote.  There were several
concerns voiced about whether or not Dominique has the acting ability to play
Diana, but Patrick Drazen made another good point when he said, "Here the
casting should focus not on the face but on the body; Diana is a gymnast and
needs to look it.  Dawes, although not exactly a thespian, may have the right
look, although I haven't seen here since Atlanta (96)."  The other category
got one interesting vote for the actress who played the rival slayer in last
season's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  She was athletic AND an actress.  Food for
thought.

(5) Presto should be played by:

This was a close one, but Boy Meets World's Rider Strong edged out Johnathan
Taylor Thomas for the win in this category, 56% to 44%.

(6) Bobby should be played by:
 

I guess he'll have the hero thing pretty much down after working on the next
Star Wars movie, so if he ever wanted the role, you all think that Jake Lloyd
would be the best Bobby (with 56% of the votes).  Justin Cooper ("Liar Liar")
received 33% of the vote.  There were several other suggestions for Bobby,
including "that kid from Home Alone 3" and the kid from Jerry Maguire (don't
know either one of their names, though)...

It also looked as though I left some pretty important characters out, doh!
Here were some of your suggestions for DM and Venger:

Dungeonmaster -- Billy Barty (if you saw his performance as the Grand High Elwyn in Willow, you can understand why he would be the epitome of Dungeonmaster.)" -- Sterling Coleman

"I think that James Earl Jones would make a great voice for Venger, and Frank
Oz would make a GREAT voice for the DM as well...you never know, but maybe the
DM might be a puppet just like Yoda from Star Wars." -- Grant Foster

Venger:

"Venger -- Frank Langella (if you saw his performance as Skeletor in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: the Movie, you can understand why he is the ONLY choice for the role of Venger!). -- Sterling Coleman	"I happen to think that Nigel Bennett (aka LaCroix from Forever Knight) would be an excellent Venger." -- Barbara	Zaki's vote is for the dude who played the Evil Genius in "Time Bandits"....anyone know his name?