Like a lot of people, my wife and I have spent the past couple of evenings after our daughter goes to bed binge-watching the second season of The Witcher. Geralt's whole fatherhood arc as he protects Ciri is really compelling (especially as a relatively new dad myself) but what really sells it is Henry Cavill's performance. It would be easy to play a wooden and emotionless character; it's got to be a lot harder to play a character who is making a conscious effort to come across as wooden and emotionless because it's expected of witchers.
Anyway: watching Geralt of Rivia glower his way around Kaer Morhen and the wider Continent got us to thinking, and we came up with a few reasons why 2022 is the year that we've got to somehow draw Henry Cavill's attention to The Mummy of Monte Cristo.
1) He was IN The Count of Monte Cristo
Was it a perfectly faithful film adaptation? Not by a long shot, but it was one heck of a swashbuckling good time. When he was only 19, Cavill played the spoiled Albert de Morcerf in the 2002 Count of Monte Cristo movie, one of his first film roles. With such a personal connection to the story, I bet he'd love to read another adaptation of it.
2) He is a well-rounded actor.
Cavill has been in romantic comedies, horror movies, action flicks, serious dramas, and very famously in superheroic and fantasy genre roles. I don't think Hollywood has found a role the man can't play.
3) He has a net worth of $40 million.
I'm just saying, if he WERE to read MOMC and if he WERE to become a big fan of it, I don't think anyone is going to tell a 40-millon-dollar superstar "no" if he starts musing about a screen adaptation.
4) He is a self-proclaimed nerd.
There's a reason he keeps taking genre roles. The whole reason he's playing Geralt is that he enjoyed playing the games, after all. He even builds his own PCs, which I find a pretty daunting task. I replaced a dead power supply in mine once and that was difficult enough, thank you. How could a story mashing up classic literature with superpowered monsters NOT be right up his alley?
5) He and I both look great with moustaches.
Moustache recognizes moustache.
6) He would be perfect for the role of Fernand.
If you've read The Mummy of Monte Cristo, you already know that the jealousy-plagued Fernand Mondego goes away to war as a 90-pound weakling and comes back with an Adonis-like physique. Cavill's definitely got the guns to be post-war Fernand, and some Captain America-style CGI could easily put his face on a scrawnier frame for the pre-war version.
Also, he'd be playing the father of his original Count of Monte Cristo role, so that's fun.
Bonus reason: I know it's pronounced "Cavill" and not "Cavill"
A lot of y'all are putting the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble.
So if you want to help me get this book on Mr Cavill's radar where it rightly belongs, let's get #CountOnCavill trending.