A Cast From the Past

“The ‘Casablanca’ of the ‘80s,” proclaimed Toronto critic Jay Scott of “Tequila Sunrise.”

And Warner Bros. has been happy to banner the blurb in its advertising for writer-director Robert Towne’s film about a love triangle entwined with cocaine trafficking.

The line got us to wondering about “The ‘Tequila Sunrise’ of the ‘40s.”

We asked “Tequila’s” casting director, Bonnie Timmerman, to come up with her ideal casting had the picture been made 40 years ago.

Her choices: John Garfield for the Mel Gibson role (ex-dealer), William Holden playing Kurt Russell’s part (cool cop) and Lana Turner instead of Michelle Pfeiffer (knockout restaurateur).

And director Towne? He told us that he’d exchange Gibson for Gary Cooper, Russell for Clark Gable and Pfeiffer for Carole Lombard.

Timmerman also offered some choices if she were recasting “Casablanca” today: “You need a cast with chemistry. So, I’d have Robert De Niro in Bogart’s role, French actress Juliette Binoche (“The Unbearable Lightness of Being”) for Ingrid Bergman and Sam Neill seemed perfect to me to recreate Paul Henreid’s portrait of goodness.”