If you worship cinema’s holy trinity of “Davids,” which includes David Lynch, David Fincher, and David Cronenberg, you’ll adore graphic designer Peter Stults’ What If: Movies Reimagined for Another Time and Place poster series. The New York-based artist trades contemporary actors with classic stars (and directors) on the posters for modern films. In this volume of his one-sheet remakes, which we learned about on Booooooom, Stults tackles the filmographies of the three Davids — along with other movies, like Guardians of the Galaxy (with Michael Jackson in the lead role, which suddenly makes complete sense).
Would Lynch muse Jack Nance approve of Charlie Chaplin as Henry Spencer in Eraserhead? Young Mickey Rourke in Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises is believable, especially given the actor’s boxing background (but can we keep Viggo Mortensen in the Turkish bathhouse scene?).
The posters also make us wonder what iconic movies would have been like if directors had given non-white actors a chance. Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley in the Alien series doesn’t seem so untouchable when we imagine Pam Grier as the badass warrant officer aboard the Nostromo.
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Gone Girl” (1968) directed by Arthur Penn, starring Marlon Brando
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Iron Man” (1966) directed by John Sturges, starring Paul Newman
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Lost Highway” (1976) directed by Terrence Malick, starring John Cassavetes
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Eastern Promises” (1986) directed by Alan Parker, starring Mickey Rourke
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Zodiac” (1987) direced by Peter Weir, starring Robert Downey, Jr.
Image credit: Peter Stults
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (1929) directed by F.W. Murnau, starring Louise Brooks
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Guardians of the Galaxy” (1986) directed by Nick Castle, starring Michael Jackson.
fImage credit: Peter Stults
“The Fly” (1977) directed by Philip Kaufman, starring Warren Beatty
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Bridesmaids” (1974) directed by Elaine May, starring Diane Keaton
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Alien” (1970) directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Pamela Grier
Image credit: Peter Stults
“The Dead Zone” (1957) directed by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Eraserhead” (1932) directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Seven” (1968) directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Sidney Poitier
Image credit: Peter Stults
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (1979) directed by John Boorman, starring Ian Holm
Image credit: Peter Stults
“Wild at Heart” (1978) directed by Walter Hill, starring Goldie Hawn