Smarmy Society: Term XXV, Activity 3: Character Replacements

[anbyrobanby.livejournal.com]

Activity name: Character Replacements
Points: 24hr debate: Participation 10pts, Additional comment: 5pts. 30pts limit.
End date: Monday 1st April @ 14:00 UTC
Details: Over the course of the films, some of the characters were written out, assimilated into others, or played by multiple actors. Do you feel this is the right approach? Does the change of face affect how you feel about that character? A 24 hour debate to end the month.



So I was considering my next activity for the Smarmy Society, when I read on the news that the actor Richard Griffiths, who played Vernon Dursley, passed away on Good Friday following surgery complications.

I was reading some of the assosciated articles related to this, and one thing that came up was how he was perceived as "perfect" for the role of Uncle Vernon. This got me thinking- without doubt he was excellent in the role, but had someone else played the part, would it have still been as good? The thought reminded me of when Richard Harris was replaced by Michael Gambon and the ensuing dissonance.

I would like to invite a quick discussion about the synergy between actor and character. If an actor or actress becomes unavailable, walks away from the project, etc, how would you think this impacts on the character role? Would it change? Does a strong actor or actress fit into the role smoothly, and would a transition be smooth? More importantly to the Smarmy Club, would your view change if it were a major role versus a minor one?

I'll give 10 points for a substantial, thought-out comment (let's say about 200 words, minimum). Further comments of at least 50 words will be awarded five house points.

As it's a topic with broad scope I shall not be assigning debate motions here. I would just like to see some free chatter. But of course, feel free to play devil's advocate with each other. I love to see a bit of that over a circle of people nodding among themselves. ;)


_{The Smarmy Society: Because loving the Trio is too mainstream.}

Comments

[mmailliw.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think I will disagree with nearly everyone else here. I think that the actor has absolutely no bearing on the character itself. While a good actor (like Helena Bonham Carter for Bellatrix Lestrange) can perform a character well, to me the character will always be the character written on the page and not the person who is playing the character for money.

The only way I will really notice a character is when they are a bad fit, either in appearance or in their acting. One example is Narcissa Malfoy's actress, Helen McCrory. She was, I believe, the third or fourth choice for the role (and was initially considered to play Bellatrix Lestrange which would have been a weirder fit) but her physical appearance was so far from what I would have considered Narcissa to be - and from the way she was portrayed in canon - that I did not view her even remotely as Narcissa. One should keep in mind that Narcissa was born in 1955 according to canon and therefore was, at most, a mere forty one years of age during the sixth movie (and only a year older for the final movie). While Helen was around that age, her makeup - including both face and hair - made her look closer to geriatric than that... to the point that I wondered whether the people doing casting had misread Narcissa as Draco's grandmother.

Even that, though, pales in comparison to the age mismatch of the casting of Severus Snape. While it is true that Alan Rickman was able to capture Snape's personality perfectly, his physical appearance was that of an old man who aged from his mid fifties to his mid sixties throughout the casting of the series. Sounds the right age for an irascible professor, right? Enough so that you would forget what was actually written in the page... that Severus was a mere thirty one years of age during Harry's first movie (and 37 at his death)! In other words, canon talks about a Snape who joined the Death Eaters as a teenager and was barely 21 when he started teaching at Hogwarts - which is an entirely different story from someone who had 25 years of adulthood before joining up with Voldemort and didn't become head of Slytherin until he was already middle aged. There, we see how casting - even by actors who can pull off the personality part - can completely change the role/story of a character.

William//Slytherin [414; 237 if you don't count discussion on Snape]

[slumber.livejournal.com]

I think this is an interesting POV because the dissonance for you stems from characters you seem to have paid closer attention to. I think I'd have agreed that these actors didn't fit their roles had I initially cared as much for the characters mentioned -- but my idea of who they were and how they should look like were fleeting compared to how I thought of other characters, so I was a bit more lenient toward how they were cast in the series. I don't know that I've ever felt such a strong opinion for any single person's casting except, perhaps, for Finnick Odair (from the Hunger Games).

Evyclaw

[evening12]

stems from characters you seem to have paid closer attention to I’m the same way. Also when I read really exciting books I don’t pay attention to details for the first couple of times I read the books, so characters like Snape get labelled as adult with some sense of a physical description like his hair and nose because they are peculiar. By the time I got to doing the math and realized that Snape was 37 and Rickman looked a bit older than 37, I’d already seen the movies and Rickman was my Snape. I can also easily believe that being a Death Eater took a tole on Snape and he aged quicker and badly as a result.

Martine/Ravenclaw

[interchanges.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your brought up Snape's age. Whenever I mention how I was slightly disappointed by that, people are all like, "But Alan Rickman plays him so well!" Yes, I'm not arguing that, but he's just MUCH older than the character and you're right- it does change how you see the character and their role in the story if you change their age that much. And it does make me forget on my re-reads how much younger he is.

Chelsea/Ravenclaw