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Latter-day shite at the movies.
Nov. 22nd, 2005 09:39 amOne of the factoids to come out of the marketing blitz surrounding the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is that JK Rowling has had meetings with various important members of the cast not only to chat about what she intends for their characters and their motivations, but also to ask the actors what they think should happen to their character development.
This is an unusual thing to happen - literary adaptations to the cinema are nothing new - but the fact that Harry Potter books and films are being produced at the same time means that this sort of collaboration is possible. It would not be happening, however, if the actors in the films had not come to so strongly define the characters who are portrayed. Even the author is now basing her characterisation upon the actors - I challenge anyone to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and tell me that JK Rowling is not channelling Maggie Smith's interpretation of McGonagall in her writing.
In the history of television and cinema, many books have been adapted many times and some of these adaptations have come to be regarded as 'definitive', as have some actors portrayals of a character. Old theatre hands enthuse of Olivier's Hamlet, and geeks like me point to Max von Sydow and Brian Blessed as perfect casting in Flash Gordon. As Alan Rickman has come to exemplify Professor Snape, so have some other actors given what are seen as the definitive performance of literary or historical characters; performances which when that character is played by anyone else will always be held up as the measure to which they must aspire. With this in mind I've created a short list of actor portrayals of literary characters which some consider definitive - and not-so-definitive. I'd be interested in any you might think I've missed out, too.
[Poll #617812]
This is an unusual thing to happen - literary adaptations to the cinema are nothing new - but the fact that Harry Potter books and films are being produced at the same time means that this sort of collaboration is possible. It would not be happening, however, if the actors in the films had not come to so strongly define the characters who are portrayed. Even the author is now basing her characterisation upon the actors - I challenge anyone to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and tell me that JK Rowling is not channelling Maggie Smith's interpretation of McGonagall in her writing.
In the history of television and cinema, many books have been adapted many times and some of these adaptations have come to be regarded as 'definitive', as have some actors portrayals of a character. Old theatre hands enthuse of Olivier's Hamlet, and geeks like me point to Max von Sydow and Brian Blessed as perfect casting in Flash Gordon. As Alan Rickman has come to exemplify Professor Snape, so have some other actors given what are seen as the definitive performance of literary or historical characters; performances which when that character is played by anyone else will always be held up as the measure to which they must aspire. With this in mind I've created a short list of actor portrayals of literary characters which some consider definitive - and not-so-definitive. I'd be interested in any you might think I've missed out, too.
[Poll #617812]
