CASTING - Lupin

[GulPlum <plumeski@yahoo.com>]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, Moonstruck 
<myphilosophy2001 at y...> wrote:
> Rrishi:
> 
> >>>>>As for Jeremy Irons, I disagree. Irons is far too
> throaty and suave for a Lupin. He has a sense of
> immense and immensely-controlled internal power, as if
> it were on the point of breaking loose and is only
> held in restraint by an iron will (ha). In any case,
> the actor's palpable intensity on-screen makes him an
> odd choice, IMO, for an apparently mild and
> unprepossessing Professor Lupin. Even if he were
> sprinkled with dust and dressed shabbily.>>>>>

If you don't think Jeremy Irons can do "quiet" without 
being "intense", I suggest you watch Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers", in 
which Irons did a magnificent job of doing both in the same movie (he 
played twins, one of whom was quiet and the other intense).

> He's also far, far too old. 

How can you possibly say that about him, yet accept Rickman as Snape, 
considering Irons is a full 3 1/2 years younger? (more on that in a 
moment). Last week, the European Awards were shown on TV here (I 
don't expect for a moment that any American TV network would have 
been interested in showing them), and it was the first time I'd ever 
seen Irons and Rickman together (they were presenting one of the 
awards). Without makeup, the age difference looked considerably more. 

> Lupin is repeatedly
> refered to in PoA as appearing quite young. Plus, he's
> supposed to be PREMATURELY graying. This is important,
> because the fact that Lupin is so often ill and
> graying AT ALL for someone so young emphasizes the
> physical (if not mental) toll being a werewolf has
> taken on him. 
> 
> Casting an actor too old would eliminate that
> significance and take away an important nuance of the
> character. Irons, I'm afraid, has probably been gray
> for many years. He's certainly not believable as
> someone who is PREMATURELY graying. 
> 
> Granted, they cast older for Snape, but JKR never
> refers to as Snape as looking young in any way. He's
> believable as someone who looks older than his age.
> Lupin, however, is not --at least not to Snape's
> degree.

Sorry, I just don't get your logic. Yes, when we first meet him, 
Lupin is described as "quite young", but this description is simply 
there to underline the fact that his condition has had an adverse 
effect on his appearance. Bear in mind that there is absolutely no 
indication whatsoever in the books about how old Snape might be. We 
know only from that oft-quoted interview that JKR sees him as being 
in his mid-30s. Also, as he's meant to be Lupin's (younger-looking, 
by your admission) contemporary, the movie casting has already thrown 
the importance of that single mention of "young" with regard to Lupin 
out of the window.

The logic of the story DEMANDS that he actor should be someone who is 
believably the same age as Alan Rickman, but appears older (the same 
goes for Sirius).

As a result, surely it would make sense to cast someone *older* than 
Rickman, NOT younger? Or at the VERY least, someone of approximately 
the same age?

The logic of casting someone *considerably* younger than him (around 
15 years in the case of Firth or Hannah, or 30 in the case of 
Farrell!) quite simply makes no sense whatsoever.

I'm not saying that Irons would have been my original choice as the 
books' Lupin, but then neither would Rickman have been my choice for 
Snape (had I read the books before I saw the first movie). 

I'm in total agreement with what David Heyman said somewhere along 
the line (to Newsround?), in reply to the suggestion of casting Ewan 
McGregor (who's 25 years Rickman's junior) as Lupin: Snape has been 
cast and already appeared in two movies; several characters' being 
his contemporaries is a major element of the third book's plot (the 
Potters, Remus, Sirius and Peter) and therefore they MUST be cast 
accordingly. Casting them by their apparent ages in the books is a 
pipedream that will NEVER, EVER come true!

The insistence of some fans to give these parts to 30-something 
actors actually makes me angry. I can understand kids insisting on 
it, but surely adults can be just a LITTLE more objective? I really, 
sincerely, would suggest that people take this matter on board when 
imagining who might be cast. Start with Rickman and work around him, 
NOT the (scant) age indications in the books.