[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Lupin Cast?

[GulPlum]

  acciopotter wrote:

>I agree with not being thrilled about the choice for Lupin...And I am
>not happy at all with the rumors about Gary Oldman playing Sirius...I
>wihs someone could tell me what in the world the casting directors
>were thinking when they let him in on it. Urrgghhh...Oh I think Ralph
>Fiennes would have been a great Lupin..to me the actors they have
>presumably picked are not attractive enough..not that that is
>important to the story but I always pictured them to be
>so..especially Sirius as there are several mentions to him being a
>handsome man..something Gary Oldman is definately not..

To which the only possible response is "beauty is in the eye of the 
beholder". :-)

I'm not really qualified to express an opinion as to Thewlis's or Oldman's 
appearance being "attractive"; the only way one man can express an opinion 
about another's appearance is whether or not he'd want to look that way. I 
for one wouldn't want to look like OIdman (but then I'd not like to look 
like several blokes some women consider to be "sex magnets", 
*cough*alanrickman*cough*). :-) Generally speaking, though, neither Thewlis 
nor Oldman could possibly be considered "romantic lead material", which I 
think is what you're getting at.

Bear in mind that I come at this from the perspective of a guy of roughly 
the same generation as Oldman and Thewlis, and a big guy to boot (I am 
roughly the same size as Robbie Coltrane, although - thankfully - 
considerably less rotund; yes, I have met him in person). :-)

As I said fairly recently, for me, the most important attributes of the 
actors playing these characters is the "aura" they project, rather than 
their looks. I don't really care about what canon says about their physical 
appearance (although Black definitely must have black hair - he does become 
a black dog, after all!).

The way I see (or rather, feel) it, Lupin should be fairly average size 
(possibly a little below average) and quite emaciated. Despite this, he 
projects an air of quiet authority and immediately commands respect.

Black, on the other hand, should be on the big side, and as I once 
described it, have something of a boxer's feel around him: on first 
meeting, he doesn't automatically command respect, but physical fear.

The biggest problem I have with Oldman is that (according to IMDb) he's 
only 5'9" and I simply don't see his physical presence to be strong enough. 
Yes, on screen he frequently plays scary characters, but it's usually 
because the characters are mentally unhinged for one reason or another and 
it is the character's unpredictability rather than physical presence which 
scares people.

Black is *not* unpredictable. Sure, he's not thinking quite straight 
throughout PoA, but this is because he is single-minded rather than 
deranged. As good an actor as Oldman is, I don't really think he can pull 
it off. And I definitely don't think he can pull off the avuncular, caring, 
Sirius of the rescue scene, or GoF for that matter.

As for Thewlis, perhaps I'm short-changing him, but he's just a little 
too... genially buffoonish... to pull off the seriousness and quiet dignity 
which IMO are what Lupin is all about.

Again, as I said previously, I *hope* that both the actors and the director 
are able to show me a side to them I've not seen before, but right now, my 
hopes aren't very high.