Azkaban casting

[Kriselda Jarnsaxa]

I hope this is considered an appropriate topic for this mailing list.  I'm 
still a bit new, so I'm not sure.  If it's not, PLEASE let me know off-list 
and DON'T bother responding to it, so that it doesn't end up starting a 
thread that shouldn't be here.  Thanks!!

That said, here goes...  :)

I was just looking at IMDb and noticed that they've cast Gary 
(EEEEEEEVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYOOOOONNNNNNEEEEEEEE) Oldman as Sirius!  I 
think my heart has just collapsed in on itself!

Let me back up for a minute.  I know a lot of people really like Gary 
Oldman, but, in my experience, I've never felt any kind of human warmth 
coming from any of his characters.  I know they need Sirius to have a 
dangerous edge, but he also has to have that heart at his core that was 
able to keep him sane with the knowledge of his own innocence, and the love 
he has for Harry that pushes him to risk escaping from Azkaban to protect 
Potter from Pettigrew - and I honestly cannot see Oldman pulling that 
off.  Ironically, while reading the book, the "face" my mind wanted to put 
to Sirius was Alan Rickman, but, well, he's kinda busy right now, I realize 
*G*  (and he's perfect as Snape!), but that's the kind of performer it's 
going to take.  I just can't remember feeling this distressed about a 
casting decision in quite some time.  I just hope that Oldman can surprise 
the daylights out of me, but I'm not holding my breath.

Who would I have picked instead?  Well, I don't have a definite candidate, 
but I have some ideas.  Hugh Jackman and Viggo Mortensen can both obviously 
pull off the "I may be dangerous and deadly, but I could really use a hug 
right now (and if you tell anyone that, I'll have to kill you, you 
realize)" character off quite well, as demonstrated by Wolverine and 
Aragorn respectively (though Mortensen isn't British, which could be a 
problem) as can Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, though he's probably too young (Ok, 
definitely too young, but they screen tested him as the next Bond (?!), so 
who knows....).  Liam Neeson could probably do it...  or, ooh!  Tim 
Roth!  Now, that'd have been an excellent choice?

So, anyone want to either commiserate with me or try and cheer me back up?  :)


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