[HPFGU-Movie] Digest Number 569

[Sara]

--- HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Message: 1
>    Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 15:18:44 -0500
>    From: Kriselda Jarnsaxa
> <thorswitch at thunderhaven.net>
> Subject: Azkaban casting

> 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.  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.

You have perfectly summed up my response to hearing
the news of Oldman's casting. I could try to cheer you
up about it, but since I feel similarly disappointed,
I'll just have to commiserate with you instead.
Strange thing is I used to love Oldman. I mean, LOVE
him. I found his characters both charismatic and
attractive - certainly not in a traditional way - and
his performances almost always quite powerful. But,
you see, I've always loved great movie villains, and
Gary's are among the best. Yet even when he has played
characters who are not psychotic killers (which has
not been often) - Beethoven in "Immortal Beloved", for
example - they have, as you said, never betrayed a bit
of human warmth or tenderness. Instead they are
sarcastic, angry, emotionally distant, or (in the case
of his Guildenstern...or was he Rosencrantz?)
basically braindead. I have never seen him portray a
character that both possesses a dangerous edge and a
deeper side consisting of fierce loyalty, bravery,
tenderness and love - and thus imagining him as
Harry's protective godfather and James and Lily's
avenging angel is rather difficult for me. He has
proven in the past - when his performances aren't WAY
over the top - that he is a good actor, and so I'm not
ruling out the possibility that he may indeed be able
to pull it off. I'm just saying that I can't imagine
he'll portray Sirius as anything close to the book
version.

Furthermore, as you also mentioned, he is physically
unsuited to the role. I know that when Sirius comes
out of Azkaban he is a wasted form of the man he was
before - but I still always imagined him to have
strength and a powerful presence. Oldman is quite
short, and in recent years he has appeared as if he is
anorexic. I know many people have pointed to his role
in "The Scarlet Letter" as proof that he can play
ruggedly handsome - but that was about ten years ago
and, well, suffice it to say that he's aged. I too had
pictured Viggo Mortensen in the role of Sirius, which
nonetheless I knew was an impossibility - but there
are plenty of other British actors who could have made
a better Sirius. Hugh Jackman would have worked
(though I don't know if Rowling's all-British rule
extended to Australians); so too would Jeremy Irons.
But Oldman is absolutely the last person I would have
expected them to cast as Sirius. As a physical
incarnation of Voldemort, yes. As Sirius, no way.

By the way, Kriselda - loved your reference from "The
Professional". ;) My favorite line would have to be,
"What's your name angel?" which I can just now see
Sirius saying to Hermione - and that ain't right!

Sara




__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com