[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Azkaban - Oldman is Inspired Casting

[Kriselda Jarnsaxa]

doliesl recently mentioned:

> > My issue is that - based on what I've seen of his previous
> > work, I can't see him projecting the warm heart that Sirius needs to have
> > by the end of the film.  Quite simply, I can't see him giving a 
> 13-year-old
> > kid a hug -- or a kid WANTING to hug him, for that matter.
>
>Gary Oldman IS a father in real life who does care for his son (as he
>said so). It's kinda absurd anyone would ever doubt he's some kind of
>freak who's clueless to the idea of "fatherly love'. And he IS a well-
>known versatile "chameleon" actor of our time.

I didn't say he was "clueless" to the idea of "fatherly love", just that in 
his performances (and I've never seen anything of him "out of character", 
so I have no idea how he comes across when he's just being Gary Oldman) 
he's never been someone I could see having a tender relationship with a child.

Something to keep in mind, though, is that what a person is or feels in 
real life doesn't always equal what they can do or show on screen.  There 
have been plenty of times that I've watched a program or movie in which a 
real-life couple is playing on-screen lovers, and the chemistry on the 
screen is as flat as a can of soda that's been left open for a year. 
Whatever they may feel for each other in real life, it doesn't come across 
when they're acting.  With Oldman, he may well be a wonderful father (and 
I'm not doubting that he is, as I said, I just don't know anything about 
how he is off camera), but I've never seen anything from him that tells me 
he can play that on-screen.  It's an opinion based on what I've observed, 
and nothing more

>And I don't understand the big fuss with doubting Gary's ability to
>expressed the so-called "warmth". Even when he was playing a monster
>(Dracula), he did show enough unconventional and
>unforgettable "warmth" to make him a sympathetic love-lorn vampire.

See, this is one place we have a significant difference of opinion.  At no 
point during that movie did I buy his being a sympathetic 
character.  "Dracula" is one of my husband's favourite movies, so I've seen 
it a good number of times, but I simply wasn't impressed by anyone's 
performance in it.

>The Dracula story was turn into a beautiful love story. Maybe
>not "warmth" as in the overtly cuddlely kind as in Hollywood romantic
>comedy's leading man.

I would never expect Dracula to be "cuddly" in the least, but nothing in 
that particular telling of the story struck me as Dracula being in love - 
only obsessed, and they are very different feelings.  I never got the 
feeling that he actually cared for or loved Mina at all - merely that he 
was driven to possess her.  Any consideration showed to her wasn't out of 
concern for her well-being but because Dracula knew if he pushed her too 
hard or the wrong way, he would lose her, and that was what had to be 
avoided.  The way I saw it, there was nothing romantic there at all -- but 
that's my opinion on it, and obviously others (including my husband) 
disagree.


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