[HPFGU-Movie] Acting vs Embodying (was Re: Dan's acting)

[Richard]

At 03:20 30/11/2005 , Julie replied to my previous:

<snip>

>So Dan's acting skill is generally a moot point for me. I'm thrilled he 
>got the role, I love how he's embodied Harry Potter, and I am extremely 
>grateful he will again do so in OotP and HBP. And I  await those future 
>performances eagerly.

Let me repeat again, and for fear of appearing patronising, I think I need 
to make a distinction crystal clear: I do not object in any way to Dan 
playing HP, and I doubt that the casting people could have found anyone 
better. What I object to is people extrapolating that just because Dan is 
the perfect Harry, that he is a great (or even good) actor. Some people 
around here just don't seem to be able to understand that distinction.

I have nothing against Dan - on the contrary, I think he's a terrific young 
man, a wonderful role model, and a perfect example of how it's possible to 
be probably the best-known teenager on the planet and the most 
independently-wealthy teenager in Britain while remaining "normal". As he 
himself is the first to admit, though, and without diminishing his 
qualities, a considerable amount of the credit for that goes to his 
parents. More than his being  a perfect role model, I think his parents 
(along with those of Haley Osment - I don't think it's coincidental that 
both the Radcliffes and the Osments Senior are connected to show business, 
know the pitfalls and are able to avoid them) are a perfect example of how 
to raise and nurture teenage celebrities.

The thing is, child casting is not about finding great actors (great adult 
actors are few and far between; great child actors are rarer that 
gold-dust). Child roles are filled by kids who are very much like their 
characters for one reason or other, and who don't actually *need* to "act" 
in any of the miriad technical meanings of the term. So many child actors 
have failed precisely because they (and those managing their careers) fail 
to appreciate that fact, and put them up for roles for which are simply not 
suited, in other words, where they have to *act*, rather than *be*. Just 
because a child plays a particular character well, it doesn't mean that 
they are capable of playing anything else.

I'm not surprised that in the film Dan is making right now (from all I've 
heard about it), he's another plucky orphan: he's playing to his strengths, 
but at the same time, is attempting to expand his repertoire by doing 
something most *adult* actors do badly: adopting a foreign accent (in this 
case, Australian): considering there are all kinds of variables (there 
isn't a "single" Australian "accent", and most people probably wouldn't be 
able to tell the difference anyway), he can probably get away with a fair 
approximation.

Yet more interesting (and he's already admitted that it's far more of a 
challenge) is the fact that the film is on a more typical movie schedule: 
six weeks of intensive filming, all day and going through scenes with a 
minimum of fuss and repetition, with a single camera. Earlier this morning, 
I watched Clemence Poesy on French TV in a round-table discussion about GoF 
(the film was released in France today), talking about how strange making a 
HP movie is, with generous schedules, three or four cameras rolling 
simultaneously for most scenes, and take after take after take. (I might 
make that discussion available somewhere - I recorded the programme, and 
some bits of it were fairly interesting - I might relay a few more comments 
from it later on, and I might find a way to make the video available online.)

I reserve judgment about Dan's "acting" abilities until after I've seen 
that film. In the meantime, by all means, let's all agree that he *is* 
Harry Potter, and along with everyone else, I can't imagine anyone else 
taking over from him. But let's also agree that he is NOT a great actor! At 
least, as I said before, not *yet*.

--
Richard. who's not going to participate in any more "How great is Dan" 
threads because this is beginning to get boring.