Your favorite actor/actress in HP movies

[potioncat]

> Carol:
> Well, not pretty, exactly, but not squat and ugly and toad-faced 
like
> Umbridge in the books.


Potioncat:
I thought movie!Umbridge looked pretty. I recall reading an interview 
in which Imelda Staunton talked about the role. Someone had suggested 
she would be perfect for it, and after she read the book, she wasn't 
so sure it was a compliment.

She's played other characters who were much less attractive than the 
movie!Umbridge. So I'm not at all sure why this "look" was chosen. I 
think they were going for an aspect of "the silly, little-girl, pink-
and-frilly femininity that contrasts so sharply with the follow-the-
rules-or-else mentality of the High Inquisitor." that Carol mentioned.

Carol:
(I hated the costuming, too. A Muggle cardigan and "Alice
> band" (both pink and fuzzy) worn with Witch's robes would have been
> better. 

Potioncat:
The costuming is horrible overall. There's no consistency in what the 
adults wear. The kids all look like regular kids. I've never liked it.

(OK, OK, Snape's outfit has merits all its own, nothing to do with 
canon, but probably pleases the Snape fan base.)


> 
> Carol:
 He [Gambon] really needs to read the books and
> play *Dumbledore* rather than playing himself as a bearded man in
> Wizard robes (of sorts).

Potioncat:
Add my vote for O'Toole. Didn't he play "Mr. Chips"?

I've hated Gambon as DD. Except...either in HBP or DH, I've forgotten 
which, there's an interaction between Snape and DD that screamed 
Gambon.
> 

> 
> Carol:
> Not noticing that Dame Evie and Mrs. Weasley are played by the same
> person is completely understandable. Julie Walters is a fine 
character
> actress who disappears into her roles. They're very different parts,
> with very different makeup, and she plays both roles convincingly.

Potioncat:
This is what I've enjoyed about following British actors. They really 
play roles--warts and all.