[HPFGU-OTChatter] character images

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

> I'm Julie, a 22-year-old HP fan from Brazil and I'm new to the list. Well,
I
> joined two weeks ago, and I'm enjoying it immensely.
> Let me ask you a question, both film and book related: how do you imagine
> H/R/H, and Hogwarts, and everything else? Do you still remember the images
> you had before the first movie came out? Or is inevitable to see Harry
> looking like Daniel Radcliffe, for example?

First off: Welcome!

Secondly:  While I fully expected to have "my" visions of the characters
(esp. HRH) changed to match the actors in the movies, I've found that this
was not the case.

I do think that Dan makes an excellent Harry, but my mental image of the Boy
That Lived is a little thinner around the face than Radcliffe, and...I don't
know...generally more *pointy*, I think.  Radcliffe just looks waaay too
healthy and cherubic to have suffered nearly eleven years of mistreatment
and occasional near-starvation.  Also, my Harry has messier hair. *smirks*

As for Ron, while I think Rupert Grint is extremely likeable and
cute-as-a-button, he's just not tall and lanky enough to fit my mental image
of what Ron should look like.  However, I am mostly pleased with his
performance in the movies.

And Hermione...*sighs* I'm afraid I have..something against Ms. Watson.  I
don't know what it is, but whenever I read or watch an interview with her,
all my fur gets rubbed the wrong way.  Besides the fact that she doesn't
even come remotely *close* to my mental image of Hermione, I don't really
like her attitude.  I think she's gotten better recently, but in the
beginning she was always bashing her character and prattling on about
clothing.  *shakes head*  I'm sure she's a perfectly nice person in real
life, but I can't stand the way she comes across in interviews.

>What about Dumbledore?

My only complaint with Harris was that his voice (and I don't know if this
was intentional or due to age and/or illness) was *too* whispery and old
sounding, with way to many pauses for breath.  I'm interested in seeing how
Michael Gambon fits into the role...I've only seen one picture of him in
costume, and (due mostly to all the hair and beard, I think) he looked
remarkably like Harris's Dumbledore.

> However,I refuse to think of Sirius as Gary Oldman, I didn't like that one
> at all, and I've got my image of Sirius intact in my mind, same applies to
> Lupin. How about you?

Oh, I couldn't agree more.  Eee....I've had no problem so far with
reconciling "my" characters to the actors that play them in the movies, but
I have a *very* strong picture of Sirius in my head, and Gary Oldman just
isn't working for me.  I was concerned when I first heard that they had cast
him, and now that I've seen the picture that was up at The Leaky Cauldron,
I'm frankly scared.  Hopefully, it won't affect my movie-going experience
enough to ruin the whole thing for me.

Laura (who likes Oldman quite a bit, actually, but just thinks he's all
wrong for Sirius.)