the casting of Emma Thompson as prof. trelawney

[Ali]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "zoelouisepike" 
<zoelouisepike at y...> wrote:

> Was anyone else disappointed in the choice of Emma Thompson as 
Prof. Trelawney? Ok, she's a fantastic actress but I can't help but 
think JKR's insistance on using British actors has gone too far this 
time. 

> I just felt Thompson's charming 'Englishness',as it were, just 
wasn't right for the eccenticity of the divination teacher.


Ali:

I think perhaps that you're confusing two issues: one, whether it is 
right to insist on British actors for the films, and two, whether 
Emma Thompson was good as Prof. Trelawney.

For me, I am interested in the best actors available for the roles. 
It is also important for me that they *sound* British. It is much 
easier to sound British, if you are British: I've seen relatively 
few non-Brits actors who can really get through the "Ali test" for 
sounding authentic. Thus, in general, it will be easier to have a 
British actor playing a British part - but that is a generalisation.

In terms of whether Thompson was good for the part, I liked her 
interpretation of Trelawney - although it was different, and more 
comical than I had imagined. I can't define Thompson by 
her "Englishness": I'm English, and I don't see the stereotyping 
there. She is playing an eccentric English character, eccentrically. 

It's very clear with most of the actors, that different people have 
very different views about how they rate the performance, but I 
think it unfair to blame any perceived shortcomings in Thompson's 
performance on the fact that JKR wanted British actors. I personally 
believe that was to ensure the films retained their basic British 
character and not to be unduly Americanised. There still are phrases 
which I do not believe an English child would say, but on the whole, 
the films have retained the basic character of the books.

Ali