How we picture characters

[dungrollin]

> Cheryl:
>
My question for you is:  How have the movies influenced your view 
when you read the books?  
<snip>

Dungrollin:
I've only seen each film once (and regret having bothered with the 
last two), and I find that they influence my reading for a few 
months, but eventually I get my own characters back. Except for 
Hagrid, I can't remember what my Hagrid looked like.

> What movie characters are closest to your book visions and why?  

Dungrollin:
Hagrid, presumably (although before film 1 I would have cast Brian 
Blessed), and McGonagall (anyone who saw The Prime of Miss Jean 
Brodie would have immediately cast Maggie Smith).

My Lupin looked much more like Mark Rylance, my DD *very* like Alec 
Guinness (though taller), and my Peeves will always be Rick Mayall 
(yes, I know Peeves doesn't appear in the films).

> Does ANYONE not think Rickman is the most perfect Snape ever?

Dungrollin:
Yes, me; and I appreciate this may make me unpopular. He's too old, 
he's not tall enough, and he's not spikey enough. And I hate the 
costume and the wig. He's too heavy on the sinister, overly-dramatic 
in the wrong places, and is not heavy enough on the sarcasm - though 
that may be due to the scripts.

If it had been me... well, ideally I'd have gone back in time 30-odd 
years and cast a young Ian Richardson (he played a Machiavellian 
politician in a BBC political drama called House of Cards in the mid-
90s. "You may very well think that, Matty, but I couldn't possibly 
comment," - any Brits remember?) More realistically, Richard E. 
Grant - he does a great line in apoplexy, although they seem to have 
cut all of Snape's good bits of fury from the films.

Just a personal preference.

While we're at it, (and it may have been mentioned before), does 
anyone else think that what JKR told Rickman was about Legilimency? 
All that eyeballing Rickman does when he's looking at Harry in the 
first two films makes me think so.

Dung