[HPforGrownups] FANTASY casting...

[Dave Hardenbrook]

No: HPFGUIDX 170591

Thanks for this thread, Bart -- This is something I've thought about
in the past...  So here is my own fantasy casting:


McGonnegall: EDNA MAY OLIVER
Edna May Oliver frequently portrayed stern but loving matrons, the
archtype of which must be her portrayal of Aunt Betsey in MGM's
version of DAVID COPPERFIELD.  Anyone who can do such a definitive
Aunt Betsey could, with a the right glasses and a Scottish accent, be
Minerva McGonnegal.

Lupin: MICHAEL RENNIE
His calm, cool, almost other-worldly voice (especially in
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) seems to suit the most mild-mannered
(except once a month) of the Mauraders.

Tonks: JANE HORROCKS
I'm ready to concede that's she's just a little too old now, but about
ten years ago, in her days as LITTLE VOICE, and Rimmer's love interest
in RED DWARF, she had just the right combo of quirkiness and sex
appeal to be our lovely Nymphadora.

Lucius Malfoy: HENRY DANIELL
Daniell practically made a whole career of playing Lucius-like,
"respectable" sadists, from Brocklehurst in Orson Welles' version of
JANE EYRE, to the Joesef Goebbels character ("Garbage") in Chaplin's
THE GREAT DICTATOR.

Alastor Moody: FINLAY CURRIE
Character actor Finlay Currie could have passed for Mad-Eye when he
played Magwitch in David Lean's GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946), in the
scene when he returns for Austrailia and gives poor John Mills the
creeps -- Just exchange his eye-patch for a Magical Eye, and you've
got him.

Lord Thingy: EDUARDO CIANNELLI
Ciannelli, who portrayed the ESE Guru (with an appropriately
high, cold voice) in GUNGA DIN (1939), is how I used to envision
Salazaar Slytherin, and with some strategic makeup and a fair dose
of Skele-gro, he could work as Slytherin's tall, snake-faced heir.

Wormtail: ROY KINNEAR
British comedian Kinnear was appropriately watery-eyed and
weak-kneed in WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, obeying daughter
Veruca's orders at all times without question.

Umbridge: JEAN KENT
If you put her in a trash compactor and made her short and squat, I
can imagine Ms. Kent, who in such films as THE BROWNING VERSION (the
original 1951 vesrion, with Michael Redgrave) is all sugar-coated
arsenic.

Slughorn: MILES MALLESON
Actor and screenwriter Malleson is like a "big overgrown baby"
(complete with the walrus-like mustache) as the Sultan
in Korda's 1940 version of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD -- a silly
old man who loves his mechanical toy collection as much as Slughorn
loves his "toys" (smoking jackets, crystalized pineapple, etc.), and
who is more than willing to sell his own daughter to get in good with
the neighboring powers-that-be.

Dumbledore: EDMUND GWINN & ROBERT DONAT
I'm afraid this one might require some genetic splicing, but take the
kindly bearded face and gentle voice of Edmund Gwinn (MIRACLE ON 34TH
STREET) and combine it with the stature and professorial quality of
Robert Donat (GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS), and I think you have an ideal Albus.


And since cartoons are allowed, I'll add:

Teenage Tom Riddle: MOZENRATH
Handsome, slick, and ESE, the arch villian from Disney's ALADDIN (the
TV series) would be ideal as the young, pre-Horcrux Voldemort.  He
even covets the Philosopher's Stone in one episode!


Dave