To hate when a television adaptation uses actors who look nothing like the description in the book

[Vintagejazz]

I was watching an Agatha Christie adaptation last night and two of the main characters looked absolutely nothing like the way they're described by AC. In fact one looked the exact opposite. I know casting directors have to take account of other things besides looks, but I find it irritating when there seems to be no resemblance between the book description and the actor chosen.

AIBU?

effinandjeffin I completely agree about Carey Mulligan being Bathsheba Everdene, it's so wrong it makes me want to cry. In the original they all have very 60's hair but apart from that it's perfect.

My favorite Jane Austen casting is Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, least favorite is Billy Piper.

SacreBlue I had no idea! That is the least Angelica Houston-y role ever

Yes, Billie Piper as Fanny in 'Mansfield Park' was just wrong, Fanny is supposed to be a little pale self-effacing thing, and there was BP gallumping around, almost bursting out of her bodice.

Henry VIII - I am very much looking forward to Damian Lewis! Much as I like Ray Winstone, that was terrible casting. Kept expecting him to address his wives as 'You slaaaag"

Yep. Emma Watson wasn't "my" hermione either. Too obviously pretty "but we'll just back comb her hair a bit to disguise it"!

Worst Austen one has to be Gwyneth P in the film version of Emma - she was supposed to have hazel eyes and brown hair for a start and not be GP

I don't understand why the young Lily had brown eyes when they mentioned the fact Harry had her eyes in every film/book?!

Also, Gary Oldman is seriously sexy as Sirius. I think Lupin is wrong though

They might have got Rebus right, but to cast siobhan as blonde with long hair?..

Specifically says short dark hair. She was just totally wrong

Rustybear they are, but at the end of TLtWatW, when it's describing adult Lucy CS Lewis writes something along the lines of "as for Lucy she remained golden haired..."

YY to Ciaran Hinds. Sexy then, sexy now.

Sirius was supposed to be sexy ? I'm sure Rowling never said that.

The problem with the HP actors is that James & Lily were supposed to be 21 when they died, meaning that Snape, Lupin, Sirius etc were roughly 32 at the start of the series, but they all look so much older! I know they had hard lives (azkaban, secret werewolfing, etc, but come on!). Alan Rickman was in his 60s by the end of the films!

Ooh sorry SockQueen just said almost exactly the same as you!

YY to everything said about Harry Potter, I thought Julie Walters was fabulously cast as Mrs Wesley though. ..and also Mark..someone as Mr Weasley? The twins were v wooden though. Someone mentioned Wuthering Heights earlier upthread...I think Ralph Fiennes was a great Heathcliff although every other character was terrible in it!

Mrs Weasley not Wesley!

I still haven't got over Rupert Campbell Black in Riders (am old).

Tom Hanks in the Da Vinci Code
He's supposed to be a still quite fit and attractive man for a start!

The problem with the Weasley twins must lie with the makers wanting unknown twin boys who were willing to have their hair dyed ginger for 10 years
Can't see many putting up with it tbh, and the lines she gave them were always pretty cheesy..
I didn't think Tonks was right at all - she was supposed to be feisty and bright colours, the actress apparently decided that sullen and moody was in order.

As soon as I read the thread title I thought of Ellie from Jacqueline Wilson's Girls in Love. Her being a bit on the tubby side was absolutely integral to the plot. I seem to remember they changed the little brothers character quite a lot too.

www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2004/12/a_whitewashed_earthsea.html

Never seen it, but the above has to be one of the worst. Loved the Earthsea books as a kid, so would've tried to get hold of a copy but not after reading the author's review!

Have to agree with Tulip on the GoT casting - while I have come to like the TV characters, I find a lot of them are very different to the books!
Also, just going by looks - the Stark family: Robb, Sansa, Bran and Rickon are meant to take after their mother and all have auburn hair/ blue eyes, whereas Arya and Jon look like Ned and have long faces, dark hair and grey eyes. In the show, at first I couldn't distinguish at all between Jon, Robb, and Theon as they look so alike! So I don't know why everyone here thinks the casting's so spot on? (also notably un-like the books: Ser Jorah, Daario Naharis, Tyrion Lannister, Edmure Tully)

Reese Witherspoon as Becky Sharp!!! No no no. I watched ten minutes and switched it off. Just so wrong.

I also hate it when characters behave inappropriately for the period like Emma Thompson and Hugh grant flirting in Sense and Sensibility. Or Keira Knightley running off for a midnight jaunt in her nightie. That behaviour will get you locked up in an asylum somewhere ladies.

Rebus will always be Peter Capaldi in my head.

So I don't know why everyone here thinks the casting's so spot on?

I think they / we (because generally I do think it's great!) are dazzled by the excellent castings, like Arya, Viserys and especially Tywin (possibly my favourite casting in anything ever) and by the ones that maybe aren't perfect on paper but which sell the heck out of it (Bronn, Tyrion, Cersei).

Honest question, but do people really feel that physical characteristics are that important in casting?

Sometimes they are important to the plot - Cersei and Jaime and Joffrey all being so blonde, Jack Reacher being physically impressive, Jane being prettier than Lizzie.

But a lot of the time it's not, really. Doesn't matter if Sharpe is blonde instead of dark haired. Doesn't really matter if Becky Sharpe isn't that blonde. Doesn't really matter if Harry has brown eyes instead of green.

Surely the spirit of the character is generally more important?

I thought Julie Christie & Alan Bates were miscast in "far from the madding crowd" - whilst searching who the cast were as I'd forgotten names & just remembered how it had irritated me when we watched it at school after having finished the book - apparently there is a remake due out next year!