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to think that the Harry Potter are timeless literature and the films are woefully miscast?

577 replies

LRDtheFeministDragon · 03/08/2014 22:18

Inflammatory title to draw you in. I hope. I just fancied some HP chat. Smile

I'm re-watching the films at the moment. Is it me or is there something old-ladyish about Alan Rickman's mouth? I realize I am thinking about this far too hard, and I know it's practically forbidden to speak ill of him on MN. But every time I see those films, I'm disappointed again that he just isn't as sexy as his voice.

I also think the Burrow looks all wrong to me. I love what they do with the reeds in the scene where Bellatrix taunts Harry and he and Ginny run after her. But I imagined the Burrow being rural and farmland-ish, with an overgrown garden around it - not plonked down in the middle of a marsh. Am I right?

What's your favourite bit of the films/books?

OP posts:
Phoenixwoman · 04/08/2014 09:56

I found the weasley twins very hard to watch and was more moved by the family's reaction to Fred's death than the actual death.

I get all unnecessarily upset by the continuity errors between film 1 and 2.

Loved Cedric Diggory and my first teary moment in HP films was when HP returns Cedric's body and his dad just howls :(

I didn't get lupin and Tonks as a couple either but wish lupin survived for his son.

Loved all the professors, especially mcgonagall and moody and dumbledore 2.

Best child actors were Neville, Luna and Ron. Ron doesn't look as described but I thought he got the character spot on.

Question though, why did one of crabbe & goyle change in the final films?

littlepeas · 04/08/2014 09:59

I think one of the actors playing crabbe or Goyle got caught doing drugs and was cut from the film as a consequence. Not sure which - they kind of merge into one for me, which I suppose is probably how they're meant to be.

Alisvolatpropiis · 04/08/2014 10:00

One of them was convicted of GBH Phoenix.

Idontseeanyicegiants · 04/08/2014 10:00

Phoenix either Crabbe or Goyle got arrested for a drugs offense before they finished filming iirc.
The Weasley twins weren't that great but I suppose when they were casting it was hard to find twin boys willing to have their hair dyed for 10 years Grin
I saw an interview with the Phelps lads, the one who played the surviving twin found the death scene really hard to handle and could only do it a couple of times. The one who played the dead twin fell asleep during filming..Smile

ALittleFaith · 04/08/2014 10:01

Having read the books I didn't love the films initially although of course I have the box set on Blu Ray now I understood why some things had to be missed out for timing but changing things irritated me. Hagrid was meant to live in a wooden house. That was the irony of him getting a dragon.

The whole thing with Fleur was that she was part Veela which they never mentioned in the films. I agree she was a bit lacking. She should have been much more confident.

It's a given that DR wasn't great as HP, especially in the early days. I'd heard his Mum was involved with casting Hmm from someone who did Am Dram with DR. no idea if that's true though!

I loved Luna, brilliantly cast and admires JKR for helping/motivating her to gain weight in return for the part.

It was a shame they didn't do anything about Hermione's campaign to free the house elves, that added to her character IMO.

ALittleFaith · 04/08/2014 10:02

It was Crabbe - see link.

curiousuze · 04/08/2014 10:05

The girl who played Luna Lovegood was great. I can't think of many other members of the cast who looked like they should have though. One of the absolute worst was Julie Christie cast as the barmaid. All the actors are good in themselves, but they were the wrong shapes, sizes, accents and age almost to a man. The kids who were meant to be posh (Draco) had normal accents, the ones who were meant to be poor (Ginny) were tebbly, tebbly posh. The hair and costumes were poor as well. Where were Harry's green eyes? Hermione's bushy hair and overbite?

I love love love the books, but have probably only seen each film once, and will not bother again. They were pretty poor.

Phoenixwoman · 04/08/2014 10:07

Oh thanks, naughty boy!

DrankSangriaInThePark · 04/08/2014 10:16

curious-yes that's another Hermione anomaly- she's not supposed to be beautiful. And that's all EW is. Beautiful and posh.

I often idly wonder how the ex-couples got on during filming, or if they were all terribly lovey and insisted on their paths never crossing (Lockhart and Trelawney, Bellatrix and Lupin - are there any more? )

Dd's favourite bit in (I think) OOTP is where Harry goes to bed in a grey t shirt and wakes up from one of his Voldemort dreams in a bright blue one. Grin

DrankSangriaInThePark · 04/08/2014 10:18

Has anyone mentioned how utterly shit Cho Chang is?

What is it with the young female characters? Watching HPB last night, Katie Bell only delivers one line (about not knowing who cursed her) but dear lord, surely a bit of expression could have gone into it?

I know child actors/teens must be hard to cast, but if they can't even do one line without sounding like Ms Wooden Plank of Logsville, then get rid.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 04/08/2014 10:20

Oh, and agree about the Dursley backstory needing put into the films.

I remember being very excited at the tangent before DH came out, that we were going to find out something about Petunia that made everything fit together, why they'd taken Harry in and kept him all those years, and then it just fizzled into "because Dumbledore shouted at her".

YouTheCat · 04/08/2014 10:26

The one who played Katie Bell used to be in Basil Brush on bbc.

She comes from one of those acting schools that churns out actors for Eastenders.

NuggetofPurestGreen · 04/08/2014 10:31

Never knew HBC and David Thewlis were ever a couple Sangria when was that? Also I'd be more interested in whether Emma Thompson and HBC avoided each other - didn't Branagh have an affair (allegedly) with the latter when married to the former?

Ooh a whole new HP film thing to think about.

curiousuze · 04/08/2014 10:35

I know - in the US they seem to manage to find young teens who can act brilliantly, why not here?

One of the most annoying bits is that they don't explain (in the films) who made the marauders' map!

Agreed on the Dursley back story as well. Would have loved Petunia to turn out to be secretly magical!

tisrainingagain · 04/08/2014 10:36

He defeated Voldemort because Harry was the true possessor of the Elder Wand and the wand would not kill it's master so rebounded the curse on Voldemort.

Yes I know that this is true but surely this isn't the only reason? It's circumstantial that he managed to wrest Draco's wand off him so what if this hadn't happened? If he only circumstantially managed to defeat Voldemort then what happens to the destiny/love aspect?

curiousuze · 04/08/2014 10:38

For Maryz (sorry, I found this picture years ago and it never, ever fails to make me howl with laughter. I think a 'fan' of Draco made it)

DrankSangriaInThePark · 04/08/2014 10:42

Oh god, have I made it up about HBC and DT? Blush I was sure they had been together in the 90s? Maybe not!

The whole Deathly Hallows thing is a bit crap really. Like no-one would have mentioned it to Harry before? In about eleventy billion pages? Or 12 hours+ of film?

There are other things like that as well, throughout the films where magical stuff gets revealed to pureblood characters, and you think- but they'd have grown up knowing all this all along surely?

headdesk · 04/08/2014 10:50

For some reason Professor Lockehart isn't at all how I pictured him. Snape is perfect in the films for me as is dumbledore. I also think his brother is cast brilliantly in the last film but I wish they'd gone into dumbledore's backstory a bit more like in the books.
I don't like the casting for Ginny at all, the actress is awful. And I don't think Molly is right either.
I think Draco in the last few films is perfect, especially the last film.

themonsteratemyspacebaragain · 04/08/2014 10:57

I know nobody will read this but, FENRIR GREYBACK! (RIP).
What on earth was going on there? With his death the other week, i told DP that it was really sad; and he didn't even remember him in the films. No real mention of who he is or what he's done, and from what i remember from the books he was a scary man. Whereas in the films he was just kind of there as a baddie of no importance. That annoys me so much.

Idontseeanyicegiants · 04/08/2014 11:03

I agree, Ciaran Hinds was good as Dumbledores brother but he could have been great in a more regular part. Not sure who but he was definitely one that they could have made more of, great actor.

Lovecat · 04/08/2014 11:03

Oh dear Lord, I have bad thoughts about Tom Felton but even I draw the line at that, curiousuze !

Hated Gambon. PoT, even with his issues, would have been amazing.

I really liked Emma T as Trelawney, but I can see I'm in the minority.

That epilogue was possibly the worst thing I've ever seen...

Interesting reading people's opinions of Emma Watson - a girl in my drama group, who is so bloody talented an actress it makes me want to weep tears of jealousy, auditioned for the Hermione role. She made it to the last 4 and I so wish she'd been cast, she would have been incredible !

Celticlassie · 04/08/2014 11:14

Re Ian McKellen, I remember reading that he didn't want to get typecast as a big beardy wizard. Which is fair enough.

Wrt the deathly hallows and why no one ever mentioned them, very few people actually believed in them - it was a fairy tale in a children's book, and very few people knew about Harry's cloak, for example, so there was no evidence that they existed, so I think those who did believe in them were seen as nuts.

SnapeAndLily · 04/08/2014 11:18

I like the Harry Potter plot summary that was on the Internet somewhere...

Everyone: HARRY NO!

Harry Potter: HARRY YES!

SnapeAndLily · 04/08/2014 11:20

And this Buzzfeed post is one of my all time favourite Buzzfeeds.

curiousuze · 04/08/2014 11:32

SnapeandLily Oh that is sad! Especially the Fred and George ones. I feel a re-read coming on...(although am I the only one who didn't care about the owl?)