Accepting Mediocrity Since 2001
Feb. 21st, 2007 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenny_wildcatI don't usually rant about stuff like this, but this is bigger than a simple issue of "OMG HIS HAIR LOOKS LIKE CRAP!!!1!!1"
This is a scene from "Snape's Worst Memory" from the Order of the Phoenix movie James Potter is the one in the middle. I could kill the filmmakers right now. The only thing that could connect this kid to Harry's father is that faint outline of glasses and maybe the Gryffindor robes (then again, that would mean that Sirius - on the left - could be mistaken for Harry's father as well).
Do they even read the books? I've been touting the praises of the casting directors when the screenwriters and main directors and composers have failed. Does this mean that the casting people want to live down to the same standards of shoddy workmanship as the rest of everybody? Maybe it's not even casting - it could be the makeup artists. Hair color is something that is easily changed (as the brunette Phelps Twins - who play the redheaded Fred and George Weasley - so aptly demonstrate), so why not do it here?
Everyone says that Harry looks like James, but this proves that the filmmakers have no problem talking out of both sides of their mouths. There is NO FREAKING WAY that this kid is going to be connected with the man that Harry saw in the Mirror of Erised in the first movie. This detail is pure laziness because you have the lead character and you have to find someone that looks like him and then let makeup take it from there. This is not a difficult thing to do. It's not like this is taking an 800+ page book and turning into a 2 1/2 hour movie. This is casting and makeup, and not even creature-prosthetics-complex-in-the-chair-for-six-hours-before-dawn makeup.
That's another thing that kills me. It's not like they don't already have someone cast as adult James. Even the movie-only fans know what James Potter looks like. You can't fool them into thinking that this kid is James at 15 because his hair is blond. It's not black, it's not even dark brown, it is dirty blond! How are people going to make the visual connection between Harry and James? Oh, Harry might come out and say "This is my dad when he was my age," but people aren't going to believe it.
I can accept the radical changes the actors' hairstyles make between films. I can accept cutting out house-elves. I can accept Hermione quoting Dumbledore. I can (almost) accept Ron as a bumbling nincompoop. I can even accept that Dan Radcliffe's eyes are blue, not green, as long as it is established that he has his mother's eyes. I cannot accept the filmmakers ignoring something that hits us over the head constantly. Harry looks like James. Harry looks like James. Harry. Looks. Like. James. The young James in the movie does not look like Harry. No matter how you slice it, he does not look like Harry.
This is a crappy thing to have to rant about. I don't usually complain about hair, but this is bigger than any typical hair complaint. It's just all my frustrations that none of these movies have any continuity with each other. They don't feel like a complete set. The only two that are alike are the first two and that's because they had the same director. I don't care who the director is, but you get ONE director and you stick to him for seven movies. Whoever was in charge of making sure Chris Columbus stayed did a piss-poor job and now we have five movies that are just hodge-podge thrown-together interpretations of the "Harry Potter" books. You can't put them together on the shelf and make people believe these are all part of the same series. They are way too different and the above picture proves it.
Another thing that gets my for-the-love-of-Aberforth goat is that young Snape was cast beautifully. It's not like they can't cast characters properly. It's that they won't:
Maybe that's because the filmmakers are a bunch of Slytherins out to ruin this Gryffindor's enjoyment. Thank Godric that book seven comes out the week after. I'm going to need something good and canon to look forward to.
I can say this: my low expectations for this movie have been met. I am satisfied in my opinion that this is going to suck
Love from (but not to the filmmakers),
Jenny Wildcat
PS, I hate this because I had a nice Harry/Ginny shipping post that I was going to write and then this sh** hits the fan.
This is a scene from "Snape's Worst Memory" from the Order of the Phoenix movie James Potter is the one in the middle. I could kill the filmmakers right now. The only thing that could connect this kid to Harry's father is that faint outline of glasses and maybe the Gryffindor robes (then again, that would mean that Sirius - on the left - could be mistaken for Harry's father as well).
Do they even read the books? I've been touting the praises of the casting directors when the screenwriters and main directors and composers have failed. Does this mean that the casting people want to live down to the same standards of shoddy workmanship as the rest of everybody? Maybe it's not even casting - it could be the makeup artists. Hair color is something that is easily changed (as the brunette Phelps Twins - who play the redheaded Fred and George Weasley - so aptly demonstrate), so why not do it here?
Everyone says that Harry looks like James, but this proves that the filmmakers have no problem talking out of both sides of their mouths. There is NO FREAKING WAY that this kid is going to be connected with the man that Harry saw in the Mirror of Erised in the first movie. This detail is pure laziness because you have the lead character and you have to find someone that looks like him and then let makeup take it from there. This is not a difficult thing to do. It's not like this is taking an 800+ page book and turning into a 2 1/2 hour movie. This is casting and makeup, and not even creature-prosthetics-complex-in-the-chair-for-six-hours-before-dawn makeup.
That's another thing that kills me. It's not like they don't already have someone cast as adult James. Even the movie-only fans know what James Potter looks like. You can't fool them into thinking that this kid is James at 15 because his hair is blond. It's not black, it's not even dark brown, it is dirty blond! How are people going to make the visual connection between Harry and James? Oh, Harry might come out and say "This is my dad when he was my age," but people aren't going to believe it.
I can accept the radical changes the actors' hairstyles make between films. I can accept cutting out house-elves. I can accept Hermione quoting Dumbledore. I can (almost) accept Ron as a bumbling nincompoop. I can even accept that Dan Radcliffe's eyes are blue, not green, as long as it is established that he has his mother's eyes. I cannot accept the filmmakers ignoring something that hits us over the head constantly. Harry looks like James. Harry looks like James. Harry. Looks. Like. James. The young James in the movie does not look like Harry. No matter how you slice it, he does not look like Harry.
This is a crappy thing to have to rant about. I don't usually complain about hair, but this is bigger than any typical hair complaint. It's just all my frustrations that none of these movies have any continuity with each other. They don't feel like a complete set. The only two that are alike are the first two and that's because they had the same director. I don't care who the director is, but you get ONE director and you stick to him for seven movies. Whoever was in charge of making sure Chris Columbus stayed did a piss-poor job and now we have five movies that are just hodge-podge thrown-together interpretations of the "Harry Potter" books. You can't put them together on the shelf and make people believe these are all part of the same series. They are way too different and the above picture proves it.
Another thing that gets my for-the-love-of-Aberforth goat is that young Snape was cast beautifully. It's not like they can't cast characters properly. It's that they won't:
Maybe that's because the filmmakers are a bunch of Slytherins out to ruin this Gryffindor's enjoyment. Thank Godric that book seven comes out the week after. I'm going to need something good and canon to look forward to.
I can say this: my low expectations for this movie have been met. I am satisfied in my opinion that this is going to suck
Love from (but not to the filmmakers),
Jenny Wildcat
PS, I hate this because I had a nice Harry/Ginny shipping post that I was going to write and then this sh** hits the fan.
