I'm gonna say Robbie Coltrane, Evanna Lynch and Matthew Lewis are pretty much head-canon for me. Maggie Smith as MackyG had the right feel but I'd always imagined her as looking a bit younger. Also, John Hurt is pretty close to the Ollivander I imagine.

Most of the rest aren't that close, I think most of the supporting characters suffered from being more like caricatures than people while many of the children were just rather wooden.

 

While I always have and always will have a slightly different picture of Luna in my head, I think casting Evanna Lynch was spot on.

Little separates her from her character, other than a tragic past and magic.

I like Emma Watson, and I can't blame her for the way the people in charge gave movie-Hermione a ton of Ron and (particularly in the last two books) Harry's spotlight moments. She made a perfectly fine Hermione, although she was, perhaps, too a bit too attractive for the role, from beginning to end. If she went through an awkward phase, ever, it didn't happen on screen.

Interestingly (or not), Hermione has a very ill-defined appearance in my mind. There's a bit of a generality to her features that remains constant, but the fine details change from story to story (you know, in my library of unwritten books). Even Pansy has had a solid appearance in my mind since the beginning, but not Hermione; she's a beige and brown blob that changes shape to suit the tone of the narrative.

When someone invents a machine that can peek into alternate realities, I'd like to watch the version of the HP movies that star Stephen Fry as Dumbledore; I think it will be interesting.

There's a line -I haven't watched the movies in quite a while, and I don't remember what/where it was- that Fiennes delivers with an inflection that reads as being so much more '20s gangster than British that it took me aback, initially.

I don't remember the line, but I remember the inflection, and the more I think of it, the more it has subtly changed my image of Voldemort.

Like, maybe the 'received' accent is something he puts on when he needs to make an impression, but when he doesn't, he falls back to a rougher manner of speech, that he may have picked up from other boys in the orphanage.

It really kind of takes him from would-be sophisticate wizard genius, to a gangster with enough book smarts to make his natural cunning that much more dangerous.

Frankly, I think it suits him. In many ways, I feel he was just a clever thug, whose potential 'genius' was wasted because the only base instinct he didn't set aside everything to cater to was sex, and that may or may not have been because of the target audience and possibly because catering to the others lost him the ability to do the latter.

Pretty much.

If she'd been younger and had her hair dyed jet black...

Yup

 

I'm with Taure on Dumbledore. Harris matched the look and the gentle wisdom better than Gambon, but I couldn't picture Harris dueling Voldemort in the Ministry, or conjuring up a firestorm. A combination of the two would have been perfect. Or possibly just getting Ian McKellen to do it.

The best casting in the series will always be Kenneth Branagh as Lockhart though. Just perfect.

 

Jason Isaacs as Lucius was also a brilliant choice.

 

Riley already mentioned Hedwig and I have to say, Trevor was goddamn amazing.

 

Let's not forget Crookshanks. Fantastic acting when he chased Scabbers. You could really feel the hunger he felt.

 

Personally, I think they should have cast Gandalf to play Dumbledore. He already has "a wise old wizard who guides a youthful hero on a journey of discovery" on his resume.

If anyone can figure out where the quote came from, I will give you a cookie. And some weed I suspect Gandalf was smoking the whole time.

In all seriousness, it really should have been him. He can act kindly and wise, but I can see him dueling Voldemort easily. He was the perfect combination.

 

On that note, why wasn't Ian McKellen chosen to be Dumbledore? Was he still tied to LotR?

 

Ian McKellen has commented that Richard Harris hated him and that for that reason, even if he was willing to play another wizard after Gandalf, he couldn't have accepted.

 

I think he was also still doing LotR, besides the Harris insulting him thing, but I always thought Liam Neeson would have worked too.

 

I looked this up. Never thought the Ian McKellen would call him Dumblewit, I admit I laughed.

---------- Post automerged at 02:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:25 PM ----------

"I don't know who you are or where you've hidden. But I am a wizard with a particular set of skills that make me a terror for warlocks like you. I will find the horcruxes and I will destroy them."

"Uhhh Liam, let's try that again"

 

I always thought Rupert Grint was perfect for his role. Robbie Coltrane as well.

The biggest disconnect for me was Clemence Poesy as Fleur. Not even close to what I was expecting.

 

Shut up and take my money! But all jokes aside, I think he is a pretty good actor, and I've liked him in pretty much everything he's done.

He might have also read the books, unlike Gambon. So unprofessional. Still irritates me that he didn't.

 

Uh, don't remind me. Both her and Krum were just wrong.

 

Eh, Clemence is understandable.

Finding a supernaturally beautiful woman is impossible, and finding one who can actually act, speak French and speak English with a convincing French accent is even harder.

In the end she's still very pretty. She's not so stunning that you forget to breathe, but you have to make sacrifices in casting decisions.

At least she's the right kind of pretty -- model-like, rather than girl-next-door.

 

The people who played the Dursleys were by far the most forgettable of the lot.Especially petunia who I can't even remember what she looked like.

 

I think he'd have been perfect. At the time the movies started he might've been a bit young, compared to Richard Harris at least, but give him silver hair and age him with makeup and you probably couldn't tell the difference.

 

I found a couple new candidates to consider, though they may have cost a little more:

Fleur Delacour - Keira Knightley (shockingly attractive yet still looks young enough for school)

Bill Weasley - Ewan MacGregor (y'know, someone cool who could earn the attention of Keira Knightley)

Remus Lupin - Paul Bettany

Sirius Black - Clive Owen

Minerva McGonagall - Emma Thompson (who played Sybill Trelawney), though she would be advised to act like a younger Maggie Smith

 

Emma Thompson and Clive Owen could work. The others, not so much. Ruppert Grint, Evanna, Kenneth, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs, John Hurt and Mathew Lewis (pheew) were all spot on to me. Loved them. All the Weasleys too, except Bonnie Wright, she was to meh. Liked Lupin too, if a tad old. Maggie felt as old as Dumbledore, but she was just too awesome for me to dislike her.

Fiennes is complicated, he did great, but gave Voldermot the wrong impression.

Daniel was just OK, Emma Warson was too beautiful, that took a lot of Hermione's character. Liam Neeson would be awesome. I agree with Taure about Clemence, she was the right kind of pretty and had all of her major points. A non-french actress doing Fleur would just feel wrong. Didn't like an UFC guy doing Krum. Tonks was too old, like Gary Oldman, who also seemed to be more of Russian Mobster runaway guy than a nice man who went through a lot of shit.

 

I was trying to remember a role he played that was actually pretty close, and I couldn't remember.

But he played Qui'gon Jinn! So he even has fantasy experience, besides doing a decent job as Zeus.

And he was Raz Al'Ghul! Boss.