Movie Post
Jun. 21st, 2005 09:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lls_mutantOoh, goodie. My review of Naked is up at Mutant Reviewers from Hell. Honestly, it's not one of my better reviews as I read it now, but it's fun to talk about here.
You know, I wasn't crazy about the look of David Thewlis for Lupin, especially when I saw him in costume. His mannerisms and voice aren't how I pictured the character, either. But it baffles me... absolutely baffles me... that people think that Jude Law should have played him.
Now, I like Jude Law all right. I really liked him in Gattaca, and I thought he was the best thing about A.I. But you know what? I have never, ever, ever seen Jude Law play a character that didn't have a good amount of arrogance about him. Now, maybe he could have pulled Lupin off. Maybe. But given his past work, I think he was just dead wrong for the part. And same with Ewan McGregor.
What Thewlis had that made me believe he was Lupin was Lupin's odd mix of confidence and lack of self-esteem. Remus knows he's a damn good wizard (and he is, all you naysayers). He's at least highly competent, if not rather gifted. (A hint: smart kids are snobs too, and they rarely hang around with people they don't have respect for.) But he knows he has no worth in the wizarding society. I don't think he believes it should be that way, but he's very painfully aware of his limitations, and that awareness is a huge part of his character. Plus, in Prisoner of Azkaban he's carrying around a hefty burden of guilt. It's that attitude that Thewlis pulled off perfectly. Costuming... wrong. Face... not quite right. Age... let's not even go there. But the acting? (Even during that cursed bridge scene?) He pulled it off, and given how complicated Lupin is under the surface, that's saying something.
Plus (and this is something that drives me nuts in fics), I really don't think Remus Lupin is a drop-dead attractive man. (Okay, I don't think Jude Law is, either, but the rest of the world seems to think so.) Harry notices when people are particularly goodlooking or when they're particularly ugly. The impression I always had of Lupin is he's utterly average appearance-wise. I can accept that Sirius sees him as attractive, but any time there's gushing about Lupin's beauty that turns me off, because I think he's just a nice-looking guy. And that is another reason I did like Thewlis in the role better than Ewan McGregor (although Ewan's sex appeal comes from attitude more than looks, I admit). Thewlis is just sort of a nice looking guy as well. He's not a sex god in appearance, but he's far from ugly, or even fascinatingly ugly like Chris Cooper (who has such a hard, interesting face he becomes brutally attractive).
Anyway, yeah. As much as I hated the cheesy mustache, this is me saying officially that I'm really, really glad David Thewlis played Lupin.
Now if only we could do something about that cheesy werewolf....
You know, I wasn't crazy about the look of David Thewlis for Lupin, especially when I saw him in costume. His mannerisms and voice aren't how I pictured the character, either. But it baffles me... absolutely baffles me... that people think that Jude Law should have played him.
Now, I like Jude Law all right. I really liked him in Gattaca, and I thought he was the best thing about A.I. But you know what? I have never, ever, ever seen Jude Law play a character that didn't have a good amount of arrogance about him. Now, maybe he could have pulled Lupin off. Maybe. But given his past work, I think he was just dead wrong for the part. And same with Ewan McGregor.
What Thewlis had that made me believe he was Lupin was Lupin's odd mix of confidence and lack of self-esteem. Remus knows he's a damn good wizard (and he is, all you naysayers). He's at least highly competent, if not rather gifted. (A hint: smart kids are snobs too, and they rarely hang around with people they don't have respect for.) But he knows he has no worth in the wizarding society. I don't think he believes it should be that way, but he's very painfully aware of his limitations, and that awareness is a huge part of his character. Plus, in Prisoner of Azkaban he's carrying around a hefty burden of guilt. It's that attitude that Thewlis pulled off perfectly. Costuming... wrong. Face... not quite right. Age... let's not even go there. But the acting? (Even during that cursed bridge scene?) He pulled it off, and given how complicated Lupin is under the surface, that's saying something.
Plus (and this is something that drives me nuts in fics), I really don't think Remus Lupin is a drop-dead attractive man. (Okay, I don't think Jude Law is, either, but the rest of the world seems to think so.) Harry notices when people are particularly goodlooking or when they're particularly ugly. The impression I always had of Lupin is he's utterly average appearance-wise. I can accept that Sirius sees him as attractive, but any time there's gushing about Lupin's beauty that turns me off, because I think he's just a nice-looking guy. And that is another reason I did like Thewlis in the role better than Ewan McGregor (although Ewan's sex appeal comes from attitude more than looks, I admit). Thewlis is just sort of a nice looking guy as well. He's not a sex god in appearance, but he's far from ugly, or even fascinatingly ugly like Chris Cooper (who has such a hard, interesting face he becomes brutally attractive).
Anyway, yeah. As much as I hated the cheesy mustache, this is me saying officially that I'm really, really glad David Thewlis played Lupin.
Now if only we could do something about that cheesy werewolf....
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-21 02:42 pm (UTC)Completely with you for most of this, Remus should not be stunningly good looking, he should be pleasant-looking, rather scruffy, confident in his Dark Arts knowledge and ability to teach, but worried and guilt-ridden over his lycanthropy and his other secrets. Don't really know what point I'm trying to make here, but yeah. There's other things I should be doing...
Having said all this, I can't really comment anyway, having only seen the film once, and having been too distracted by the terrible acting of the girl one.
kxx
no subject
Date: 2005-06-21 03:47 pm (UTC)I certainly don't think Jude Law could EVER have played him... probably not Ewen McGregor either (thought I find this choice of actor a bit more believable...)
I think Thewlis did a very good job of the character, myself. Yeah, the mustache was a shame, yeah the costuming wasn't great (it wasn't too bad, either, but it wasn't great,) but the acting was excellent. He got that calmness about Lupin, yet that darkness also. I thought he did a pretty good job. It could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse.