Casting, More Casting and Gaskell

[meddow]

So Jim Broadbent’s playing Slughorn (how many Oscars is that between the adult cast now? I can think of at least five). Which illustrates why I adore Harry Potter casting, they always get it right with the adults. It’s always a shame though that the adult characters get so little to do in the movies. It’s always the adult roles that get the most cut. For obvious and good reasons of course, but still, I generally find the older generation characters more interesting than Harry’s generation.

Meanwhile I discovered the casting link between Pirates of the Caribbean and New Who. I have this theory that you cannot watch anything which has a sizable amount of British actors in these days and not find at least one who has shown up in the new Doctor Who or one of the related spin-offs, and PotC was defying this theory. Until I found out that Young Elizabeth Swann from Curse was in School Reunion (as the “Kenny blew up the school!” girl) Ha ha!

Seriously though, they crop up when you least suspect. I’ve been going on a hunt for Richard Armitage features and so was watching the Shakespeare Retold MacBeth with James McAvoy and Keeley Hawes (incredibly good BTW, it’s set in a kitchen with the three witches being bin men), and there was Maria’s hot Dad from The Sarah Jane Adventures playing Banquo. And then I was watching North and South and it has Suki from The Long Game and the lead actress was one of the bad guys in an episode of Torchwood.

Though more importantly than casting games, why had I not discovered North and South earlier? I’d never heard of it before which is terrible considering it’s up there in the guilty pleasure costume drama stakes with the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice. In fact, it might be even better because it’s got commentary on the social, political and economic conditions of the time, particularly with the battle between the Masters and the Unionists. And I know my family was working in the cotton industry in Manchester at the time, so bonus points for being personally relevant (guess who spent her childhood going through old cotton mill museums). And on a much shallower note: Richard Armitage dressed in black and strolling through the white cotton dust filled cotton mill FTW.

Anyway, Elizabeth Gaskell has rocketed to pole position on my big list of authors I must read when I have the time.

Comments

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I always like playing degrees of separation with British actors. They always seem to pop up in the same things, or pop up with people who popped up with other people in the same things. AWESOME example:

Keira Knightley in POTC & Pride and Prejudice
Rupert Friend in Pride & Prejudice and The Libertine
Johnny Depp, Tom Hollander and Jack Davenport in The Libertine and POTC
Tom Hollander in Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley!

BIG CIRCLE! Lots of fun. I could keep doing that for ages! :D

And North and South is fantastic isn't it? I had it recommended to me ages ago, as I have a lot of Austen fiends on my flist, and they were all talking about it, and then I saw the beauty of Richard Armitage and never looked back :) I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

I just watched all of State of Play and of course, the star was John Simm. Marc Warren also had a fairly big part in it. The girl who was the Mother in Human Nature/Family of Blood (who had been the other parlour maid with Martha) also had a featured role. (It also had great people like Bill Nighy and James MacAvoy and Kelly MacDonald in it...)

If you watch the ShakespeaREtold "Much Ado About Nothing" the new Who cast includes Billie Piper, Sarah Parish, Tom Ellis (Martha's cute doctor in "Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords"), Derek Riddell (Sir Robert in "Tooth & Claw"), Nina Sosanya (the mother in "Fear Her"), and Martin Jarvis (actually, he was in a bunch of Old Who episodes including "Vengeance on Varos").

So yes, Who actors are everywhere! :-)

[daydream-13.livejournal.com]

I would definitely recommend reading North and South. I sought it out after seeing the series and was initially shocked at how different the story is to the series. To me the book seemed more angsty and darker (though seriously, just about every character ends up dead, so that's not all that surprising) and probably more realistic. But I liked that the book was different, it meant that there were still twists and turns and moments that I didn't see coming.

And because I'd seen the series first, the Thorton in my head already looked like Armitage. :)

[(Anonymous)]

If Gaskell is in pole position, check out "Wives and Daughters", the book and the dvd. The BBC got this one so right, one of the better mini-series I've seen in the past 10 years. Andrew Daviies wrote the script and the cast is composed of a bevy of fine actors:
Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Tom Hollander, Bill Paterson, Francesca Annis, etc.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Oh, I really want to watch State of Play. I’ve been hearing wonderful things about it ever since DW fandom went mad for John Simm. And I know I must watch Much Ado About Nothing. I have seen though The Taming of the Shrew though with Shirley Henderson from, of course, Love and Monsters. You’ve just got to love the Who actors being everywhere.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Yes, it’s so much fun! Like playing spot the Shortland Street actor when watching movies made in New Zealand. Particularly with the Libertine, it's the PotC cast meets the Coupling cast.

And North and South is so amazingly brilliant. I’ve been telling all my Austen crazy friends to go and rent it.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Sounds great. I mean, I want to read the book because I liked the story of the movie, but if the books slightly different but with bonus mental Armitage!Thorton, it won't be just reading the same story in a different format :)

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Oooh. I'll have to watch that. Sounds great (and Andrew Davis being the script writer it is always a very good recommendation). Thanks.

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

State of Play is incredible and I highly recommend it. I've got all four of the ShakespeaREtold shows and they're all great. Taming of the Shrew also had Russell Sewell and Jaime Murray (not from DW but brilliant actors nonetheless). I also liked the Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck in that is played by the guy who played Shakespeare in The Shakespeare Code and it's also got Imelda Staunton, Sharon Small (I'm a big fan of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries) and a few other good people in it.