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ladyoflorien) wrote2004-02-13 06:50 pm
ladyoflorien) wrote2004-02-13 06:50 pm
Another tanget, but a mighty fine one.
OMGA LOOK! A "Half Fling" icon!! HAAAAA!!
So the night before last A&E was re-airing that LOTR special. You know the one. The one that was originally a "Primetime Special" on basic cable and has since been shown on A&E half a trazillion more times. But I flipped over and watched it for a few moments anyway and it got me thinking about the cast. I remember way back before FOTR came out, JUST when they started showing the trailers for it, how I was so skeptical of the Hobbits. I mean, I was dreadfully excited that Elijah Wood was cast as Frodo because I absolutely adored the kid, but at the same time I had this worried knot in my stomach that caused my face to grimace every time I saw a commercial for it as I thought, "But that's so not what a Hobbit should look like!" I remember that first time I saw FOTR in the theaters, opening week of course, how I sat there for half the movie groaning inwardly about the "gangly hobbits" and the "gaunt faces" and how Sean Astin and Ian Holmes were the only ones properly cast, until somewhere around Mount Carahadras (after I'd just gone off on some tangent about how something was sooo not movie-canon), I said to myself "What is your PROBLEM? Shut UP already and ENJOY THE BLASTED FILM!" Only moments later did I realize, in the small weeping broken forms of Hobbits who, in their nature, are so merry and affectionate, sprawled across the empty foothills past Moria, that I'd been caught, hook line and sinker. Not only did I buy the two then-unknown UK actors and the other two well-known Americans as Hobbits, but I found that I adored every nuance of their performances. And since then the rosy-cheeked, plump, portly, and often times downright round figures of what my mind has always envisioned Hobbits to be has been replaced with these 5 actors (and Rosie, too. And that drunk Hobbit at Bilbo's party, because honestly, THERE is a Hobbit in its truest form. Heh). And somewhere along the line it began to make sense to me, even to the point where I'd argue with myself on how Hobbits should be more childlike than necessarily "round" or that the arduous journey would most certainly cause some weight-loss and how their figures near the end of the series so desperately relied on the vision of gaunt, empty, blanched faces that it made the most sense. And since then I can scarcely think of anyone else as more of a "Hobbit."
But even aside from that, from the very start of this incredible film-making journey, I've been astounded at how much some of these actors embody precisely what I've always pictured these characters would look like. Gandalf. Aragorn. Gimli! An Uruk-Hai. An Orc. Grima Wormtongue is positively astounding; Arwen is immaculate in perfection. Theoden. Faramir. There are few characters I can argue weren't pulled from my childhood imagination and whipped into human form and cast for just such a moment as this. There are few actors or actresses that retain their own individual identities while I watch this film. See, when I watch X-men I might say to myself, "Well there's dear Ian right there," and acknowledge his presence as an actor in the film. But when I watch LOTR, I don't see him; Ian ceases to exist for me. Because there in full Dolby Pro-Logic sound and picture is Gandalf the Grey, or Gandalf the White, whom has somehow magically materialized into this existence in a quirky kind of irony. And I find that amazing, that one set of actors in one motion picture (or three, if you're going to be picky), can make me believe so completely. That goes beyond talent and good acting, that's magic right there. What they're doing? It's living breathing magic. And I can barely stand to think about it because it gives me such a thrill that I tingle from head to toe.
I don't really know why I got off on this tangent. I don't even imagine it's anything at all interesting, or that anyone will want to read it. But I suppose, in some small weird way, it's my way of saying thank you. To the actors and actresses, to WETA, to the stunt men who worked so very hard, to the artists, to the casting directors, and to Peter. I don't know where you found my imagination---perhaps I left it stranded by the roadside again---but thank you for picking it up and studying it a while and bringing it to life. Because nothing has ever swept me away so much. Nothing has ever moved me so that I lay aside my critical eye and step in and just believe it's as it should be. And I've never believed more that if you had cast that other guy as Aragorn in place of Viggo Mortenson, I may have been forced to come kick your ass.
So the night before last A&E was re-airing that LOTR special. You know the one. The one that was originally a "Primetime Special" on basic cable and has since been shown on A&E half a trazillion more times. But I flipped over and watched it for a few moments anyway and it got me thinking about the cast. I remember way back before FOTR came out, JUST when they started showing the trailers for it, how I was so skeptical of the Hobbits. I mean, I was dreadfully excited that Elijah Wood was cast as Frodo because I absolutely adored the kid, but at the same time I had this worried knot in my stomach that caused my face to grimace every time I saw a commercial for it as I thought, "But that's so not what a Hobbit should look like!" I remember that first time I saw FOTR in the theaters, opening week of course, how I sat there for half the movie groaning inwardly about the "gangly hobbits" and the "gaunt faces" and how Sean Astin and Ian Holmes were the only ones properly cast, until somewhere around Mount Carahadras (after I'd just gone off on some tangent about how something was sooo not movie-canon), I said to myself "What is your PROBLEM? Shut UP already and ENJOY THE BLASTED FILM!" Only moments later did I realize, in the small weeping broken forms of Hobbits who, in their nature, are so merry and affectionate, sprawled across the empty foothills past Moria, that I'd been caught, hook line and sinker. Not only did I buy the two then-unknown UK actors and the other two well-known Americans as Hobbits, but I found that I adored every nuance of their performances. And since then the rosy-cheeked, plump, portly, and often times downright round figures of what my mind has always envisioned Hobbits to be has been replaced with these 5 actors (and Rosie, too. And that drunk Hobbit at Bilbo's party, because honestly, THERE is a Hobbit in its truest form. Heh). And somewhere along the line it began to make sense to me, even to the point where I'd argue with myself on how Hobbits should be more childlike than necessarily "round" or that the arduous journey would most certainly cause some weight-loss and how their figures near the end of the series so desperately relied on the vision of gaunt, empty, blanched faces that it made the most sense. And since then I can scarcely think of anyone else as more of a "Hobbit."
But even aside from that, from the very start of this incredible film-making journey, I've been astounded at how much some of these actors embody precisely what I've always pictured these characters would look like. Gandalf. Aragorn. Gimli! An Uruk-Hai. An Orc. Grima Wormtongue is positively astounding; Arwen is immaculate in perfection. Theoden. Faramir. There are few characters I can argue weren't pulled from my childhood imagination and whipped into human form and cast for just such a moment as this. There are few actors or actresses that retain their own individual identities while I watch this film. See, when I watch X-men I might say to myself, "Well there's dear Ian right there," and acknowledge his presence as an actor in the film. But when I watch LOTR, I don't see him; Ian ceases to exist for me. Because there in full Dolby Pro-Logic sound and picture is Gandalf the Grey, or Gandalf the White, whom has somehow magically materialized into this existence in a quirky kind of irony. And I find that amazing, that one set of actors in one motion picture (or three, if you're going to be picky), can make me believe so completely. That goes beyond talent and good acting, that's magic right there. What they're doing? It's living breathing magic. And I can barely stand to think about it because it gives me such a thrill that I tingle from head to toe.
I don't really know why I got off on this tangent. I don't even imagine it's anything at all interesting, or that anyone will want to read it. But I suppose, in some small weird way, it's my way of saying thank you. To the actors and actresses, to WETA, to the stunt men who worked so very hard, to the artists, to the casting directors, and to Peter. I don't know where you found my imagination---perhaps I left it stranded by the roadside again---but thank you for picking it up and studying it a while and bringing it to life. Because nothing has ever swept me away so much. Nothing has ever moved me so that I lay aside my critical eye and step in and just believe it's as it should be. And I've never believed more that if you had cast that other guy as Aragorn in place of Viggo Mortenson, I may have been forced to come kick your ass.
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