ONTD

rdj | offcamera _dennis_csi_
8:21 pm - 12/26/2012

Movies Based On Books: Characters Who Look Nothing Like They're Described In The Original Story



Many of the people who go se “Jack Reacher”  won’t be aware tha Tom Cruise is way too short to play the title characte (when the actor was cast in the role last year, fans of Lee Child’s best-selling book series were up in arms over the choice). Reacher, who is the protagonist of 17 novels is well-known in literary form as being six-foot-five with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and a weight of well over 200 lbs. So, basically the opposite of Cruise.

However, the actor will likely make the character his own, and that’s fin if you can accept that movies don’t always have to be faithful to the page. ruise is just following in steps of actors who were cast in adaptations in spite of having little to no resemblance to their literary counterparts. Let’s take a look at 10 examples below.

( “Jack Reacher” isn’t the first adaptation Cruise was cast in where fans (and author) were disappointed.Collapse )source

ONTD, does it bother you the character you imagined in the books and the one you see on the screen doesn't even remotely similar even if the actor/actress is good enough to pull it despite his/her physical appearence?


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_pinkpornstar_ 26th-Dec-2012 08:59 pm (UTC)
I'm a huge fan of Clive Cussler novels and Steve Zahn really was the complete opposite of Al in the books (looks and personality)

However, I liked his interpretation anyway.
noneformethanx 26th-Dec-2012 08:59 pm (UTC)
The movie Salt was supposed to have a male character. Angelina Jolie played the part well I thought
harmlessbondage 26th-Dec-2012 09:48 pm (UTC)
i kind of love that she was able to snatch that away, though. if you look at hollywood, most good, multi-dimensional roles are still written for men. that angelina was able to go in there and be like, "this is mine and i'm taking it," and successfully have them rewrite the story for her is pretty tremendous. of course the only reason it happened at all was because jolie's name alone can sell movies, but it's still something to aspire to.
notoriousreign 27th-Dec-2012 12:40 am (UTC)
That's pretty fucking kick-ass. xD
rabbitncavylove 27th-Dec-2012 05:46 am (UTC)
Jolie > Tom Cruise
h0tfuss 26th-Dec-2012 09:00 pm (UTC)


love them though.
bitterblueb 26th-Dec-2012 09:08 pm (UTC)
omg they are not gingers? shocked, my whole childhood ruined, etc
h0tfuss 26th-Dec-2012 09:15 pm (UTC)
lol, you didn't know?



They are still precious.
mmbien 26th-Dec-2012 09:36 pm (UTC)
yeah they were supposed to be short and stocky, and ron tall and gangly right?
starchain 26th-Dec-2012 10:51 pm (UTC)
I hated them as the twins.
n0cturnaleakage 27th-Dec-2012 12:15 am (UTC)
They were totally what I envisioned the twins being like, especially how playful they were.
winter_lace 27th-Dec-2012 04:00 am (UTC)
I loved them as Fred and George though
viakyusu 26th-Dec-2012 09:01 pm (UTC)
A movie that's based off a tv show that I will never get over over the white washing: AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

Also, people get pissed about Idris all the time...I remember when he was casted in Thor...people started a shit storm! He would be a PERFECT next Bond! White people need to STFU!


Edited at 2012-12-26 09:02 pm (UTC)
sandstorm 26th-Dec-2012 09:43 pm (UTC)
Apparently the girl who was Katara still gets roles...I was surprised.
shadowpiranha 26th-Dec-2012 10:15 pm (UTC)
When he was cast in Thor I said "Now I am DEFINITELY going to spend money on this movie." I wasn't too interested before, but I just really wanted to contribute a little bit towards the tears of racist assholes.

I totally want him as Bond and I don't even give a damn about the Bond franchise. But I would start.
jaimelannister 26th-Dec-2012 11:44 pm (UTC)
When I first heard about Thor I thought it was some serious myth-retelling because Branagh was directing it.

I thought Idris brought tremendous gravitas to his role in Thor. Haters can leave.
xcollsangelx 26th-Dec-2012 09:01 pm (UTC)
My brother can't stop raving about "Jack Reacher".
lauridsen09 26th-Dec-2012 09:02 pm (UTC)
No one in the upcoming disaster The Great Gatsby works for me. I saw the preview before Les Mis last night and...omg HOT. MESS.

I like Jennifer Lawrence but she is worlds different from how I pictured Katniss when reading the book.

A tad of a tangent but Russell Crowe as Javert was a disaster and a half.
h0tfuss 26th-Dec-2012 09:07 pm (UTC)
I'm not sure about Carey as Daisy. I was expecting more of a Leighton Meester type, since Daisy is incredibly shallow but very protective of how shallow she is.
loverelapse 27th-Dec-2012 02:47 am (UTC)
Appearance wise or acting wise?
christoph 26th-Dec-2012 09:20 pm (UTC)
The group i was with and I started busting up laughing at the screaming in the Great Gatsby trailer's music. That movie looks so bad.
anydoppelganger 26th-Dec-2012 10:25 pm (UTC)
ngl I think Gatsby looks like it'll be a good movie (or at the very least, an entertaining one). The casting is AWFUL, with the possible exception of Jordan Baker's actress, who looks perfect for the role imo.
stuckmodebabe 26th-Dec-2012 10:33 pm (UTC)
As soon as Crowe started singing, I decided that maybe he would get better and he just did not.
senkig 26th-Dec-2012 11:09 pm (UTC)
I wanted Michelle Williams as Daisy and literally anyone else as Nick, but I like the casting of the rest of the principals a lot.

Also is Isla Fisher fat enough to be Myrtle?
holyfrijoles_2 26th-Dec-2012 11:45 pm (UTC)
i feel like if javert was straight acting russell would have been great but he also had to sing. and that was... disappointing. same with amanda seyfried jesus christ she was awful.
yourlivewire 26th-Dec-2012 09:03 pm (UTC)
whatever, constantine was awesome. i know plenty of fans of the hellblazer comics who enjoy the movie as separate from the books.
meganlynn09 26th-Dec-2012 09:03 pm (UTC)
I remember being irrationally mad that Harry Potter didn't have green eyes in the movies. LOL
h0tfuss 26th-Dec-2012 09:08 pm (UTC)
That was a plot point, not just a character description. But the girl who played young Lily didn't have green eyes either.
archangel811 26th-Dec-2012 09:41 pm (UTC)
lol "you have your mothers eyes"
cut to little girl with brown eyes
neonxstardust 26th-Dec-2012 09:08 pm (UTC)
Same here. His eyes were kind of a big deal though and it felt sloppy that they didn't include it just because Dan Rad didn't like the contacts.
xdecadentx 26th-Dec-2012 09:15 pm (UTC)
TBH it didn't bother me because he had really pretty eyes and I thought that could be a nod to the fact they're his mother's.

And then they cast the kid with brown eyes as young Lily. Just...what?
batsublue 26th-Dec-2012 09:24 pm (UTC)
I know the last film pissed me off because they could afford to make Voldemort burst into a million skin flakes - but they couldn't even be arsed to cgi Lily's eyes to make them match Harry's.
alexislex 26th-Dec-2012 09:03 pm (UTC)
I bet people are still mad that Dan Radcliffe was cast as Harry Potter even though his eyes are blue.
hardcoreninja11 26th-Dec-2012 09:09 pm (UTC)
I didn't care that his eyes were blue. I cared that it was a big thing that Harry was supposed to have "his mother's eyes" and then they made no fucking effort whatsoever to actually make them match in the movies. Like... what? Use contacts, digitally make the actresses eyes blue, something! It was so stupid.
masterofmystery 26th-Dec-2012 09:12 pm (UTC)
i still baffle at how the director/producers were like 'BUT SHE'S GOT BLUE CONTACTS ON!' for the brown-eyed girl playing kid lily in dh2.

like, were we watching the same fucking movie?
flawlessglitch 26th-Dec-2012 09:14 pm (UTC)
Mte. Idgaf about Dan's eyes, he will always be HP to me. But that irked that hell out of me that even with the LINE IN THE MOVIE...they made no effort to make them match. Like...what? How do you oop on that? Unacceptable.
piratesswoop 26th-Dec-2012 09:14 pm (UTC)
what's even more ridiculous is didn't he have green eyes in the first film? then they were just like eh and got rid of them?

lazy as fuck tbh, especially since i'm pretty sure the actor who played james had blue eyes too, so the whole point of "you have your mother's eyes" is gone because well both parents have blue eyes, so

Edited at 2012-12-26 09:15 pm (UTC)
burn_a_miracle 26th-Dec-2012 09:20 pm (UTC)
Ugh, yes. People were so hung up about the color of his eyes and the color wasn't important, but him having his mother's eyes was and that didn't happen.
masterofmystery 26th-Dec-2012 09:10 pm (UTC)
i'm still annoyed they couldn't find a blue-eyed red-haired girl in all of the fucking uk to play kid lily for the last movie. how fucking hard can that be?

made snape and harry's final scene so damn pointless
_scarlett_icons 26th-Dec-2012 09:05 pm (UTC)
I guess this isn't a great example, since it was never a book, but the role of the lead in Flightplan was originally written with a male in mind, more specifically Sean Penn. The name is kept the same. Also his character in The Game was written with a female in mind (Jodie Foster)...
h0tfuss 26th-Dec-2012 09:09 pm (UTC)
Jodie Foster does that on purpose, and I think that's awesome.
hungryandhot 26th-Dec-2012 09:15 pm (UTC)
I love when roles originally written for men are rewritten for a woman.
thewaughnman 28th-Dec-2012 10:47 am (UTC)
They usually kind of work out well. Flightplan did NOT. I especially hated how the 'distant father' was changed with the 'hero mother' who I wanted to slap in the face throughout the movie.
redaodai 26th-Dec-2012 09:05 pm (UTC)
In the Ring novel, the protagonist reporter was male, but they changed him to female for the movies.



I like Nanako Matsushima, though.

Edited at 2012-12-26 09:05 pm (UTC)
thewaughnman 28th-Dec-2012 10:45 am (UTC)
I watched both movies and read the book. The Japanese movie is um, not that good. The American remake and the book, which by the way is REALLY different from the movie, are a whole lot better. ESPECIALLY the book.
redaodai 28th-Dec-2012 04:56 pm (UTC)
Different strokes. I think the original movie has its merits just as the remake has its faults.
hardcoreninja11 26th-Dec-2012 09:06 pm (UTC)
I get more pissed if they change the way the character is supposed to be in terms of personality and the way they act. I can deal with a change in appearance... I mean, I'll be annoyed by it at first but eventually I get over it. But I can never get over a complete rewrite of a character for no reason at all or if it's simply to suit the stupid actor they hired.
meganlynn09 26th-Dec-2012 09:11 pm (UTC)
I agree for the most part. I do like it if the image matches, but characterization is my priority.
jaimelannister 26th-Dec-2012 11:47 pm (UTC)
Yeah, never watch Game of Thrones then.
love_keiko 27th-Dec-2012 01:18 am (UTC)
they did pretty well in season 1, but season 2 was a character assassination fest. NO ONE was in character the whole fuckin' season except for theon and his scenes at winterfell with bran and co.
piratesswoop 26th-Dec-2012 09:07 pm (UTC)
Rice originally envisioned Lestat resembling Rutger Hauer

lol

also, katniss/gale
xdecadentx 26th-Dec-2012 09:08 pm (UTC)
Yeah Tom Hanks' Robert Langdon.
bitterblueb 26th-Dec-2012 09:11 pm (UTC)
I really like Cruise in Interview. but I've never read the book so...

Also every time I read anything from Rice, which is rare, she sounds like a total bitch
winter_lace 27th-Dec-2012 04:07 am (UTC)
Anne Rice is cray. I love her. But bitch is cray.
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