Was the cast of characters perfect?
 

Or could other's have done better.<BR>What do you think, people?<P>I will have a list up of what I think shortly...just for fun.<P>Let's hear from you all.<P>Know Peace !

That is a very difficult question!! I will have to think a bit about it. <BR>The only person that I found not quite right the first time I saw it was Rosie...she is so big and taller than Sam!! I am afraid Sam will be a hen-pecked husband <BR>Oh, yes, and I am not too happy with Arwen either....there must be lots of beautiful women out there?? NO?<BR>Oh, and the first time I saw Merry!! Pippin, Sam and Frodo are perfect, but although I think the present Merry is good....he is not what I thought Merry would look like...<BR>My problem is I do not know any stars, so I do not have any idea who would be better <BR>What do others think??

I agree, Merry does look kinda wierd, I think it's his nose!<P>Anyone else think Liv Tyler sometimes looks like a horse, or is that just me? She looks good in the film though, but having her save Frodo made the Arwen character change.

Please forgive me "linking" to another board, but <A HREF="http://pub8.ezboard.com/fthelotrmoviesitegeneraldiscussion.showMessage?top icID=1706.topic" TARGET=_blank>this</A> is what I found recently, and what came back to my mind when I read this thread. Do you think this is true? Somehow I can't believe this. I imagined Merry differntly, too, but nevertheless I liked Dominic very much and I see no reason for complaining about his acting. What do you think?<p>[ April 05, 2002: Message edited by: Sîdhrîs ]

Arwen: Liv Tyler is decent at acting I'll giv her that. She looks a bit like how I would imagin Arwen except for one minor detail... Arwen had grey eyes. <BR>Elrond: He just didn't look right. I don't think it helps that I had just watched The Matrix for the first either befor I last saw the movie.<BR>Everyone else was perfect I think.

I think it's rubbish. PJ would never say that publicly, even if it was true.<P>As for the question, I think PJ did quite well with the casting. I have the advantage of knowing only a couple of the players from other things...Rys-Davies and Christopher Lee are really the only members of the cast who I have seen in other things. So, I don't see 'Agent Elrond' when I see Weaving; Never saw any of McKellen's other work, although I want to see 'Apt Pupil,' taken from the King novella, so nothing interferes with his presentation of Gandalf. Oh yeah, I saw Bean in Patriot Games, but that also didn't interfere with his representation of Boromir. Only after, when someone mentioned that he tries to incorporate the word 'sharp' into anything he does, did it affect my perception of what he was doing. The scene in which he picks up Narsil, saying 'still sharp,' now detracts slightly from my experience. PJ runs the danger of too many in jokes. However: I think PJ wanted a really competent cast, as opposed to a 'headliner driven' cast, and I think he achieved it, for the most part.

Elrond freaked me out _before_ I saw The Matrix.... now he really scares me.

I have trouble believing that <i>any</i> director would criticize one of his actors publically like that, especially PJ. I think Dominic did a good job as Merry, although after reading the book I imagine him looking differently.

I read that thing about Dominic a while ago and it made me a little mad. For though I did not think his acting was as strong as some of the other cast members I don't think that a director of a film would EVER say that about one of his actors. I mean, he obviously cast him for a reason.<BR>As for who could've done better...<BR>That is not for me to judge because any actor has the ability to play a role wonderfully, so I am sure other people could've have done the roles. But a big part about being cast in a role is who you are as a person - and since no two people are alike in real life I believe that the cast was chosen for those who were most naturally like their characters (though from an article I read it seems that the cast all had bad "potty mouth" when not on the set )<BR>So, yes, I do think that they cast the perfect cast, or if there was someone better out there for a certain role they didn't make it to the auditions.

whoa hoh hoh..interesting responses all around...<P>couldn't agree more with Glenethor about the - quote 'I think PJ wanted a really competent cast, as opposed to a 'headliner driven' cast, and I think he achieved it, for the most part.' unquote.<BR>That would be right.<P>And some of you seemed to go at Hugo Weaving's Elrond.<BR> The first time I saw this dude was in the Television serial about Don Bradman, an Australian Sportstar.<BR>And I think he was a pretty good choice for the Elf Lord, really.<P>Here's what I have in mind.<P>The Fellowship - <P>FRODO BAGGINS - Wood is a hobbit.<P>GANDALF - I didn't like McKellan. Christopher Lambert is my choice.<P>ARAGORN - Viggo was cool. I cast Val Kilmer however.<P>BOROMIR - Bean did a good job. Banderas would add more colour here.<P>LEGOLAS - Bloom's a punk. Jude Law could do. And someone suggested Tom Green in a chat once. <P>GIMLI - Davies was fine, DeVito would be more fun.<P>The Other three Hobbits were okay. Anyone could do those parts.<P><BR>Support cast - <P>ARWEN - If we were to have no dialogue for this one, I would go with Cara Buono.<P>GALADRIEL - This one was good. Yet Nicole Kidman, maybe.<P>ELROND - Perfect.<P>SARUMAN - Perfect.<P><BR>Characters that should have been -<P>BOMBADIL - Robin Williams would rock.<P><BR>Will update this as we go on. This is fun.<P>Know Peace.<p>[ April 06, 2002: Message edited by: KingCarlton ]

Lol, I can just see Robin Williams being Tom Bombadil. For some reason I dont think that link is true. I cant see PJ saying that

I believe the casting was pretty much perfect. I think no one else could have been Frodo as well as Elijah Wood was. Sean Astin was perfect as Sam. I think all the casting was very good. No complaints from me! (Except maybe Haldir and Celeborn...their blond hair just didn't hold with me)

I just imagined the hobbits older... I don't know, I had an image of older, fatter hobbits... but then again, the movie hobbits DO look like hobbits, they were meant to be hobbits... And I think the cast was just fine

Hey, I am not bashing the cast..they were great, this thread is just for fun. <BR>Placing your favs. in the movie.<BR>You know when you read a book, you do think of it being made into a movie and who would be cast. <BR>Thanks for the responses, keep them coming.<P>Know Peace<BR>

Have you seen Jude Law!!! He's such a freak!! In fact, he freaks me out more than Elijah Wood in person and in movie combined. I saw Jude Law in Enemy at the Gates(I think) and he is such a freak!!!!

Heh Heh good one, cookie<P>I am working up another list of alternates.<P>know peace.<P>

I think for Legolas- Peter Horton.

My friends think that Robin Williams is a freak and would never be able to sing any of Tom Bombadil's songs.

Aaah, poor Robin Williams!

I think Robin Williams would have made a perfect Tom Bombadil!! I was okay with Dominic's portrayal of Merry. He's nose is big thogh but it makes him look kinda cute. I also like Sean Astin as Sam but he sometimes didn't get his accent well enough. Like when Gandalf catches him eavesdropping outside of Frodo's house and explains to Gandalf what he had heard. I think Liv Tyler did a very good job because no one else got the Elvish language down like she did. Like, Elrond (I don't know the guy's real name)he didn't seem good enough with the accent and I also imagined Elrond to look different. He makes a good agent (Matrix) but not a good elf. I absolutely loved Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf no one could have done a better job than him. I'm comfortable with Cate Blanchett being Galadriel. I thought that Bilbo, Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn, Boromir, and Pippin we portrayed very nicely. Frodo was okay, I wasn't really impressed, but I don't think anyone could have done a better job than Elijah.

They were perfect for me.<P><BR>Try this next time you see it: Hobbits 'n' Hagen Daz it's like a beautiful and heavenly combination.<P>And kanga, that was hobbits <I>and</I> hagen daz I said....

I would keep Elijah, but stuff him in a time machine and age him ten years. He's supposed to be older than the other Hobbits, not younger, and it's partially due to his age that the parts of him standing up to the Nazgul at the Fords were written out. Not believable in someone so young. *Now <I>I'm</I> going to get the rotten tomatoes Dream King.*<P>-Maril

~Ducks out of Maril's Way~<P>Good Call, Maril..<P>How's this<P>The Hobbits - <P>Frodo - Edward Norton.<P>Sam - Sean was fine.<P>Merry - Christian Slater.<P>Pippen - Good cast, needed a slight attitude adjustment.<P><BR>

Really, i dont know if i have ever seen a better cast movie...i thought everyone was fantastic...! perhaps my only [small, tiny, miniscule] problem was with elijah wood as frodo--don't get me wrong, i LOVED wathcing him in this role and i think he is an amazing actor, and he did a perfect job as a hobbit...but maybe he's a little tOo glamorous? k, sry that was the wrong word, but i always pictured frodo to be frumpier, older. (I know more time passed in the book.) Elijah Wood's just so fresh-faced and handsome and young and--but what's so bad about that?!! k, i'll stop rambling. He did an AmAziNG job, a wonderful young actor. <BR>And, btw, elrond did throw me a little the first time i saw the movie, but the next time i realized that i really liked hugo weaving in this role--he's kind of forbidding and scary and powerful, but good and wise at the same time...although it did remind me unfortunately of the matrix.

NO!!! Keep everyone as PJ organised it and forget about changing the cast 'cause it's never gonna happen. No one, and I say NO ONE can make a LOTR movie better than PJ did it!.....I think.

I think Arwen was perfect, though everyone says she's ugly etc, I think she's really pretty (but I will admit that sometimes Liv looks like a horse... but she looks different as Arwen).<BR>Merry was ok I thought, and I haven't seen the Matrix so I thought Elrond was OK but a bit stern (that's not the casting too).<BR>I also thought Celeborn was a bit odd, but I never really imagined him, and he was only there for about 5 seconds. <BR>All the rest - brilliant!

Jackson blew everyone out of the water all around. I don't think any other director could have done LotR better. <P>The cast members weren't themselves; they were their characters. I didn't look at Cate Blanchett and think "That's Cate." The same holds true for Wood. In fact I had never put a face on Frodo until I saw LotR and all of a sudden it just clicked, even tho the hobbits were in reverse age. <P>Arwen... well yes, Liv Tyler looks a bit equine sometimes... but her oval face really worked as an elf. The way her character changed... yes, it had an effect, and I'm not sure if it was good or bad. <P>As far as Elrond is concerned, he was amazing! The way he said "Welcome to Rivendell, Frodo Baggins," reminded me of the way he spoke to Neo as Agent Smith, and it was so cool! His demeanor was perfectly detached, and I thought he did a superb job. The sternness made the fact that he was in fact a warrior believable. <P>And as far as the physcial characteristics of Merry and the others, they were supposed to be random hobbits who happened to be friends. It made it more real. I loved Pip's obsession with food and Merry's sarcasm towards him (both reminded me of myself... ). <P>I wanted to mention something else about Jackson's portrayal of Middle Earth. I don't know how you all read, but when I read, I create my own 3D setting in my mind. When an author takes a paragraph to describe a character's facial expression, that's my mental close-up; during a battle scene, that's when I am in the thick of the action, and when he becomes more vague and leaves a scene, that's where I pan up and out and the landscape becomes a focal point. When I was watchign LotR, it was so intense. I had this image of Middle Earth in my mind's eye, and then seeing it exactly how I pictured it right in front of me completely blew my mind. Even the hobbits looked the same, Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir, Gimli, the Balrog, etc. were the same thing. <P>I am annoyed that LotR did not get the publicity that A Beautiful Mind got. LotR was a total shot in the dark, so to speak. Jackson is a cinematic genius who no one thought had anything worth mainstreaming. He took a leap, and in my not-so-humble opinion landed quite squarely on his feet. I have a feeling this is the next Star Wars. No, I think this will be different, althought I'm not sure how... <P>To sum up my rantings and ravings, I am going to buy a DVD player specifically to watch the trilogy after they all come out, b/c you can't see this any other way. Peace.

Voices have been heard and I reply in kind !<P>NinjaFerret – Welcome to the Downs. Well put there friend. Yes, I agree foremost that the casting was good and each and every actor was the part they were meant to be. The Topic here is if others could have done better, and looked or sounded better. In my view Saruman, Elrond, Aragorn and Sam were perfectly cast. I would have liked to have seen others, some of my favourites cast for this fabulous story. <BR>Liv Tyler did a good job, well worth the script handed to her no doubt. It was the script that was altered to suit the medium of audio-visuals which is vastly different from the printed one.<BR>Ah.. the location was near perfect….. no flaws there. Yes readers do visualize in every dimension possible. I however did imagine most of the characters differently. Did you not miss the Balrog’s spreading wings?<BR>But you must admit that the movie a Beautiful Mind has a stronger, more relevant story, a lot more accessible to stuffy Academy members and juries. Ahhh.. who needs a metal toy when you’re raking in the big bucks.<P>Esmerelda the Elf-Girl - Aha, you are the very kind of fan girl ‘Old McCullough’ here keeps warning us about…Most fans of the Hobbits would have preferred an older Frodo, being 33 and all…but should hobbits age as humans? Anyhow, I felt that Wood was too pretty for a hobbit, maybe him as an elf would be better. <P>cookie_crazy – This isn’t a witch burning lynch mob here, we’re having a spot of fun. Of which we are entitled to. Nyahh !<P>pippin_took0 – You need to get out of the crowds more often. Everyone can’t be okay…go read the books all over again. <P>Hey ! That was great. <P>Stay tuned for my next cast list …. If you dare….nyeh nyeh ! <BR> <P>Know Peace !<p>[ April 17, 2002: Message edited by: KingCarlton ]

I think the acting was quite adequate, especially Sam's. If I were to complain about anything, I'd have to say that Frodo looked a little too much like Elijah Wood. I was sometimes distracted, remembering other things he's been in. I didn't have that problem with the others partly because I was unfamiliar with most of them <BR>(the only things I've seen being Daylight, in which Viggo Mortensen played a brief but important role, and Sliders, but of course I couldn't see John Rhys-Davies under the Gimli outfit , and Sean Astin in Goonies, but that movie was a long time ago when he was much younger, and also playing a very different role)<BR>and partly because I think the others did a better job of sinking into their parts. I'm not complaining about Elijah Wood's performance; I thought it was quite good, but you must admit that he was very obviously Elijah Wood.<BR>Also, in a purely physical sense, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn matched my inner vision of Aragorn to a "T"...right down to the scruffy stubble (and I'm not a fan of facial hair). I must tell you, it was a wonderful experience walking into that theater and seeing my own personal Aragorn walk onto the screen.

Yes, well, that first post was just me having mental diarrhea... The balrog could've had wings, but the massive quantities of fire made up for it. Wonder why Jackson didn't go for it...? Maybe because it would have been too cliche? Or too much money, but that is one pair of wings; there comes a point when a few hundred dollars don't make a hell of a lot of difference. Dunno. One thing that struck me was the way WETA got the mouth to look when he roared at Gandalf. <P>Who would've been better... perhaps throwing Christopher Lloyd in somewhere. But I suppose that would be too many large bulging eyes in one movie. <P>May your luck exceed the stench of your oxters.

Susan – Good call on Viggo’s Aragorn. My wife thinks so too….to a “T”, is exactly what she said and she is of a few who thinks that Arwen’s part being inflated was a good thing, and added ‘for Aragorn deserves a heroic lover and not some pampered fairy princess pouting and hiding behind daddy Elrond’s shadow’. <P>Ferret – The Balrog was perfect, I quipped about the wing’s cause IN an earlier production of LOTR the Balrog looked pretty dumb with the wings. <BR>Hey, I was about to cast Llyod in another fun list and you ruined it…. Ha I’m going to do it anyway.

Here’s a cast of Comedians if the movie were to be made as a comedy -<P>The Fellowship - <P>FRODO BAGGINS – Martin Short. <P>SAM GAMGEE – Michael J Fox<P>MERRY – Steve Martin<P>PIPPEN - Jason Alexander<P>GANDALF – Christopher Lloyd.<BR> <BR>ARAGORN – Robin Williams <P>BOROMIR - Tom Arnold<P>LEGOLAS – Jim Carrey<P>GIMLI – John Goodman (Digitally Dwarfed)<P>Support cast – <P>BILBO – Billy Crystal<P>ELROND – Bill Murray<P>ARWEN – Rosie O’Donnell <P>GALADRIEL – Bette Midler <P>HALDIR – David Spade<P>SARUMAN – Rodney Dangerfield<P>MOUTH OF SAURON - (Voice of) Whoopie Goldberg <BR> <P>Imagine the Eye bulging contest with Lloyd and Dangerfield. Oh yeah and Boromir shouldn't fall here. <P>What kind of Script should they get....check this out - Dude, where's my Ring? by L & M Vainder at <A HREF="http://www.barrowdowns.com/FanFic.asp?Size=" TARGET=_blank>http://www.barrowdowns.com/FanFic.asp?Size=</A> <P>It's a riot !<P>Cheers !

Frodo, and Galadriel WERE, that's for sure.

Oh yeah!!!Robin Williams would JUST ROCK HERE!!!

Hee, hee, KingCarlton, those were great ideas(but Rosie o'Donnell as Arwen?). As I was reading those, I was imagining how those actors would deliver their lines in the movie and just about fell off my chair laughing. Especially Bette Midler and David Spade...I can just see it now- "You have entered the Realm of the Freaks, you cannot go back." Robin Williams definitely needs a role somewhere (maybe as a Balrog....or not. ) Ah yes, Tolkien is rolling over in his grave right now (as he has probably done many times lately ). But seriously, I thought the cast in the movie was great and with little fault. PJ did a good job!

GALADRIEL – Bette Midler <BR>"Okay, boys. This quest (or whatever it is), is about <I>this</I> close to going completely kablooie, you know what I mean?"<P>HALDIR – David Spade<BR>"Look, just put on the blindfold? We haven't got all day, the lady's waiting."<P>SARUMAN – Rodney Dangerfield<BR>"You know where the ring is, for how many years, and do you tell <I>Me</I>??? No! No respect, I tell ya."<P>MOUTH OF SAURON - (Voice of) Whoopie Goldberg <BR>"You gotta be kidding me. This <I>all</I> you got, kingie-boy?"<P>Ha!

Marileangorifurnimaluim - That was excellent, maybe we can get into an LOTR spoof production together... Ha !<P>Lomelinde - Hope you didn't hurt yourself... dream up some more casts, like for Glorfindel, Bombadil, Eomer and Eowyn etc.<P>Cookie - Robin Williams would make a perfect Schitzo Aragorn.<P>Maybe with a budget of a couple of hundred mil, we could make a 'Lard of the Rungs' spoof with these guys.....man, it would out sell Star Wars!<P>And who would direct this mess? Any Ideas?<P><BR>~concocting up some more ridiculous probables~<P>Cheers!

Personally, I don't have a problem with the cast, but I think that PJ made Pippin too clumsy. In fact, he wasn't a klutz at all in the book.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Please forgive me "linking" to another board, but this is what I found recently, and what came back to my mind when I read this thread. Do you think this is true? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I don't, though this may be late to reply. I really don't think it's true. That person can't even spell Pippin correctly! Who's to say that it's true and that they can be trusted?<P>~Elfy

Nevfeniel – I agree on the count of Pippin being made out as a real clumsy Fool of a Took in the movie; in the books he’s not such…but maybe PJ will redeem this by probably highlighting Pip’s heroic efforts while being captive under the Uruks as told in the Two Towers.<P>Daecuiel the Elf – no one really puts stock in that meager attempt of an argument at The White Council, it’s just someone’s silly joke gone bad. Those guys are a bit too serious with their instigations, while we here are just having fun.<P>Stay tuned for another corny lineup of casting.