Albus Dumbledore?
 

Many of you know by now that Richard Harris, who played Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies has died. There has been much speculation over who will play the wizard in the next movie. I have heard that Ian Mckellan (Gandalf) or Christopher Lee (Saruman) should play Dumbledore in the next movie<P>What do you think? Do you think that one of them should/would play Dumbledore? What would your reaction be if one of them did? Would this undermine LOTR in any way?

I found it really funny that they were considering Christopher Lee. I hadn't heard anything about Ian McKellen, though. Not that I doubt that either of them could do it--they're both very good actors--but I just found it funny that they were considering the evil wizard to play Albus Dumbledore.<P>I don't think it would undermine LotR in any way. I mean, all of the actors have other acting jobs--I don't think it would be any more of a problem than Ian McKellen playing Magneto again would be. (Though I did have problems seeing him as a villain...lol! "Wait, that's Gandalf! He's not evil!")<P>~*~Orual~*~

Too funny, I was just talking to a co-worker about this.<P><A HREF="http://christopherleeweb.com/index.php?styleid=1" TARGET=_blank>Check this out</A> - It talks about some of the Dubledore issues facing C.L.<P>Typical Hollywood. We'll see....<p>[ November 17, 2002: Message edited by: Pookabunny ]

I think it would be cool if either one of them played Dumbledore. I like HP very much and was very sad when i heard he died.

I hope neither of them takes on the role as I think both Ian McKellen AND Christopher Lee have both played the ultimate wizards when they played Gandalf the Grey/White and Saruman the White/Many Colors in the LOTR trilogy!

I can't see Ian Mackellon taking the role. While I'm by no means suggesting that Dumbledore is an imitation of Gandalf, the characters' intense similarities would be detrimental in two ways: it would typecast him as a 'wizard' actor, and many people would be unable to keep away from the image of Gandalf while watching HP

I think that they should get someone that would not be recognizable (but is still a superior actor, of course). When I saw Richard Harris, I authomatically thought, "Oooooh! There's Richard Harris!" With an unknown, it is easier to just say, "Oh! There's Dumbledore!"<P>That is one reason that it is good that they shot all three Lord of the Rings movies in a sold 18-month shooting. I know: all the Harry Potter books are not out (what is this I heard in an interview about her maybe not continuing after the fifth because of her new marriage/baby?), but they could have shot the 4 in a row. The way Peter Jackson and the rest of the crew did it, they were sure to have all of the cast there the whole time (look at all the roles Orlando Bloom now has: he may not have come back...and Elijah Wood might move on...and Liv Tyler would probably move on...and Cate Blanchett).<P>And, after the 3rd movie, Chris Columbus is not coming back to Harry Potter and he is advising the cast to do the same (he is encouraging the kids to move on and go to school and have lives). So: we may not get a full Harry Potter series...but we will always have Lord of the Rings!

Harry Potter's getting a brand new headmaster--and his name isn't Ian McKellen. <P>Michael Gambon, who picked up Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his virtuoso performance as Lyndon Johnson in HBO's Path to War, will be donning the robes as Dumbledore for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, according to a source familiar with the production. <P>For the full article click <A HREF="http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,11044,00.html" TARGET=_blank>here.</A>

I <I>knew</I> that the CNN crawl didn't say Ian McKellen! I caught it in my peripheral vision right before the name disappeared...well, that's some news and no mistake. What's everybody's reaction to this? Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Ian McKellen as Dumbledore, but it might be just as well that he won't be donning Hogwarts robes. I mean, he would've looked so much like Gandalf in wizard's robes that some people might think the inter-fantasy time/space continuum had been breached. Or it might have reinforced all those Eru-awful stories about Gandalf and Dumbledore being brothers. Oi.<P>~*~Orual~*~

What about <A HREF="http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=001568" TARGET=_blank>this discussion</A>? Is there no truth in it?

If you go to the end they have come to the same conclusion.

well, if my choises are Christopher Lee or<BR>Ian McKellan, I would go with McKellan, even<BR>though, if Christopher Lee will play Albus,<BR>he would be in the 3 best SiFi/Fantasy movies:<BR>Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars<BR>(Albus, Saruman, Lord Tyranus: ep. 2,3)<P>btw<BR>Saruman is my favorite character in LotR because<BR>he is so dark and cool, Albus should be more<BR>like Gandalf, even though it would be weird