DVDizzy Forum

When you first read the Harry Potter books- prior to casting for the first film- which actor did you imagine playing which roles as you read (if any)?

For some characters, I imagined people I know personally, but there's no point in posting them here, as you won't know them, lol.

Here are the ones I invisioned...

Dumbledore - William Daniels (Mr. Feeny in Boy Meets World)
Hagrid - Michael McShane (Muff Potter in Tom & Huck, Lloyd in Brotherly Love)
Neville Longbottom - Ralph Wiggum (ok, so he's a cartoon character, but for some reason, that's who I imagined)
Serius Black - Rutgard Hauer (The Huntsman in The 10th Kingdom)
Severus Snape - Brad Sullivan (Father Thomas, the Latin teacher, in Sister Act 2)

I know there are others, but I can't think of them now. I will say that in the end, though, I haven't been at all disappointed with any of their casting selections.

-Aaron

Interestingly, I never imagined anyone famous while reading the books. The characters and images in my head were totally original and not based on any celebrity or even anyone I personally knew. Because of that, the movies probably please me easier than it may please others since I don't have a predestined cast in my mind.

DK, that was the case for a lot of the characters, as well. Prof. McGonagall, for example, was one of many characters that I just imagined a fictitious person for. I guess if characters' description or personality closely resemble someone I am familiar with, my mind subs them in. Who knows how that works. I'm a visual learner, though, so I almost always imagine what I read very vividly, as if there's a movie playing out in my mind.

-Aaron

I imagined characters like Harry, Hagrid, Quirrell, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Dobby based on their pictures and discriptions.
Some characters, I invisioned a characters from the cartoon Hey Arnold:

Vernon and Petunia: Helga's parent Bob and Meruim
Hermione: Ronda

I actually invisioned Ron and Draco to look very similar. I didn't take Draco's description to literally, I just imagined him having red hair and freckles.

well at first i imagined Professor Lupin being played by Ewan McGregor (who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Episodes 1 and 2). in the books, i magined Draco Malfoy being this big strong child that is the model for what the average day bully looks like.

I didn't really imagine anyone in the roles, except for possibly Maggie Smith. She just has this strict, sophisticated air that I thought would be perfect.

Only her and Hagrid (what's his real name?) perfectly match what I imagined the characters to be.

As for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, I was really disappointed when I saw their first pictures.
Even now, they're just not the three characters from the books.

Prince Adam wrote: Only her and Hagrid (what's his real name?) perfectly match what I imagined the characters to be.

Hagrid is played by Robbie Coltrane . yeah i agree with Prince Adam when he says that Professor McGonigal and Hagrid perfectly match what was in the book. I also think that Alan Rickman's character (Professor Snape) was like what i imagined from the book. one differece i can tell is that in the book series, you can see a picture of Snape (in books 3 and 5) and the picture is really different what you see in the movie. before i heard about the casting of the Goblet of Fire movie, I always thought that Mad-Eyed Moody was short and that he would be a CGI character in the movie. now i know who is playing Mad-Eyed Moody in the GoF movie and that most likely his magical eye will be done in CGI.

Feeny and Muff Potter? I like the way you think, awallace!

I read the books after I watched the first film, so I pictured the faces of the actors in the first film. But for the characters in the following books, I imagined them out of thin air. I imagined Lupin as a fat bloke!

I actually began reading the books after seeing the Philosopher's Stone, but I still managed to make my own versions of the characters despite having seen the film. It's the same with book covers: the images in my head nearly always disagree with the ideas of the cover illustrator, and so I just forget about the ready-made interpretations and imagine the characters as I please.

Now, with the Chamber of Secrets I had read the book before seeing the film, but I don't think I had any particular actors in mind. However, I remember thinking after the casting had been announced that Kenneth Branagh was the perfect choice for Gilderoy Lockheart. I couldn't have thought of a better person for the role! Too bad the film left his character a little bland.

I remember Rosie O'Donnel saying she imagined Tim Allen as Gilderoy Lockhart. I can't remember who, if anyone, I imagined for him.

Also, I should say that in some scenes, I wouldn't imagine that particular person, but rather something I just made up, and then in the next scene, it's right back to that person. Kind of weird, huh?

-Aaron

Just checked imdb's casting list for The Goblet of Fire, and it says that Miranda Richardson is going to play Rita Skeeter. Funny. I had someone more like Ruby Wax in mind...

And ever since a friend suggested Hugh Jackman for Sirius I haven't been able to loose the image. He may not look tortured enough for someone straight from Azkaban, but he's as young and kind looking as I imagined Sirius to be. Gary Oldman may be the perfect tortured looney but his persona lacks a certain warmth.

When I was reading Harry Potter, I to didn't imagine anyone playing them. They were all original characters. The way JK Rowling describes each character is so complete that you can almost see them in your mind without visual aid. When the movie did come out, it was amazing how close the actors were/are to what I had imagined...except perhaps for Snape...which I saw as a sunken cheeked man (for some reason way skinnier than the actor that plays him).

Uncle Remus wrote:well at first i imagined Professor Lupin being played by Ewan McGregor (who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Episodes 1 and 2).

As an avid admirer of Ewan McGregor, I was very saddened when he was not cast as Lupin after all the rumors circulating about him playing the role. I feel that Mr. McGregor would have added much sex appeal to the role of Professor Lupin.

I think Ewan McGreggor would have been a great pick, as well.

-Aaron

Bah... not the Ewan McGregor nonsense again. Just because someone's a good guy doesn't mean they're pretty in appearance, people.

Personally, I didn't think of any particular actor for any of the characters when I first read the books. If anything - like lord-of-sith, I had GrandPré's illustrations in my head while reading. But the content and dialogue of books just "flow" for me, anyway. I never really fully flesh out the character in my head - I just follow their story.
GrandPré probably had more influence on my idyllic films than I like to think, though. For me, live-action HP films just aren't that... believeable. O_o The books are so animated in content and demeanor that I would actually have loved to see them produced in animation - for some reason, stop-motion seems the most appropriate to me. It would capture the caricature of the magical world, but could also be menacing and creepy when need be. Yes, it would take a hell of a long time to make all 7, but you can replace voice actors a lot more easily than live actors...

Above all, though - I kinda wish there weren't films in the first place. With their length and their inordinate amount of detail, the books aren't really that filmmable... But, if there had to be films, I really wish they had waited until all 7 books were out before starting production. As it is, they don't know what or how to properly foreshadow. Yes, I know that the screenwriter has correspondence with Rowling, but it's not the same as the finished book. Things change. Creation is in the actual act of writing - no matter how well you have the story planned out. I mean, hell - Rowling said that OotP was going to be shorter than GoF. Look how that panned out. She didn't know exactly what she was going to write before she wrote it. So the whole business of filming these books before they're finished is folly, imo. It's like if they created LotR before the publication of RotK. What if they had already heavily hinted that, say, Aragorn was going to fall for Eowyn?

William Daniels as Dumbledorf? Cant really see that one. I really liked him in St. Elsewhere but that does not seem like a fit. Daniels is great at ascerbic roles which is not what Dumbledorf is.