Somehow they managed in the movie to make him still look pretty much like Neville though. And admittedly he is one of those chameleonic people who look very different from picture to picture.
Anyway, how lucky were these people with the three main actors? To find three kids who not only are perfect for the roles, but keep being so, and all stay around and does great work through eight movies? Amazing. And does it through the great pressure of both adolescence and stardom. Huh.
Harry Potter really is an amazing phenomenon. Not only the sheer unprecedented size of it, but also the character. It's really, I think, the only thing of the kind I really like (not that I'm a huge fan, but I like it). Take Narnia or that Compass thing for example, they just don't really interest me at all. There's something about Harry Potter which makes it more trans-gender in some way. Maybe it is a certain extra foundation in logic, which matters more to the traditionally left-brained men than to women, for better or worse. JK actually talks a little about that in the interview. Not to be accused of being sexist, I think that taking a lot of stock in logic is as much of a weakness as it is a strength, since it tends to block intuition to some degree (hence the concept of Female Intuition), and of course any person of any gender can lean any way on this matter.
Re the scale, I just saw that the HP movies are the highest grossing film franchise of all time. That's astonishing, considering Star Wars and everything. I'd not imagined that. Especially with Star Wars, which has so many hard core fans who have seen each movie dozens and dozens of times.
Update:
Talking about Good Job Growing Up:
For me, it's the characters and the sheer amount of imagination that goes into their world. I read the books, and I feel like I'm living there for a little while.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's definitely very engaging. And of course that's the way it is and should be for a reader as differentiated from a critic or whatnot. It does not add to the enjoyment much to be hugely cerebral about it.
ReplyDeleteI just can't turn off my thinker, which is a mixed blessing.
Yes Jes, and the imagination is indeed huge. Just the fact that it's pretty much the only major mainstream fantasy book which managed, seemingly pretty effortlessly, to move out from under the mill stone of the world of Tolkien, and still have a rich magical world, is a big accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteI just can't turn off my thinker, which is a mixed blessing.
ReplyDeleteYour inane thoughts and observations are proof it never gets turned on.
He's got the money, maybe he should get some braces. They have those ones now that are practically invisible.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a peculiarity about Brits, they are very slow about discovering the joys of corrective dentistry.
ReplyDeleteHey, Jes, you look like a penis.
ReplyDeleteAmericans maybe go too far with cosmetic dentistry, but Brits don't go far enough. :-)
ReplyDelete