An Actress to play Honor Harrington

mateau wrote:Hmmm...

If I was casting Honor Harrington I would look pretty hard at Uma Thurman.

She's tall, put her her in a black wig and she could pull it off.

And she's not too shabby with a Hattori Hanzo Katana either.

roseandheather wrote:

SWM wrote:For me, I don't think Honor has to be portrayed in the movie as of Asian descent. With only a few exceptions, I don't think that phenotype is critical to the roles of any of the major characters. As long the main characters show sufficient variety of both phenotype and mismatching of names to phenotypes to demonstrate the broad racial mixing of the Honorverse era, I will be satisfied.

Now, to do that effectively, it would probably be best if Honor in particular is not a typical non-Hispanic Caucasian. But I don't think it would affect the story at all if she were portrayed as Polynesian, Native American, Middle Eastern, south Indian, African, or whatever, or whether she is blonde, brunette, or redhead, with straight hair or curly or frizzy. I would prefer that she be tall, but even that is not really critical to the story. IMHO, Honor does not have to look exactly as she is described in the books--or even anything like she is described in the books.

But I don't want to spoil things for those who want to cast an actor who looks like their mental image of Honor or other characters. There's nothing wrong with that, either. So keep on going!

...except that casting Honor as white (or, really, any character as white when they're specified not to be) has all sorts of terrible racist implications so there's that.

SWM wrote:

roseandheather wrote:If we were discussing minor characters here, I'd agree with you. But the fact is that very, very few leading roles in fiction are written as non-white. Casting Honor as white would be taking away the opportunity to play her from another actor whose choice of roles is much more limited due to the fact that they aren't white. Honor is one of an extremely few non-white characters in science fiction, and most literary SF heroes don't make it to the big screen, making her doubly important.

If minor character A is black, minor character B is Asian, and minor character C is American Indian, but in the film A is Asian, B is Filipina, and C is black, I'm not going to pitch a fit - your point about racial diversity being more important than which character is specifically which is perfectly good there. But when you have a character like Honor - or Queen Elizabeth, or Michelle Henke, or Dame Estelle, or any truly major character when major characters are so rarely written as non-white - then I would say that the race of the actor is important.

I agree that the leading role is a special role. Which is why I specifically stated that Honor should not be white. I disagree that casting Honor with a white actor would inherently be racist, but agree that casting Honor with a non-white actor is an opportunity that should not be missed.

I agree that the Wintons should specifically be black, primarily because the opportunity to highlight the changed environment with a line like Du Havel's is too good to miss.

I disagree that phenotype is particularly important for Estelle's role, and do not consider her to be quite as important a character in the overall series as you do. Sorry.

But you said that casting a white actor for any character who is described as non-white would have terrible racist implications. I strongly disagree with that statement.

mateau wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:She's also 44 years old, while Honor is a biological 25 or so.

Her daughter (aged 16) is closer to Honor's appearance, but I don't know if Maya Thurman-Hawke has her mother's acting talent, but she'd be a much better choice.

Hollywood magic = make-up.

An older actress is much more comfortable in her skin and moves differently. And 44 is easy to age down.

Maybe she is "pricey" why should that really matter. Pricey = box office draw. Age is huge issue in Hollywood. Why shouldn't an actress get a part based on merit rather than just because she's the current "soup d'jour"? Thurman comes with an edge thanks to Kill Bill, that would make her believable as a 40th century warrior.

But if David Weber can't find an actress then the film never gets made. And he seems to be hung up on the height and build.

Besides I am sick and tired of seeing beautiful people on tv and in the movies. The world is not populated with beautiful people. That is one the the things that makes British film and television so good: real people. Not Barbie and Ken dolls.

Reading through some of these posts I get a sense that folks want this to be "Bay Watch in Space". This doesn't need to devolve into Annika Hansen running around in a skin-suit playing a debugged borg. That was one of the most rediculous characters ever developed, but she was fun to watch. And she kept the show on the air.

And maybe that is the solution. Go the to UK and Europe for actors. British actors would be especially dialed in to a Monarchy and would be believable in playing roles requireing natural deference. I think a British accent would do well in selling a nobility.

Of course there is always Gabrielle Reece who is 6'3". Or is she too California surfer? Somehow I don't see her playing in a space opera.

dreamrider wrote:
I wouldn't worry too much about Dame Estelle casting. After all, we are unlikely to see her on screen for about 10 movies. Let's get past the first -umm- three or so before we argue it.

roseandheather wrote:

dreamrider wrote:
I wouldn't worry too much about Dame Estelle casting. After all, we are unlikely to see her on screen for about 10 movies. Let's get past the first -umm- three or so before we argue it.

Not if they have flashbacks to OBS!!

(And I still want Julia Nickson. Who, ironically, would have been perfect for Honor twenty years ago...)

dreamrider wrote:So far the strongest indication has been David talking about his suggestion for A flashback...a dream sequence right at the beginning, showing Honor having nightmares about the battle with Sirius. The idea is to get an action scene and some background right up front, for the uninitiated. Not much scope or need there for details like (the lovely, beloved, wise, etc, etc...I like her, too, OK?) Dame Estelle.

dreamrider

roseandheather wrote:

dreamrider wrote:So far the strongest indication has been David talking about his suggestion for A flashback...a dream sequence right at the beginning, showing Honor having nightmares about the battle with Sirius. The idea is to get an action scene and some background right up front, for the uninitiated. Not much scope or need there for details like (the lovely, beloved, wise, etc, etc...I like her, too, OK?) Dame Estelle.

dreamrider

Oh, shut your mouth and quit squashing my fantasy with reality!!

(I'm still holding out hope. It's growing fainter, but it's still there!)