Which character looked most different in the movie from how you pictured them?

[ChaserHazel]

Originally Posted by WelkinCooper

I tend to agree that Rickman, while not physically resembling the character as much as I expected, certainly had the mannerisms and the personality down perfectly! When I think of Snape now, I automatically picture Alan Rickman.

The magic of writing is putting down scenes and characters exactly like you imagine them so readers can picture what you see, but it should also leave room for imagination. So the problems with movies is that they'll almost always differ from what you pictured in your head. I think I always imagined Snape the way he is shown in the movies and like you said, Rickman's nailed his character. :) Though the fun part about Rickman as Snape is (you might know this already lol, this post isn't directed to you in particular but I just wanted to say something on Snape) that Rowling was asked to sketch Snape and it might have been the producer, but anyway he said "He looks like Alan Rickman" and it's a well-known fact that he was her first choice to play Snape. So no matter what he looked like inside our heads, he definitely had a specific look in her head, the one that we got to see for ourselves. ;)

At first I was a bit put off by Lupin, but then again he never had a specific look in my head because he wasn't described that much. I think we only knew the color of his hair (which was even missing the grey) but I've come to love David Thewlis as Lupin. While I also like Gary Oldman as Sirius, I never thought he'd have curls. Then again, when I look up fanart from young Sirius he's often depicted with really long straight hair... and I hate it. I know Rowling described him as having longer hair, but I always imagined shoulder length and I think in the books it's also depicted as straight. So even though the younger Marauders appeared very shortly in the movie (James was perfect, except for the brown hair) I was also disappointed with the younger Remus and Sirius (Peter was perfect though). It's not even necessarily because they weren't very handsome (though it was Sirius's explicit quality, and forgive my inner-fangirl) but because Sirius was short and had weird curls and Remus was just weird overall. But I guess they can be forgiven since I love older Remus's look and Gary Oldman plays a great Sirius.

[avpmdracofan]

Snape was so different from how I pictured him! I pictured him very tall and skinny, with a goatee and a pointy face.

Also, in the later films, Hermione was very different! Nothing against Emma Watson (she's an amazing actress), but Hermione is supposed to be ugly! She's supposed to have bushy hair and buck teeth. Instead, she's all pretty and modern, which really goes against the books.

Dudley should have been fatter, with blond hair. The book said he was as wide as he was tall.

[merrymarge]

Petunia had blond hair too, but not in the movies.

[GingerCat1]

Originally Posted by avpmdracofan

Also, in the later films, Hermione was very different! Nothing against Emma Watson (she's an amazing actress), but Hermione is supposed to be ugly! She's supposed to have bushy hair and buck teeth. Instead, she's all pretty and modern, which really goes against the books.

Wrong. Yes Hermione has bushy hair (i don't see that as a problem) but her buck teeth were gone by halfway through GoF. There is also plenty of evidence to suggest Hermione is quite good looking as Ron was interested in her probably from CoS onwards, Krum (a guy that could have any girl) asked Hermione to the Yule Ball and McLaggen went on a date with Hermione as well and McLaggen seems like the type who would only go out with a girl if he thought she was good looking enough for him.

Not great evidence but Greyback also said that Hermione was attractive as well.

[NightStrike91]

Originally Posted by GingerCat1

Wrong. Yes Hermione has bushy hair (i don't see that as a problem) but her buck teeth were gone by halfway through GoF. There is also plenty of evidence to suggest Hermione is quite good looking as Ron was interested in her probably from CoS onwards, Krum (a guy that could have any girl) asked Hermione to the Yule Ball and McLaggen went on a date with Hermione as well and McLaggen seems like the type who would only go out with a girl if he thought she was good looking enough for him.

Not great evidence but Greyback also said that Hermione was attractive as well.

Right, I've always pictured Hermione as having the potential of being among the good-looking girls but she doesn't care for her appearance as much as she care for more important things. Just one of the things I love about her.

[mrfutterman]

Originally Posted by avpmdracofan

Snape was so different from how I pictured him! I pictured him very tall and skinny, with a goatee and a pointy face.

As the author does not describe Snape this way, the question is - why did you picture him this way?

Originally Posted by avpmdracofan

Also, in the later films, Hermione was very different! Nothing against Emma Watson (she's an amazing actress),

What is amazing about her?

Originally Posted by avpmdracofan

but Hermione is supposed to be ugly!

No. She is not "supposed to be ugly!"

Originally Posted by avpmdracofan

Dudley should have been fatter, with blond hair. The book said he was as wide as he was tall.

Where would they find a young actor of that size? I suppose they could have tried a hospital, as a youngster who was "as wide as he was tall" would be morbidly obese, to the point of being very seriously ill.

Just because the author wrote it that way, to get an easy laugh, doesn't mean that the film makers had to take any notice.

[BlueScarecrow]

To be honest, with me it's the trio in the movies that look completely different to the trio in my head. I can't really ever remember Harry being described as tall, but I always imagined him to be quite tall and very handsome (not that Daniel Radcliffe isn't good looking, I've just always see Harry to be conventionally handsome in the way I've always imagined James to be). My Ron is also tall and lanky (taller than Harry) like it says in the books with a long nose and covered in freckles. And I've never liked the movie Hermione because she's too pretty. To me Emma Watson is too pretty to be Hermione. My Hermione is very plain, with unkept bushy hair, but still attractive. My Hermione also has bucked teeth until they get sorted out in the fourth book.

I also imagine Dumbledore to look more like Richard Harris than Michael Gambon. Alan Rickman, however, is spot on.

[GingerCat1]

Originally Posted by BlueScarecrow

To be honest, with me it's the trio in the movies that look completely different to the trio in my head. I can't really ever remember Harry being described as tall, but I always imagined him to be quite tall and very handsome (not that Daniel Radcliffe isn't good looking, I've just always see Harry to be conventionally handsome in the way I've always imagined James to be). My Ron is also tall and lanky (taller than Harry) like it says in the books with a long nose and covered in freckles. And I've never liked the movie Hermione because she's too pretty. To me Emma Watson is too pretty to be Hermione. My Hermione is very plain, with unkept bushy hair, but still attractive. My Hermione also has bucked teeth until they get sorted out in the fourth book.

I also imagine Dumbledore to look more like Richard Harris than Michael Gambon. Alan Rickman, however, is spot on.

Harry's wand length suggests he isn't particularly tall. As for his looks i always got the impression JKR wanted Harry to look average in that he isn't particularly good looking but he isn't offensive on the eyes either.

[yorkiedoodle]

I might be alone on this but...Aberforth! As the 3 enter the pub they are all amazed how alike Dumbledore he looked, and I didn't think he did. ( I still think Ciaran Hinds did a cracking job though!)

When I saw Aberforth for the first time my thought was 'Why does he look like DLT?'

I should qualify this by pointing out that DLT was a Radio One DJ in 70's and 80's in the UK - so only people of roughly my age will understand this!

[HazelCloak30067]

Mad-Eye: I expected him to look a bit crazier
Umbridge: expected her to look more like a toad
Arthur Weasley: a bit more geeky
Neville: Because in the movie he got super hot and skinny (fit skinny) but I think that was a nice touch to emphasize how he grew and developed throughout the years at Hogwarts (even if it wasn't intended)

[asdfasdf17]

I thought Sirius Black would look a lot more skinnier and skeleton like with longer hair and a more gaunt face (sort of like a Tim Burton character)
Also, Mad Eye's eye was different from how I imagined it.

[Goddess_Clio]

Originally Posted by avpmdracofan

Snape was so different from how I pictured him! I pictured him very tall and skinny, with a goatee and a pointy face.

I agree. Alan Rickman is a great actor and is in my top 5 favs of all time but did didn't look like the Snape I pictured. I imagined him skinner, younger, with a less totally awesome voice and with more (for lack of a better description) Rasputin-esque eyes - eyes you become hyponotised by but are still menacing and piercing... Alan Rickman has small kind of beady eyes to me.

Dudley should have been fatter, with blond hair. The book said he was as wide as he was tall.

I'd chaulk that up to fictional exaggeration. The point about Dudley and Vernon's descriptions was to depict them as fat.

Originally Posted by BlueScarecrow

To be honest, with me it's the trio in the movies that look completely different to the trio in my head. I can't really ever remember Harry being described as tall, but I always imagined him to be quite tall and very handsome (not that Daniel Radcliffe isn't good looking, I've just always see Harry to be conventionally handsome in the way I've always imagined James to be).

In HBP Hermione comments that Harry had grown about a foot over the summer and was becoming very fanciable (much to Ron's annoyance). Assuming that, like Dudley's description, him growing a full 12" over the summer was an exaggeration, Harry probably only grew a couple inches but it was either enough to make him taller than Hermione so that she would comment on it or enough to be noticable in general.

I generally agree, though. Harry didn't look like Harry to me at all. Dan is far too minature to be Harry for me, I don't think he's very attractive at all and I imagine Harry to be at least as attractive as his father whom I imagine to be good-looking in a very open, boy-next-door type of way (not the hauty good looks of Sirius but still good looking).

My Ron is also tall and lanky (taller than Harry) like it says in the books with a long nose and covered in freckles.

Agree again. Rupert doesn't have the right look for me. He's described as tall and lanky and the twins are shorter and stockier and in the movies they got it reversed.

And I've never liked the movie Hermione because she's too pretty. To me Emma Watson is too pretty to be Hermione. My Hermione is very plain, with unkept bushy hair, but still attractive. My Hermione also has bucked teeth until they get sorted out in the fourth book.

I've posted in the "most looked like their characters" thread that Emma comes the closest for me in terms of the trio but even she just barely squeaks by. I didn't imagine Hermione as quite so willowy, so petite, so fine-boned in her appearance. Emma looks very delicate to me and that's not at all how I pictured Hermione. Now that I think about it I'd rescinde my statement on that other thread.

Originally Posted by asdfasdf17

I thought Sirius Black would look a lot more skinnier and skeleton like with longer hair and a more gaunt face (sort of like a Tim Burton character)

Agreed. Maybe not about the Tim Burton comment but I didn't think Gary Oldman had quite the right look. (The movies generally cast the major adult characters too old for me)

My list of character who looked NOTHING like how I imagined them:

Harry - imagined him taller and better looking

Ron - imagined him taller and skinnier

Hermione - not so waffer thin or so stunningly pretty

(I actually imagine the trio to look pretty close to the DH UK cover - one of the themes here on COS but Harry looks a little too butch in that image for me and Hermione is just a tiny bit too pretty)

Snape - imagined him skinner, much much younger, and generally more menacing-looking and Rasputin-esque

Dumbledore - Richard Harris was a good casting but to be honest I imagine him as Ian McKellen when I read the books

Sirius - I imagine him much younger, much more movie-star handsome, much more roguish

Mad-Eye Moody - imagined him more extreme, more like the US chapter image of him, didn't like the strap holding his eye on in the movie

Umbridge - imagined her shorter with a wider, less attractive face, again, like her US chapter image

Igor Karkaroff - imagined him with a much skinner face, more cartoonish goatee, more Vlad the Impaler and less Russian mobster

Barty Crouch Jr - Less menacing or suspicious-looking. I imagined him as a young, innocent-looking, wide-eyed teenager, tall, skinny, blonde bowl-cut hair, kind of scarcrow-ish and not at all like David Tennant, not even a tiny, itty-bitty bit.

Barty Crouch Sr - never imagined he would wear anything even close to resembling a cloak as he did in the movie and thought of him as the typical blend into the masses type of guy in terms of his look except for his razor mustache

[eatus_Benevol1]

The number one character that looked different in the movie than the book was Bellatrix Lestrange - the book described her face as heavy set with thick lidded eyes - Helena Bonham Carter was too young and too thin and much too pretty for that role. (don't get me wrong - she was very good ....I killed Sirius Black!). I also thought the dementors were not as I imagined them. A couple of shots in the movie of the dementors looked like sock puppets almost - they didn't really scare me - and I scare v-e-r-y easily. And I'll throw in one more - the books described Ron as much taller than the twins - and it was the opposite as cast in the movie.

[Lprdgecko]

I'm sure there are more than just this one that I'll mention, but the one that I really remember being surprised at how he looked in the movies was Lupin. I always imagined him clean-shaven, with short blondish hair, tan, tall, and thin. I think the actor did a good job as Lupin, but he just doesn't look like I thought he would.

[Barbara_O]

Originally Posted by avpmdracofan

Snape was so different from how I pictured him! I pictured him very tall and skinny, with a goatee and a pointy face.

Might've gotten this from the chapter illustrations? I forget which book, but one of the earlier ones had him drawn with a beard, I'm pretty sure.

He's also described as having "sallow skin, a large, hooked nose, and yellow, uneven teeth". Well, okay, prominent nose in Mr. Rickman's case (and i think I also remember hearing somewhere they added just a bit to his nose in makeup for the role), but thank heavens they skipped the skin and snaggle-teeth. I really didn't have a concrete image in mind for Snape myself when I read the books, but when I saw the movies I immediately agreed with the casting.

[StarryVeil]

Here's my list (be warned: I am not a fan of the movies, to say the least ):

Post-CoS Dumbledore - The salt-and-pepper hair and beard, the strange cap, the muted gray robes...I don't get why they didn't stick to the wardrobe and makeup they used on Richard Harris.

Snape - WAY too good-looking. Since when did Snape become tall and broad-shouldered with washed hair and a sexy voice? Where are the yellow teeth? The sallow skin? The greasy hair? The unimpressive height?

Sirius - Not good-looking enough. He is supposed to be really tall with dark good looks. Oldman doesn't fit either bill. And what's up with the brown hair and curls?? Is it so hard to find someone with sleek black hair?

Cedric Diggory - Cedric's supposed to be really good-looking. I don't see what's so attractive about Pattinson. He looks like someone smacked his face flat with a hardcover textbook.

Harry - He was good enough in the first three movies but, after that, not so much. Harry's supposed to be tall; Dan isn't. Harry's supposed to have messy hair; Dan doesn't.

Adult James and Lily - Too old. James, especially, looked the farthest thing from a tall, athletic, fun-loving man. Aside from the age factor, Somerville was pretty enough, though.

Narcissa - Er. . .the hair?? Whattt??

Tonks - I just didn't like Tena in the role. I pictured Tonks to look much more petite with a more fragile-looking bone structure.

[MsJPotter]

Well Snape is the big stand out. Rickman looked nothing like Snape's description besides being about 100 years too old.

Sirius, Yup agree with Starry up there, Oldman's a great actor but in no way is he really handsome. He's not even that good looking and he is also looking way too old.

Cedric...nope, not really good looking enough either.

[Divvie]

Most different from my "inner eye":

Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort: I was picturing Tom at various stages more like Damien Thorn, up to some semblence to a more flat-nosed, snake-like Sam Neil.

Harry, at least at the later teenage/adult stage (he started off well enough to my mental picture as a kid): imo Dan Ratcliffe was too "baby-faced" at the later years (apart from his size), I thought he would be more masculine attractive

Hermione: too slim and model-like; I imagined her more sturdy, as in average built and looks; pleasant looking but not exceptionally pretty

Ron: I didn't see Ron as particularly appealing and attractive in the books nor in the films, but I deffo missed freckles (actually, this applies to pretty much all the red-heads).

Lucius Malfoy: I pictured him less "pretty" but more arrogant-aristocratic. More like a younger Ciaran Hinds in blonde, so to speak.

Fleur Delacours: too "standard model blonde" for me. I expected someone truely stunning in a more "otherwordly", Elvish sort of way.

Lupin: did the book-Lupin sport a moustache? If so, it must have slipped my mind. I personally dislike moustaches, so that part most certainly didn't sit well with me. I did picture him as otherwise sort of average-looking non-descript, like the many guys you would just pass on the street without any second glance. That effect was achieved ok in the films - apart from the moustache, ofc.

Percy Weasley: again too "pretty" in the movies imo. I thought of him to be more studiously-nerdy.

Severus Snape: Personally, I don't find Alan Rickman that attractive as such - but he was pretty damn hot in his Snape persona. Still, he was older and not as thin as I imagined him to be; I pictured him more like a younger Robbie Carlyle (who would incidentally be Snape's age irl). Still, I am actually quite happy with AR's performance because his facial expressions and repressed menace-, control- & anger-issues were just spot on for me


Most in line with my mental image were Molly and Arthur Weasley, btw.

And I was largely ok with Albus Dumbledore: I used to see him as rather "Gandalfy" with an attrocious dress-sense; I didn't think that Michael Gambon was too far off, there. I loved Richard Harris better, ofc, but then I have always loved him, rest his soul.

[FurryDice]

Originally Posted by StarryVeil

Post-CoS Dumbledore - The salt-and-pepper hair and beard, the strange cap, the muted gray robes...I don't get why they didn't stick to the wardrobe and makeup they used on Richard Harris.

I can see why they wanted to give Gambon the opportunity to make his own mark on the character, but they could have stuck to a more Dumbledore-like appearance. Richard Harris in the first two movies was Dumbledore to a tee.

Snape - WAY too good-looking. Since when did Snape become tall and broad-shouldered with washed hair and a sexy voice? Where are the yellow teeth? The sallow skin? The greasy hair? The unimpressive height?

I agree. Snape is described completely and utterly differently in the books. Rickman has nothing whatsoever in common with Book Snape, apart from dark hair. But, why bother with canon, eh?

Adult James and Lily - Too old. James, especially, looked the farthest thing from a tall, athletic, fun-loving man. Aside from the age factor, Somerville was pretty enough, though.

Not to mention Young James, who wasn't even dark haired.

Narcissa - Er. . .the hair?? Whattt??

Yeah...how hard would it have been to dye all her hair?! I imagined Narcissa looking a lot like a Hitchcockian ice blonde. The hair streak was just strange.

Hermione - the first two movies, yes. After that, no. She became like one of those bad teen makeover movies. Hermione isn't supposed to be this pretty girl who always looks great. Hermione doesn't care for her appearance. And how did she go from bushy brown hair to soft blonde waves? I think Emma Watson could have been kept looking more like Hermione - bushy hair, less of the trendy pretty clothes. It's a big change in Hermione to turn her into a bombshell when in the books, she's a girl who does not fuss about her looks incessantly.

[horcrux4]

Originally Posted by StarryVeil

Narcissa - Er. . .the hair?? Whattt??

I totally agree with you! What on earth were they thinking of with the skunk hair? Another wig like Lucius' would have done the job better. I didn't find Helen McCrory aristocratic looking enough either - too round faced.

Originally Posted by Divvie

Fleur Delacours: too "standard model blonde" for me. I expected someone truely stunning in a more "otherwordly", Elvish sort of way.


Percy Weasley: again too "pretty" in the movies imo. I thought of him to be more studiously-nerdy.

I totally agree with these two. I expected Fleur to be knockout beautiful and though Clemence Poesy was pretty she didn't come close to my image of Fleur.

As for Percy I agree he should have been much more nerdy - and where were the glasses? I'm sure the props department should have been able to come up with a pair! I always envisioned him with a severe short back and sides haircut and certainly not curly.