by archenland_knight » August 16th, 2010, 3:44 pm
TWHF is so deep that it would be a terrible shame to loose any of that to a botched movie version. I just finished reading it for the second time, and was not surprised to see that there were many things I got from the second reading that I missed on the first. I knew this would be the case after I read it the first time and had been looking forward to the second read for months.
I don't think anyone in Hollywood is capable of bringing through all that depth and richness. I think a movie made based on TWHF would be a marvelous movie if they got it even half right, but I fear it would be impossible to do justice to the book.
I wondered myself, though, while re-reading the book, what would be the best way to handle Orual's face should a movie be made. Would it be best to hire a genuinely ugly actress? And would you need one with a beautiful voice, or could that be electronically altered? Maybe get CCM star Margaret Becker to do voice-overs?
It seems kind of cruel to the actress to choose her based on her looks ... lack thereof.
Director: "Congratulations, sir ... I mean ma'am. You've got the part."
Actress: "I can't believe it! That's wonderful! Tell me, what was it that convinced you to pick me? My delivery? My emoting? What sold you?"
Director: (scratches head) "Well, I don't quite know how to put this but ... Gads! You're ugly!!! I mean, good grief!!! You are by far the ugliest woman who's been in here today! I mean, I've seen some ugly women. But, you! You take the cake!"
It just seems cruel, doesn't it? I'm sitting here laughing, but it still seems cruel.
I like the idea of just not showing her face, but it would be tricky. I'm afraid a movie director would simply have her take the veil earlier, which would kind of mess up the story.
I thought about pulling a page from theater of centuries past and simply have a man play the part. But I'm not sure that would look right either. Her body shape and movements still have to be feminine. The movements are especially hard to disguise.
But there's an opposite problem. Who among Hollywood's actresses is really beautiful enough to play Psyche? I'm not sure any of them have that "perfection of nature" kind of quality that the role requires.
Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."