Who would make a good Honor Harrington in a Movie/TV role?

npadln wrote:

walkssoftly wrote:

petercharters wrote:I think trying to accurately portray the book description would be a bad idea. A non-blonde-bimbo look is good enough, I think.

As for age, I think the prolong issue is just going to complicate things; spending five to ten minutes every movie explaining why people look so young just takes time away from plot and dialog elsewhere, not to mention seeming really clumsy. It will also be instinctively hard for people to watch an eighteen year old command a starship and gain the crew's respect and devotion without it feeling false or like one of those manga series where the captain is seventy and the rest of the bridge crew are thirteen - I even had that problem in the last Star Trek movie (plus what the heck? They promoted a cadet/maybe midshipman [they hadn't graduated yet iirc] to captain and assigned them command of the Federation's flagship? How many 21 year olds have commanded the USS Nimitz or any other carrier?) and the actor looked well past eighteen, to be honest.

As for physicality, forget worrying too much about chest size or height or how asian her features are. The command presence is what will make the role and the film; gravitas is far more important than exact skin tone. Plot, timing and characterisation will make the movie a success, even if it fills the forum with "oh no! She was a C-cup, not a B-cup! She was only 5'11!!!!" There's lots of stuff that will have to be carefully adapted from the books.

I saw Honor Harrington's face today in an Oil of Olay commercial. The brown eyes stared into yoiur soul from a mature face that could have been 20 or a 120. She looked like the cover art from the books brought to life.

If I had a bazillion dollars to invest in the movies, Jada Plinket Smith would be QE III with Will Smith as Prince Justin. Whoopie Goldberg has to be Duchess Caitrin Winton-Henke (you're the Queen of Manticore! Act likie it). Sounded just like Guinan (You're the Captain! Start acting likie it).
Vanessa Williams as Queen Adrienne. Lawrence Fishbourne as Earl Gold Peak.

David James Elliot as Hamish Alexander with Michael Wewtherly as his brother. Although he's way to old, Chuck Norris would have been a great Andrew. Mark Harmon could probably pull it off now.

Horace Harkness, Bruce Campbell, who else? Scotty Tremaine, Ryan Cartwright (got killed in Bones as Mr.Vincent Nigel-Murray then showed up as Gary in Alphas)

Robin Williams as Admiral Courvoisier or High Admiral Wesley Mathews.

Tom Sellect has to be in there somewhere: Duke Cromarty? Howard Clinkscale?

Michael Caine as James MaGuiness (Alfred in Batman movies).

John Laroquette as Alfred Harrington.

There's more, but you get the drift.

There is something to be said about a non-star but good actor inhabiting a role. Think Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Sanders in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Now, we know who she is but at first she WAS Lisbeth Sanders. That is what I want for Honor. I want the person playing her to BE her and not have contaminating thoughts floating in my brain like, "Oh look, Charlize Theron can/can't act like a ship captain too!" In other words, most "stars" come with baggage, even the good ones that is why with some projects directors will decide to shun them and search for a new face for their film. Two films of note that did that were Gone With The Wind with Vivian Leigh and King Kong with Jessica Lang.

Tonto Silerheels wrote:#1 - VERY high level of acting ability... you can't scrimp here at all. She would need to be able to have the type of command presence that is the true hallmark of Honor's character, as well as being able to handle the subtleties of the early Honor's weaknesses

I've recently become a fan of Castle, and your comment made me think of Stana Katic. She's demonstrated command presence a number of times through the series as she's an NYPD detective. There's one particular scene where she's laughing and enjoying Castle's misery, but it's instantly forgotten once an irreconcilable fact is mentioned. She goes into bulldog mode, and makes it quite believable. She's 5'9", and isn't over-endowed with any appurtenances that are non-Honor-like. She would need hair dye, though.

~Tonto

BrightSoul wrote:

Tonto Silerheels wrote:#1 - VERY high level of acting ability... you can't scrimp here at all. She would need to be able to have the type of command presence that is the true hallmark of Honor's character, as well as being able to handle the subtleties of the early Honor's weaknesses

I've recently become a fan of Castle, and your comment made me think of Stana Katic. She's demonstrated command presence a number of times through the series as she's an NYPD detective. There's one particular scene where she's laughing and enjoying Castle's misery, but it's instantly forgotten once an irreconcilable fact is mentioned. She goes into bulldog mode, and makes it quite believable. She's 5'9", and isn't over-endowed with any appurtenances that are non-Honor-like. She would need hair dye, though.

~Tonto

Yeah, I'm in the middle of a re-read of the whole series and the last episode of Castle made me think of when Honor confronted Hauptman in On Basilisk Station. In the latest episode Beckett is on the phone with the guy who had taken Rick hostage and she tells him " If you do that I will walk through those doors and put a bullet between your eyes."

Bank robber's reply? "OK" <basically>

She'd make an awesome Honor.

The remaining question is who you cast Nathan Fillion as? Anyone think he could pull of Alistair? (HUGE Fan of his, he's the reason I started watching Castle.)

BrightSoul wrote:

Tonto Silerheels wrote:#1 - VERY high level of acting ability... you can't scrimp here at all. She would need to be able to have the type of command presence that is the true hallmark of Honor's character, as well as being able to handle the subtleties of the early Honor's weaknesses

I've recently become a fan of Castle, and your comment made me think of Stana Katic. She's demonstrated command presence a number of times through the series as she's an NYPD detective. There's one particular scene where she's laughing and enjoying Castle's misery, but it's instantly forgotten once an irreconcilable fact is mentioned. She goes into bulldog mode, and makes it quite believable. She's 5'9", and isn't over-endowed with any appurtenances that are non-Honor-like. She would need hair dye, though.

~Tonto

Yeah, I'm in the middle of a re-read of the whole series and the last episode of Castle made me think of when Honor confronted Hauptman in On Basilisk Station. In the latest episode Beckett is on the phone with the guy who had taken Rick hostage and she tells him " If you do that I will walk through those doors and put a bullet between your eyes."

Bank robber's reply? "OK" <basically>

She'd make an awesome Honor.

The remaining question is who you cast Nathan Fillion as? Anyone think he could pull of Alistair? (HUGE Fan of his, he's the reason I started watching Castle.)

captainofthelist wrote:I have a dark horse candidate: Latin recording artist Olga Tanin. Check out this pic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Ta%C3%B1%C3%B3n

Tell me she doesn't look a lot like Honor! Yes, I know she'll be 47 by the time the movie comes out- but that's what prolong(Hollywood makeup) is for. From what I have read, she can move like Honor as well.

captainofthelist wrote:I have a dark horse candidate: Latin recording artist Olga Tanin. Check out this pic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Ta%C3%B1%C3%B3n

Tell me she doesn't look a lot like Honor! Yes, I know she'll be 47 by the time the movie comes out- but that's what prolong(Hollywood makeup) is for. From what I have read, she can move like Honor as well.

captainofthelist wrote:I have a dark horse candidate: Latin recording artist Olga Tanin. Check out this pic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Ta%C3%B1%C3%B3n

Tell me she doesn't look a lot like Honor! Yes, I know she'll be 47 by the time the movie comes out- but that's what prolong(Hollywood makeup) is for. From what I have read, she can move like Honor as well.