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

There have to be a great many changes made in order to adapt a text into a movie or TV show form, no doubt about that. But I would ask you to take a look at the kind of stuff that shows like Game of Thrones have done in that regard. There is little to no hand-holding there, little to no "dumbing down" of the source material for the purpose of making it more accessible.

You cite LOTR, but I don't think you have really grasped the difference between Peter Jackson's work in adapting the text and what you are doing. At no point in LOTR are the rules as established in the text broken; your attempt to make conversations more cinematic however would do just that.
Yes, you cannot depict the lightspeed lag as described accurately on film without making it all boring as hell.
But, and this is important, neither do the books. You usually get a mention of the com delay, you get an interstitial sentence here or there to remind you that it is in effect, but the wait time between messages is usually dealt with "off camera", as it were. The same applies to a (so far, anyway) hypothetical film adaptation, where editing can do the same job, if you trust the audience. Even if that audience is not a long-term Honorverse afficionado one.

I cannot resist questioning why some feel someone who looks somewhat like Honor can't act?

This has been said over and over, as if anyone who might happen to look something like HH cannot possibly also act very well indeed, thus compromises must be made. Why?

Is there some prejudice against tall asian/euro dark haired females that they cannot act their way out of the proverbial paper bag? I mean really, people.

Let's have a little faith and optimism here. There is a lovely tall asian/euro woman out there, perhaps in the martial arts community, who is a wonderful actress and will bring Honor alive on the screen with tremendous power and talent.

Yes, there is.

Northstar wrote:I cannot resist questioning why some feel someone who looks somewhat like Honor can't act?

This has been said over and over, as if anyone who might happen to look something like HH cannot possibly also act very well indeed, thus compromises must be made. Why?

Is there some prejudice against tall asian/euro dark haired females that they cannot act their way out of the proverbial paper bag? I mean really, people.

Let's have a little faith and optimism here. There is a lovely tall asian/euro woman out there, perhaps in the martial arts community, who is a wonderful actress and will bring Honor alive on the screen with tremendous power and talent.

Yes, there is.

I don't think anyone is saying that
"all [tall] asian/euro dark haired females" can't act. But getting the right 'command' presence on screen is more important (to me) than exactly matching the books' descriptions of Honor. The wider a pool of talent you're willing to look at the better chance you have of finding someone who fits that role perfectly. And limiting your search only to actresses that physically match Honor's description is one way of drastically limiting your search pool.

Now if the best actress, or even the near 2nd or 3rd best, is the spitting image of Honor that's wonderful. But I'd rather give the producers the widest latitude to find someone who shows Honor's 'presence' onscreen.

(I've seen too many movies where the stars just couldn't really bring off their character; whether it's because they didn't get good direction, or poor writing, or they weren't a good fit for the role (however talented they'd been in other films), or they just had an off year I couldn't say)

Jonathan_S wrote:

Northstar wrote:I cannot resist questioning why some feel someone who looks somewhat like Honor can't act?

This has been said over and over, as if anyone who might happen to look something like HH cannot possibly also act very well indeed, thus compromises must be made. Why?

Is there some prejudice against tall asian/euro dark haired females that they cannot act their way out of the proverbial paper bag? I mean really, people.

Let's have a little faith and optimism here. There is a lovely tall asian/euro woman out there, perhaps in the martial arts community, who is a wonderful actress and will bring Honor alive on the screen with tremendous power and talent.

Yes, there is.

I don't think anyone is saying that
"all [tall] asian/euro dark haired females" can't act. But getting the right 'command' presence on screen is more important (to me) than exactly matching the books' descriptions of Honor. The wider a pool of talent you're willing to look at the better chance you have of finding someone who fits that role perfectly. And limiting your search only to actresses that physically match Honor's description is one way of drastically limiting your search pool.

Now if the best actress, or even the near 2nd or 3rd best, is the spitting image of Honor that's wonderful. But I'd rather give the producers the widest latitude to find someone who shows Honor's 'presence' onscreen.

(I've seen too many movies where the stars just couldn't really bring off their character; whether it's because they didn't get good direction, or poor writing, or they weren't a good fit for the role (however talented they'd been in other films), or they just had an off year I couldn't say)

Ok, we'll add an officer's command presence to the list. Fine by me. but again have a little faith here. There is no reason women who look like Honor and can move like Honor cannot also have an awesome command presence. What? If she's short and blonde she will be better????

Please.

And, yes, I am jerking your chains. And it is working.

Remember, Honor isn't described as being of any specific nationality or ethnicity (unlike her mother, who was mentioned once as being of pure ethnic Chinese origin). She's basically tall with dark hair and brown almond eyes, with a "Sphinxian accent" (whatever THAT is). True, there's somewhat of an implication that she's Asian-ish, but it isn't mentioned. So really, just about anyone can play her in a movie. Makeup, wigs and CGI touch-ups can deal with physical appearance, and various tricks can make a short actress appear tall (much like what Peter Jackson did with the LOTR movies), one way being as simple as having her stand on a hidden platform. And someone can train and learn enough martial arts to fake it in a movie, assuming the budget will allow for it.

I haven't even gotten to the age issue yet.

The E wrote:There have to be a great many changes made in order to adapt a text into a movie or TV show form, no doubt about that. But I would ask you to take a look at the kind of stuff that shows like Game of Thrones have done in that regard. There is little to no hand-holding there, little to no "dumbing down" of the source material for the purpose of making it more accessible.

You cite LOTR, but I don't think you have really grasped the difference between Peter Jackson's work in adapting the text and what you are doing. At no point in LOTR are the rules as established in the text broken; your attempt to make conversations more cinematic however would do just that.
Yes, you cannot depict the lightspeed lag as described accurately on film without making it all boring as hell.
But, and this is important, neither do the books. You usually get a mention of the com delay, you get an interstitial sentence here or there to remind you that it is in effect, but the wait time between messages is usually dealt with "off camera", as it were. The same applies to a (so far, anyway) hypothetical film adaptation, where editing can do the same job, if you trust the audience. Even if that audience is not a long-term Honorverse afficionado one.

Game Of Thrones is an HBO series, and being a premiere pay-cable channel where ratings are irrelevant, they have a history of producing quality adult-oriented series and a desire to do so. One-off theatrical movies are a different story. Sometimes you get a top-notch adaptation, but most of the times the demands of the industry mangle good intentions into a horrid mess.

It would be great if the Homorverse was turned into an HBO series. It would guarantee that the adult orientation of the books would be retained, which is one of my actual prime concerns, especially with the combat scenes. Reading David's battle descriptions was like reading about the WWII Guadalcanal naval battles. I DON'T want the usual cliche shaky-cam and sparks going off, I want to see big metal splinters flying about piercing bodies and slicing them up, all the horrific gore and damage that an Honorverse X-ray laserhead missile can create.

61Cygni wrote:Remember, Honor isn't described as being of any specific nationality or ethnicity (unlike her mother, who was mentioned once as being of pure ethnic Chinese origin). She's basically tall with dark hair and brown almond eyes, with a "Sphinxian accent" (whatever THAT is). True, there's somewhat of an implication that she's Asian-ish, but it isn't mentioned. So really, just about anyone can play her in a movie. Makeup, wigs and CGI touch-ups can deal with physical appearance, and various tricks can make a short actress appear tall (much like what Peter Jackson did with the LOTR movies), one way being as simple as having her stand on a hidden platform. And someone can train and learn enough martial arts to fake it in a movie, assuming the budget will allow for it.

I haven't even gotten to the age issue yet.

Ummm... I beg to differ. The fact that Allison is almost 100% pure Chinese indicates that she would have the pronounced epicanthic fold in the eyelids that most people of asian descent have. The fact that *many* times in several of the books, it is mentioned how much Honor's eyes are like her mother's tells me that yes, Honor has Chinese eyes (just like all the best cowboys - let's see if anyone gets the reference).

Also, "almond eyes" generally is used to refer to the *shape* of the eye, in this case meaning asian eyes. Look back to HotQ, where Honor and her mother are talking and Allison mentions that Rafe has a nice... rear-end, for a "round-eye". Meaning a caucasian.

OTOH, Honor also got her dad's nose. I have no idea what a "patrician" nose looks like, or maybe I do, but just don't realize that that's what it's called.

MaxxQ wrote:
Ummm... I beg to differ. The fact that Allison is almost 100% pure Chinese indicates that she would have the pronounced epicanthic fold in the eyelids that most people of asian descent have. The fact that *many* times in several of the books, it is mentioned how much Honor's eyes are like her mother's tells me that yes, Honor has Chinese eyes (just like all the best cowboys - let's see if anyone gets the reference).

Also, "almond eyes" generally is used to refer to the *shape* of the eye, in this case meaning asian eyes. Look back to HotQ, where Honor and her mother are talking and Allison mentions that Rafe has a nice... rear-end, for a "round-eye". Meaning a caucasian.

OTOH, Honor also got her dad's nose. I have no idea what a "patrician" nose looks like, or maybe I do, but just don't realize that that's what it's called.

Hi MaxxQ,

Patrician nose, writer-speak for a fairly chiseled shape with NO up-tilt to the tip, no Barbie-doll or pug nose, no ski jump Bob Hope look. Not as big as 'aquiline', which references eagles, but more of that type than any sort of broad or up-tilted look. If she's looking at you level, you can't see up her nostrils.

Combining a patrician nose with almond eyes is saying she looks a mix of asian and euro of a sort assoc with the aristocracy, thus 'patrician'. Not that there aren't aristos with other sorts of noses or regular folks with 'patrician' ones, there are. He's giving her a mixed heritage face, is all.

Long past time i registered to post this

Moon Bloodgood

Actress in Terminator Salvation
Currently plays in Falling Sky science fiction series

Date of Birth
20 September 1975, Nebraska, USA

Birth Name
Korinna Moon Bloodgood

Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)

Ethnicity: Korean, Irish and Dutch.



And her real name! So fitting for somebody that fights in space.

Of course you can find loads of pics of her on google images.

.

Catbytes wrote:Long past time i registered to post this

Moon Bloodgood

Actress in Terminator Salvation
Currently plays in Falling Sky science fiction series

Date of Birth
20 September 1975, Nebraska, USA

Birth Name
Korinna Moon Bloodgood

Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)

Ethnicity: Korean, Irish and Dutch.



And her real name! So fitting for somebody that fights in space.

Of course you can find loads of pics of her on google images.

.

Welcome to the forums. Pull up a stool and chat a while. A nice addition to the list proposed so far. She might just be able to pull it off.