The Witcher Netflix series begins production.

A few things to consider here, as some things you said apply, but some don't. First of all, it's a work of fiction. Just as with Game of Thrones or James Bond or Lord of the Rings, books and movies DO differ. A blond haired blue eyed dude is the most recent Bond, Tom Bombadil was never in the LOTR trilogy. Arwen was never a major story in the books. Daenerys doesn't have purple eyes in the series. Catelyn Stark didn't come back as a zombie.

They all apply in my opinion.

As for LotR changes, several of them made the movies worse than they could have been - in my opinion. But that's because I'm a huge fan of Tolkien - and some of the changes completely destroyed some of the characters - and some of the scenes.

With that said, I always found Bombadil a stupid superfluous character in the books, so that was one choice I agreed with - though for different reasons. They removed him for pacing reasons, mostly - and I would have removed him because he's a stupid character.

It all depends on your personal investment - and how much you care about whatever is being adapted.

I never took Bond seriously, personally - and I've never read the source material.

But I think it definitely matters that they picked a Blond guy - if the character was established differently in the novels.

But when I say it matters, it - again - doesn't translate into being necessarily worse or less interesting. It's just not true to the source material.

Again, how MUCH it matters - depends on how much you care about the movie/book/game/whatever.

The fact that Daniel Craig is a great actor doesn't mean he's a great match for Bond - and I don't think his blond hair made him a better Bond, either.

There are reasonable changes that take place from page to screen, and some of them are big. Sapkowski is creative consultant on this, and since it's his world, why should race matter if he gives his blessing?

Because it doesn't fit the character, obviously.

Let's also use our brain and make reasonable comparisons here. Bond driving a pink VW is not reasonable and would change the tone (unless it's a Peter Sellers or Mike Myers parody). Going for a black Bond (like the internet has been talking about) is indeed reasonable and wouldn't have an effect on the tone. Gandalf talking in a Jamaican accent straight out of Cool Runnings would not be reasonable. A black Gandalf would have backlash i'm sure, but a Morgan Freeman Gandalf wouldn't be unreasonable.

All of those things matter. Again, it's a matter of degree. I'm willing to bet a great Jamaican actor COULD make Gandalf work. But that doesn't mean it's a great fit for the established character - or that Ian McKellen wouldn't be the superior choice.

There's a difference between great and ideal.

But if you don't actually care about being faithful to the source material, then it definitely doesn't matter BEYOND not being faithful.

Simply comes down to whether or not you think something being faithful is important - and, then, just how important.

Also, it's a work of fiction. Changing the material doesn't deny the history, it only re-interprets it. If i'm watching a historical WW2 movie, it's unreasonable to think the Germans will be played by Asians. If i'm playing a historical fiction game like Yakuza, then race is central to the story. But if i'm watching Batman, who cares what race plays heroes or villains, if the interpreted history on screen fits. It's not central to the story.

I most certainly don't think it's appropriate to re-interpret history. That would be an AHISTORICAL movie.

Again, either you care about being faithful to whatever you're trying to "interpret" or adapt - or you don't. Also, how much it matters is obviously subjective.

I will always support staying faithful to the source material, regardless of whether or not I actually care about it.

That's because it's the only rational approach, in my opinion.

Naturally, if the end result suffers in terms of quality - and the only way to do good work is to compromise, then that's another story - but that would be case-by-base.

HOWEVER! And this is a big however. What I DO have a problem (as others have stated) with is when they pick the race first, and quality of the role second. Changing race just for some political statement, instead of picking the best actor for the job is ridiculous. I don't have a problem if Morgan Freeman played Gandalf, but I do have a problem if they picked Morgan Freeman over Ian Mckellen to satisfy some far left agenda, rather than pick the best acting chops for the role.

Obviously, they picked race first here. If someone is going to argue that there's no white girl with sufficient acting talent to portray Ciri - that would be happy to join this series - then they're full of shit.
 
Idris Alba is probably the most boring and generic actor ever. Bored me to death in the otherwise excellent series "The Wire".

He still has better acting range than Daniel Craig though :p
 
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I haven't seen everything Alba has done, but I must say I think Craig is definitely the superior actor in terms of range - based on what I've seen.
 
If it is OK for a Ciri to be black if the casting was open for actors with any skin color. Does that mean you go from the assumption that the role of Geralt was open to people from any ethnicity as well. If not, why does it apply for the role of Ciri and is it fine to have restrictions for the role of Geralt?

It works in multiple levels….

Personally I have no issues with actor of any colour playing Geralt or anyone else if they are *best* suited to that role. I think the colour of the actor doesn't matter. When I play the games, I am Geralt. The fact that he was white on screen never bothered me even though I am not white. The reason I identify so well with Geralt is that his world views are very similar to mine. What I am saying here is that, I don't personally relate to Geralt in terms of skin colour.

On the other hand, if you are person who is so used to the fact that Geralt is white, then I can understand why that maters to them. For example, you are Polish and Geralt can be great source of pride for your identity as Polish. This is not far fetched since the Polish president gifted a copy of Witcher to Obama when he went to the white house. Its not like Polish people are over represented in any media are they? So I can very well understand why someone wants Geralt to be white as well.

What the show runners are doing is racist on multiple levels and also insulting to people of colour at the same! These people might think they are doing "good" by having diversity etc but they are really doing harm by forcing it. If they really care about diversity, why not create something original which is diverse to being with?
 
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I haven't seen everything Alba has done, but I must say I think Craig is definitely the superior actor in terms of range - based on what I've seen.

Really? I have not seen Craig outside of Bond and I hated him as Bond. He annoyed me with the way he pouted!
 
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Really? I have not seen Craig outside of Bond and I hated him as Bond. He annoyed me with the way he pouted!

Yes, really. I've seen Craig in many movies - including fantastic performances in Munich and Defiance.

Not very similar roles, either.

I think he has great pathos and range.

I think Casino Royale is probably the best Bond movie - and I think he did a fine job, but the quality was more about the script than his performance. I prefer Connery or Lazenby as Bond.

I've seen Alba in 4-5 movies - and he always seems to be playing a variation of the role that made him famous (The Wire). Some variation of cool, laidback and tough.

But I haven't seen them all, so maybe he's better than I think he is.
 
Yes, really. I've seen Craig in many movies - including fantastic performances in Munich and Defiance.

Not very similar roles, either.

I think he has great pathos and range.

I've seen Alba in 4-5 movies - and he always seems to be playing a variation of the role that made him famous (The Wire). Some variation of cool, laidback and tough.

But I haven't seen them all, so maybe he's better than I think he is.

I am not disputing you. I have not seen much of Alba as well but I simply thought he would have made better Bond than Craig. For me Bond is "cool, laidback and tough" and not pouty!
 
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I am not disputing you. I have not seen much of Alba as well but I simply thought he would have made better Bond than Craig. For me Bond is "cool, laidback and tough" and not pouty!

Well, I think the reason Craig worked well - for me - is that he made Bond more human and more vulnerable (you know, like a real person), and Casino Royale wasn't quite as ridiculous as the average Bond movie tends to be.

So, the combination was a better overall movie than pretty much all other Bond movies. With the possible exception of In Her Majesty's Secret Service - which is probably tied as best Bond - for me.

But, I do concede that it wasn't very Bond-ish - and I think it's clear for all to see that Craig - as Bond - definitely MATTERED insofar as not portraying Bond as he's been established in the first movies as this rather cold super cool guy with little in the way of vulnerability and weakness.

However, Moore clearly changed everything about the first few Bonds as well - and it became something of a parody.

To me, that just all means I can't invest much - since the people behind the movies clearly don't care about it, beyond how much money they can squeeze out of the franchise.

So, I can't say I really give a shit about who plays Bond. It could be a dwarven female for all I care.

But it would still matter and go counter to the role.

Bond is a white male - and unless you have a good argument for changing that - beyond being a submissive greedy suit trying to appease morons who think equality is about fighting realities of the past - then I think you probably should stick to the source material.
 
He still has better acting range than Daniel Craig though :p

Hardly. He might be in more different categories of movies (no idea tbh), but he just plays "himself", he's never like a completely different person, which is something only the best actors can accomplish.
 
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How is the Netflix show rated? The books are definitely MA17 at a minimum. This is idle curiosity, as I don't really watch any type of TV.
 
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Yes, really. I've seen Craig in many movies - including fantastic performances in Munich and Defiance.

Not very similar roles, either.

I think he has great pathos and range.

I think Casino Royale is probably the best Bond movie - and I think he did a fine job, but the quality was more about the script than his performance. I prefer Connery or Lazenby as Bond.

I think the director makes a huge difference. He used Craig very well in Casino Royale. If you can make a great action/spy movie out of a 2 hour card game, you've done something right. The movies that came after were good, but not Casino Royale good.
 
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Another video making the rounds today.

 
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Well it's happening again elsewhere it seems WB has decided Henry Cavill might not be reprising his role as Superman in the films. We'll probably have a minority superman now.

Link- https://comicbook.com/dc/2018/09/12/superman-michael-b-jordan-dc-movies/



What do you know I was right they are considering Michael B. Jordan.

Update: It might work if they use a different origin story.o_O
 
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Ok, here's a very interesting development to this whole scandal about them looking for a BAME to play Ciry.



Technically speaking, the Polish are a minority within the UK, where the casting seems to be taking place. And apparently some Polish girls have been called on casting calls for the Ciri part. So, it might be possible that the whole scandal was for nothing. That would be hilarious, if this does turn out to be true.
 
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Ok, here's a very interesting development to this whole scandal about them looking for a BAME to play Ciry.

Technically speaking, the Polish are a minority within the UK, where the casting seems to be taking place. And apparently some Polish girls have been called on casting calls for the Ciri part. So, it might be possible that the whole scandal was for nothing. That would be hilarious, if this does turn out to be true.
As someone already said on the video, "Fair enough, but I'm not letting my guard down anytime soon." Also as said on another site Netflix Is Just Wallmart with a lot of crap.
 
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Ok, here's a very interesting development to this whole scandal about them looking for a BAME to play Ciry.



Technically speaking, the Polish are a minority within the UK, where the casting seems to be taking place. And apparently some Polish girls have been called on casting calls for the Ciri part. So, it might be possible that the whole scandal was for nothing. That would be hilarious, if this does turn out to be true.

Generally speaking BAME is used to refer to "non-white" person here in UK. Maybe I am wrong but I have not seen the word include "white minorities". If I am betting man I would say that they are now calling in Polish girls because of this scandal !
 
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Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra will star as Ciri and Yennefer opposite Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/witcher-netflix-show-casts-ciri-yennefer-roles-1150868

Ciri (the actress seems almost perfect!)

ejwheb3zjdr11.jpg


Cast so far
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Not sure about the actress for Yennefer. She looks very young and frail, not as I imagined Yennefer to be at all..
 
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Are we outraged about this? I lose track.
 
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Yeah that actress for Yennefer does not fit the role.:nod:

Also instead of Cir being black surprise it's Fringilla Vigo.

The whole internet was wrong.:lol:
 
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Yeah that actress for Yennefer does not fit the role.:nod:

I read that in the first book Yennefer is supposed to look 20 so so rt of make sense but its hard to get rid of the game's Yennefer (who is supposed to be 70ish) out of my mind!
 
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