Luthien

This is my feeling, too. When dealing with somebody several centuries old who comes across as having a childlike sense of play and joy to mortal eyes, and the body of a svelte 25-year-old... that is part of the strangeness of Elves, not real childishness.

Somebody who is much younger, like Idril or Celebrimbor or Orodreth, is who I would picture as being actually innocent, or very naive, at this time. Although the Annals of Aman are problematic when it comes to Noldorin princes' birth dates, in the Annals Luthien is older than Finarfin. She is at least of his generation.
Anyone you have in mind?
 
Fully adult; I'm thinking mid-20's? We don't want her to look like a Disney princess (you know the old joke: you know you're an adult when your reaction to Ariel saying "I'm not a child!" is "you're 16. Yes, you are."), and with the rough life Beren has, the actor is going to have to look worn and therefore older, and we don't want them to be... unsettling together for a modern audience.
 
Hmmm, I think that an actress who reminds me of Gemma Arterton is Stella Maeve. She's been on the Law and Order TV shows.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1886524/

stella-maeve-2013-film-independent-spirit-awards-01.jpg


DH39dPCUIAARgLG.jpg:large

No idea if she can dance or not, and she is rather short (ie, my height).

Oh, there's this clip, but this wasn't meant to be a serious dance scene!
 
Last edited:
Umm.. I'm not convinced, I think there's something about her voice that doesn't fit with my idea of what Luthien should sound like. Almost a bit hoarse, if you know what I mean?
 
I'm not going to support her playing Lúthien, sorry. I know you've been having her in mind since the beginning but she is not my idea of Luthien, I'm afraid.
 
Fully adult; I'm thinking mid-20's? We don't want her to look like a Disney princess (you know the old joke: you know you're an adult when your reaction to Ariel saying "I'm not a child!" is "you're 16. Yes, you are."), and with the rough life Beren has, the actor is going to have to look worn and therefore older, and we don't want them to be... unsettling together for a modern audience.
I actually didn't know that joke. Well now I do...
 
Is anyone here familiar with Lana Del Rey? I only know she's a singer and not much else...

Anyway, I came across this random picture of her while looking up a song from an ad and it jogged my thoughts towards Luthien. So I did a cursory image search and found she and Arterton, while not really identical, maybe share *some* fleeting resemblance in a few, (very) specific photos. Interestingly enough, according to the internet they are the same age and height...


Screen Shot 2018-03-12 at 11.25.56 PM.png
Del Rey


Edit: I actually find she looks a bit more like Natalie Portman, if anything. But it's not like we could really maximize on that, anyway.
 
Last edited:
I suggested Anne Hathaway. She's a little older than some of the other actresses suggested but she's gorgeous and has a lot of the "it" factor that could make her a great Lúthien. She's an amazing singer too.
 
Ok I know some people would like to see Lily James as Idril, but I think it would be wrong not to mention her in the discussion about Luthien.
images
23df736324577ec284fcfc31890113d6.jpg
images
_88274093_lilyknife_lionsgate.jpg


A (short) dancing scene:
Actually thinking about it Lily James has something pretty special too. I liked the nomination of Philippa Soo a lot as well and either of them could be a great Luthien. I'm a big fan of Anne Hathaway but it could be that others are better for this particular role. Not a fan of Daisy Ridley for it even though I like her a lot. She's too iconic and recent as Rey and even though beautiful has too much childishness in my opinion.
 
Last-minute post in favor of Phillipa Soo. The video in the nomination thread doesn't do her amazing singing voice justice. This video gives a better idea what she sounds like:

 
So I know we're done talking about Lúthien from a casting perspective, but I just wanted to drop by this thread and share a photo:

43117210_2047242421962760_8017821179823783936_n.jpg


This is Ruth Tolkien. She's JRRT's 36 year old great-granddaughter (his son Michael was her grandfather). She is (obviously) a fencer and a musician. She's a singer/songwriter and plays the guitar. She's also legally blind.

https://ruthtolkien.com/

So, if we were looking for 'people who look like Edith' and 'people who can dance'....her image isn't a terrible starting point!
 
Last edited:
Back
Top