Elves

For Edward Redmayne as a villain, see 'Jupiter Ascending.' He does the crazy speak quietly in anger thing a lot, but....

Please keep in mind that an actor's hair color and facial hair can be altered with wigs and a shave. We'll almost definitely be using wigs for the elves anyway. And, yes, this sometimes gives you the disconnect of blond Legolas with dark eyebrows (so not everyone will look good in every color wig), but we should not let an actor's natural hair color affect casting too much. Tom Hiddleston has short blondish-brown hair, and plays Loki with long black hair. For casting, it is *much* more important to get someone who can embody the character's personality. So, Maeglin needs to be an emo moody teen, not just 'dark hair, pale skin, frowns.'


That being said, here's a quick run down of elven hair color (please correct my mistakes):

Red
Mahtan (father of Nerdanel; Fëanor's teacher)
Maedhros
Amrod/Amras

Silver
Celeborn
Elwë
Olwë
Círdan

Blond
Ingwë
Indis
Earwen?
Finrod
Galadriel (actually gold and silver mixed)
Aegnor
Amarië?

Black
Eöl
Maeglin

Dark Brown ('dark' could range from brown to black; they don't all have to match)
Finwë
Míriel
Fëanor
Maglor
Caranthir
Curufin (his hair should match Fëanor's coloring)
Fingolfin
Fingon (long, worn in braids, with gold ribbons in it)
Turgon?
Aredhel
Lúthien
Celebrimbor

Light Brown/Dark Blond/Indeterminate
Celegorm (yes, I know 'the fair' is problematic, but with 7 brothers to differentiate, just go with this!)
Nerdanel (I think hers is meant to be medium brown with red highlights)
Yes I think there is a list like this one somewhere else in the casting section. This thread is just a collection of actors and actresses who could play elves. There are of course suggestions for specific elven roles, but they're to be taken lightly.
 
Understood. My main point was to avoid assuming that blond actors would have to play blond elves and dark-haired actors would be playing dark-haired elves.
 
True, indeed...

As for the eyebrows, they can be dyed, too, but it must be carefully done, so black eyebrows with blonde hair is not a problem. Anyhow, while that trouble can be solved with wigs or L'Oreal, there are things that would be harder to solve, such as height.

As far as I understand all Thingol, Turgon, and Maedhros are supposed to be riddiculously tall, I imagine Finwë, Olwë, and Inwë would be the same...
 
Yes, general body build and facial features are the physical traits to look for, and then examples that they can play the particular character needed would be determined during the actual tryouts.

Most elves are going to be on the tall side, with some standing out as even taller (Maedhros and Thingol being good examples). I don't think we're going to cast someone who is 7' tall as Thingol, but one thing we could consider is casting the Men as on the shorter side, so the elves just naturally stand out by comparison. So, something like all elves are 6'+, while humans are more in the 5'-10" or less range. I mean, for dwarves, we can use camera tricks, and you can always make someone stand on a box. So, maybe it doesn't have to be limiting.

Robert Downey Jr is 5'-8" and he stars opposite Gwyneth Paltrow (5'9") in the Iron Man movies. Obviously, they put her in heels for her costumes, so you'd think she would appear taller than him.....but he wore platform shoes as well, for some of his scenes. No problem!
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I don't think height is a super-big deal either. All kinds of costume and camera tricks can be done with that. I would just suggest avoiding bulky guys for elves. It makes it harder for the scaling to work.
 
Ok I know it's premature but anyway... I've been thinking about the sons of Fëanor. I think it's important to get a set of actors who could work as a set of brothers, as well as fit the individual requirements for the brothers.
Here is a suggestion for the whole gang:
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Ed Cooper Clarke as Maedhros. A british actor, as is all of them.
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Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Maglor.
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Joe Anderson as Celegorm.
View attachment 145Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Caranthir.

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Jack Farthing as Curufin.
View attachment 146Matthew Beard as Amrod and Amras.

1. Are these guys possible? I think some of them are better suggestions than others.
2. Do they look like brothers? I considered actors who could be accepted as related to a Fëanor played by Rufus Sewell. I started to think about Nerdanel as well, but it got a bit complex. Again, I think some are better than others.
I'm least convinced about Celegorm and Curufin.
Ok I'll stick with this idea for now... But I listened to the Fantasy Casting session yesterday and Dr. Olsen suggested that Daniel Radcliffe should play Celegorm. He actually fits among these guys. So I'm letting Joe Anderson go. Instead: upload_2016-1-12_8-3-43.jpeg
 
Did someone mention Oscar Isaac? He could be a great Noldor. One of the good guys I think. Perhaps Fingolfin? upload_2016-1-20_10-37-43.jpeg
 
Tom Hiddleston has played tragic and misunderstood, certainly....but he does tend to get roles with more villainy (or at least pride) in them. Beleg is rather easy-going compared to, say, Loki or Coriolanus. He certainly has the height and build for an elf, and he likes to dance. We can find a role for him somewhere. I really do hesitate to suggest him for Fëanor, as he's a bit young-looking, but I think he could certainly capture both his ruthlessness and why he's *not* actually the villain of the piece.

Tom Hiddleston could do madness, so from the Oath onwards, he'd be great. And he can do short-tempered pride.....yeah, I think he could pull it off. Just tell him he gets to play the *older* brother this time ;).
 
I really do hesitate to suggest him for Fëanor, as he's a bit young-looking, but I think he could certainly capture both his ruthlessness and why he's *not* actually the villain of the piece.

Tom Hiddleston could do madness, so from the Oath onwards, he'd be great. And he can do short-tempered pride.....yeah, I think he could pull it off. Just tell him he gets to play the *older* brother this time ;).

I think he could do a Great Fëanor.

We can always age him a bit with make up. Gray hairs and a few expression lines cleverly marked.

But wouldn't Fëanor be a little bit more on the muscled side, I mean he was a blacksmith,
 
I came across Ioan Gruffudd by chance. He could be a Noldor, perhaps one of the sons of F.
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Yes, Tom Hiddleston can muscle up a bit if needed. He actually first tried out for Thor, not Loki, and here is that screen test:

 
Did we mention Stuart Townsend? Could be one of the sons of Fëanor. Could be Maeglin.
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