Session 5-23: Casting Criteria - *special broadcast time*

Haakon said:
I wonder if anyone has ideas for special traits, skills and flaws for the listed characters?
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I suggest someone having a liking for making family trees; not as beautiful as the tapestries of the Noldor, but an account of history nonetheless. Perhaps someone in the House of Beor?

Also, the Hosts described Maeglin as being ambitious; whenever Aredhel would tell him stories of Gondolin, Maeglin would raise emphasis on Turgon having no sons.
 
Haakon said:
Nice! How do you suppose this could be seen in the actor playing Maeglin?
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The Hosts suggested, when Eol was discussed, that Maeglin would be more inclined to hear about Turgon when Aredhel tells him of Gondolin. Not sure how this would be conveyed by the actor however.

On Maeglin: I suggest that whoever we pick has a leaner build, could be any height, to contrast a muscular Tuor.
 
For the family in Harad - the older brother is more of a jock, so: athletic, hot-headed, not well-spoken, etc. The younger brother is more bookish, so while he's not weak/sickly/feeble, he is more soft-spoken and less brash.
 
Way back in 2015, Bre put together some descriptions of characters from the books to help guide our casting conversations. Here's the relevant part of the post for the Edain:

House of Bëor
  • “The Men of that house were dark or brown of hair, with grey eyes; and of all Men they were most like to the Noldor and most loved by them; for they were eager of mind, cunning-handed, swift in understanding, long in memory, and they were moved sooner to pity than to laughter.”
  • "for the language of Hador was apparently less changed and more uniform in style, whereas the language of Bëor contained many elements that were alien in character. This contrast in speech was probably connected with the observable physical differences between the two peoples. There were fair-haired men and women among the Folk of Bëor, but most of them had brown hair (going usually with brown eyes), and many were less fair in skin, some indeed being swarthy. Men as tall as the Folk of Hador were rare among them, and most were broader and more heavy in build."
  • Beor: ???
  • Barahir: ???
  • Beren: Dark hair or golden brown, blue or grey eyes, taller than most of his kin, broad-shouldered, strong of limb
  • Morwen Eledhwen: tall, dark-haired, pale skinned, grey eyes that shown with a light, beautiful.
  • Rian: ???
  • Andreth: Dark hair
House of Hador
  • “The Men of the Three Houses throve and multiplied, but greatest among them was the house of Hador Goldenhead, peer of Elven-lords. His people were of great strength and stature, ready in mind, bold and steadfast, quick to anger and to laughter, mighty among the Children of Ilúvatar in the youth of Mankind. Yellow-haired they were for the most part, and blue-eyed; but not so was Túrin, whose mother was Morwen of the house of Beor.”
  • "For the most part they were tall people, with flaxen or golden hair and blue-grey eyes, but there were not a few among them that had dark hair, though all were fair-skinned...
    No doubt this was due to mingling with Men of other kind in the
    past; and it was noted that the dark hair ran in families that had
    more skill and interest in crafts and lore."
  • Hador: goldenhead, tall, blue-eyed
  • Húrin Thalion: Steadfast, strong, but of less stature than his fathers or son (short because of his mother's genes, who was of the Haladin). Save for his height he was in all ways like the people of Hador: golden haired and blue-eyed. After his captivity "his hair and beard were white and long, but he walked unbowed, bearing a great black staff; and he was girt with a sword."
  • Túrin: Tall, dark-haired, pale-skinned, grey eyes , deep eyes in a white face, stern and proud, the most beautiful of all mortal men.
  • Urwen (Lalaith): hair like yellow lilies
  • Nienor: Fine gold hair, blue eyes, Hurin in woman form.
  • Huor: Tallest of the Edain save his son Tuor. Golden-haired.
  • Tuor: Fair of face, golden hair of the House of Hador, strong and valiant, the tallest of the Edain
  • Forweg: fair-haired
House of Haleth
  • “Like to them [HOUSE BEOR] were the woodland folk of Haleth, but they were of lesser stature, and less eager for lore. They used few words, and did not love great concourse of men; and many among them delighted in solitude, wandering free in the greenwoods while the wonder of the lands of the Eldar was new upon them. But in the realms of the West their time was brief and their days unhappy.”
  • Haleth: Amazon
  • Haldir: ???
  • Handir: ???
  • Brandir: Lamed by a leg broken in a misadventure in childhood
  • Dorlas: ???
  • Arvanc: Son of Dorlas, dark-haired, short.
  • Hunthor: Brandir's kinsman.

So, certainly, making the House of Hador golden-haired seems a clear-cut choice. But how uniform must it be? In other words, do Bereg and Amlach have to be blond, too, or only Hador? What about Gundor? And are we okay with Adanel being blond as well, to signify that her heritage differs from the rest of the House of Bëor?

And, of course, we will have to discuss the question of...swarthiness. Do we want to give the House of Bëor a darker skin tone than the House of Hador? What about the House of Haleth? We are going to have intermarriage between the groups, so it would likely be a good idea to avoid creating combinations that give unlikely appearances to children, but it would also be helpful to visually distinguish the different groups on screen with variations in skin tone, hair color, eye color, height, etc.
 
MithLuin said:
So, certainly, making the House of Hador golden-haired seems a clear-cut choice. But how uniform must it be? In other words, do Bereg and Amlach have to be blond, too, or only Hador? What about Gundor? And are we okay with Adanel being blond as well, to signify that her heritage differs from the rest of the House of Bëor?

And, of course, we will have to discuss the question of...swarthiness. Do we want to give the House of Bëor a darker skin tone than the House of Hador? What about the House of Haleth? We are going to have intermarriage between the groups, so it would likely be a good idea to avoid creating combinations that give unlikely appearances to children, but it would also be helpful to visually distinguish the different groups on screen with variations in skin tone, hair color, eye color, height, etc.
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JRRT states on several occassions that both, Beorians and Hadorians, had already much intermixed and intermarried before they artived in Beleriand... the Halerhrim are a people who tend to stay amongbthemselves much more, so i guess the difference in appearance are more tendencies than strict rules.

I imagine the Hadorians more as north and middle-europeans and the Beorians and Halethrim more as mediterranean... but as they intermarry more inntime these differences in appearance begin to blur (which tolkien also states).
 
Haerangil said:
JRRT states on several occassions that both, Beorians and Hadorians, had already much intermixed and intermarried before they artived in Beleriand... the Halerhrim are a people who tend to stay amongbthemselves much more, so i guess the difference in appearance are more tendencies than strict rules.

I imagine the Hadorians more as north and middle-europeans and the Beorians and Halethrim more as mediterranean... but as they intermarry more inntime these differences in appearance begin to blur (which tolkien also states).
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Hence why there's a suggestion that Adanel be blonde.
 
For the Elves. I don't think we have any reason to avoid red hair amongst humans or dwarves.
 
MithLuin said:
For the Elves. I don't think we have any reason to avoid red hair amongst humans or dwarves.
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Well, there’s no reason to avoid red haired characters; I was simply pointing out the dearth of red-haired characters in Tolkien, all of whom are related.
 
Just saying. If we discuss golden-haired and dark-haired characters there are many shades...
Most of my family have blonde hair, but my father's golden-red, my mothers dark like almost mid brown, i am dirty blonde...

Now do i look Hadorian or Beorian? I have on occasion been mistaken for a russian and an arab and my mother for turkish.My girlfriend is all european but is often mistaken for indian, for she has darker skin and wears indian bodypaint and oriental jewelry.
 
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5-23 Casting Criteria

Casting rules: Actors must be alive, have an IMDb page, and not have been cast in SilmFilm previously (except voice roles)

SilmFilm has an infinite budget, so the cost of getting an actor does not matter. Decisions are based on appearance, skills, and existing performances.

The House of Hador, as described by Tolkien, will tend to be blond and Nordic-looking. They do not all need to be blond; some can have dark hair. They are taller than the other houses.

Tolkien says that the House of Bëor tends to have dark brown hair and grey eyes, though some had fair hair. They are shorter than the House of Hador.

The House of Haleth is generally shorter than the other two houses.

Making characters within houses look alike will help the audience tell what house a character belongs to.

The houses could be differentiated by skin tone as well as hair. House of Hador – lighter. House of Bëor – medium. House of Haleth – darker. How dark? House of Hador – Northern European. House of Bëor – Mediterranean. House of Haleth - Indian/Pakistani.

Since many of our characters will age over the course of the season, we may need to cast different actors to play the same person. We will also need to decide about what age actor we want to play them.

No casting of young children. Hard to find many with IMDb pages.

How attractive should the humans be? Generally not more attractive than Elves. Visual contrast can be done through costuming and makeup.

Bëor – one actor. 60s. Hale and hearty. Not skinny. Hefty. Barrel-chested. Maybe bearlike.

Adanel – Her most important period is the time around when she is 29, so we should look for an actress around that age who can also play her at 19. May or may not need an actress to play her at 71. Looks like she could be from either the House of Hador or the House of Bëor.

Andreth – Two actresses. 20s and 60s to 70s. People can nominate a pair of actresses who look alike. Kind of small. Big personality. Intelligent. Calm. Charismatic. Attractive. Animated face.

We don’t want to waste well-known actors on minor characters who won’t appear for long. Andreth is a significant role that we could cast someone major for.

Barahir – one actor mid-30s to play ages 31 and 55. Warrior. Tall. Imposing.

Emeldir – one actress. Scary. Tough-looking. Formidable. Not necessarily unattractive. Tall. Commanding presence.

Barahir and Emeldir represent the later House of Bëor.

No casting call for Bregolas.

Haleth – 30s, able to play ages 16-81. Possibly different casting for age 16. Brawny. Short. Could stand out and be a little taller than the rest of the house. Commanding presence.

Haldad – late 40s-50s. Not as imposing as his daughter. No taller than Haleth.

Hador – 18-20s. Tall. Dashing. Charismatic. Leadership presence. Warrior.

No casting call for Galdor until Season 7.

Amlach – 30s. Brown-haired. Not necessarily attractive. Leader. Unpleasant. Aggressive. Defiant. Prod. Sneering. Arrogant. Shorter than Hador. Hunter.

Bereg – Late 40s. Could be blond. Farmer/herder. Not a man of action. Could be older than Hador and Amlach. Not cowardly. Wise. Common-sense.

Maeglin – Should look like Aredhel and Eöl. Not creepy. Idril’s mistrust should seem misplaced. Dark-haired. Attractive. Charming. Small in comparison to Tuor. Muscular, but not huge.

Pengolodh – Bookish. Not physically imposing. Slighter or shorter.

Elrhûn – Sinda serving under Fingon. Hard-faced. Stoic. Stern. Grim.

Haradrim have African complexions.

Queen – Distinguished. Not lofty. Benevolent. Friends with her subjects. Not skinny.

Older son – Around 20. Boromir-like

Younger son – Around 20. Faramir-like

First Mouth of Sauron – Looks like the other Haradrim. Thin. Physically opposite the queen.
 
So the Hosts backtracked on Haleth?

Muscular but not as tall as Tuor for Maeglin... Kit Harington but younger?
 
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Sounds like Gina Carano might not be the way to go for Haleth, as was suggested previously. Could she be Emeldir though?
 
Rob Harding said:
Sounds like Gina Carano might not be the way to go for Haleth, as was suggested previously. Could she be Emeldir though?
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Yeah maybe unless she’s too brawny? I thought of her as well for Emeldir, it would be kind of nice with her as Beren’s mother.
 
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