nwdean-862-186903
Joined Dec 2013
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nwdean-862-186903's rating
Well, said the producer, these characters are French. Shouldn't they be speaking French?
No, said the executive producer, Apple TV's subscribers mostly speak English, they don't speak French. So we need the characters to speak English.
But then, said the producer, how will the audience know they are French? We can't expect them to figure that out all by themselves! We have to do something to show the audience that the characters are French and the story is set in France.
A puzzled silence settled over the room.
I've got it! Said the producer. I met a man from France once, and he spoke with a French accent. Let's have all these characters speak English but with a French accent! That way the audience won't forget that they are French.
Brilliant, said the crowd of executive producers. Problem solved.
No, said the executive producer, Apple TV's subscribers mostly speak English, they don't speak French. So we need the characters to speak English.
But then, said the producer, how will the audience know they are French? We can't expect them to figure that out all by themselves! We have to do something to show the audience that the characters are French and the story is set in France.
A puzzled silence settled over the room.
I've got it! Said the producer. I met a man from France once, and he spoke with a French accent. Let's have all these characters speak English but with a French accent! That way the audience won't forget that they are French.
Brilliant, said the crowd of executive producers. Problem solved.
The movie lost all credibility for me with the cyanide story. Oppenheimer was a post-doctoral researcher at Cambridge; to have him - and others like him - taking an undergraduate chemistry lab is preposterous. I was a graduate student at Cambridge and got my PhD without ever having to take such a course, and neither did any other student I ever heard of. Oppenheimer was a postdoctoral researcher, not a student; he would have spent his time entirely on research with a mentor.
The would cyanide episode is Hollywood hokum. After that, I had no reason to believe any of the rest. Cillian Murphy did a great job and deserved the Oscar, but the movie should be labeled fiction, not biography.
The would cyanide episode is Hollywood hokum. After that, I had no reason to believe any of the rest. Cillian Murphy did a great job and deserved the Oscar, but the movie should be labeled fiction, not biography.
After really enjoying previous seasons, we were astonished by the completely wrong casting in Season 5.
Actors have basic personas; their skill is in credibly projecting a character and a plot onto that persona. Michael Kitchen, for example, makes us believe he is a detective named Foyle, but that detective has Kitchen's persona, as does every other character he plays. Dominic West makes us believe he is having an affair with a waitress in The Affair but the character's smiles, responses, attitudes are still those of Dominic West. And that's okay because we don't know the guy so we don't expect a different persona; there's no reason to doubt him.
The problem arises when he plays a real person that we know. That person's persona has to fit onto Dominic's if we are to believe him. Prince (now King) Charles is subtle and reserved, qualities Dominic West doesn't project. If I had never seen Prince Charles, I might imagine him acting and reacting as Dominic West does; but I have seen him, and the two can't be reconciled. It's like a Rolls-Royce being played by a Corvette.
Likewise Jonathan Pryce, whose persona is far too humane for Prince Phillip, and even Imelda Staunton, who is too much like a favorite aunt to be the queen.
It only took twenty minutes for us to realize that this season's cast is simply not credible. So we left. What a shame.
Actors have basic personas; their skill is in credibly projecting a character and a plot onto that persona. Michael Kitchen, for example, makes us believe he is a detective named Foyle, but that detective has Kitchen's persona, as does every other character he plays. Dominic West makes us believe he is having an affair with a waitress in The Affair but the character's smiles, responses, attitudes are still those of Dominic West. And that's okay because we don't know the guy so we don't expect a different persona; there's no reason to doubt him.
The problem arises when he plays a real person that we know. That person's persona has to fit onto Dominic's if we are to believe him. Prince (now King) Charles is subtle and reserved, qualities Dominic West doesn't project. If I had never seen Prince Charles, I might imagine him acting and reacting as Dominic West does; but I have seen him, and the two can't be reconciled. It's like a Rolls-Royce being played by a Corvette.
Likewise Jonathan Pryce, whose persona is far too humane for Prince Phillip, and even Imelda Staunton, who is too much like a favorite aunt to be the queen.
It only took twenty minutes for us to realize that this season's cast is simply not credible. So we left. What a shame.