NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm a massive Discworld fan, and I've recently learned that Sir David Jason will be playing a role in the two up-coming adaptations of the Colour of Magic and the Light Fanstastic, as Rincewind of all things. I'm a bit of a Discworld nerd, and I'm of the opinion that he's waaaay too old to play Rincewind, primarily as I imagine that Rincewind is probably in his late thirties or early forties. Thus, Sir David would be a bit too old to play as Rincewind, especially as the character is rather famed for his ability to run away from trouble. Also, he's played a different character in the recent adaptation of the Hogfather, playing Death's servant, Albert.

Are there any other examples out there of films versions of books playing against people's ideas of characters?

I imagine NSG can think of loads!

I'm a massive Discworld fan, and I've recently learned that Sir David Jason will be playing a role in the two up-coming adaptations of the Colour of Magic and the Light Fanstastic, as Rincewind of all things. I'm a bit of a Discworld nerd, and I'm of the opinion that he's waaaay too old to play Rincewind, primarily as I imagine that Rincewind is probably in his late thirties or early forties. Thus, Sir David would be a bit too old to play as Rincewind, especially as the character is rather famed for his ability to run away from trouble. Also, he's played a different character in the recent adaptation of the Hogfather, playing Death's servant, Albert.

Are there any other examples out there of films versions of books playing against people's ideas of characters?

I imagine NSG can think of loads!

are we talking live action or animated? if animated, then how old he looks won't matter.

Not sure... It appears to be a live action/CGI thing, as far as I can tell from this quote:
The live-action/CGI project, a follow-up to the trio's successful adaptation of Pratchett's Hogfather as a miniseries last year, was written by Vadim Jean, who also is directing.

It's live action, I saw a trailer for it on Sky 3. I was surprised he was cast, simply because he's played Albert before, and that means they can't make, say, Mort, because Albert and Rincewind meet in that book.

Shame, because that's one of my favourites.

careful... technically, Beowulf was animated. ;)

It's live action, I saw a trailer for it on Sky 3. I was surprised he was cast, simply because he's played Albert before, and that means they can't make, say, Mort, because Albert and Rincewind meet in that book.

Shame, because that's one of my favourites.

I... don't quite get what you're saying here...

if you watch the trailer for Beowulf (the recent hollywood film) you'ld swear it was live action with bits of animated scenes. but in truth, the whole thing was animated, the people, scenery, everything. so it may look Live action, but it might, in reality, be CGI.

This is not to be mistaken for Sin City and 300 where the people were real but the scenery was CGI.

I... don't quite get what you're saying here...
Everything was done in CGI, that's why Ray Winstone didn't look like such a fat old bastard.

careful... technically, Beowulf was animated. ;)

I... don't quite get what you're saying here...

if you watch the trailer for Beowulf (the recent hollywood film) you'ld swear it was live action with bits of animated scenes. but in truth, the whole thing was animated, the people, scenery, everything. so it may look Live action, but it might, in reality, be CGI.

This is not to be mistaken for Sin City and 300 where the people were real but the scenery was CGI.

Oh, right. Well it was definitely live action, other than the Librarian obviously! Beowulf looked slightly odd so it was possible to tell it was CGI, whereas this looked like the Hogfather series, which wasn't.

Also, let's do the time warp agaaaaaaain!

I'm a massive Discworld fan, and I've recently learned that Sir David Jason will be playing a role in the two up-coming adaptations of the Colour of Magic and the Light Fanstastic, as Rincewind of all things. I'm a bit of a Discworld nerd, and I'm of the opinion that he's waaaay too old to play Rincewind, primarily as I imagine that Rincewind is probably in his late thirties or early forties. Thus, Sir David would be a bit too old to play as Rincewind, especially as the character is rather famed for his ability to run away from trouble. Also, he's played a different character in the recent adaptation of the Hogfather, playing Death's servant, Albert.

Are there any other examples out there of films versions of books playing against people's ideas of characters?

I imagine NSG can think of loads!

What are the following things?

Discworld
Sir David Jason
the Colour of Magic
the Light Fanstastic
Rincewind
the Hogfather

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld

Sir David Jason's the guy who was in Only Fools and Horses, playing essentially the lead, ie Del Boy

But, it isn't specifically about them, just any book which has been made into a film and what you think about them.

Are there any other examples out there of films versions of books playing against people's ideas of characters?

Alan Grant, Jurassic Park.

Alan Grant, Jurassic Park.
Shamefully, I've not read Jurassic Park. I know I need to.

Although Sam Neill is an awesome actor.

What are the following things?

I find this joke to be both tasteless and offensive. How could you not know? Well, I suppose it's not a huge deal, although you're missing out IMO.

Er...anyway, here's what Wikipedia will tell you.

Discworld

Discworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least borrow ideas from, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft and William Shakespeare, as well as mythology, folklore and fairy tales, often using them for satirical parallels with current cultural, technological and scientific issues.

Since the first novel, The Colour of Magic (1983), the series has expanded, spawning several related books and maps, four short stories, cartoon and theatre adaptations, and even music inspired by the series. The first live-action screen adaptation for television (Terry Pratchett's Hogfather) was broadcast over Christmas 2006. A feature film, The Wee Free Men is currently in development and will be directed by Sam Raimi (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=12636)

Newly released Discworld books regularly top The Sunday Times best-sellers list, making Pratchett the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s, although he has since been overtaken by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Discworld novels have also won awards such as the Prometheus Award and the Carnegie Medal. In the BBC's Big Read, five Discworld books were in the top 100, and a total of fifteen in the top 200.

Sir David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE known by his stage name David Jason (born 2 February 1940) is a highly regarded English actor, admired equally for his dramatic work as for his comedy roles. He is perhaps most famous for his portrayal of Del Boy in the BBC television situation comedy Only Fools and Horses which made him a household name in the United Kingdom, and for playing detective chief inspector Jack Frost on A Touch of Frost. His elder brother, Arthur White, is also a character actor.

the Colour of Magic

The Colour of Magic is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett. It is the first of the Discworld series and was published in 1983. It is also one of only eight Discworld novels to be divided into sections or chapters, the others being Pyramids, Going Postal, Making Money, and the four books for young readers, specifically The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and the three Tiffany Aching books, The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith. Each chapter is in fact a separate short story featuring the same characters. The idea of The Colour of Magic - that all that happens is due to the gods' gambling – is somewhat similar to traditional role-playing games, in that the roll of the dice determines what happens to the characters.

the Light Fanstastic

The Light Fantastic is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the second of the Discworld series. It was published in 1986. The title is a quote from a poem by John Milton and in the original context ("Com, and trip it as ye go / On the light fantastick toe".) referred to dancing lightly with extravagance.

The events of the novel are a direct continuation of those in the preceding book, The Colour of Magic (this is thus far the only novel in the Discworld series to follow on in this manner).

Rincewind

Rincewind the Wizzard is a fictional character appearing in the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett, several of which feature him as the central character. He is a failed student at the Unseen University for wizards in Ankh-Morpork, often described by scholars as "the magical equivalent to the number zero", and spends just about all of his time running away from various bands of people who want to kill him for various reasons. The fact that he's still alive and running is explained in that although he was born with a wizard's spirit, he has the body of a long-distance sprinter. Rincewind is also reputed for being able to solve minor problems by turning them into major disasters.

Although personally, he will always be voiced by Eric Idle to me.

the Hogfather

The Discworld's version of Father Christmas or Santa Claus. He wears a red, fur-lined cloak, and rides a sleigh pulled by four wild boars (or, in modern portrayals, cute pink piggies), Gouger, Rooter, Tusker and Snouter. In earlier times he gave households pork products, and naughty children a bag of bloody bones. Earlier than that, he was a winter god of the death-and-renewal kind. The modern version is a jolly toymaker, with vestiges of the earlier myths (such as his Castle of Bones, a vast palace of ice which has nothing notably bony about it, except for the suggestion of a protruding femur or scapula here and there) still clinging to him.

In the book Hogfather, the Hogfather first appears in the manifestation of a wild boar. Death and his granddaughter Susan manage to save him, in order that the sun might rise in the morning. Without the Hogfather, according to Death, Discworld will turn to face a mere ball of glowing gas.

The Hogfather is one of a number of beings that hover on the boundary between "god" and "personification", yet probably is best thought of as the latter, since people still receive presents at Hogswatchnight, even if they no longer believe in him. The Hogfather was first mentioned in Reaper Man and dealt with extensively in Hogfather.