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The appearance of the villain(s)

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  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    Posts: 2,483
    Ludovico wrote: »
    But you do not need much of a deformity, if any at all, to have a unique, striking appearance. Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories, if I am not mistaken, was depicted as a rather striking looking man, as if he oozed evil. Dracula also comes to my mind: human enough in appearance to interact with them and walk freely in London, but strange enough to induce fear. Same goes with villains in the Bond novels: not all are hunchbacks with deformities per se, but overall they have strange appearances. It is an accumulation of small things that as a whole give an unsettling picture.

    Which is why, IMO, Waltz's Blofeld is somewhat underwhelming. Not to hijack the thread, but Waltz's appearance is too dashedly normal for Blofeld.

  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,357
    Perilagu_Khan wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    But you do not need much of a deformity, if any at all, to have a unique, striking appearance. Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories, if I am not mistaken, was depicted as a rather striking looking man, as if he oozed evil. Dracula also comes to my mind: human enough in appearance to interact with them and walk freely in London, but strange enough to induce fear. Same goes with villains in the Bond novels: not all are hunchbacks with deformities per se, but overall they have strange appearances. It is an accumulation of small things that as a whole give an unsettling picture.

    Which is why, IMO, Waltz's Blofeld is somewhat underwhelming. Not to hijack the thread, but Waltz's appearance is too dashedly normal for Blofeld.

    He looks very similar to Fleming's Blofeld as seen in OHMSS.
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  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,218
    Perilagu_Khan wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    But you do not need much of a deformity, if any at all, to have a unique, striking appearance. Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories, if I am not mistaken, was depicted as a rather striking looking man, as if he oozed evil. Dracula also comes to my mind: human enough in appearance to interact with them and walk freely in London, but strange enough to induce fear. Same goes with villains in the Bond novels: not all are hunchbacks with deformities per se, but overall they have strange appearances. It is an accumulation of small things that as a whole give an unsettling picture.

    Which is why, IMO, Waltz's Blofeld is somewhat underwhelming. Not to hijack the thread, but Waltz's appearance is too dashedly normal for Blofeld.

    Like @Murdock said, he looks like the Blofeld of OHMSS. And, I may add, far more than the above drawing. But for the record, for appearance alone I would have cast a TB looking Blofeld, say Brendan Gleeson, somebody who could pass as a brute. But as an OHMSS looking Blofeld, Waltz fitted the bill, IMO. And there is something about his eyes and mannerism.

    In any case, in the end he was filly scarred.
  • Problem_EliminatorProblem_Eliminator Ojai, CA
    Posts: 613
    Ya by the end he was as Blofeld as it gets.He went through a transformation, and in the next one it will be classic bond villainy.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,218
    For the record I'd have been happy without a scar or a cat.
  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    Posts: 2,483
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Perilagu_Khan wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    But you do not need much of a deformity, if any at all, to have a unique, striking appearance. Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories, if I am not mistaken, was depicted as a rather striking looking man, as if he oozed evil. Dracula also comes to my mind: human enough in appearance to interact with them and walk freely in London, but strange enough to induce fear. Same goes with villains in the Bond novels: not all are hunchbacks with deformities per se, but overall they have strange appearances. It is an accumulation of small things that as a whole give an unsettling picture.

    Which is why, IMO, Waltz's Blofeld is somewhat underwhelming. Not to hijack the thread, but Waltz's appearance is too dashedly normal for Blofeld.

    Like @Murdock said, he looks like the Blofeld of OHMSS. And, I may add, far more than the above drawing. But for the record, for appearance alone I would have cast a TB looking Blofeld, say Brendan Gleeson, somebody who could pass as a brute. But as an OHMSS looking Blofeld, Waltz fitted the bill, IMO. And there is something about his eyes and mannerism.

    In any case, in the end he was filly scarred.

    I suppose he vaguely resembles that OHMSS Blofeld if one excepts the syphilitic nose and the absence of dark green eyes that looked like pools (according to Fleming). There was something very disconcerting about the appearance of the literary OHMSS Blofeld which does not come across with Waltz.

  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,218
    Find an actor that truly looks like any Fleming villains. In the movies they have to make short cuts: a scar, an eyepatch, etc. Only Silva I thought managed to be an accumulation of small details that made him look odd in the end. And Gert Frobe because of his obesity. The dark green eyes that look like pool are difficult to find. For a OHMSS Blofeld I thought Gary Lewis had the right physique but he sounded far too Scottish.
  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    Posts: 2,483
    Dark green contacts are a piece of cake to come by, particularly for rich Hollywood producers and directors. And makeup people could do the nose. But at any rate, it is not so much that an actor must look exactly like Fleming's description; rather, he should look like a monster in some way, which Fleming's villains usually did.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,218
    Eye colours are one thing. But it is more than that when you read the description of Blofeld. Same thing with the nose. There's just so much you can do with prop. Blofeld's eyes were devilish plain and simple. I agree that what matters is that the villain should look like a monster. I'd argue that Waltz pre scar looked devilish.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    And now we have yet another physically monstrous main villain. I think it s great. It is tradition and very much in the spirit of Fleming.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,007
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    And now we have yet another physically monstrous main villain. I think it s great. It is tradition and very much in the spirit of Fleming.

    Indeed. I always enjoy when a Bond villain has something physical that stands out, whether it's obvious scarring or something as simple as bug eyes, like Greene in QoS.
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