You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

Thanks to a new-ish interview with Daniel Radcliffe, there is a fresh debate about how to film the Epilogue. Being something of a film buff, an enthusiastic fan of the HP films, and someone who is fairly adamant about the original actors being in their roles if the Epilogue is filmed, I thought I'd offer my thoughts.

Regarding Makeup Effects
First, this is not the 1980s. Makeup effects have come a long way in recent years. Second, it's not like Dan, Rupert, and Emma will be playing 100-year-old versions of Harry, Ron and Hermione. They're supposed to be late 30s - they wouldn't need *that* much makeup, and they certainly wouldn't need prosthetics. Maybe a little padding to indicate (slight) weight gain, but not creepy skin molds and such.

The Benjamin Button Effect
I don't know if any of you have seen the trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but what I've seen of the aging - the backwards aging, at that - of Brad Pitt is nothing short of a miracle. And it's done mostly with special effects, not makeup, so that it's Brad's performance, even when his character is a baby. This might be a lot of trouble to go to for such a relatively small scene at the end of DH, but it's something at least worth exploring.

A Visual Aid to How It Can Be Done Right
A movie came out a few years ago in which two actors in their early twenties had to play characters over a span of over twenty years. This was, in my opinion, one of the best jobs I've seen of aging characters, asking less of the makeup artist and more of the actor.

( Want to see? )

Plus ... dude. Weren't a whole bunch of people saying just a few years back that the kids were looking too old to play the parts and that they'd look like thirty-year-olds by the time these movies were done? Not me, of course, and not anyone on my flist, I don't think. But ... I don't think it will be difficult to convince us that these characters are nineteen years older.

Thanks to a new-ish interview with Daniel Radcliffe, there is a fresh debate about how to film the Epilogue. Being something of a film buff, an enthusiastic fan of the HP films, and someone who is fairly adamant about the original actors being in their roles if the Epilogue is filmed, I thought I'd offer my thoughts.

Regarding Makeup Effects
First, this is not the 1980s. Makeup effects have come a long way in recent years. Second, it's not like Dan, Rupert, and Emma will be playing 100-year-old versions of Harry, Ron and Hermione. They're supposed to be late 30s - they wouldn't need *that* much makeup, and they certainly wouldn't need prosthetics. Maybe a little padding to indicate (slight) weight gain, but not creepy skin molds and such.

The Benjamin Button Effect
I don't know if any of you have seen the trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but what I've seen of the aging - the backwards aging, at that - of Brad Pitt is nothing short of a miracle. And it's done mostly with special effects, not makeup, so that it's Brad's performance, even when his character is a baby. This might be a lot of trouble to go to for such a relatively small scene at the end of DH, but it's something at least worth exploring.

A Visual Aid to How It Can Be Done Right
A movie came out a few years ago in which two actors in their early twenties had to play characters over a span of over twenty years. This was, in my opinion, one of the best jobs I've seen of aging characters, asking less of the makeup artist and more of the actor.

( Want to see? )

Plus ... dude. Weren't a whole bunch of people saying just a few years back that the kids were looking too old to play the parts and that they'd look like thirty-year-olds by the time these movies were done? Not me, of course, and not anyone on my flist, I don't think. But ... I don't think it will be difficult to convince us that these characters are nineteen years older.