It's interesting that Sam Claflin has played 3 characters named William and they all had long hair; albeit one of them only temporarily. Everyone knows by now that I hate Me Before You, I don't even like Sam's character, except that short scene at the beginning with Alicia, prior to his accident. So whether Will has his hair and beard cut or not makes no difference to me bc I don't care about him. (It still makes no sense to me but then the whole film makes no sense.)
Billy Dunne doesn't do much for me mainly bc rockstars aren't my thing, but I can see the appeal. But he's also too thin (the 'diet culture' mob was strangely absent during the DJATS run) and I prefer a bit of facial hair, especially when he is so thin, plus there's the whole cheating thing, so yeah, it's mostly a pass. The one I like best is, of course, the least popular one, or not even that he's unpopular, more like forgotten--William from Snow White and the Huntsman. He has both the looks and the personality. But he also has the shortest screen presence out of the three. He's not the lead, or one of the leads, unlike the other two. He has even less screentime in the sequel. FML again. (Fun fact, Sam also plays a character named Liam, Irish version of the name, but in a complete opposite, he has a shaved head.)
Other roles that feature Sam with long hair are: Jack in White Heat, a character similar to Billy Dunne, in a series similar to DJATS, except he's not as likeable as Billy. By the time he cleans up, he is back to short hair. Then we have Richard in Pillars of the Earth, his very first role. Richard has long hair, I think in the final episode only, which... let's just say I preferred it the way it was. Ambrose in My Cousin Rachel has longer hair (also played by Sam, he plays 2 roles, a fact that get overlooked by people). And then there's the prison Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo episode 2, with a bonus of super long beard. It's my most favourite role of his, of course, though overall I prefer the vengeful persona of the count most of all.
These thoughts were brought to you by a post from my cherished mutual @jesstasticvoyage in which she talks about MBY Will's long hair.
