#gabrielle casting

[pynkhues]

The actor who plays Magnus doesn't look it, but he's 50, which makes sense enough as an age to me. But yeah I wonder what they'll go for with him. Also, the actor who plays Marius sounds like he's great. I wonder if them going with an excellent actor but not one who's as known as Eric or Ben Daniels or Jennifer Ehle might mean that Marius won't be AS massive a character as some might have been thinking, which I'm fine with, there's a lot going on!

Yes! I'm genuinely just so excited to know the actors across the board! Even in that new pic, the actor's not really what I expected for Magnus, but then again, I don't think I've known really what to expect in casting the character. He's been the one I've found trickiest in a lot of ways to fancast, because so much of it really does depend on performance and energy and the vision of the show, given if they play it to what Anne wrote, he'll likely be wearing prosthetics, but that's not necessarily going to be the case. He's got an interesting look though and he seems pretty deeply involved in the Canadian thesatre scene, so I suspect he's probably known to a lot of the creatives, and regardless, the casting department hasn't had a single miss so far, so I can't wait to see what he does with the role!

As for Marius, I'm actually delighted! He's got a great look to him, and I just finished watching him in Dark Winds too. He's a really talented actor, and he's got an insane filmography, so while he might not have the same popular recognition as Eric, Ben and Jennifer, they've still cast someone very, very established. Marius shouldn't be in TVL all that much though - I'd be surprised if we see him before the last couple of episodes of the season - but I don't think that means he won't be a really significant character moving forwards. He should be, at least, in QOTD, and in some ways I think them casting a solidly established, albeit not famous actor in a role like Marius makes a lot of sense. It's potentially a bigger commitment for him than it is for Jennifer, given Gabrielle leaves for a long while again after QOTD.

[pynkhues]

JENNIFER EHLE

ooh adfakdf ammy focuking gcdkd oh my god

SHE'LL EAT, ANON!!

[pynkhues]

https://www.tumblr.com/pynkhues/782239942580551680/the-person-in-the-reblogs-of-that-last-post-saying?source=share

Is that person meant to know she's 4 years younger? Cant people fancast for fun since the real casting is up to the casting director?

I mean, people can do whatever they want, which is why I didn't @ the user and made a separate post instead of tagging the one where that user said that, but to pretend that actresses over 50 don't experience the worst age discrimination, and some of the worst sexism, in Hollywood is naive, and personally, I think someone saying that a 34-year-old actress is the only choice to play a 38-year-old actor's mother is reflective of how baked into our culture this is. She's not the only choice, and she's not even an appropriate choice, because as talented as she is, she's 34.

Sure, maybe they didn't know she was younger, but you don't need to know her exact age to know that she's too young to play Sam's mother, and I'm kind of tired of this handwaving away of that, because ageism is rampant in this fandom. From the way people act like Eric's about to drop dead because he has the audacity to be a lead in his 70s, to the pretty clear desire of a portion of the fandom to have him replaced by Luke for sex scenes with Assad (although I will say at least that I see pushback against that too), to the handwringing over Sam inching towards 40. It's everywhere, and I know it's going to be worse for whoever they cast as Gabrielle, because ageism is deeply entwined with misogyny, which this fandom also has a huge problem with.

Hell, horror has a huge problem with it. The monstrosity of women over a certain age and the assumed horror/grotesquerie of their bodies has always been a way of villifying female aging and it exists even recently in movies like Barbarian and Relic, and hell, even movies I broadly like, like X. Women of a certain age aren't allowed to exist in horror, and if they are, they're robbed of personhood and inherently an evil that a younger woman must defeat.

It's actually literally what The Substance was about and I think it became so popular as a film because it subverted that trope. Demi's character wasn't grotesque or monstrous, she was forced to become that by an industry that would cast a 30-year-old Margaret Qualley to replace her...something that user was suggesting by fancasting a 34-year-old to play a character who should be in her 50s or 60s.

I'm not trying to start drama, but this does actually feel reflective of a broader problem to me, and I am going to pushback on it. There are hundreds of older actresses who could do Gabrielle justice, and the rejection of them in favour of someone younger than the actor playing her son galls me. Sorry.

[pynkhues]

Is that person meant to know she's 4 years younger

I feel like it's reasonable to expect them to know that she's not old enough to play Sam Reid's mother. I've had a few potential Gabrielle fancasts in my head where I've checked their age and they're in their 40s not 50s/60s, it's easy to be off by a decade, but I haven't had that happen with a 34-year-old.

And there's nothing wrong with being like, I wish this actress was older bc she'd be a perfect Gabrielle, but I agree that it does kind of play into sexism to genuinely say that you want an actress really close to Sam in age to play his mom.

I honestly think Rolin will go with an actress at least in her late 50s. That relationship is too important for her to not really feel like she could be Lestat's mom, and even if they cut her number of pregnancies so that he's the fourth or fifth kid, she still needs to be at least 20 years older.

(x)

Thank you, anon. I feel like it's pretty reasonable too, but I appreciate other people might disagree. I've definitely had a few actresses I've thought of too who would be amazing if they were older, but I really do think Gabrielle's age is really important.

Like, yes, of course it's about accurate casting and combating sexist industry habits, but even beyond that, I actually think too that her being older really drums home the gendered violence Gabrielle experiences both by the broader society at the time, and specifically by the Marquis. Her freedom is always more hindered than Lestat's because she's a woman, and her entrapment in the Marquis' house is more definitive than Lestat's can ever be.

If she looks too close in age to Sam, I think it ties the tragedy of their mortalities together too much, and I think it would allow her trauma to be swallowed by Lestat's, and that's not fair to her character. No matter how connected they feel, they are not peers with shared trauma. Gabrielle is his mother, and by nature of that, she loses more life to the Marquis than Lestat ever could. She is abused for longer, and she passes on that abuse to her children. There is inherently a sexual trauma there that Lestat does not experience in that house by nature of him being his father's son, and not his wife. There are five dead children before Lestat's even born - that trauma is hers, it's the life she's forced into before he even exists, and I think it's important that that is felt in her age.

I think it adds resonance to the fact that Lestat and Gabrielle don't escape his house together too. It's an act of absolute love that has her buy his freedom when she could never buy her own, and it's an act of absolute love that has Lestat offer her the chance for her own freedom by turning her and, more importantly in my opinion, by ultimately letting her go even when he can hardly bear to. Lestat was only ever Gabrielle's son, Gabrielle was not only ever Lestat's mother, and that to me is a vital reason as to why their age difference should be depicted accurately.

[pynkhues]

https://x.com/lestatcore/status/1857579884110827968?t=bgYA3J9KpYwJyqrJ--c4KQ&s=19 idk who this actress is and i haven't seen her in anything but wow! she looks so close to what I imagened when reading tvl

That's the iconic Jessica Lange, anon! She's an incredibly talented actress, although (unfortunately to me, haha) she's been working with Ryan Murphy for over a decade, so has been in a lot of mid-to-bad projects lately. She'd be a great Gabrielle though, although she's definitely on the older side for the role now at 75, and she does have a theatre background too which seems like a plus to the show.

If you want to check out some of her roles, I'd highly highly recommend the criminally-underrated 1982 film Frances for which she was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars for (delightfully, she actually won Best Supporting Actress the same year for Tootsie), the 2003 Big Fish, the 1986 film Crimes of the Heart (co-starring Sissy Spacek and Diane Keaton - they play sisters), and, of course, the 1991 Martin Scorsese classic, Cape Fear. She's a terrific actress and only one-letter away from being an EGOT winner!

[pynkhues]

Now I want Heather Mitchell as Gabrielle too! Who would you pick for Akasha and Marius?

I literally canNOT believe I haven't thought of her sooner, anon. She's an incredible actress with a heavy theatre background (like, she's literally one of the founding directors of Sydney Theatre Company), has worked with Emma Freeman a bunch before, is the right age at 67, and also I love her?

She's touring in the RBG play still though, so I doubt she'd be available. She'd be amazing though.

As for the others:

Akasha - I really hope they go for an unknown! She's kind of a tricky character in a lot of respects, and obviously you're dealing with Aaliyah's pretty iconic depiction in the QOTD movie, so I think casting someone who's able to step into the role as an unknown and make it her own could be for the best. That said, I do think Sofia Boutella could be really good in the role if they do decide to go with someone established.

Marius - it was someone else's suggestion, but I love the idea of Lee Pace in the role! I think he'd be incredible, and I think his height could play really well in terms of his like, authoritative presence? I think Andre Holland would be amazing too, or Tobias Menzies. Someone suggested Alex Hassell to me a little while ago too, which I'm also vibing with intensely, haha. I feel like there are a lot of guys who'd do a good job with Marius, but in a lot of ways, it really depends on how they're going to depict his character.

Who are some of your picks?

[pynkhues]

I wonder if Rolin has had his Gabrielle actor in mind since he started writing the show

I'm curious about that too, anon, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did.

There's a saying that I've heard a lot in casting conversations for theatre and film, at least in Australia, which is 'young blood in old hands'. It basically means that creative magic can happen when you partner younger, less experienced actors with older, very experienced actors. The idea behind it is that young / new actors learn from veteran performers, and the veterans get challenged and taken to unpredictable places / get put on their toes by less polished performers, which in turn creates great work.

Given the roles they've done open casting for have predominantly been leads (Jacob, Sam, Delainey and Assad [the latter two who are very green really]) versus the roles that have gone out very specifically to major [and will be major] supporting characters (Eric, Ben and Justin), I could see that as being a part of the thought process.

If that is the case - which again, it might not be! - it wouldn't surprise me if he had someone in mind for Gabrielle already at all, particularly given her major scene partners will be Sam, Assad and Joseph Potter, the last of whom is also pretty green as an actor.

[pynkhues]

Okay, she’s in the too-young-really-but-still-plausible category, but I’m watching Thou Shalt Not Steal right now, and Miranda Otto could be a really fun Gabrielle.