How important are age and appearance?

There has been quite a bit of talk about getting the age and appearance of characters just right. It seems that ASOIAF fans are divided on how important these factors are in casting. Some people feel that the producers should be as close as possible to the correct age of the character when casting. Others think that they should focus on getting talented actors and not worry so much about getting the ages to match up. Same thing with appearance, some folks think that hair color, eye color, size, etc. are all very important factors in casting. While others say that costuming and make-up can adjust for that accordingly.

Personally, I feel like David and Dan need to focus on getting great actors first and foremost. If they are the right age and have the perfect look as well, great. If not, then I don’t think that should exclude them from being cast. For example, quite a number of people have said that they don’t want Peter Dinklage as Tyrion simply because he is too old or too good-looking. In my opinion, that is crazy. You shouldn’t pass up an actor of Dinklage’s quality for those minor details, the former of which isn’t something that is that important to the story and the latter, something that can be altered.

But enough of what I think, how say you? Vote away and jump over to the comments to defend your point of view.

How important is age and appearance when casting a character?

• Published on 03/24/2009 at 10:07 AM CDT
• Last updated on 03/24/2009 at 10:07 AM CDT