Would a younger looking Barnabas made a diffence in the story?

[loril54]

What do you guys think, I don't think that there could have been a better pick than they did.  It
was sure something that was unplanned, and no one expected to have all the questions that
they did.

[Willie Loomis]

they did fine.    Twenty five, i thought he was about 30?     

if Frid was not hired as Barnabas, we would never have really had a "cult" following.   he was good as the tormented vampire (although, i feel they made him whine too much).   he was mean, he was ferocious, he was loving, he was tender and funny.   

his shakesperean acting also helped role to be more poetic, as was the whole show.   

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I had always thought Barnabas was supposed to be around 35. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Remember that Bert Convy was 33 when he was considered for Barnabas. And I had no problem accepting Alec Newman as Barn in the '04 pilot - and he was only 29...

[MagnusTrask]

Loril, might you mean that they could have recast young Barnabas while having JF play older Barnabas?   That's another possibility to throw in there, anyway.

We needed older, worldly, ravaged Barnabas, and we also needed to see innocent, young Barnabas.  It was crucial to be confronted with that contrast, even if there's a problem with the logic of it.   JF did a great job of playing younger Barnabas, and he looked the part too, even if all they did was comb his hair differently and put more color in his face.   I often wonder why it wasn't possible to "youth" Mr. Frid to play Bramwell in a similar way, but maybe three or four years of aging in the real world made a real difference.

[loril54]

I think that the real world got in the way. Just think how much stress was on JF.

I think if they would have had a younger man, we might not have had all the
problems, with Barnabas attracted to the younger gals. Maybe then there might
not have been the thought about Barnabas and Julia, that those two were closer in age.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Maybe then there might not have been the thought about Barnabas and Julia, that those two were closer in age.

But again, do we really know how old Julia was supposed to be? Grayson Hall's own age, just like Frid's, could be immaterial...

[loril54]

Well she was a DR., she probobly had to do at least two residencies, and  had founded her own hospital, she would have to probobly need to be in her 30's

[michael c]

needless to say all of this could be explained this way...

barnabas was not originally intended to be the romatic antihero of the whole thing. he was supposed to be scary. accordingly they cast a middle aged actor because up to that point the familiar vampire wasn't "young" but of the christopher lee/peter cushing school. creepy middel aged guys.

once he had morphed into the guilt-ridden anti-hero they probably decided to shave a decade or two off his age to make him more of a romantic lead.

and as someone else pointed out since julia was a doctor with her own hospital(and peer of dr. woodard)she was probable cast correctly as a middle aged woman.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Besides Bert Convy, other actors in their early-30s were considered for Barnabas before Frid was cast. Though, of course, none of them got the role...

It would be interesting if the original casting sheet/listing could ever be uncovered just to see what age range of actors was being sought for Barnabas.  

[MagnusTrask]

A young vampire Barnabas would not have had credibility or weight to him.   It's only the present times where casting people universally decide to throw credibility aside in favor of dreamboat hunky cute actors.   That's today's Hollywood environment.   To some extent it always happened, but not when creative people who cared about drama were in control.

I just cannot care about a young actor, hired to look like and serve as a romantic lead, playing Barnabas.   Vampires aren't dreamboats.  They're walking cadavers with, we hope, some remnant of a human soul inside, struggling to stay human.   They should look battered and ravaged and dragged to hell and back.   They should also be worldly, not youthful.

Now... if viewers can make their way through all that, and still find someone such as Jonathan Frid's Barnabas a romantic figure, then that's great.   That means you appreciate the darker, more 3D kind of romance.   You need to accept him with warts and all, though.   

I don't blame Johnny Depp for his fannish desire to be Barnabas, but if he does it, I think he'll have abused his Hollywood power to foist yet another depressing wrong-headed remake onto the culture.   We should wall off Hollywood like NYC in Escape From NY....

[Taeylor Collins]

Johnny Depp's 47 June 9 and looks plenty worldy in my opinion.  I also think he Johnny Depp looks very wordly and certainly not dreamboat. He is good looking but he is not the cookie cutter actor that currently resides in Hollywood! JMO!

[MagnusTrask]

Oops!  Everyone's ten or twenty years older than I think they are!

[Taeylor Collins]

That is okay Magnus. I wanted to come back and say that you certainly have a right to your opinion and I wasn't discounting that. But yep Johnny will be older than Johnathan was when he played Barnabas! According to IMDB.com JF was 43 when started playing Barney as he  just had a bday that December before he appeared in the spring.   Johnny has obviously taken care of himself physically.  People don't seem to quite look there age these days. Even ones who don't have work. And JF was a very heavy smoker who didn't quit until Grayson died. It scared him him terribly I have heard.  And I am glad that he did quit.

Smoking ages one and that is a fact peorid. No offense to any smokers. 

Do I think a younger Barnabas would have made a difference. Yes! I think it was destiny or Kismet whatever you want to call it for JF to play Barnabas and even though I am not a Frid head I don't know that the show would have taken off had he not been cast!

[Willie Loomis]

I always thought that Dr. Hoffman was about 40.   she was older than Barnabas (so to speak!  )