DS Redux: Your Vision?

[MagnusTrask]

Being disagreed with is a good thing.  It means you have a different point of view to contribute and life is all about very different points of view intersecting and combining, to me.   In actual practice, people's points of view just collide generally, but I'm trying to be positive right this moment.

For me, Ben Cross is just a publicity photo of a very vertical craggy face.  I think I saw episode one at the time but that's all.   I decided perhaps too quickly that the soul of JF just wasn't there.   "Elegance" isn't a quality I think about.

[Taeylor Collins]

I know this is getting a bit off topic but why would one want an actor to have the SOUL of Jonathan Frid in said actors version of Barnabas?   

[Miss_Winthrop]

Ben Cross was, no offense meant, too short to play Barnabas.  My vision of Barnabas is a tall, 'imperially slim' (can't remember the name of the poem where I read that) man who exudes elegance but is also hauntingly lonely. I might have been swayed against Cross by his relationship with the comedic Willie in the 91 revival.

[MagnusTrask]

I know this is getting a bit off topic but why would one want an actor to have the SOUL of Jonathan Frid in said actors version of Barnabas?   

Not 'Frid's soul' specifically but as much 'soul' as Frid put into Barnabas.

[borgosi]

IMHO Ben Cross just came across as a mean Barnabas, I never felt bad for the guy. Maybe if the show had last that would have changed, maybe it was going to go in a different direction, I don't know but that show we have had a mean Barnabas. But that just my opinion.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Again, it can all be traced back to DC, who in the '91 series wanted the dark/dangerous side of Barnabas emphasized over his sympathetic side. Thankfully it wasn't as blatant a dark/dangerous Barnabas as was in hoDS, which we have to recall was DC's template for Barnabas (the man is said to have screened hoDS numerous times in his office  ), but certainly a bit more dark than he was in the original series. DC firmly believed that the '91 series was, in DC's own words, his "opportunity to get it right." I definitely think the sympathetic side is there - but any discussion of that here is definitely getting OT. 

However, to get things back on topic, it will be very interesting to see how Barnabas' dark and sympathetic sides are balanced in the Depp/DS film. I could be wrong, but if the story ends up being a release from the coffin into a new century, as opposed to a story taking place in the past to depict the curse, I suspect the dark side of Barnabas will probably outweigh the sympathetic side - though certainly not to the degree of hoDS. Obviously they'll want Depp's Barn to be dark/dangerous, but they'll also want him to be appealing so that audiences will be brought into his story enough to want to know more about him and willing to invest in a franchise.

[Midnite]

My vision of Barnabas is a tall, 'imperially slim' (can't remember the name of the poem where I read that) man who exudes elegance but is also hauntingly lonely.

It sounds like your mental image of Barnabas may have been influenced a great deal by the poem.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Ben Cross was, no offense meant, too short to play Barnabas.

I'm guessing you're not going to like Depp as Barn either because he's an inch shorter than Cross.

[Midnite]

And Alec Newman is an inch shorter than Depp.  (I thought he made for a fabulous Barnabas, btw.)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

(As do I)

I'm really looking forward to see what Depp will do with Barn.

[Taeylor Collins]

I am sure I would have loved Alec as well. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to see the pilot like most who have not been to the fest.  I hope they show it in 2009 because I will definitely be there.  As for height, in the immortal words of Victoria (AM) "I don't understand."  But again I am getting off topic....

[Zahir]

I remember being startled when I met Jonathan Frid and realized he was my height.  And I am not a tall man.  Five foot eight inches.

And I agree with Magnus--the heart of a good performance as Barnabas is to let us (eventually) see into the depths of his soul.

[Taeylor Collins]

I agree with Magnus on that as well. The height thing I DO NOT GET. However, I am gonna look for a place to rebuttal the rest of the comments as I am totally getting off topic again.

[Midnite]

I remember being startled when I met Jonathan Frid and realized he was my height.  And I am not a tall man.  Five foot eight inches.

DS magazine articles from the late 60s (in Famous Monsters, TV Radio Talk, 16 Spec, etc.) listed Frid's height at 6'.  I've never heard of that much height loss in a man, so perhaps he wasn't standing as straight as you thought?

[Zahir]

I think it more likely the magazines exaggerated.

While living in NYC, I had the good fortune to attend Mr. Frid's free performances of his one-man-shows at the Public Library downtown.  I met him on at least six occasions.  He was always my height.  And his posture was admirable.

He also stood an inch or two (at least) above most of his co-stars in Arsenic and Old Lace on Broadway, which included Gary Sandy (of WKRP in Cinncinnatti).  I remember I had a similar reaction to meeting most of the cast at my first DS Festival in NYC, realizing they were (almost) all on the short side.  No wonder Barnabas seemed to tower over Angelique, Maggie, etc.