Watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this weekend (liked it, but for whatever reason it didn't involve me nearly as much as the others), it occurred to me that the Harry Potter franchise has been cast better than just about any film series I can think of. Employing nearly every great British actor, what I see on the screen almost always matches what I had in my imagination reading the books. Well Potter fans, the perfect casting continues. Naomi Watts has just signed on to play Narcissa Malfoy in next year's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Narcissa Malfoy is the wife of Lucius Malfoy, mother of Draco Malfoy, sister of Bellatrix LeStrange and Andromeda Tonks, and the cousin of Sirius Black. Should it make me sad that I didn't have to look that up?
Narcissa is described as a tall, slim, pale, blue-eyed blonde. She's also quite snobby -- when Harry meets her, he considers her to have "a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose." Watts just couldn't be a better fit for this part, although I wonder if Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Gwyneth Paltrow were considered too. I'll take Watts over all of them for one reason: Mulholland Drive. She's one of my favorite actresses, and always interesting to watch. The Narcissa character made her first appearance in the fourth Harry Potter book, Goblet of Fire, but she didn't make it into the film adaptation. I'd imagine they locked Watts down for Deathly Hallows too -- haven't read it yet, but I hear she plays an important role in that one. Joseph Fiennes (brother to Voldemort himself, Ralph) and Stuart Townsend have also signed on for the sixth Potter film, although it is not yet known what roles they will play. Feel free to voice your guesses below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-24-2007 @ 4:54PM
Luke G. said...
Hm, haven't they had a pretty strict policy of British actors only in the HP film series? I wonder why they're bringing on an Australian.
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7-24-2007 @ 5:05PM
Electrix said...
Well the British equivelent is probably Sienna Miller but she's a bit too young for the role.
Naomie is a good choice. Great Actress.
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7-24-2007 @ 5:06PM
will h said...
Naomi Watts was born in the UK and moved to Australia at some point. She still adheres.
And yes..the casts of these movies are insane.
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7-24-2007 @ 5:08PM
Jorge Rodriguez said...
Narcissa Malfoy is Andromeda Tonks' aunt, not sister. Close though! :D
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7-24-2007 @ 5:19PM
Em said...
narcissa is andromeda tonk's sister, she is nymphadora tonk's aunt.
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7-24-2007 @ 5:20PM
Bishop said...
I think he got it right with cousin, because Sirius is cousins of both of them. So yeah.
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7-24-2007 @ 5:22PM
Patrick Walsh said...
Jorge,
Just double-checked at a variety of sources, they are definitely sisters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissa_Malfoy
http://www.mugglenet.com/infosection/characters/bios/narcissa.shtml
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7-24-2007 @ 5:22PM
Matt said...
No Jorge, you're thinking of Nymphadora
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7-24-2007 @ 5:26PM
Matt said...
Damn! We all jumped him right away for that one. haha
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7-24-2007 @ 5:30PM
Jay said...
Australians are just British people with an accent elongated by the sunshine down under.
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7-24-2007 @ 5:44PM
Bishop said...
Yeah, I meant sister not cousins, but either way, my point was made with Patrick and Matt's replies.
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7-24-2007 @ 5:46PM
Evan said...
I would peg Joseph Feines as Tom Riddle Sr. of course! (Vode's father)
As for Stuart Townsend I'll take a stab and say a younger Voldemort (either that or one of the several death eaters - don't really know what other character there could be for him).
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7-24-2007 @ 5:55PM
katherine said...
Naomi Watts may have been raised in Australia, but she was born in Britain.
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7-24-2007 @ 5:58PM
ceann rua said...
Luke G. the potter films have a no YANK policy.
the girl is played by a mick. seamus finagan (sp).
bid all here peace love and understanding
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7-24-2007 @ 6:03PM
ceann rua said...
the girl luna is played (VERY well) by a young irish girl
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7-24-2007 @ 8:12PM
AJ said...
british people is what JK said but allowed irish people (remember Richard Harris?) and Naomi is British, she was born in Brittan and raised in Australia
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7-24-2007 @ 8:42PM
richard said...
Naomi Watts is British by birth.
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7-25-2007 @ 1:24AM
K.C. said...
I think Stuart Townsend would make an AMAZING Fenir Greyback.
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7-25-2007 @ 4:00AM
Ryan said...
What a great addition to the cast! Hope they do have her signed for Deathly Hallows too! I dont think theres a problem with irish being in the film-Jo knows a certain amount of characters are irish-Seamus for example. But fair enough a lot of the cast are-Richard Harris, Fiona Shaw, Michael Gambon, Evannah Lynch, Brendan Gleeson etc...dont think it really matters as irish are still believable in the roles. Jo just basically didnt want it to become to americanised-if thats a word!
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7-25-2007 @ 11:26AM
Dr. Ackula said...
Naomi was born in Britain and didn't move to Australia until she was 14.
Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda are sisters - maiden name Black. Bellatrix is Nymphadora's aunt.
They use only actors from Britain and Ireland b/c JK wrote some actors as British, some as Irish, etc., so they use actors of appropriate heritage. For instance, Viktor Krum's character is from Bulgaria, so they had an actor from Bulgaria play him. They just aren't going to have an American actor play one of the British roles - they don't have some blanket policy of no foreigners.
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