Sometimes they have to change the hair:
-Emma Stone in The Help: I think her hair is naturally blonde (although she gained fame as a red-head in Easy A), but I'm sure it isn't the long and stringy mess that was Miss Skeeter's mop.
-Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth (yum), and Josh Hutcherson in The Hunger Games: All three main characters had to dye their hair. Gale and Katniss are brunettes, and Peeta is blonde, but Jennifer and Liam are blonde, and Josh is brunette. Isn't that funny?
Sometimes they have to change the eyes:
-Orlando Bloom (and probably others) in Lord of the Rings: I don't think this was a book issue, but the director decided that all the elves had to have blue eyes. That meant that Orlando had to have blue colored contacts, along with his long, blonde mane. You know what's a fun game? Looking for the three characters in the movie that have brown eyes. I swear, every character has enormous, bright blue eyes, except for Saruman and some of the hobbits. And Sauron of course (brief digression: I was at work, dusting off a desk, when I see this metal tool that looks like a dentist's mouth mirror, but on the part where the mirror should be was the Eye of Sauron. Seriously. I literally jumped. I felt like Pippin looking into the Palantir [although the creepiest part of that scene was Gandalf sleeping with his eyes open. Really, Mithrandir, I don't care what sort of other-wordly, heavenly being you are, you don't have to be a creep]). Moving on.
-All the vampires in Twilight: Hunger Games spent a fortune on hair dye, Lord of the Rings spent a fortune on wigs (and, you know, all the other special effects used to create either a future or past world, respectively), and Twilight spent a fortune on colored contacts. And with all the close-ups in the first movie, you could tell the directors wanted you to notice: "Hey! Look, we changed their eyes! They're gold and red, just like the book! Isn't this a great book-to-movie???"
Which makes sense. Twilight would want to boast about their successful use of color contacts, because there is another movie series, a very popular and lucrative one, which was, for some reason, unable to do likewise. In comparison to this other series, Twilight doesn't have much going for it, so they have to flaunt this one thing they got right.
Because sometimes, the biggest book-to-movie franchise in history is unwilling to make all the necessary physical changes to their actors, for some unknown reason.
Confused? Tell me, oh ye viewers-of-Harry-Potter-who-didn't-read-the-book, what color are Harry's eyes?
Blue?
As is repeated over and over and over again in the books, Harry has bright, emerald green eyes. It's not like it's some little detail that was mentioned once in a physical description and never brought up again.
Every time JK Rowling described Harry's looks, she made a big deal about his eyes. Well, think about it. Of the Big Three, green is the rarest eye color, and his "emerald" eyes are even more rare. They are an extremely important identifying feature, along with his untidy black hair, glasses, and scar.
And, of course, they were the one physical feature he got from his mother.
A few instances where his eye color is discussed:
Every single wizard who ever met Harry always said "You look just like your father, but you've got your mother's eyes."
When Mrs. Weasley bought him dress robes for the Yule Ball, she got him green, to match his eyes.
And can you forget his Singing Valentine? "His eyes are as GREEN as a fresh pickled toad/His hair is as dark as a blackboard/I wish he was mine/He's really divine/The hero who conquered the Dark Lord"
(FYI, I just did that from memory. You know that's right.)
All right, all right, these are little details that don't matter in the movie. His mom could easily have blue eyes instead (the actress who plays her does). It's kind of a slap in the face to all Potter fans that such an important physical feature was wrong, but it doesn't really matter. And maybe they didn't want to make an 11-year-old wear contacts.
However, the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENT his eye color is discussed, is the Snape death scene, and that's where the movie actually does screw up. Stupidly. In the book, Snape gasps, "Look at me!" and when Harry does, "The green eyes met the black" for the last time. The last sight Snape ever saw in this life was Lily's bright green eyes, which is touching because he was Always in love with her.
In the movie, this still happens, but Snape adds "You have your mother's eyes," in case the dimwitted movie audience doesn't understand the significance (how could they? His eyes are blue.) Still not a big deal...until you go to Snape's memories. There, our lovely little Lily, who has the same eyes as her son, clearly has...
Green eyes, the way it should be?
Nope.
Blue eyes, to match Daniel Radcliffe.
Nope.
...brown eyes?
YES. BIG BROWN EYES.
Even better, when she grows up, her eyes turn light blue. Sure, eye color can change, but from DARK BROWN to LIGHT BLUE?? Not likely. We aren't cats.
So blue-eyed Harry, who is supposed to have green eyes, apparently still has the same eyes as his mother, who is born with brown eyes, but grows up to have blue eyes.
Because that makes sense.
If anyone knows why the billion-dollar franchise apparently could not afford some color contacts, please enlighten me.
This is my rant.
Don't worry, I still love Harry Potter with all my heart. One of these days, I'll write a blog post about why Harry Potter is the most amazing thing ever. Stay tuned.
And remember, my dear friends: Harry is the last hope we have. Trust him.
Emily <3
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