ENG 225: Intro to Film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Actor Types
by whitetigerzunni
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a movie filled with big actors that are very popular. There are a lot of big names in this film that have been heard before. These big names include Viggo Mortensen who plays Aragorn, Ian McKellen who plays Gandalf, and Sean Astin who plays Samwise Gamgee (American Film Institute, 2014). When analyzing each of these actors they fit into a specific type of actor for this film.
A personality actor is the type of actor whose own personality can be seen in the character that they are playing (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). Viggo Mortensen is a personality actor. When you first meet his character Aragorn he is alone, and watching the four hobbits in an Inn, which makes Frodo nervous. Frodo asks the Innkeeper about the man who is sitting alone and cloaked in the corner, and even the Innkeeper seems wary of the man. This gives the audience a sense of foreboding, but when the cloak comes off and Viggo Mortensen is revealed as Aragorn or at the time Strider, I felt more relaxed and trusted his character. The way he carries himself, the way he was dressed for the role, his facial expressions, they all say trust worthy, a little rugged, but trust worthy non the less. Viggo Mortensen continues this trust worthy demeanor through out the film, and during the film you see him as a strong, brave, and loyal man who is at his core truly good and lacks the weaknesses that other men including his own ancestor have shown for the ring and its evil. Choosing a character actor like Viggo Mortensen for the role of Aragorn helped impact characterization because it helped the audience identify Aragorn as a hero and god guy right from the start. It set Aragorn up for who he would be reveled as later in the film and it helped the audience want to believe in his goodness and strength.
A character actor is an actor who can play a large variety of roles, and is often placed in minor or supporting roles (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). Sean Astin is a character actor. He plays the loyal friend of the lead character Frodo Baggins. Sam is with Frodo every step of the way from the time they leave the Shire together to the end of the film where the pair set off alone together to Mordor. Sam shows his loyalty to Frodo through his devotion, concern, and bravery. He is always trying to defend and protect Frodo, and even at the end when Frodo tries to set off alone Sam risks his life to accompany Frodo. Sean Astin plays this role beautifully, he is defiantly a supporting role, but he takes it and plays it with such passion. As the audience you can see the love and friendship that Sean Astin portrays as he plays the faithful role of Samwise Gamgee. Choosing a character actor for the role of Sam impacted characterization by having an actor who could really dig deep and play the part of a supporting role in such a huge way. The audience loves Sam even though he may not be considered the main actor of the film. By the end of the film I personally liked Sam better than the lead character Frodo. This would not be possible with out an actor who could carry a supporting role in such a large way as to make it seem like a leading role that the audience remembers.
Finally we have our wild card, a wild card actor is an actor who is hard to classify, this type of actor can play many different roles and not become typecast (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). Ian McKellen is the wild card actor for the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. His character Gandalf is a wild card character in the sense that you never know what he is going to do. Gandalf has a wide range of emotions in the film, and his actor Ian McKellen is able to play all sides of this character flawlessly. He plays the soft gentle side, the serious side, the playful side, the angry side, the battle side, and the wisdom side of his character. Choosing a wild card actor for Gandalf was so important, and affected the characterization so much because, Gandalf is such a complex character to play, and with all these varying emotions the actor playing him would have to be a wild card to be able to portray all of this to the audience. Ian McKellen has proved to be a wild card not only in the way he was able to play Gandalf the Grey, but because of the roles he has played in other movies as well. Towards the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Gandalf falls to a monster made of flame and the rest of the company believe him to be dead.
In the next film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Gandalf still played by Ian McKellen comes back as Gandalf who is now a white wizard. Even though he is still Gandalf he comes back different than the wizard he played in the first movie. He holds more wisdom, and the knowledge of ages. Ian KcKellen was faced with the challenge of playing the same character, only also showing the changes and maturity that his rebirth brought him. He has to change the whole way he holds himself and acts out his character to reflect the change his character went through. He continues this through out the rest of the trilogy. He also meets the challenge of returning to his original Gandalf character years later in The Hobbit. Just with in the mythical lands of Middle Earth Ian McKellen shoes his wild card acting ability. However he has also shown it in other films outside The Lord of the Ring Trilogy. One of his strongest roles in recent days has been his character Magneto in the X-Men movies. Gandalf stands for all that is good with the desire to destroy evil and save the land of Middle Earth from a dark power threatening to destroy and enslave the land. Magneto is the dark power threatening the world in the X-Men series. Being able to act each role so completely shows Ian McKeller to be a wild card actor. He fits into this category every time because he is too complex an actor to be held by one other actor type.
Bellow are pictures of Ian McKeller in the following roles Gandalf the Grey, Gandalf the White, Gandalf the Grey from The Hobbit, and finally Magneto.
Bibliography
American Film Institute. (2014). AFI’s 10 Top 10 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Retrieved from American Film Institute: http://www.afi.com/10top10/moreDetails.aspx?id=5326&thumb=1
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film:From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education Inc.
Osborne, B. M., Jackson, P. (Producers), & Jackson, P. (Director). (2001). The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [Motion Picture].
Photos retrieved from:
Dusty Blossom
dustyblossom225 