Casting. When you think about it – you think, “oooh I want to see this person,” or like, “this person would be perfect.” But then we don’t think about the bigger picture.
Do the people we love have chemistry?
Do the people we love want to do the movie?
Do the people we love give a good audition?
And those questions are just the beginning. Fandom is a fickle beast and the first rule of it is that you are never going to make everyone happy. People have different opinions and that’s part of the beauty of life.
One of the biggest books in the world, After, by Anna Todd is being turned into a movie and in the middle of the night – casting broke. The world got to know that Julia Goldani Telles (Showtime’s The Affair, Slenderman) and Hero Fiennes Tiffin (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) have been cast as Hardin Scott and Tessa Young.
And the internet exploded with a million different opinions. Some of them good, some of them are really fucking rude.
But we all forgot one thing – we didn’t see the auditions. We don’t know what the movie makers and the author have seen. We don’t know the answer to so many questions.
All we know is that two people were cast and it wasn’t who the fandom had thought of for years.
The world reacted with “they don’t look like this” or “he doesn’t have hair” or “she’s not blonde.” Let’s have a come to Jesus moment –
- Hair can be grown out
- Hair can be dyed
- Weight can be gained
- Weight can be lost
- Looks can be changed
I get that we all react based off emotions. Hell, we’ve been through this a million times with different fandoms. The truth is – until we see them, we won’t know what they are capable of.
But I for one am excited. I know that Anna Todd puts her readers first, she doesn’t give up, and most of all – I know that we don’t know everything. We never will.
But what we have been presented with is a gift. A book that we love is being made into a movie. And at the end of the day – that’s more than a lot of fandoms get.
So bring it – Julia Goldani Telles and Hero Fiennes Tiffin – I for one, am excited as fuck to see you bring Hardin and Tessa to life.