What other role(s) should Robert Newton have played? -- The Robert Newton Chatboard

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Subject:

What other role(s) should Robert Newton have played?

Author:
Susan

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Date Posted: 11:01:24 05/17/02 Fri

This question has been asked before in this forum, but it was quite a while ago, and the mention of Gaslight got me thinking ...

What role(s) do you most wish you could have seen Robert Newton play?

I was thinking about the film Gaslight and why I disliked it so much. A major factor was the husband Paul's unmitigated despicableness. Could you imagine RN in the lead role instead? I bet he'd have brought more depth to the character. I think Charles Boyer succeeded at that in the 1944 version, which is why--although perhaps this is only in the U.S.--that version seems to be the more popular and best-remembered one. I'm sure RN would have brought his own unique depth to the role.

Also, just as I'd love to see Alan Rickman play Blackbeard, I think RN would have made a really interesting Rasputin! I didn't care much for Rickman's Rasputin, but a "fun" role like Blackbeard would give him another chance to ham it up like he did in Robin Hood. (I can't get enough of his performance, although I like the film as a whole less and less every time I see it.) Then again, a historical biopic on the life of Blackbeard is just begging to be made. Which leads me to another role I wish RN could have played: the historically accurate Blackbeard, with the ham factor turned down to 1950 LJS level.

What other roles can you think of?

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[> Subject:

Re: What other role(s) should Robert Newton have played?

Author:
Susan
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Date Posted: 14:56:37 07/22/06 Sat

To go with the all-new poll question (<a rel=nofollow target=_blank href="http://www.mooncove.com/newton/vote.htm),">http://www.mooncove.com/newton/vote.htm),</a> I dug down into the archive and reactivated this topic to go along with it, since, as usual, the polling system only allows 10 choices.

So if you don't see your choice on the list in the voting booth, or would like to elaborate on your choice(s), please chat away here.

Unfortunately, I had to deactivate the previous poll question due to the malicious attempts by a particular pair of voters to skew the accuracy of the statistics (which, due to the nature of the question, was set up to allow only one vote per person but which they somehow found a way around). The numbers have thus been reset to the statistics collected as of early July 13 (before the attack occurred), showing that 74 percent of you first became a fan of Robert Newton through his role as Long John Silver.

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[> Subject: Re: What other role(s) should Robert Newton have played?
Author: Chuck [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 18:43:26 07/22/06 Sat I voted for a historically accurate version of Blackbeard and also for other I would cast him as Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies (not that there is anything wrong with the current Hagrid). [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject:

Re: What other role(s) should Robert Newton have played?

Author:
Sue G.
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Date Posted: 14:45:57 07/26/06 Wed

I am going to add: Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (I think this may be on the poll), Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre, either role of Fletcher Christian or Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty, and for a more recent movie (or rather mini-series)Father Ralph in the Thorn Birds. I'm sure that I will come up with more as I think more on this subject.

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[> [> Subject: Re: What other role(s) should Robert Newton have played?

Author:
Trisha
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Date Posted: 19:15:41 07/27/06 Thu

Chuck,

You must have read my mind. I think RN would've made a fabulous Hagrid! RN's enthusiasm and gift for "hamming" up a character would've made him great for that part.

Anyway, I would also like to add that I think RN would have made a wonderful Sir John Middleton in Sense and Sensibility for the reasons I mentioned in the last sentence of the previous paragraph.

Your friend,
Trisha :-)

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[> [> [> Subject: Re: What other role(s) should Robert Newton have played?
Author: Sue G. [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 21:40:32 02/05/07 Mon Now that I have been introduced to the Harry Potter movies, I think RN would have been a good choice for Hagrid or Snape (again, not that there is anything wrong with Robbie Coltrane or Alan Rickman) but I could see RN in those rolls too. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: RN in Harry Potter

Author:
Susan
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Date Posted: 21:28:05 02/09/07 Fri

Ha, that's funny ... Did you read that post I made about five or six years ago (after seeing the first Harry Potter movie), when my father said Robert Newton would have made a perfect Hagrid? Several people disagreed, but I could easily see him in the role.

Now Snape on the other hand ... I'll have to ponder that for a while. I mean, Alan Rickman has done for Snape what RN did for Long John Silver; he's as responsible for bringing that character to life as J.K. Rowling is. He just *is* Snape; I can't read the books without seeing him as the character. Yet I'm sure if any other actor could fit the bill, it would be Robert Newton. I can kind of hear him using that slow, menacing delivery he used in Hatter's Castle--minus the Scottish accent, of course. But, yeah, especially in Treasure Island, he conveys that same sort of ambiguous quality that Alan Rickman does--he manages to be a villain yet charm you at the same time. Then again, Snape is so withdrawn and sedate yet incredibly seductive in his scariness; I'm trying to think of a role where RN exhibited the same quality ... Can you?

Of course, Alan Rickman's another of my favorite actors, so it's not surprising that they should share a similar talent. As I've said before, I think Alan Rickman was probably one of the few actors I could see playing a Blackbeard that's anywhere in the same league as Robert Newton's--when he was younger anyway. Just look at his initials! I've always thought the Blackbeard story had some parallels with that of Rasputin, and he won an Emmy for that role. And we know he can go *way* over the top without losing the audience; just look at "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." (It should have been called "Nottingham: Thief of Scenes"!) Alas, I think that ship's sailed now, although he's doing a pretty good job of pulling off playing Snape, who's supposed to be about 20 years younger than AR really is. And he was great in his latest movie, Perfume!

Actually, you know what Harry Potter character I think RN would have been perfect as? Mad-Eye Moody! But you haven't gotten that far, have you? (Brendan Gleeson was okay in the movie, but just nothing like I imagined the character from the description in the book, which, for once, I read first!) He even has the (magical) rolling eye and the missing leg--I mean, who does *that* immediately make you think of?!

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