Forum - View topicINTEREST: Nintendo's Takashi Tezuka Suggests Actress Should Play Link in Hypothetical Zelda Film
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Ashen Phoenix
 Posts: 2942 |
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Interesting idea. I quite liked the play adaptations of Peter Pan with actresses in the titular role.
Now I'm curious who--if anyone--springs to mind when they think, "what handsome lady could best be Link"? |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13617 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Honestly, I don't care if women have played men in plays or vice versa or Miyamoto himself agrees to this, I think that a guy is to play a guy and a woman should play a woman. Heck, even if I saw a Peter Pan play, I find it more distracting when a woman plays Peter Pan than the play itself. Now, if the story had the character be a cross-dresser/androgynous person. then I think that's OK.
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the-antihero
 Posts: 726 |
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First adult Goku, adult Luffy, then adult Naruto, now Link. This whole women voicing young men is really getting stupidly ridiculous.
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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Considering that Link has an androgynous look, I'm all for an androgynous actress playing as him.
 In Japan, actresses playing as male characters is a common occurrence, if I correctly recall.
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Levitz9
 Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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This is a much longer and venerable trend than just those four characters. Women have a very long history of voicing male characters; Kenshin was voiced by a woman, piles of boys in western media were voiced by women, and as the article points out, many stage productions cast women in the roles of boys. Not to mention the Takarazuka troupes, where women perform as men in musicals. This sounds like a brilliant idea. Outside of Young Link and Toon Link (a.k.a., Best Link, but who's counting?  ), Adult Link is supposed to have some sort of elfin beauty to him. It'd be hard to pull that off with, say, Chris Pratt or Chris Evans or Chris Chris in the starring role. So long as this was handled respectfully (i.e., making Link foppish and swishy), this could be nine kinds of cool.
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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So.... in what way is Link NOT androgynous? O.o Most people who haven't grown up with andro anime characters will see that face and think 'female'. TBH I don't know any actual male who looks that pretty. It has a precedent too they've used a girl for Link in Japanese commercials in the past. You're basically saying "I don't care what the original creators say, men need to play men and women need to play women!"  As if theater hasn't had men playing women roles and women playing male roles since it the dawn of time.
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the-antihero
Posts: 726 |
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@Levitz9
a) I said young men, not boys. b) Stage productions do not have a long lifespans the way movies and TV shows do. Once a play's run is done, it's not coming back to the public, at least not in the same form, it will have different actors, it will have different directors and different re-imaginings much more often than film. c) Women playing men in stage productions is more of a gimmick or gag, it usually depends. But in those cases they had all-female casts. It is kind of stupid to have a girl acting as a boy in a mixed cast. An all-female cast of actresses playing both male and female roles on the other hand makes more sense and would be a better approach. d) I don't think Kenshin being one more character added to the list being played by a woman makes all the difference and soothes the already ridiculous idea of Link, a young man, being played by a girl in a live-action movie? You could list literally billions of gender-mismatched actor/character roles, it doesn't make a difference to me, I still find the idea weird. Last edited by the-antihero on Sun Sep 27, 2015 6:34 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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GEO9875
Posts: 202 |
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i could see a japanese audience being ok with link as a women, but honestly i believe the us crowd would hate it
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TopGunman
 Posts: 498 |
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Trust me, USA fans wouldn't be the only ones who'd hate it. Almost everyone else would.
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Kadmos1
Posts: 13617 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Even then, I still would consider a mistake, even all the way back to the ancient Greek plays. And while I agree Link does have an androgynous appearance, I see that more going if it was voice acting. In live action, you are likely going to get plenty of people getting distracted by a woman playing a man or vice versa. As I have said with women voicing 13+ males in anime, unless they can do a boy's voice in the vein of the Japanese Naruto, outside of them being androgynous/cross-dressing/getting turned into a woman, they shouldn't do those voices. However, with this, I am more forgiving with this in an action series vs. a harem/fan service-heavy show. To me, a way to do a convincing performance is that you actually are that sex that you are playing. |
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Kikaioh
 Posts: 1205 Location: Antarctica |
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IIRC, Osamu Tezuka grew up watching the Takarazuka Revue (an all female theater troupe, some of whom he knew personally through his mother), which I think influenced his work in the Shojo genre (Princess Knight) and also went on to inspire other genre works like Rose of Versailles, Utena and more. So I think Japan maybe has more of a well-known tradition of women performing as men that's broadly influenced their various entertainment industries. The fact that Link has transformed over the years from a cartoony male hero into more of an effeminate, elfish-looking character, also probably lends to that type of female casting for the role.
It honestly doesn't bother me at all, so long as the performance is good and makes sense for the atmosphere they're going for (I think age difference is usually more of an issue, since that sticks out a bit ways more). |
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Lili-Hime
Posts: 569 |
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@Kadmos
TBH I'd be more distracted by male link because in all likelihood he wouldn't look like link. But w/e. Granted in 99.99% of cases I agree with you female actors should have female roles and vice versa, but there are some cases where androgynous anime / game characters are just so androgynous they should pick who fits the role best regardless of gender. Link is a case like Peter Pan. Yes, to some it's a bit odd to see a grown woman prancing around as peter pan, but it's a hell of a lot better than seeing a grown man with a five o clock shadow do it. |
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anddo
 Posts: 670 |
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If it's a Western production, I actually agree. Most male actors are either too masculine or effeminate but to a false degree. Plenty of women can do the role very nicely.
Now what I'm hoping for is a Japanese production with a male actor resembling Kenshin's from the live-action Rurouni Kenshin films. |
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Levitz9
Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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You could have just said "I find this weird and I don't like it", would'a saved yourself a lot of trouble trouble of trying to sound like there was some big problem with crossdressing roles outside of your own discomfort. |
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Shirohae
 Posts: 776 |
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DUDE NO!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP IT WITH THIS GENDER BENDING BS!!!! JUST LOOK FOR A FREAKEN PRETTY BOY!! NOT A WOMAN DAMN IT!
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