Wednesday 3 July 2013

Will Richard Madden be chosen to play Jamie Fraser?

Please note that this isn't breaking news! It's just the rumour mill going into overdrive after someone on Mumsnet (or possibly Netmums I get the two muddled up) said that they believed Richard Madden had auditioned and possible been given the role of Himself! IT MIGHT NOT BE TRUE so I dont' want to start a stampede or anything. I don't want to start celebrations in the street or weeping into hankies depending on your point of view.

To be honest my initial reaction was that they had made a big mistake. I have seen him briefly playing Rob Stark in Game of Thrones and he did make me notice that he was quite nice to look at but never once did I think of him as Jamie material. Richard Madden has dark hair and quite swarthy looks befitting Roger or Fergus rather than our redheaded hero and the hair colour is very very important to the plot and under no circumstances can it be altered! However I did a big of googling and found that he his hair has red tints, especially his beard, and he looks really good in the photo below:

 
On a positive note he is genuinely Scottish! He definitely has the cat eyes thing going for him and he's one nice looking young man. Unlike many other candidates he is young enough to play a convincing 23 year old Jamie but masculine enough that he can be aged without too much trouble for the later TV series. Facially he is far from my ideal vision of Jamie but at the same time I can see a lot of potential as with his acting skills he has the ability to become the Jamie in my head. 

There is however one huge issue with him playing Jamie as far as I'm concerned and that is because he simply doesn't have the height. He's somewhere between 5'9" and 5'11" depending on which website you want to believe.  Perhaps with the amazing special effects that we see on the screen these days they can make him appear taller. If they can change Chris Evans to a little puny guy and then into a huge muscled man in Captain America it shouldn't be too hard to add another 6" or so onto Richard Madden's height. 

As fans of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books we have always known that our own personalized visions of Jamie Fraser may differ from that of other peoples. We may on some level realize that our own personal vision isn't going to suddenly materialize into a real human being who is coincidentally going to be an actor and more importantly we all realize that some of us are going to upset no matter who is chosen. However, Richard Madden may not be the Jamie Fraser I see in my head when I read the books but I honestly believe that with a little TV magic he would be able to come a very close second best!




 

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Richard Madden is a redhead, make no mistake.

Anonymous said...

I would jump up and down with glee if they cast him!!!!! It's silly to worry about hair color. That can easily be changed.

Anonymous said...

Acting wise he would be a great choice. He is a natural redhead, why they did not use his natural color for Robb Stark, I don't know.
I am not worried too much about whatever the height the actor who plays Jamie turns out to be. I just want a good actor who either is Scottish or can do a good Scots accent.
I would have no problem with Richard as Jamie. I think he would be fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Acting wise he would be a great choice. He is a natural redhead, why they did not use his natural color for Robb Stark, I don't know.
I am not worried too much about whatever the height the actor who plays Jamie turns out to be. I just want a good actor who either is Scottish or can do a good Scots accent.
I would have no problem with Richard as Jamie. I think he would be fantastic.

Anonymous said...

I have to say, I would be VERY disappointed if they cast him as Jamie. Not even in the ballpark of how I pictured him, and it would smack too much of mooching off of Game of Thrones' success... plus, I never did like Robb Stark very much. :P

Danielle said...

Hair colour and height (camera trickery and hair-dye are all that's needed) have very little to do with my hopes for casting Jamie ... if Richard Madden is the right man for the job, then I hope it's because he embodies the character and both Diana and Ronald D. Moore believed him as Himself.

Anonymous said...

Best candidate I've seen so far. Great bone structure and beautiful eyes. Plus we know he won't have trouble pulling off that sexy Scottish burr. Very exciting!

sunbeach said...

me too..very disappointed..so many other great choices..I just knew they would screw this up..!!! damn..

sunbeach said...

no way..I don't see him as jamie at all...he might have the accent. .but he does not have the looks or body type...there is Henry Cavill, or Armie Hammer or Derek Theler..just to mention a few...I just wish casting would pay attention. .read the whole series..and ask for feedback...!!!

Anonymous said...

NOT JAMIE! I hope this is just part of the rumor mill. He's not tall enough, he's not muscular nor is he the "leader" type, no matter what role he played in GOT.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

As an actor, I love Richard Madden. He has great facial features for the role of Jamie, but, unfortunately, he is not tall enough.

Anonymous said...

He just isn't right for Jamie, good actor though he may be. Whoever plays Jamie needs to have a great presence and this guy doesn't have it. I really hope these rumours are wrong.

Kylie said...

Haven't any of you ever seen a male actor bulk up a ton of muscle for a film? Mark Walberg, Taylor Laughtner, Chris Hemsworth the list goes on and on. Height can always be faked as well. This guy has the perfect face for Jamie AND he can be aged well for future seasons of the show. He's young and still developing as an actor, he has super potential. Most of the people who comment on this blog have the most ridiculous ideas for potential actors to play Jamie. Gerard Butler and Jason Lewis? Give me a break they are all far too old. It's very simple to rule out anyone who has grey hair come on ladies I know that if you read these books you have more intelligence than that. Give the young guy a chance. And on another note, the actor who played him in the musical would never be a good fit he is nowhere near rugged and manly enough to be Jamie Fraser.

Linda said...

I absolutely agree with Kylie. It's TV. Something physically similar is important of course but more importantly stick close to the original story, just as GoT did. I just hope they don't pull a Trueblood on us.

Unknown said...

He doesn't have cat eyes in pic. He is squinting..... And he is soooo NOT Jamie!!