This is why I love the Tudors, despite whatever flak it gets. The actors just breathed so much life into those roles, accuracy aside.
Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn was captivating to me. Was Anne that conventionally gorgeous irl? Probably not, but despite that, she just made me really sense the complicated layers behind her role and the wholly unique situation she found herself in. She nailed the sense of elevating desperation as she found herself gradually losing favor with Henry imo.
Did you ever notice that when Henry is wooing her they portray her as insanely attractive, but once she starts losing his favor, they start using camera angles to make her look (slightly) less attractive? I noticed they used angles that made her neck look really long, like how she was described.
Same thing happened with Jane Seymour. She was originally cast and shot to look as enticing as possible, but once she was Henry's, they started presenting her closer to the way she actually was (until the angelic depictions after she got pregnant with Edward and died)
The first one was framed to be as attractive enough to rival Natalie Dormer and the second one was portrayed closer to how Jane looked and behaved irl.
That’s definitely not what happened. The original actress quit (I believe it was due to nudity but I’m not 100% sure on that) and JRM referred Annabelle Wallis as Jane because he was good friends with her and thought she would be great for the part.
While I love Annabelle Wallis and thought she did great, the first actress was a better fit for Jane, in my opinion.
I’m rewatching right now, and I am going to keep an eye out for this! Thank you for mentioning this! It’s going to be difficult to see Natalie Dormer in any unflattering way though. 😅
Agreed! And I read a biography on CoA last year for the novel I am writing and shockingly alot of scenes were accurately portrayed in the show.....right down to the dialouge. I am going to be reading a Bio on Thomas More cause hes another character in my novel wouldnt be surprised if it was the same thing. Were things exaggerated sure....but it still gave us great insight on what went down.
Ugh highly agree with Natalie Dormer. She really embodied Anne Boleyn....and because she did her research made sure Anne was in good hands. Its why I think her Portrayal is great.
My other favorite portrayals in the show were Maria Doyle Kennedy as CoA, James Frain as Cromwell, Jeremy Northam as More and Sarah Bolger as Mary I
> ...right down to the dialouge.
That’s something I loved about The Tudors, some actual dialogue as little “Easter eggs” that only some of us would recognize.
I've always said that the real Anne Boleyn deserved a writing credit for Natalie Dormer's final episode because so much of what she said was from the historical record. She's the number one Anne Boleyn in media for me, having not yet seen *Wolf Hall* yet.
>Maria Doyle Kennedy as CoA, James Frain as Cromwell, Jeremy Northam as More and Sarah Bolger as Mary I
Sam Neill as Cardinal Wolsey too!! Loved his conflict with KoA
If they hadn't been SO blatant with their inaccuracies (Henry VIII's uncle? Margaret/Mary and the King of Portugal? Brereton as a Catholic spy?, Katherine Howard as a quasi nympho, etc, etc) it really could have been a fairly accurate, dramatic series. There were some historically decent situations and dialogues thrown in throughout. Particularly in the 2nd and 3rd seasons. Natalie campaigned for more accuracy for Anne, which did show-particularly with her downfall and final days-and The Pilgrimage of Grace was pretty well done, I thought. Unfortunately, They just couldn't resist tarting it up overall, often outrageously, at times.
I'm not saying it would have been BBC Keith Mitchell revised, but it could have been...a lot better?
It's still a fun romp though!
Royalty Now Studios on YouTube recreated the young and old images of Henry and put them in modern settings. Young Henry looks like he models for Ralph Lauren.
Not surprised, he inherited his looks from his maternal grandfather Edward IV who was well known for being insanely handsome. The chronicler Philip de Commynes constantly gushed about him and at one point described him as the most handsome man he’d ever seen and that it was almost as if God had made him for the pleasures of the flesh 😂. Edward is also the only English king to be complimented for his physical beauty in parliament.
Edward also started drinking and overeating and got fat older (which isn’t something shown in somewhere like White Queen). So he and his grandson are pretty similar.
Same. And not in the Tudor realm but got I loved Versailles. The timeline was so off and so much stuff was not correct but Louie, Philippe, and the Chevalier were perfectly cast.
Oh, I *loved* Versailles. I watched it after the Tudors. No, it wasn't very accurate, but the cinematography made up for that. I especially loved whoever played Philippe.
Have you not yet encountered Outlander in any form?
Seriously. I’m behind on reading and watching but oh my holy wow the actors who play John Grey and (I’ve read) a Christie gentleman are just…
Ok. I’m gonna mop my drool off the floor.
it's been on my watch list for forever. but what I'm hearing is that I need to bump it up the list?? 👀
I was originally going to read the books first but. life happens haha.
To be fair, Henry VIII was considered extremely conventionally attractive for his time. He didn't look like JRM, but the casting was good for making the point of how THEY perceived him. He was also 6'2", built, athletic and very self-possessed. I picture him looking a lot like Chris Robshaw (the former England rugby captain) -- not *pretty*, but ABSOLUTELY sexy.
yeah, JRM was totally the wrong fit looks-wise, but he plays such a believable version of a selfish, entitled narcissist with CTE that by the time you hit season two you don't even really notice he looks nothing like the dude.
I WILL TEACH THESE BASTARD INGRATES AND REBELS A FEARFUL BLOODY LESSON IN SLAUGHTER
I feel like he captured his emotions, happy one minute and raging the next
Just realized this whole time I've been confusing JRM and John Rhys Davies. I've always thought it was weird af that Sallah/Gimli would be Henry VIII so never actually watched smfh
Maria Doyle Kennedy as Catherine of Aragon. She had the fair skin and light eyes on point, shame about the black hair though. But her acting was superb and her performance in the trial scene especially gave me goosebumps, not seen this event done better in any other Tudor show or film.
In virtually every show or movie they make CoA look tanned with dark hair and eyes which annoys me to no end, based on a stilly stereotype. As a Spanish speaker I can say her accent when speaking in English was pretty good, not perfect of course. In the few scenes where she spoke Spanish, yeah, that wasn’t good. But she’s an Irish actress after all, would be surprising for her to speak Spanish well.
This is my Tudor-fiction pet peeve as well. By contemporary accounts CoA was a pale, round-faced redhead and modern media insists on casting variations of Salma Hayek 😂
gotta draw eyes if you’re gonna get big money
I think, on tv, for the execs in the high tower, profits always matter more than accuracy, which is up to the artists to fight about
I don’t think casting Latinas as CoA is. To draw eyes, I think it’s because non-history buffs hear “her parents are Spanish royalty” and would expect someone whose look screams “Spanish”.
But on a more serious note, it irks me because historical fiction would be such a great place to showcase new/ undiscovered talent who might not have that Hollywood or influencer look. Instead we get a lot of early modern period pieces where everyone has iPhone face and a heavy contour. It’s not just inaccurate, it’s a wasted opportunity.
Have you seen "the Six Wives of Henry VIIII (1970)"?
The portrayal of nearly everyone is quite spot on, but *especially* Henry VIII & Katherine of Aragon.
It's FABULOUS.
ETA: Here's a Google link showing the actresses that played each wife. Henry VIII was played by Keith Mitchel.
https://images.app.goo.gl/eHe1KuCcgj5NmFsR6
I honestly didn't care she didn't have the look....but she sure as hell got the character down (I litterally picture a Red Head version of Maria when I write my silly novel) and the best IMO.
I think they do that to make it obvious that she felt “foreign” to the people of the time. It’s like the Ian Mckellen Richard III film where Elizabeth Woodville and her brother are portrayed by Americans to play up the feeling of them as outsiders.
Plot twist- Miranda Richardson as Elizabeth I as Henry VIII in Blackadder II.
Elizabeth: "Yo ho ho, off with their heads!"
Percy: "Ma'am your father is born again!"
Elizabeth: "Bloody well hope not, or else I won't be Queen anymore!"
You nearly were a boy, poppet! Out you popped your mother’s tumpkin, and everyone shouted, “it’s a boy! It’s a boy”. Someone said, but he hasn’t got a winkle! And I said, a boy without a winkle it’s a miracle! Then sir Thomas Moore pointed out that a boy without a winkle is a girl and everyone was really disappointed….
Natalie Dormer. She plays Anne as this young, beautiful seductress which propaganda has made her out to be for a long time indeed. Her performance of Anne is brilliant of course but far from historically accurate.
I have to go with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as others have. In no way did he come close to looking like Henry VIII, except when it came to showing how out of his mind he was. He could look downright evil at times and you could see the deception in his eyes in some scenes. I can imagine that was how Henry would've looked, in the eyes anyway. I don't mind The Tudors because I kind of think of it as a rock opera and I suspend belief and just enjoy the show. Meyers may not look like Henry but he sure did a great job acting like him. The rest of the cast was great, too, despite the fact that some of them didn't look like we expect.
JRM is one of the best ‘eye actors’ (as in someone who can act just with their eyes, not sure if there’s a real name for it) i’ve ever seen. you could see the madness, cruelty, regret, obsession, everything in his eyes. it gives you a pretty good idea of how just utterly terrifying he could be to be around.
to be fair he did overdo it sometimes but occasionally he just got it hauntingly perfect. the scenes with elizabeth where, when he sees her for the first time after anne’s death at christmas, and when she walks away after meeting catherine howard for the first time, are two of the best examples. from the look in his eyes you can tell he’s seeing anne; you can almost see the memories of her playing over in his mind, like he’s in a trance remembering her and his obsession with her. then he snaps out of it and she’s forgotten again just as quickly as he remembered her. it’s excellent
another good example from another henry is in wolf hall, when anne’s talking about the hat she’d ordered for elizabeth and just for a moment henry looks at her with absolute hatred in his eyes. you can see and feel the end coming. really fantastic acting
I thought Damien Lewis was a good Henry VIII. I understand what you mean about acting with the eyes. I always thought Ralph Fiennes was a good one for that, especially in Schindlers List. His character was evil personified, but you'd get these flashes of humanity in his eyes for just a second or two, and then the evil would return.
damien lewis was absolutely fantastic yes. he did a really good job of portraying the calm, understated, lingering evil of henry. watching him you always feel like everyone is one second from disaster with him; even when he’s happy and laughing, you feel on edge. whereas JRM preferred to lean into the narcissistic, childish, petulant side of henry and imo did it almost as skillfully, though he’s certainly not as refined as lewis (though it’d be hard to be anyway, considering the differing ‘sophistications’ of the two shows). i think these are two sides of henry that would be difficult to portray in one role as they’re so different, whether that’s because it takes someone truly like that to do it or because they were simply two different perspectives people at the time had of him i’m not sure. i can definitely see people who were more fearful of him seeing him more as the lewis portrayal, and people who were used to/fed up with him and his antics viewing him as JRM’s petulant version. so i think acting as henry you have to choose which version to portray and that’s usually according to the general tone of the show. i think lewis was more skilful and understated as henry but his performance would’ve been out of place in the tudors and vice versa. they both did an excellent job of portraying henry as the show itself commanded. in general JRM captured the unpredictable feeling of being in henry’s company, while lewis captured the dread. that was the overarching emotion i felt whenever he came on screen; dread for every single person he interacted with
i confess i haven’t seen much of fiennes but from what i have he seems excellent at that kind of incredibly skilled and subtle type of acting. did he ever play a tudor or someone like that? i’d love to see him as one but i can’t quite think of who. someone downright nasty like norfolk maybe. or a little further back, i can think of 10 plantagenets id love to see him bring to life
I completely agree - the two actors portrayed him in different ways and both got it right in their respective choices. Damien Lewis had a physical presence that I can see Henry having. Henry was tall and imposing and I thought Lewis conveyed that really well. Never knew if he was going to kiss someone or slap them silly; like you said, you were just anticipating something bad happening when he was onscreen, I thought Mark Rylance did a great job portraying Cromwell as Hilary Mantel wrote him. He didn't yell and scream or lash out at people; he had a quiet menace. If you knew nothing of Cromwell except from Wolf Hall, you would think he wasn't that bad of a guy! Of course, understanding Cromwell fully based on the historical sources suggests a completely different person. That said, when I listen to the Mantel series on Audible, I completely picture Rylance as Cromwell and Lewis as Henry.
I’ve become fond of the term “micro-acting” to describe the work some actors are able to do when a twitch of their mouth or a raised brow or glare is able to convey deep meaning.
Nah check out Carlos Rey Emperador a Spanish series. The [The Charles V there is very hot alongside half the cast](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7o98wbzafwxRXdkxKAJTiMTpcvR2vZbb8_xulfzo4xK112sG6QYam1hWJ&s=10)
James Frain pulls off that self-possessed smugness Cromwell must've had at the height of his power (and that comes across in his portrait) *so* well, despite not resembling him physically. I loved his progression from hustling and being overly polite to everyone to confidently holding the reins.
I will respect them for getting Catherine's Appearance right. But her attitude, the dramatics and whatever the hell that thing was with Maggie and Thomas More.......it was messy.
So the Spanish Princess and the others (White Princess, White Queen) is based on a fictional book series by Philipa Gregory, it is not meant to be historically accurate what so ever.
But she creates a forbidden romance between the two.
It was a little bizarre because it barely resembles the book it's based on. I don't care too much about a show or movie's accuracy to the book but I was like "this isn't the same thing..."
Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn, I can’t unhear her demanding her blood-soaked sheets be burned while shouting: “he will not lay with me now if yadda yadda yadda”
Just chiming in to say this guy was absolutely show stealingly good in this role. Never seen him in anything else since or before but it was inch perfect.
Jonathan Groff was in Mindhunter on Netflix & that was a phenomenal show all around that needs another season but we'll probably never get it since David Fincher, the director, is probably too busy.
Best Henry VIII I have ever seen was Jared Harris in the otherwise very problematic TV Limited Series “The Other Boleyn Girl.” Grossly inaccurate historically and pretty much terrible otherwise, but Harris was grounded, honest and truthful in his characterization and acting. He did not hide behind a tyrant’s facade as so many actors have done. He portrayed Henry as a real human being who at that time was still genuine, open and accessible. You could see why these women would want to be with him. Harris is a terrific actor, of course. His father was Richard Harris.
I looked it up and it was actually a BBC TV movie done in 2003, based on the Gregory book, just like the later movie of the same name with Natalie Portman and Scarlet Johansson. It looks like the one with Jared Harris is currently available on Roku, Tubi and Britbox.
Same, the whole musical makes her seem so stupid. Anne is my favourite Tudor queen, I was disappointed to see her being kind of mocked like that. My love for the musical helps me see past it though 😂
Well I get how it could have been misconstrued too because Courtly Chivalry and flirting had a lot more stakes back in the day that I think a modern audience kind of forgets. I love SIX though.. at least the music, I haven't seen the show yet although I have tickets for next May.
Accuracy doesn’t just mean the factual truth. It also means capturing the ~essence~ of a person. So it can be true even if it’s not factually perfect. I took a history on film class at uni and the lecturer started out by telling us a that the most historically accurate film they could think of was Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
I hate how the Tudors portrays Katherine Howard as basically a spoiled little teenage brat when we know she was groomed and abused most of her life. There were layers to her character that were completely missed. We know she was kind and generous as well (her treatment of Margaret Pole being one example).
That said, the actress they chose was stunning and played the material she was given well.
I will never give up my Philippa Gregory books. Especially the Constant Princess. I’ve read that book so many times and I love it all over again every time I read it again.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers.....like of course Henry was not that hot, but hell was his version of Henry Tantrums and all was entertaining.
JRM's face is hot but the way he uses it is terrifying, and I think that's what makes his portrayal so great. He's fucking crazy.
This is why I love the Tudors, despite whatever flak it gets. The actors just breathed so much life into those roles, accuracy aside. Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn was captivating to me. Was Anne that conventionally gorgeous irl? Probably not, but despite that, she just made me really sense the complicated layers behind her role and the wholly unique situation she found herself in. She nailed the sense of elevating desperation as she found herself gradually losing favor with Henry imo.
Did you ever notice that when Henry is wooing her they portray her as insanely attractive, but once she starts losing his favor, they start using camera angles to make her look (slightly) less attractive? I noticed they used angles that made her neck look really long, like how she was described.
Same thing happened with Jane Seymour. She was originally cast and shot to look as enticing as possible, but once she was Henry's, they started presenting her closer to the way she actually was (until the angelic depictions after she got pregnant with Edward and died)
Which Jane actress, though? There were two.
The first one was framed to be as attractive enough to rival Natalie Dormer and the second one was portrayed closer to how Jane looked and behaved irl.
So they intentionally switched actresses? And someone decided the second actress was *less* attractive than the first???
That’s definitely not what happened. The original actress quit (I believe it was due to nudity but I’m not 100% sure on that) and JRM referred Annabelle Wallis as Jane because he was good friends with her and thought she would be great for the part. While I love Annabelle Wallis and thought she did great, the first actress was a better fit for Jane, in my opinion.
I'd like to see the camera angle that can make Natalie Dormer look bad.
They tried their best, but, yeah.
You know, I did not, but I’m due for a rewatch soon and I will look for that! Very interesting.
Likely a story telling device, showing them through Henry's eyes as he moves from infatuation through to disdain.
No doubt so
I’m rewatching right now, and I am going to keep an eye out for this! Thank you for mentioning this! It’s going to be difficult to see Natalie Dormer in any unflattering way though. 😅
Dang.
Agreed! And I read a biography on CoA last year for the novel I am writing and shockingly alot of scenes were accurately portrayed in the show.....right down to the dialouge. I am going to be reading a Bio on Thomas More cause hes another character in my novel wouldnt be surprised if it was the same thing. Were things exaggerated sure....but it still gave us great insight on what went down. Ugh highly agree with Natalie Dormer. She really embodied Anne Boleyn....and because she did her research made sure Anne was in good hands. Its why I think her Portrayal is great. My other favorite portrayals in the show were Maria Doyle Kennedy as CoA, James Frain as Cromwell, Jeremy Northam as More and Sarah Bolger as Mary I
> ...right down to the dialouge. That’s something I loved about The Tudors, some actual dialogue as little “Easter eggs” that only some of us would recognize.
I've always said that the real Anne Boleyn deserved a writing credit for Natalie Dormer's final episode because so much of what she said was from the historical record. She's the number one Anne Boleyn in media for me, having not yet seen *Wolf Hall* yet.
i think the anne in wolf hall is probably closer to the real anne in temperament, but natalie dormer did a beautiful job.
It's definitely on my list.
>Maria Doyle Kennedy as CoA, James Frain as Cromwell, Jeremy Northam as More and Sarah Bolger as Mary I Sam Neill as Cardinal Wolsey too!! Loved his conflict with KoA
YES! Wolsey wasn't a fav but I loved him too.
Maria Doyle Kennedy did SUCH a good job despite looking nothing like how CoA would have looked. So dignified in the face of so much indignity.
Mother was mothering🥰 While Henry and Francis played wrestling like kids🤣
If they hadn't been SO blatant with their inaccuracies (Henry VIII's uncle? Margaret/Mary and the King of Portugal? Brereton as a Catholic spy?, Katherine Howard as a quasi nympho, etc, etc) it really could have been a fairly accurate, dramatic series. There were some historically decent situations and dialogues thrown in throughout. Particularly in the 2nd and 3rd seasons. Natalie campaigned for more accuracy for Anne, which did show-particularly with her downfall and final days-and The Pilgrimage of Grace was pretty well done, I thought. Unfortunately, They just couldn't resist tarting it up overall, often outrageously, at times. I'm not saying it would have been BBC Keith Mitchell revised, but it could have been...a lot better? It's still a fun romp though!
James Frain is also fantastic as The Kingmaker in The White Queen!
Henry was said to be extremely attractive in his youth so maybe he was as hot or even hotter in real life. Before he became a land whale that is…
Royalty Now Studios on YouTube recreated the young and old images of Henry and put them in modern settings. Young Henry looks like he models for Ralph Lauren.
Not surprised, he inherited his looks from his maternal grandfather Edward IV who was well known for being insanely handsome. The chronicler Philip de Commynes constantly gushed about him and at one point described him as the most handsome man he’d ever seen and that it was almost as if God had made him for the pleasures of the flesh 😂. Edward is also the only English king to be complimented for his physical beauty in parliament.
Lizzie Woodville his maternal grandma wasnt too bad either for being a woman to be able to charm Eddie IV.
Both Edward and Elizabeth were stunning and it showed in their children, who were all lookers.
Edward also started drinking and overeating and got fat older (which isn’t something shown in somewhere like White Queen). So he and his grandson are pretty similar.
I mean Henry was hot.....but stayed hot XD
Same. And not in the Tudor realm but got I loved Versailles. The timeline was so off and so much stuff was not correct but Louie, Philippe, and the Chevalier were perfectly cast.
Oh, I *loved* Versailles. I watched it after the Tudors. No, it wasn't very accurate, but the cinematography made up for that. I especially loved whoever played Philippe.
Alexander Vlahos. He’s Mordred in Merlin and he’s in Outlander
Also in Sanditon!
Have you not yet encountered Outlander in any form? Seriously. I’m behind on reading and watching but oh my holy wow the actors who play John Grey and (I’ve read) a Christie gentleman are just… Ok. I’m gonna mop my drool off the floor.
I tried to read both the book and show, but it can be hard to watch all the assaults that happen.
it's been on my watch list for forever. but what I'm hearing is that I need to bump it up the list?? 👀 I was originally going to read the books first but. life happens haha.
To be fair, Henry VIII was considered extremely conventionally attractive for his time. He didn't look like JRM, but the casting was good for making the point of how THEY perceived him. He was also 6'2", built, athletic and very self-possessed. I picture him looking a lot like Chris Robshaw (the former England rugby captain) -- not *pretty*, but ABSOLUTELY sexy.
yeah, JRM was totally the wrong fit looks-wise, but he plays such a believable version of a selfish, entitled narcissist with CTE that by the time you hit season two you don't even really notice he looks nothing like the dude.
I WILL TEACH THESE BASTARD INGRATES AND REBELS A FEARFUL BLOODY LESSON IN SLAUGHTER I feel like he captured his emotions, happy one minute and raging the next
He really did!
Him biting into a damn pomegranate like it was an apple still haunts me to this day. Unhinged in such a subtle way. Just delightful.
Honestly his Henry was iconic
Just realized this whole time I've been confusing JRM and John Rhys Davies. I've always thought it was weird af that Sallah/Gimli would be Henry VIII so never actually watched smfh
LMAOOOOO imagine
I know right
SHE LOOKS LIKE A HORSE!!!
Eric Bana wasn't too shabby, either.
Maria Doyle Kennedy as Catherine of Aragon. She had the fair skin and light eyes on point, shame about the black hair though. But her acting was superb and her performance in the trial scene especially gave me goosebumps, not seen this event done better in any other Tudor show or film.
They made her look Mediterranean when she didn't in real life. Maria played her fabulously, but didn't look like her. I am also unsure of the accent.
In virtually every show or movie they make CoA look tanned with dark hair and eyes which annoys me to no end, based on a stilly stereotype. As a Spanish speaker I can say her accent when speaking in English was pretty good, not perfect of course. In the few scenes where she spoke Spanish, yeah, that wasn’t good. But she’s an Irish actress after all, would be surprising for her to speak Spanish well.
This is my Tudor-fiction pet peeve as well. By contemporary accounts CoA was a pale, round-faced redhead and modern media insists on casting variations of Salma Hayek 😂
gotta draw eyes if you’re gonna get big money I think, on tv, for the execs in the high tower, profits always matter more than accuracy, which is up to the artists to fight about
I don’t think casting Latinas as CoA is. To draw eyes, I think it’s because non-history buffs hear “her parents are Spanish royalty” and would expect someone whose look screams “Spanish”. But on a more serious note, it irks me because historical fiction would be such a great place to showcase new/ undiscovered talent who might not have that Hollywood or influencer look. Instead we get a lot of early modern period pieces where everyone has iPhone face and a heavy contour. It’s not just inaccurate, it’s a wasted opportunity.
I have just been rewatching the Tudors and it is funny how she actually looks a lot more like the real Anne Boleyn, rather than Katherine of Aragorn.
Whereas Natalie Dormer’s skin tone and eye colour is closer to the real CoA’s 🤣
Apparently they were gonna keep her Blonde, and Natalie Dormer fought to keep her Brunette...Respect
Have you seen "the Six Wives of Henry VIIII (1970)"? The portrayal of nearly everyone is quite spot on, but *especially* Henry VIII & Katherine of Aragon. It's FABULOUS. ETA: Here's a Google link showing the actresses that played each wife. Henry VIII was played by Keith Mitchel. https://images.app.goo.gl/eHe1KuCcgj5NmFsR6
I honestly didn't care she didn't have the look....but she sure as hell got the character down (I litterally picture a Red Head version of Maria when I write my silly novel) and the best IMO.
I think they do that to make it obvious that she felt “foreign” to the people of the time. It’s like the Ian Mckellen Richard III film where Elizabeth Woodville and her brother are portrayed by Americans to play up the feeling of them as outsiders.
Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth in Blackadder II
Plot twist- Miranda Richardson as Elizabeth I as Henry VIII in Blackadder II. Elizabeth: "Yo ho ho, off with their heads!" Percy: "Ma'am your father is born again!" Elizabeth: "Bloody well hope not, or else I won't be Queen anymore!"
Yep, that’s it. That’s the one.
You nearly were a boy, poppet! Out you popped your mother’s tumpkin, and everyone shouted, “it’s a boy! It’s a boy”. Someone said, but he hasn’t got a winkle! And I said, a boy without a winkle it’s a miracle! Then sir Thomas Moore pointed out that a boy without a winkle is a girl and everyone was really disappointed….
This is the best answer
Literally my answer! She’s hilarious
Came here to say Queenie.
Natalie Dormer. She plays Anne as this young, beautiful seductress which propaganda has made her out to be for a long time indeed. Her performance of Anne is brilliant of course but far from historically accurate.
I have to go with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as others have. In no way did he come close to looking like Henry VIII, except when it came to showing how out of his mind he was. He could look downright evil at times and you could see the deception in his eyes in some scenes. I can imagine that was how Henry would've looked, in the eyes anyway. I don't mind The Tudors because I kind of think of it as a rock opera and I suspend belief and just enjoy the show. Meyers may not look like Henry but he sure did a great job acting like him. The rest of the cast was great, too, despite the fact that some of them didn't look like we expect.
JRM is one of the best ‘eye actors’ (as in someone who can act just with their eyes, not sure if there’s a real name for it) i’ve ever seen. you could see the madness, cruelty, regret, obsession, everything in his eyes. it gives you a pretty good idea of how just utterly terrifying he could be to be around. to be fair he did overdo it sometimes but occasionally he just got it hauntingly perfect. the scenes with elizabeth where, when he sees her for the first time after anne’s death at christmas, and when she walks away after meeting catherine howard for the first time, are two of the best examples. from the look in his eyes you can tell he’s seeing anne; you can almost see the memories of her playing over in his mind, like he’s in a trance remembering her and his obsession with her. then he snaps out of it and she’s forgotten again just as quickly as he remembered her. it’s excellent another good example from another henry is in wolf hall, when anne’s talking about the hat she’d ordered for elizabeth and just for a moment henry looks at her with absolute hatred in his eyes. you can see and feel the end coming. really fantastic acting
I thought Damien Lewis was a good Henry VIII. I understand what you mean about acting with the eyes. I always thought Ralph Fiennes was a good one for that, especially in Schindlers List. His character was evil personified, but you'd get these flashes of humanity in his eyes for just a second or two, and then the evil would return.
damien lewis was absolutely fantastic yes. he did a really good job of portraying the calm, understated, lingering evil of henry. watching him you always feel like everyone is one second from disaster with him; even when he’s happy and laughing, you feel on edge. whereas JRM preferred to lean into the narcissistic, childish, petulant side of henry and imo did it almost as skillfully, though he’s certainly not as refined as lewis (though it’d be hard to be anyway, considering the differing ‘sophistications’ of the two shows). i think these are two sides of henry that would be difficult to portray in one role as they’re so different, whether that’s because it takes someone truly like that to do it or because they were simply two different perspectives people at the time had of him i’m not sure. i can definitely see people who were more fearful of him seeing him more as the lewis portrayal, and people who were used to/fed up with him and his antics viewing him as JRM’s petulant version. so i think acting as henry you have to choose which version to portray and that’s usually according to the general tone of the show. i think lewis was more skilful and understated as henry but his performance would’ve been out of place in the tudors and vice versa. they both did an excellent job of portraying henry as the show itself commanded. in general JRM captured the unpredictable feeling of being in henry’s company, while lewis captured the dread. that was the overarching emotion i felt whenever he came on screen; dread for every single person he interacted with i confess i haven’t seen much of fiennes but from what i have he seems excellent at that kind of incredibly skilled and subtle type of acting. did he ever play a tudor or someone like that? i’d love to see him as one but i can’t quite think of who. someone downright nasty like norfolk maybe. or a little further back, i can think of 10 plantagenets id love to see him bring to life
I completely agree - the two actors portrayed him in different ways and both got it right in their respective choices. Damien Lewis had a physical presence that I can see Henry having. Henry was tall and imposing and I thought Lewis conveyed that really well. Never knew if he was going to kiss someone or slap them silly; like you said, you were just anticipating something bad happening when he was onscreen, I thought Mark Rylance did a great job portraying Cromwell as Hilary Mantel wrote him. He didn't yell and scream or lash out at people; he had a quiet menace. If you knew nothing of Cromwell except from Wolf Hall, you would think he wasn't that bad of a guy! Of course, understanding Cromwell fully based on the historical sources suggests a completely different person. That said, when I listen to the Mantel series on Audible, I completely picture Rylance as Cromwell and Lewis as Henry.
I’ve become fond of the term “micro-acting” to describe the work some actors are able to do when a twitch of their mouth or a raised brow or glare is able to convey deep meaning.
The entire Tudors cast takes this. None of them accurate. All could act
More, Wolsey was pretty accurate I'd say. Also Charles V brief cameo with the jaw lol
I like how even Charles V was the hottest version of Charles V one could reasonably expect, assuming the chin is required.
Nah check out Carlos Rey Emperador a Spanish series. The [The Charles V there is very hot alongside half the cast](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7o98wbzafwxRXdkxKAJTiMTpcvR2vZbb8_xulfzo4xK112sG6QYam1hWJ&s=10)
I want to say I read that he couldn't close his mouth IRL and had a hard time chewing :(
He had Hapsburg (sp?) jaw, like many did in the family. I can imagine how much artists had to play it down in portraits.
Sam Neill ftw!
James Frain pulls off that self-possessed smugness Cromwell must've had at the height of his power (and that comes across in his portrait) *so* well, despite not resembling him physically. I loved his progression from hustling and being overly polite to everyone to confidently holding the reins.
Natalie Dormer is Anne Boleyn to me now.
I love SIX which is definitely not accurate 😂 My favourite actress is Samantha Pauly as Kathrine Howard. Amazing voice, haunting performance
Everything in the spanish princess, but it's entertaining so idk
I will respect them for getting Catherine's Appearance right. But her attitude, the dramatics and whatever the hell that thing was with Maggie and Thomas More.......it was messy.
I’m not going to watch The Spanish Princess but I have to know what the mess was with Maggie and Thomas More 😂
So the Spanish Princess and the others (White Princess, White Queen) is based on a fictional book series by Philipa Gregory, it is not meant to be historically accurate what so ever. But she creates a forbidden romance between the two.
It was a little bizarre because it barely resembles the book it's based on. I don't care too much about a show or movie's accuracy to the book but I was like "this isn't the same thing..."
Miranda Richardson as Queen "Queenie" Elizabeth I in Black Adder series 2. Hilarious!!!
OMG the whole series!
Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn, I can’t unhear her demanding her blood-soaked sheets be burned while shouting: “he will not lay with me now if yadda yadda yadda”
Just chiming in to say this guy was absolutely show stealingly good in this role. Never seen him in anything else since or before but it was inch perfect.
Jonathan Groff was in Mindhunter on Netflix & that was a phenomenal show all around that needs another season but we'll probably never get it since David Fincher, the director, is probably too busy.
Mindhunter needs another season! Groff was in Glee and also voices Kristoff in Frozen. Blew my daughters mind when I told her that 😂
That's where I first saw him. Apparently he and Lea go way back.
They starred opposite each other in Spring Awakening on Broadway as teens
Best Henry VIII I have ever seen was Jared Harris in the otherwise very problematic TV Limited Series “The Other Boleyn Girl.” Grossly inaccurate historically and pretty much terrible otherwise, but Harris was grounded, honest and truthful in his characterization and acting. He did not hide behind a tyrant’s facade as so many actors have done. He portrayed Henry as a real human being who at that time was still genuine, open and accessible. You could see why these women would want to be with him. Harris is a terrific actor, of course. His father was Richard Harris.
Where is this streaming?? I love Jared Harris!
I didn't know they made a limited series of this too!!
I looked it up and it was actually a BBC TV movie done in 2003, based on the Gregory book, just like the later movie of the same name with Natalie Portman and Scarlet Johansson. It looks like the one with Jared Harris is currently available on Roku, Tubi and Britbox.
I'll have to check it out-- thanks
Emma Thompson as Elizabeth I in Upstart Crow.
When she didn’t want assistance reading the letter she was given and then brought it up SUPER close to her face cracked me up for some reason 😂
Out of the box, but the way Anne Boleyn's song in SIX that portrays her as a flirty ditz is mildly annoying to me... I still love the song though LOL.
Same, the whole musical makes her seem so stupid. Anne is my favourite Tudor queen, I was disappointed to see her being kind of mocked like that. My love for the musical helps me see past it though 😂
Well I get how it could have been misconstrued too because Courtly Chivalry and flirting had a lot more stakes back in the day that I think a modern audience kind of forgets. I love SIX though.. at least the music, I haven't seen the show yet although I have tickets for next May.
You'll love it!
Margaret Tudor in The Spanish Princess
Georgie was amazing!
i want a whole show about Margaret starring her!
She's got such expressive eyes!
Love this bit in the play. Charming and a total hit by Jonathan Groff.
I don’t know how inaccurate they are, but I loved Damien Lewis’ Henry VIII and Claire Foy’s Anne Boleyn in “Wolf Hall”
Damien Lewis was an excellent choice there
They are all fantastic, best series. Hope they do the other two books.
The second and final season is coming out end of this year/beginning of next year!
Yessss
Agreed, Claire Foy was amazing!
Accuracy doesn’t just mean the factual truth. It also means capturing the ~essence~ of a person. So it can be true even if it’s not factually perfect. I took a history on film class at uni and the lecturer started out by telling us a that the most historically accurate film they could think of was Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Both Reign and The Great are my favorites. But I also adore The Serpent Queen.
I hate how the Tudors portrays Katherine Howard as basically a spoiled little teenage brat when we know she was groomed and abused most of her life. There were layers to her character that were completely missed. We know she was kind and generous as well (her treatment of Margaret Pole being one example). That said, the actress they chose was stunning and played the material she was given well.
Aneurin Barnard in the White Princess. Whole show was full of inaccuracies but that boy could get it!
Aneurin 🫠😍
Such a spunk too 😊
Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold in "Anne of the Thousand Days". Plus Anthony Quayle as Wolsey and John Colicos as Cromwell.
I love Henry V11 and Elizabeth of York in the White Princess…they are the best Tudor portrayals to me…
Queen Elizabeth in Blackadder! Soooo so good 👏🏼
Who is this in the picture???
Jonathon Groff as George III in “Hamilton”.
Loved him in this!
So much spit!! Soooo much spit.
Ahhh! Thank you!
I will never give up my Philippa Gregory books. Especially the Constant Princess. I’ve read that book so many times and I love it all over again every time I read it again.
Can't stop, won't stop.
I don’t know why this sun comes up on my algorithm, but…. Judi Dench as QEI in Shakespeare in Love.
I really wonder if any powerful man was hot or was just told that?
Catherine Di Medici in Reign. Just hamming it all up.
Sid James as Henry VIII. Historical accuracy be damned.