Tyrion Lannister, Harry Potter, Daenarys (sp?) Targaryen. . . All these characters have very distinctive eye colors in the literature. Distinctive enough that it is mentioned often, and even influences how other characters respond to them.
So why don’t the actors who portray them wear colored contact lenses for the performance? Millions of people wear them every day. Itaks not as if they are unsafe.
What am I missing about this?
I remember reading that the lead actress from Memoirs of a Geisha had to wear such thick opaque blue contacts for the role that she could only wear them for short periods because they were so painful.
For a weekly TV show, maybe it wasn’t worth it to use the kinds of contacts that would change the eye colors that much?
They do, sometimes. It’s not uncommon. Why those particular actors don’t on those occasions, I don’t know.
From my own experience of trying to wear contacts, its an uncomfortable trial and you’d only do it if you had to. If you were an actor who did not wear contacts normally they may just be too painful for a short term need.
Few people are going to notice, and even fewer care. Except for ethnic roles or unbending method actors it isn’t usually worth the effort.
I am, though, amused by the tacked-on story element that allowed Louise Jamison to stop using colored contacts as Leela in Doctor Who. She hated them, so the wrote in that they turned blue after viewing an explosion.
I don’t know about the others, but I know Daniel Radcliffe did try to wear green contact lenses and had a bad reaction to it. I believe they had Jo Rowling’s blessings to keep his blue eyes. For the character, the importance is not so much that they’re green, as that they’re the same as his mother’s.
Interesting. I did not know that.
I wonder how difficult it would have been to use CGI to make his eyes appear green in the films.
If they’re not going to cast an extremely plain-looking girl to play Hermione, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to ask them all to wear contact lenses so their eyes are the right color.
That said, Elijah Wood has heterochromia (mismatched eyes), and wore colored lenses during part of the shooting of LOTR so his eyes would be the same color. Oddly enough, they didn’t do this consistently, so in some scenes Frodo has one blue eye and one green one.
[QUOTE=Ethilrist]
If they’re not going to cast an extremely plain-looking girl to play Hermione, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to ask them all to wear contact lenses so their eyes are the right color.
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Actually, Hermione isn’t plain in the books - it’s a case of unreliable narrator. In the first few books, she is portrayed as awkward, even ugly 11-year old, with a caustic personality. Then, like clockwork, just as the narrator goes through puberty, the descriptions of her turn a lot more positive.
There is a lot of that stuff going on - Hagrid goes from being hero-worshipped, to being awkward and pitied as the narrator matures, and sees beyond Hagrids coolness factor.
No idea on the eye-colour thing, except that I am unable to wear contacts myself, and I guess that may be fairly common, even among actors.
mmmkay, then he wore a colored contact in some scenes to make them different colors, not the same…
This may be a nitpick, but I think you mean “viewpoint character” rather than narrator. The Harry Potter books are told in the third person.
Some people, including myself and my son, find contacts or anything sitting on their eyes near intolerable, others like my ex and my daughter pop them in and out with ease.
Yes I did, thanks for the correction.
What scenes?
Not sure; I just watched Fellowship a couple weeks ago and saw the differently-colored eyes in some scenes, but not others.
In the case of Daenerys Targaryen, I’m pretty sure I read early on that the reason they didn’t go with purple eyes is that they looked too fake. I thought I read it in an interview with George RR Martin, but heck if I can find it.
In the same interview, he addressed the King’s Guard not being in white. Apparently the white armor simply didn’t film very well and (once again) looked fake, so they went with sort of off-white with whiteish capes.
I always figured “purple” meant really dark blue anyway.
I’ve worn contacts since high school (early 80s) and after wearing dorky glasses for ten years previous I’d have welcomed them even with some discomfort! Fortunately I’ve never had any. But yes, some people’s eyes simply can’t tolerate contact lenses.
Not being a fan of either the books or films I knew nothing of this, but I would have been dumbfounded to hear the former, considering Emma Watson is probably one of the top ten most beautiful girls in the world (and was a very cute teenager as well). 
In regards to actors not wearing colored contacts, I think it’s all just part of an overall growing sophistication of audiences. Only hardcore fanboys complain when some actor doesn’t have the right this or that like their character. As long as the actor can pull off the performance, who cares? When Daniel Craig was cast, Bond-o-philes were up in arms over a ‘blond’ 007! Yet he’s more popular than ever. Same when Tom Cruise was cast as Lestat in IWTV. In the book he’s a very tall, blond imposing person. Fans were despondent hearing dark-haired, pretty-boy (not to mention short) Cruise was cast, yet he nailed it. Same for Michael Keaton as Batman (too small, goofy looking).
Like Olivier said to Dustin Hoffman, “Dear boy, why don’t you try acting”…
[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Not being a fan of either the books or films I knew nothing of this, but I would have been dumbfounded to hear the former, considering Emma Watson is probably one of the top ten most beautiful girls in the world (and was a very cute teenager as well).
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Well, she’s 11 in the first book, so not even a teenager. And in terms of actual description, she has wild, horrible hair, and really bad buck teeth, and health insurance glasses. Frankly, I think Rowling was setting the scene for “hollywood ugly”, since every negative trait of hers is fixable (the teeth get magicked straight).
But she does that “angry geek” think where she hides in her own hair and never says anything nice. So I can totally see an otherwise stunning young woman just disappearing in hair and hostility, no matter what she she actually looks like.
This clears up by about book 4 (age 14), and she is more or less always portrayed as pretty in later books, when she is described at all. Every boy except Harry falls in love with her it seems, so the unattractive bit is pretty much just a smokescreen. Then again, her looks aren’t dwelt on much, since her mind is where it’s at.
