MovieChat Forums > Tiptoes (2004) Discussion > Another movie that casts an average size...

Another movie that casts an average size person as a little one

posted 10 years ago by DwightFry
6 replies | jump to latest

I just found out about the existence of this movie through Cracked.com so I've never seen it, but if the fact that it supposedly blows isn't enough to scare me off ever doing so, the fact that it has Gary Oldman (nothing against him, could be about anyone else and I'd say the same thing) is playing a little person. Aren't there little actors in Hollywood? Yes there are, and a few are even in this movie. So why going with the fakery instead of giving the job to someone who's actually apt for it? To quote Maysoon Zayid, "if a wheelchair user can't play Beyoncé, then Beyoncé can't play a wheelchair user".

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[–] Seapharris7 10 years ago

Did you ever end up watching it because I did & it's honestly a terrible film. And, yes, I feel the should have had Drinklage as the main twin brother dwarf & not some French Marxist. Putting Oldman in CGI was interesting & if they had insisted, say to have a big name attached to the project, to do this, he could have easily been part of the family you see occasionally

[–] yojimboy 10 years ago

What's ironic is that McConaughey later won an Oscar for a movie where he starred with a straight man playing a transsexual. I wonder what he'll do next, a movie with Robert DeNiro playing a teenage basketball player?

[–] rodgers-sa 9 years ago

Of course Peter Dinklage did play Bolivar Trask in Days of Future Past, not because the character was short, or as a gimmick, but based on talent and popularity like any other actor.

Any complaints about that? Or does that get ignored to give your points more validity.

[–] DwightFry 9 years ago

No complaints at all, Dinklage did a great job as Bolivar Trask, keeping his actual size. If they had CGIed him into looking average size as the character is in the comics, then I'd be complaining. Plus, Trask's height is not an important point, while Tiptoes is all about the height of the characters.

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[–] rodgers-sa 9 years ago

Ah, so you're just against CGI creating that effect, then I can understand where you're coming from. X-Men, Avatar, Planet of The Apes all use CGI to make people look something they're not, so I personally don't have a problem with what they've done, but as I say, I see you're perspective better now.

You may continue with you're gripe. Lol.

[–] DwightFry 9 years ago

It's not just that it's done by CGI. It's that the message is ultimately that an actual little person would not be good enough or marketable enough to play the role. I mean, you can't get real Na'Vi or real ape men for roles because they do not exist, but you can very well get little people to play little people.

I consider this stuff just one step above blackface. Unlike blackface it is not intended to make fun of a minority, but like blackface it's ultimately about considering the real thing not good enough.

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