The Hunchblog of Notre Dame

18Jan 2018

Zendaya MTV gown

by jess

Way back in 2016 I did a post on award season gowns that looked vague Esmeralda-like in style. One gown I mention was this one worn by Zendaya.

Zendaya wearing Marchesa at 2016 Golden Globes

It looks very similar to the dress that Esmeralda wears on the poster/album cover for the Notre Dame de Paris musical.

Notre Dame de Paris Album Cover

Anyway, I been a addictive to Pinterest and this came across my feed awhile ago.

Zendaya in a Zuhair Murad gown, 2017 MTV awards

I can’t tell you how much this gown looks like it could have been made for the Norte Dame de Paris musical. It’s literally has all the elements of the original gown. This color, the cut, the shape of the sleeves (that it even has sleeves at all), the fact that there is a texture with the beading. Even hemline is on point. If this gown was the costume used in production or even just for a concert, I’d be happy. For the record, I do not think Zuhair Murad was inspired by Notre Dame de Paris at all, but it’s eerie .

Honestly if there ever was large scale production of Notre Dame de Paris made for an American audience, be it a Broadway level production or a movie (one can dream), Zendaya would be a great choice fro Esmeralda. And after listening to Rewrite the Stars from The Greatest Showman, I really need her to sing Bohemienne, even if it. just a cover. Heck I’d like to see her as Esmeralda if Disney ever does a Live-action of Hunchback, again one can dream.

Note – I Love Zuhair Murad designs. They are so pretty.

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11Jan 2018

Hypothetical Casting for Clopin; Mark Hamill

by jess

I’m still on the Star Wars actor casting, maybe next time I’ll do an anti-one, like an all Gungun casting, shudders.

Mark Hamill

As far as the different versions take on the role of Clopin they portray him in one of two ways, he’s either leader of Gypsies or leader of the beggars and thieves. Basically Clopin is combination of three characters from Book but MOSTLY he’s still the character of Clopin because that character just has more to do than the Duke of Egypt and the the other guy, whose name I have completely forgotten but know that he does have a name and there are three leaders of The Court of Miracles.

Mark Hamill

So as I was thinking about the Star Wars casting I really wanted to get my head out of the Sequel Trilogy even though I love it, yes I liked The Last Jedi, and then I thought of Mark Hamill and it was BOOM, he be so great as Clopin. It’s a dream casting that I never knew I always wanted.

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Star Wars The Force Awakens

Hamill is most well known for his role as Luke Skywalker, really don’t I even need to say that but he has had a long career and has been a very prominent voice actor including being consider one of the best Jokers ever. He was also in Castle in the Sky as a Villain. If you do know any about Hamill it’s that he loves to troll, in a jovial sense, and has great sense of humor. I could really see Hamill playing Clopin with a delightful dark humor which is there but I think he could only improve of it.

Mark Hamill

This casting just so perfect that even if just vocal performance it would still be awesome but Mark Hamill would still kill it as live action role.

But what do you think? Would mark Hamill make a good Clopin?

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09Jan 2018

Esmeralda from the 1977 version

by jess

Michelle Newell as Esmeralda The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1977

This version of Esmeralda is baffling. It’s neither good or bad. It’s super boring though. This Esmeralda hits all the marks of the plot that this version is going for; she is a gypsy dancer who likes her goat and Phoebus and doesn’t like Frollo very much. She doesn’t fear him like in the book so he is really a second thought.

Michelle Newell as Esmeralda The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1977

This version also tries to go for the charming, doe-eyed, innocence Esmeralda, which is not very convincing. Gina Lollobrigida was also unconvincing with her lines about innocence but she had more interest and charisma. It’s just hard to separate this Esmeralda from her actress, as she is styled in a very 70’s style, her costume doesn’t look very in character, more on that later, and again she is gypsy being played by a white woman. If her name was Melody it would make the some amount of impact. I don’t feel Esmeralda’s character even though that is what being presented. More like a wax fruit than the real stuff.

Michelle Newell as Esmeralda The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1977

It the same issues that the 1982 version had with Lesley-Anne Down, except there she was fearful and didn’t like dancing. That’s not a positive it just makes the role more the movie’s version and therefore different. This Esmeralda does have nothing that separate her from her book persona and because of the gap in the execution there is nothing there, again it’s wax fruit when instead of actual fruit. She says the lines and there nothing believable or convincing about it. It’s a very boring and dare I say by the book, No it’s like act by numbers.

Michelle Newell as Esmeralda with Christopher Gable as Gringoire

There are some scene where she is believable but it’s mostly when she is being playful, like the scene with Gringoire but that is really it. It’s just boring depiction.

Michelle Newell as Esmeralda The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1977

I think they best way to showcase this this version of Esmeralda is go watch her introduction scene when she is dancing. The camera spends more time on shots of ugly extras than her dancing. The director would rather focus on extras than the woman that all the male characters obsess over.

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02Jan 2018

Once Upon a Time Season 7 Mid Season thoughts

by jess

Dania Ramirez as Cinderella & Andrew J. West as Henry Mills

So now that season 7 is on hiatus, I thought it would be a good time to reflect a little on this season. The season has a ton of problems, some are the story itself and other are more on the production level. For instance I can not buy into Jacinda/Ella and Henry’s romance and it’s weird that the actors have no sense of chemistry with each other. I’m pretty the only reason Hook and Emma were even a couple was because of the chemistry of the actors so you would think the casting would have had a chemistry test since Henry and Jacinda/Ella are a core emotional plotline. I mean does anyone care about their romance?

But there is more to just not caring about the curse and breaking the curse. It does seem like a null and void scenario since there is a potion that can just get people to wake up. Tilly was awoken a little while, Rumple is woke up, Regina and Zelena woke up. Gothel, Druzilla, Rapunzel and Anastasia were never impacted as was Lucy. So that just leaves, Henry, Ella/Jacinda, Tiana/Sabine, Wish/Hook. Nick/who knows and Tilly/Alice again. They only character that were don’t know the location of is Robin/Tilly’s ex. So breaking the curse doesn’t see like a BIG feat when MOST of characters are not really affected by it. Does Henry plot poison still work if he takes that potion to wake up, the curse is still in play to extent so what are the magical rules? Doesn’t feel like there are any real stakes. Regina can just wake people like she did with Zelena so why doesn’t she just wake people up?

The other issue is that is cast feel small. Since this season is analogous to season 1 where it was whole town of cursed people, it felt bigger. Now it’s a neighborhood and people can leave. Is the whole of Hyperion Height populated with Enchanted Forest B character’s or is it a mix of Seattle people? I seem to recall the characters couldn’t leave Hyperion Heights expect when they do. What is this curse beside more amnesia which is Once Upon a Time dramatic crutch? Five plotlines in sevens seasons. It’s high but lower in you think of each arc per season which is 12 arcs per seven seasons and there 5 major arcs with amnesia, though more if you count Belle and that dwarf losing their memories so let’s round that up to 6, since the risk of leaving Storybrooke in season 2 was big plot point but not part of the larger story till Hook knocked Belle out and she got amnesia and they she was awoken as Lacey but reverted back to Belle fairy quickly. So half the show is about amnesia.

Okay that was a tangent, but my point is the curse is really affecting a handful of people and they only two that any emotional resonance which would be Rogers/Hook and Tilly/Alice. They are so the more emotional part of this season. Not Henry, not Ella/Jacinda and not Lucy. All their interaction feel hollow. So this season lacks emotion and the stakes of season 1.

Also it’s very annoying that this show which gives every character dual identity could not be bother to give a proper name to the realm. It’s called The Other Enchanted Forest, the stupid Wish Realm has better name. The Enchanted Forest even got a second name for no reason in season 4, Misthaven.

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18Dec 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 9

by jess

The Eighth Witch

Gabrielle Anwar as Victoria Belfry, Robert Carlyle as Weaver & Yael Yurman as Anastasia

SPOILERS!

Well at least this episode explains the Lucy scenes from the season 6 finale, only issue is that it was edited and structured in such a way in the finale to make it seem like the events are way more interesting than they actually are. SO Lucy was born in the knock-off Enchanted Forest and curses yadda yadda.

This episode is classic OUAT, in that it’s convoluted as F. So here is the twist, first the show makes you think that Victoria a.k.a Lady Rapunzel Tremaine cast the curse only to find out that her daughter Druzilla a.k.a Ivy had a big hand it in it and that it was her curse. Turns out, No Regina cast the curse to save Henry for plot-poison. And also it’s part if the curse for Lady Rapunzel Tremaine to think she cast the curse. Then Ivy tries to get Anastasia’s’ magic but it was all a rouse by Gothel to bring back her coven, or the Eight Witches which Ivy is part of, but Gothel dispatches Ivy because double crosses. Anyway Surprise the Coven is the bad guys and the were only clumsy established with regard to the Eloise Gardner case for maybe some reason.

And Zelena is back. Her name is Kelly because you get it right? RIGHT? GREEN! Anyway for some reason, not explain she and Robin are ALSO in the Knock-off Enchanted forest. Sure every character get three names but you can’t name the realm there are all from one? Geeze writers. Also Zelana has her magic back in said realm? How? Remember just last season she lost it? Now it’s back? Oh geeze.

And then there’s Lucy and Henry. Lucy is in her sleeping death curse thing but true loves kiss from Henry, who now BELIEVES, doesn’t work because Lucy doesn’t believe. To the show’s credit this was established in the first season when Snow White forget her love for David and I guess it worked when Hook tried to kiss Emma out being the Dark one in season 5. Trouble with this scene of Henry not waking Lucy is it doesn’t feel earned. First season did this scene at end of the season, a full season with 20+ and multiple scenes with Emma and Henry. There wasn’t even a scene in the flashback showing Lucy and Henry’s father/daughter dynamic, basically goes from baby and Ivy’s curse prophecy/warning about Lucy’s eighth birthday to her eighth birthday.

While I enjoy Zelena, this episode feel flat which in a way is impressive since it reveals a lot and was really convuled in its twist but it was a big load of meh.

Anyway Once upon a Time in now on hiatus till March 2nd 2018.

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14Dec 2017

Hypothetical Casting for Frollo; Adam Driver

by jess

Adam Driver

Frollo is an interesting character to cast because on the one hand we have the book which tells us that Frollo is 36. But the age of 36 is different in a modern setting than it was in 1482 when the story is set or even in 1831 even the book was written. The book even tells us Frollo is in middle age or the winter of this life. So most of the movie go for an older Frollo. Sometimes it a tad younger or sometime he looks like death, looking at you 1997 Richard Harris Frollo. But can we have both? Can we have a younger-ish Frollo who is believable at acting older or in someway austere and cold but passionate at the same time? Can we have a walking contradiction?

Yes! We can! And it’s Adam Driver!

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Star Wars The Force Awakens

Driver is best known for playing Kylo Ren in the Sequel trilogy of Star Wars. He is a compelling character even if you don’t like that thing he did in The Force Awakens. Driver is just a very phenomenal actor who bring his A-game to every role and he has already played a priest in Silence, a very different story and character than Frollo. There is no doubt that Driver could excel at playing Frollo.

Adam Driver

Driver would be a young Frollo but he does have a good look for the character already. He’s not a typically attractive, some people find him very attractive and some don’t see it at all. He’s tall which helps, he has a narrow face with good angles, the perfect recipe for a Frollo.

Adam Driver

If this casting happen, I for one would be ecstatic, it just seems like a GREAT fit. What do you think? Would Adam Driver make a good Frollo? Or no?

OT – I admit, I ship Reylo

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12Dec 2017

Quasimodo from the 1977 version

by jess

Warren Clarke as Quasimodo

There are only three ways to make the role of Quasimodo more Oscar baity; Set the story during WW2, make it about actors being great or have Quasimodo eat a raw bison liver or all three! Sure it would be a weird adaptation but you got to hedge your Oscar bets. All kidding aside, Quasimodo is the dream role for an actor to get acting accolades, it’s combines a demanding physical performance with a deeply emotional one. Plus actors love playing ugly characters, that’s how you know they’re good at acting.

Warren Clarke as Quasimodo

One would think that most Quasimodo since Laughton would keep that mode of Quasimodo, the sad type, that was the angle of the 1997 version. Or they would keep to the book and give Quasimodo his mild arc of hating people except Frollo and then liking Esmeralda more than his own life. Disney deviated to give him arc about overcoming his oppressor. However the 1977 version follows more the 1956 approach the character in that while he there he has no personality.

Warren Clarke as Quasimodo

Like Quinn’s version, Warren Clarke plays, or was directed to play, Quasimodo as super happy. This is the happiest Quasimodo ever. Either he has a mental deficiency in addition to being deaf or he is just so happy. Doesn’t make for a compelling character if he just happy. So when he tells Esmeralda that he wishes he was like Djali or that he would jump with just a look or cries when Esmeralda yells at him it doesn’t feel in character. It a shame since Clarke seems like he could have pulled off the character with better direction and writing.

Warren Clarke as Quasimodo

Even the psychically it just lacking. Clarke has a hunch as part of his costume, which is standard, bit most of the other actor still hunch expect for Quinn and one of the Russian Quasimodo from Notre Dame de Paris.

Warren Clarke as Quasimodo

It’s liked there were different visions for this version of the character and they somehow all made it to screen and the result is just a weird smiling mess.

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09Dec 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 9 Review

by jess

One Little Tear

Meegan Warner a Rapunzel & Emma Booth as Gothel

I think there was someone on reddit a few weeks ago who mentioned this twist, the twist that Victoria was Rapunzel. Anyway, I liked the badstory and the plot development. It does weaken Rapunzel and Druzilla’s feud and why was Rapunzel working with Gothel? Anyway I suppose the big taken away is Anastacia waking up and Lucy going into sleep for maybe to Henry to wake with true love kiss a la season 1 and 2 and so on and on. Can Jacinda wake her?

Speaking of Jacinda, it’s maddening the lack of chemistry she has with Henry but has LOADS with Nick. SO much so I that was starting to think the twist was Lucy wasn’t Henry’s daughter BUT Nope she is Rumple and Rapunzel confirmed that one. Good old Rumple, make your family your prime motivation and then ignore your family every chance you get. Also I feel bad that I felt very little when Lucy goes unconscious because I enjoy the “villains” more. Though it’s a nice twist that Victoria is a villain by her motivation is like the hero, family and what not, she just making bad decisions. This episode gave her the right dose of likability and contempt to make her more compelling. Finally a reason for casting Gabrielle Anwar!

It also could be that while Lucy is in the Henry role from season 1, she doesn’t have the same development. What can you say about her? She wants her parents to get together and she dances? Is that a compelling character? I guess she runs away a lot as well. Henry was annoying in season 1 but the shwo focuses on his character more. So Lucy is little more than a plot device for more interesting and even less interesting characters.

All in all I liked this episode. Decent twist too but it was pretty good across the board especially with Victoria/Tremaine/Rapunzel’s backstory. Though let’s get real, that ice breaking part, eyeroll. Who jumps into the water? That part was dumb.

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07Dec 2017

Hypothetical Casting for Fleur or Esmeralda; Daisy Ridley.

by jess

Daisy Ridley for Esmeralda was suggestion by Sky. At first this made me think of Ridley to play Fleur de Lys. As much as I love Ridley’s Rey, I do want to see Ridley playing a character like Fleur, maybe as a bitch maybe not. For whatever reason I have a soft-spot for Fleur. Sure in the book Fleur has blonde hair but so does Jehan and Quasimodo has red and Esmeralda has dark eyes, why get bogged down with colorition when other movies ignore them so much? Fleur de Lys could have brown hair why not?

Given Ridley’s star in on the raise it hard to see her accepting the role of Fleur where as Esmeralda is a leading role. I could see her doing Fleur pending on other facets of the production like the director and if it was more of an ensemble piece.

Daisy Ridley

So let’s consider her for Esmeralda. The only way I could see her playing the role is if they did Esmeralda’s original backstory, as in she is French raised by Gypsies, even if they did not have the whole of the Sister Gudule plot in the movie.

Daisy Ridley as Mary Debenham from Murder on the Orient Express

On the acting front I could Ridley playing the role even though she still fairly new and so far her biggest roles have been Rey in Star Wars and Mary Debenham in Murder on the Orient Express. She also playing Ophelia in upcoming movie. Not sure how Ridley would play the role but my guess it would less overtly sexual than some other actresses and portrayals but you never know.

Daisy Ridley as Rey from Star Wars The Force Awakens

Ridley has one big thing working for her as Esmeralda and that is her sword and fighting ability. Ridley has done a lot of strength training and fight choreography for action scenes in Star wars. Those skills could translate into some nice dance choreography.

Daisy Ridley

I could see her going either way. As much as I think Daisy Ridley is cool person, she would not be my top pick for either role but if she were casted for either Esmeralda or Fleur I would happy to see her grace a Hunchback version?

What do you people think? Ridley for Esmeralda? Ridley for Fleur de Lys? Or Neither? Or Both?

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06Dec 2017

New Quasimodo Ornament

by jess

Quasimodo Ornament

The Hunchblog own’s Quasimodo design on an xmas ornament. On the back it says “Have your a Quasi Little Christmas.”

You can get it here

https://www.zazzle.com/quasimodo_ornament-175290142440082949

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