Lucas North Speculation

[BoHenley]

(29-12-2010 12:36 PM)ignatz Wrote:  To play devil's advocate -- and that's all I'm doing, as I'm pretty firmly in line with much of what you've written (and I've read a lot of it) -- I think the fact that the "line of duty" thing has been done many times with all the other characters, the thought was to break that trend. I can imagine the writer's room discussion, "who is the person least likely to go down this road? Lucas! Let's do it different." Not fair, but changing up expectations is typical. However it was clumsily done and an insult in the eyes of anyone really invested in the character. Not saying i appreciate it -- at all -- but can kind of see some of the storyline motivation.

You presented a well-thought out summary, Ignatz. That's not "devil's advocate." You (and others) have helped to explain some of what the writer's couldn't (to my poor brain, anyway).

(29-12-2010 12:36 PM)ignatz Wrote:  RA definitely needs a change of pace/tone and I think the Hobbit (provided they don't totally f' up that story line -- honestly, RA is way too good looking to be a dwarf but we'll have to wait and see.) He's said himself that he needs a role with some levity, because Lucas was a very dark and emotional locked-up character. John Porter wasn't much different & neither was Thornton in North & South.

DEFINITELY too handsome to be a dwarf , but such a high-profile film, I hope he does well. And I hope they don't disguise him as much as they did with John Rhys-Davies. With Sir Peter Jackson at the helm, I rather think the film should be fairly true to the book.

I'll just add this, and I apologise if it's not quite in the right area. The following is point 6 from author Steve Berry's "8 rules of writing (fiction)":

"6. Don't lie to the reader. It's OK to mislead, but don't lie. If you say the character's motivation is A and it turns out to be B (and you haven't foreshadowed it at all), the reader will feel cheated."

The problem is I feel cheated. The Lucas=John storyline was NOT foreshadowed until Vaughan turned up with the suitcase, and then it was poorly developed as so many of us have said. I don't think of the L/J character as "John" at all because my brain won't accept that part of the story. If it was a dark past for LUCAS, I would.