12 Characters Whose Looks Would Change Dramatically If Movies Followed the Books

Few things disappoint fans as much as a movie adaptation that takes too many liberties with the plot. The magic can fade even faster when casting choices ignore the characters’ original descriptions, choosing actors whose age or appearance doesn’t match what readers imagined. That’s why we revisited some beloved books to reimagine what their heroes and heroines might look like if their on-screen counterparts were more faithful to the source material.

Tarzan, Tarzan of the Apes

Because of The Legend of Tarzan, we tend to picture the character as Alexander Skarsgård — tall, blond, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned. But the author had something quite different in mind. In the original novels, Tarzan is described as deeply tanned, with gray eyes and long black hair.

Anna Karenina, Anna Karenina

The 2002 film Anna Karenina had mixed reviews: some people were confused by the theater decor, and others criticized the casting. The fans of the novel said that Anna is supposed to be a plump woman, and Keira Knightley is not even remotely curvy.

Keira Knightley said, “I think that if I was made plump with makeup or a costume, nobody would even talk about my character: everyone would just discuss the plump Keira Knightley.”

John Milton, The Devil’s Advocate

The author of the novel, Andrew Neiderman, described John Milton as a pretty tall man with bushy silver hair, pale skin, and red cheeks. Even though Al Pacino doesn’t look anything like that, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in his place.

In fact, a different actor could have played the antagonist: Al Pacino turned down the role of John Milton 3 times because he thought the character was a regular, superficial villain. And it was only after the script was changed a bit that he finally agreed to take the part.

Edward Rochester, Jane Eyre

The director of the film, Cary Fukunaga, said that when he was choosing the actor for the part of Rochester, he realized that there were people that looked more like the book character, but he still felt that Michael Fassbender was a better choice. Charlotte Brontë described Rochester as a man with a heavy brow, dark hair and brown eyes, big nostrils, and a stern face.

Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray is supposed to be an attractive young man with blue eyes and golden locks. This is why Ben Barnes wanted to dye his hair and wear contact lenses, but it turned out that the film director was totally okay with the actor’s appearance.

A funny fact: before giving the role to Barnes, Oliver Parker was walking around with his photo and asking people if the actor was attractive enough.

Triss Merigold, The Witcher

Many fans of the video games and novels about the Witcher were unhappy about the cast of the Netflix series. Triss Merigold, portrayed by Anna Shaffer, got a lot of heat. She’s really different from her description in the books. She’s supposed to be a young girl with blue eyes and brown-ginger hair.

Grandmaster, Thor: Ragnarok

In the comics, Grandmaster is a man with blue skin, a big head, and yellow eyes without pupils. But the director of the film, Taika Waititi, decided to change the appearance to prevent viewers from having flashbacks of Earth Girls Are Easy, where Jeff Goldblum portrayed a blue alien. Also, Waititi didn’t want to hide the appearance of the actor under makeup.

You can still see the leftovers of the canon look of Grandmaster: a blue line on the chin, the same-colored nails, and the blue color of his lower eyelids.

Daenerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones

At the beginning of the first Game of Thrones book, Daenerys was only 13 years old, but in the beginning of the series, she’s 17 years old. And that’s not all. George Martin described her as a short, slim girl with purple eyes and silver-white hair.

When Daenerys goes into the fire and becomes the Mother of Dragons, her hair burns, and she becomes bald. Her hair grew slowly, so there could not be any beautiful hair like there was in the series.

Armand, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

Viewers really liked the amazing look of Antonio Banderas as a charismatic vampire: long dark hair, pale skin, red velvet clothing. But the author of the original book, Anne Rice, had a different vision of the character. In the book, he was a 17-year-old man with ginger curly hair that was sometimes compared to Cupid or one of Sandro Botticelli’s angels.

Erik, The Phantom of the Opera

When talking about the actor for the role of Erik, producer Andrew Lloyd Webber explained, “We needed somebody who had a bit of rock and roll sensibility in him. He’s got to be a bit rough, a bit dangerous — not a conventional singer. Christine is attracted to the Phantom because he’s the right side of danger.”

So, it’s clear that the creators of the film didn’t try to portray Erik, from Gaston Leroux’s book, exactly as he was. The author described him as an incredibly thin man with very deep eyes, yellow skin, a small, almost invisible nose, and almost no hair on his head.

Vronsky, Anna Karenina

Tolstoy described Vronsky as “a short, well-built man with brown hair, that started losing hair early.” The author mentioned that he was quite attractive too, but it seems that the creators of the 2012 film only focused on his positive traits. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is not only a man with great blonde hair, but he’s also quite tall.

Bella Swan, Twilight

Although Kristen Stewart captures much of Bella’s essence, the book describes the character a bit differently. Bella’s lips are said to be “a little out of proportion, a bit too full for her jawline,” and she has striking cheekbones, long, straight dark-brown hair, and a narrow, pointed jawline. Her eyebrows are darker and straighter than her hair. Stephenie Meyer also repeatedly notes that Bella never wears makeup and that her hair has a faint reddish hue visible only in the sunlight.

Don’t miss our other article, where we reimagined what the children of iconic movie couples might look like — the results are surprisingly curious.