Aidan Gillen's portrayal of Littlefinger: Yay or Nay?

[SergioCQH]

^ I've already separated myself from the reading experience as much as I can. I've already tried watching and re-watching the episodes with the mindset that "this is not necessarily a worse LF... just a different LF from the books." However, there's no cure for wooden acting, no matter what kind of character you're portraying.

Your perception of Gillen's acting skills is probably affected by your dislike of the portrayal. I think Gillen's acting is fantastic, but my perception is probably affected by my liking of his portrayal. There's a great deal of subjectivity involved in these kinds of judgments. For example, many critics and viewers alike are advocating an Emmy for Peter Dinklage, whereas Maureen Ryan thinks Dinklage is the weakest part of the cast.

[Lannister Fan]

I like Gillen's portrayal. Sure, I wasn't too happy at how blatant LF's motives were laid out, but otherwise good job.

[Boots]

I admit, the exposition to the whores kinda annoyed me. Seeing Ros made me go "Dammit, they're still continuing that boring plotline." Being subtle is a big part of LF's game but tv occasionally needs exposition. Gillen is doing a fine job, he amuses me. I will agree the blatantness was annoying, but Gillen pulled it off pretty well.

[valacirca]

Your perception of Gillen's acting skills is probably affected by your dislike of the portrayal.

Actually, my dislike of the acting skills came before the dislike of the portrayal.

In that very first scene from E03 where the council was introduced, I was immediately disappointed by AG's acting. The undestanding of the difference in portrayal came afterwards.

[Ahimsa]

I haven't seen this guy in anything else, but I've heard he's good. He looks exactly like I picture Littlefinger. That's why it's weird that he is coming off so wooden. The scene in the brother was almost embarrassing. Apart from Lancel, Littlefinger is to me the worst actor on the show so far. The writing is probably somewhat to blame, but the actor needs to improve as well, I think.

[Lasair]

I haven't seen this guy in anything else, but I've heard he's good. He looks exactly like I picture Littlefinger. That's why it's weird that he is coming off so wooden. The scene in the brother was almost embarrassing. Apart from Lancel, Littlefinger is to me the worst actor on the show so far. The writing is probably somewhat to blame, but the actor needs to improve as well, I think.

I think Lancel is deliberately written at this point as a one-note character who gets tortured by Robert in a very funny way. His actor isn't required to do more than that.

TV's Littlefinger has seemed wrong ever since the first words out of his mouth. I am giving him every chance but he's still grating. And I've seen Aiden Gillen in QAF where he was smooth, full of simple glee one moment and calculating the next. He should have played the Littlefinger I saw in the books perfectly!

[aimlessgun]

I think Lancel is deliberately written at this point as a one-note character who gets tortured by Robert in a very funny way. His actor isn't required to do more than that.

TV's Littlefinger has seemed wrong ever since the first words out of his mouth. I am giving him every chance but he's still grating. And I've seen Aiden Gillen in QAF where he was smooth, full of simple glee one moment and calculating the next. He should have played the Littlefinger I saw in the books perfectly!

Can people point me to specific passages in the books where LF is full of glee, or particularly animated? It's very strange to me :/ I always saw book LF as very dry or reserved/smirking in his humor and not particularly animated at all.

[SFA-OK]

I think the entire King's council and all the characters have been handled poorly so far. I haven't seen much of the intrigue or backstabbing that was in the book translated to the screen. I think the actor playing Littlefinger has done a good job, it's just the writing that isn't that good in relation to his character.

In regards to Varys, wasn't his character more effeminate in the book? He's nothing like that in the show. I distinctly remember later in the books that when he's in another disguise, his voice distinctly changes and has a lower tone to it. Again, I think the actor playing him is doing a pretty good job but the character itself is different.

[Lasair]

Can people point me to specific passages in the books where LF is full of glee, or particularly animated? It's very strange to me :/ I always saw book LF as very dry or reserved/smirking in his humor and not particularly animated at all.

Oops, I didn't mean that Littlefinger is exactly like Stuart from Queer as Folk. I just meant that Aidan Gillen can do somebody who's calculating but also shows naturalness.

[Phostopheles]

I hold TV Littlefinger in lower regard than the other characters. I can forgive the fact that his character seems to have lost depth, and even that Gillen's acting seems a bit directionless; the same could be said for Ned, Robert, Dany, Sansa, etc. Some of the filler dialogue for those characters is terrible (and, to be fair, some of it is brilliant).

What bugs me most is that Littlefinger has been reduced twofold:

1) He received the largest downgrade in terms of character depth, being reduced from one of the most complex characters in the books to a very transparent moustache-twister with a grudge against the Ned/Catelyn union. Maybe that's all his motivation was in the books, but part of the beauty of it was that we were never quite certain of LF's goals. The Ros scene pretty much spelled out TV-LF in five minutes...and not only has the mystery been destroyed, but the truth is imo very unsatisfying.

2) His sole function in season one, besides appearing in scenes that portray him as unequivocally selfish and evil as possible, is to provide exposition as a sort of "know it all" character. This makes Ned look stupid. Even worse, it makes the audience look stupid. Other characters are guilty of this as well (such as Catelyn herself saying that "she recognized the sigil of House Frey"--WHO THE FUCK WOULDN'T?), but it maddens me every time Riverrun or Tullys or fish are mentioned, Catelyn Stark must be mentioned as well (usually by Littlefinger) to remind everyone why it's important. It destroys the realism and reveals the writers to have the subtlety of a rock.

[The King of Ashes]

I like him but compared to Conleth Hill as Varys he's doing a pretty poor job.

[Damocles]

I've always felt that Littlefinger in the novel was deliberately written by GRRM to come off, in his public persona, as someone who tries too hard, who makes the too obvious jokes, etc. He's not as hilarious as he pretends to be. So in this, Gillen's performance strikes me as just right: you can see why he grates on Ned, and why no one takes him as seriously, which of course is Littlefinger's plan.

I'm fine with this approach. It feels very calculated, and that's what Littlefinger is.

His smoothness was what grated on Ned, not his awkwardness.

Though, if we're going to set the bar for casting with Petyr as a 4, then Renly is probably well into the negatives.

[Podrick + Arya = Win]

Yeah Renly has been miscast and the gay angle is :wacko:

[tarantella]

Sometimes his Littlefinger portrayal feels wooden, like at his council scenes. Sometimes it feels spot on, especially when he's being all quippy with Renly at the tournament ("when will you be having... your friend?", I love that line) or his back-and-forth with Varys.

[Ahmrogar]

Does anyone think he and Dinklage sometimes seem like their putting on an accent or a way of speaking. Something that is a bit too open-mouthed or slow?

[Damocles]

I find Peter Dinklage almost unbearable every time he says anything. It's his enunciation.

[tarantella]

Does anyone think he and Dinklage sometimes seem like their putting on an accent or a way of speaking. Something that is a bit too open-mouthed or slow?

Dinklage is American, so he is definitely putting on an accent. Aidan Gillen sounds different in the interviews I've watched as well.

[seppuku]

I admit, the exposition to the whores kinda annoyed me. Seeing Ros made me go "Dammit, they're still continuing that boring plotline." Being subtle is a big part of LF's game but tv occasionally needs exposition. Gillen is doing a fine job, he amuses me. I will agree the blatantness was annoying, but Gillen pulled it off pretty well.

LF's motives were pretty blatant in the book. He constantly did things that only elevated his position. His actions and inner dialogue regarding Cat/Sansa made it quite clear why he did things he did.

We weren't given a bunch of clues towards another agenda altogether like Varys.

[seppuku]

Sometimes his Littlefinger portrayal feels wooden, like at his council scenes.

We never see LF display any real emotion in the 1st book. The closest we get is him in the Eyrie with Sansa and that's like 3 seasons away.

[The King of Ashes]

I don't think Dinklage should get an emmy based on his accent. His acting is superb but that accent is really immersion breaking for me as an Englishman.