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

[David Selig]

Gillen's performance got much worse after S1. The accent fluctuations, the Batman voice, the overacting...

[Gallivant]

I love Gillen as Littlefinger. Oddly he's one of the only actors who I now 'see' as the character when I'm reading the books.

[~DarkHorse~]

Yay

He has a very dangerous and mysterious vibe about him and his acting is perfectly fine.

However, I wasn't a fan of how weak he was portrayed in The Mountain and the Viper (Sansa coming to his rescue) regardless of enjoying Sansa upping her game.

[Annara Snow]

Wow...k. Excuse me for using words you consider imperfect. SO sorry my wording was so imprecise that you didn't understand what I was getting at...oh wait, but you knew exactly what I was referring to. LF getting beat in a duel and being bitter about it kind of makes him similar to a stereotypical "bullied" kid. As for "ignored," I suppose I should have said "rejected" - or, what would YOU prefer?

Also, I don't see anything "flat" about Gillen's performance.

Anyway, the TV series has somewhat differed from the books all along. I take them as separate stories.

Um, yeah? I do, in fact prefer when people don't use words to describe something that's nothing like what those words mean. Being beaten in a duel HE challenged someone to, for the girl who was not interested in him and who was that guy's fiancee, is not similar to bullying, in fact it's absolutely not like bullying, not even a little bit, and your friend not being romantically interested in you is something completely different from being ignored. This is definitely not a tragic backstory and the only reason LF may feel it is is because he's an entitled little jerk who thinks the world owes him everything he wants. What's next, he was "tortured" when Edmure gave him a nickname, or maybe "mutilated" when Hoster sent him away?

[K-26dp]

I think Gillen's performance is fine, but I don't think he's being written very well. And I don't mean to bash D&D because I think they get it about 90% right, but their Littlefinger is probably my least favorite aspect of the show.

I think he comes across too much as a mustache-twirler. He supposed to be, from the outside, seemingly harmless and while maybe not trustworthy, someone who everyone else feels like they could manipulate. Everyone thinks that he's working for them. I don't even think Book!Varys knows much about Littlefinger's plans.

And that's where I think the show gets it wrong... while having Varys and Littlefinger as more overt rivals gives us some juicy Hill/Gillen acting, it also elevates Littlefinger to a level that I don't think he's at in the books. I suspect that if the book characters knew all of Littlefinger's crimes and ambitions, they would be pretty shocked. On the show, I don't think they would be, especially not Varys.

[stannisismyking]

Very much yay! I enjoy the fact that Petyr is more out front and centre on the show than in the books. Aidan's voice can be a little weird* but I think it's settled a bit in S4, or maybe I'm just used to it. And the "second half of ASOS" material was my favourite part of Petyr (and Sansa's) storyline so this season was really enjoyable for me.

*By Irish standards he has a very "unusual" accent anyway ;)

[sati]

NAY but at least he is so bad it's funny

That look on his face right after he kissed Sansa :lmao:

[toffeejay]

Thought he was amazing in the Wire.

Yet everything since... Dark Knight Rises, Love/Hate, GOT I'm wondering just where he found that performance from?

[oliviadunham]

This is definitely not a tragic backstory and the only reason LF may feel it is is because he's an entitled little jerk who thinks the world owes him everything he wants.

This forum was supposed to be a "virtual show of hands," not a debate on how best to describe LF's character. How to describe him is only relevant so far as seeing if it matches Gillen's performance.

And it's not a place to bash whoever had the misfortune of posting just before you. (There's plenty of other people to respond to/criticize, I don't know why you singled me out.)

I'm not going to debate whether LF was justified in feeling heartbroken, or in feeling fearful about his lack of physical and financial power (compared to others in his category - he may be a "lord," but obviously wasn't considered an important one if his family's meager landholdings became a nickname that stuck, so he was at the bottom of the lords, at least for a while). Some people (including me, and others on this and other forums) have a bit of sympathy for him, some don't. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

[Kyoshi]

Yay.

Funny enough, I have an ear for accents (mostly German and Dutch though) but I never noticed anything wrong with Aidan's accent. I still don't. I can tell that the wildlings sound different from everyone else and that Tywin and Ned generally have different accents but for the life of me I can't find anything odd/wrong with Aidan's accent.

[Cas Stark]

Gillen's performance got much worse after S1. The accent fluctuations, the Batman voice, the overacting...

Batman voice. Why? Why? Why? Yes, I happened to watch a season 1 episode and then watched something from I think season 3 and it was like WTF happened to this guy with his voice???

[stannisismyking]

Yay.

Funny enough, I have an ear for accents (mostly German and Dutch though) but I never noticed anything wrong with Aidan's accent. I still don't. I can tell that the wildlings sound different from everyone else and that Tywin and Ned generally have different accents but for the life of me I can't find anything odd/wrong with Aidan's accent.

I think it's more that it has changed quite a bit from S1.

[sati]

Batman voice. Why? Why? Why? Yes, I happened to watch a season 1 episode and then watched something from I think season 3 and it was like WTF happened to this guy with his voice???

I think he started talking in this way in Garden of Bones episode, it's so noticeable in this scene Cat pulls a knife on him

[Janicia]

In the books, did Littlefinger get mad at Ned for failing to take his advice regarding the succession, and at Tyrion for the Myrcella bait-and-switch? I don't remember. I like that Littlefinger has this anger in the show because it ties into his nature as an ambitious climber - in both cases he thought the new Hand was going to take him seriously and then he realized that the new Hand had no intention of working closely with him and he responds with anger. Varys was mellow because Varys had the job he wanted and there was no likelihood of losing that job. But we've been seeing Littlefinger always reaching for the next thing, getting excited when he can make a big leap, and getting mad when thwarted. I like seeing him wanting things.

Book Littlefinger and Varys are more competent than their show counterparts, but they are so competent that they are bloodless. Book Varys would never inadvertently reveal that he's flashing back to Aerys when Joffrey says something appalling, but it was wonderful to see show Varys do it.

[Cas Stark]

I think he started talking in this way in Garden of Bones episode, it's so noticeable in this scene Cat pulls a knife on him

It's completely inexplicable though. How is an actor allowed to change around his delivery to that extent?

We're not talking about subtle issues like Dinklage's accent not always being spot on, but a REALLY weird choice by the actor, that didn't exist at all in the beginning, then, popped out, in an out of control theatrical manner, and thankfully, was somewhat reeled in for most of this season. But, no one on the show apparently noticed or cared for two seasons?

And, it's not as if he's a terrible actor, which makes the Batman voice even more bizarre.

[Blackfyre Gateau]

I'm doing my first re-read of the series at present. I hadn't realised just how different Book and HBO series versions of Littlefinger are in many respects until now. The latter is a far better character in my opinion, I really enjoy what Aidan Gillen brings to the role, but at times the differences are really quite striking.

The biggest single weakness of book Littlefinger is that, just like Tyrion, he is over-fond and too unguarded at times with his wit and his pride. In virtually every Ned POV chapter he's openly contemptuous and mocking of Ned - he doesn't seem to necessarily realise just how unctuous he's being at times. Some will argue it's affected, and that he's playing a mummer's farce of being a jumped up Lord, but I think there's meant to be an element of nouveau riche and underdog in the character's psyche that spills out for all his intelligence.

Even with Cersei in the Sansa POV in AGOT where Sansa has to write the letters to the Starks and Tullys, he seems to let his tongue run away from him:

E.g. The exchange where the issue of what's to be done with Jeyne Poole arises. Cersei genuinely doesn't know - and is royally irked to find out - she's been confined with Sansa.

Queen Cersi looked at each of the councillors in turn. "I won't have Sansa fretting needlessly. What shall we do with this little friend of hers, my lords?

Lord Petyr leaned forward. "I'll find a place for her".

"Not in the City", said the Queen.

"Do you take me for a fool?"

The Queen ignored that.

Now what's interesting about the HBO series is that you don't really get that vibe from him in terms of his public interactions in council sessions, etc.

But in the very first epsiode of season 2 they have Little Finger get carried away in his verbal jousting with the Queen over the Mockingbird sigil and his humble origins and love for Catelyn. As far as I can remember none of this is in the book, and when he quips that knowledge is power after implictly saying he knows about Cersei and Jaime, he nearly finds his throat slit before Cersei stops at the last second and delivers her whole "Power is Power" tutorial. You can see he's genuinely unnerved - I'd go as far as to say momentarily terrified - and realises he's gravely miscalculated.

It's one of the oustanding scenes to date for me in the series, and while there are big differences between Book and TV LF, I think scenes like this show his arc can be course-corrected to have him being the architect of his own downfall for being too clever by half.

Here's the scene btw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKTc8Chvw5k

[lakin1013]

I have zero issues with Gillan's portrayal of Littlefinger. For want of a better word, I find his portrayal accomplished and most recently as skeevy, like if I touched him and pulled my hand back, it might be oily. He also is very close to the LF in my head when I read the books. I came away with a view of a very smart and cunning businessman making money hand over fist, but in an environment that favored birth rights over ability. He would never be accepted for what he was, yet he continues to try to acquire the polish he thinks he lacks. But he is an opportunist without moral or ethical constraints, and he is dangerous. And skeevy about Sansa :-)

*As a US English speaker, I have no issue with accent problems, he sounds fine to me.

[sati]

It's completely inexplicable though. How is an actor allowed to change around his delivery to that extent?

We're not talking about subtle issues like Dinklage's accent not always being spot on, but a REALLY weird choice by the actor, that didn't exist at all in the beginning, then, popped out, in an out of control theatrical manner, and thankfully, was somewhat reeled in for most of this season. But, no one on the show apparently noticed or cared for two seasons?

And, it's not as if he's a terrible actor, which makes the Batman voice even more bizarre.

With all the issues this show has? This is still a minor one.

[Konradsmith]

His accent fluctuations are kindof inexplicable but he's been consistently inconsistent from the start. He's upped the Batman factor for sure as the seasons have passed, but even in s1 he switched from the whisper to yelling and from Irish to English as he pleased, so I've gotten used to it. He's got some pretty good moments under his belt too and does a great troll face, so there's that.

His accent in the Wire was even worse btw. He once said "haitch" for the letter H. NO AMERICANS SAY HAITCH!

[Good Guy Garlan]

LMAO at the OP in this thread complaining about Gillen...back in 2011, when he was decent

He's gotten worse with every season, and now he's just nails on a chalkboard for me. I'm baffled as to why no single director, writer or producer has attempted to stop this madness!