Actor David Thewlis (Remus Lupin) was in Toronto, Ontario, Canada today for the International Festival of Authors, and gave his reaction to the news from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling regarding Dumbledore. The actor said that he was surprised, because while he was filming “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” director Alfonso Cuaron had the idea that Lupin was gay,”and he described my character like a ‘gay junkie’ .” At this link you can watch a short video interview with the actor who discusses his reaction and more. David Thewlis will be in Toronto again tomorrow to promote his new novel “The Late Hector Kipling” before returning to England to complete work on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Problem was, Jo had to focus on Harry’s story most of all. Going off on a tangent about the love lives of characters not directly in contact with Harry all the time would have been a digression.
Don’t forget, the books are written from Harry’s POV. He wouldn’t have been around to see the relationship develop between Remus and Tonks.
This is why I don’t want Cuaron directing DH. He makes a beautiful film, but he also tries to make it too much his own. It worked well enough for Azkaban, but for Deathly Hallows, we need a director who is going to stick closely with Jo’s vision.
Not a lot of time to comment and haven’t seen the video clip yet, but I do have to say that from reading the book I would have never got the idea that Lupin was gay, but it was the interpretation in the movie that lead me to any thoughts that way. Now I know I can blame Cuaron for that. : ) That whole “quarreling like an old married couple” bit from Snape, etc. Ahh well it wouldn’t have mattered if Lupin was gay either, but it is intersting what the directors read into it vs what JKR puts into it.
The gayest werewolf that ever gayed, and a carcrash marriage and adorable kid does not change that. Which isn’t to say he didn’t love Tonks, but most telling for me was in the final scene in the forest, when he was happiest to have been younger and with his friends. I don’t think Tonks ever really had a patch on Sirius…
Cuaron for DH!
And of course he was a junkie – did you see him with that chocolate? :D
(Also, how great would it be if Maggie Smith was next to trot up and say she thought it was her character?)
giggles. So true I think it will set off a whole bunch of, “but I thought it was me” quotes from the actors. I also love the combined names and am totally a David Thewlis as Lupin fan.
I love David Thewlis as Lupin, but this is yet another reason why Alfonso should not get his hands anywhere near movie 7. I still think he is an amazing director, but not for Harry.
Why does this information somehow make people think Cuaron shouldn’t direct DH? I think Thewlis’s portrayal of Lupin was perfect, and the gay=werewolf/junkie=wolfsbane potion conceptualization of the role makes sense. What makes Cuaron so great is that he is able to communicate more with less. If anything, that makes him uniquely qualified to direct DH.
That being said, I don’t think he will direct because Yates seems like a sure thing. Still this information is irrelvant to his directing skill because in POA, Lupin did not come off as a gay junkie. Cuaron’s direction to Thewlis merely offered another way of looking at the character of Lupin that reflects the prejudices existing in our own world today.
honestly! why does everything that to revolve around sex with you people?! why can’t two people of the same gender just be best/close friends without it turning into some sort of homo-fest!
Not surprising since Lupin in POA was portrayed very Gay IMO. Which was just out of left field since I never got any impression in the book 3 or any of the books that he was such.
I don’t think anyone has ever asked her a direct question about Lupin sexuality of course she may not want to burst the bubble of the many Lupin/Sirius fans. Though you got of think that it will come out eventually especially if she does that encyclopedia even if its years away it should have more back-story on some characters. Not to mention after DD someone is bond to ask eventually if there were any other main-semi man gay characters.
We honestly don’t know, nothing happened between Tonks and Lupin till after Sirius was gone They very well could have dated at some point in OOTP and Lupin broke up with her with in the time Harry was at his relations. Honestly it seems a bit far fetched that Tonks would become so severely depressed over a guy she had never dated or been with just because he wouldn’t go out with her. I don’t think Tonks and Lupin relationship was done poorly it was just a back-story relationship that we get very little information about. I think Lupin was unhappy because of what he said he feared Tonks would now be an outcast too, that he didn’t want his family to suffer the way he did and be shunned by society as he had been.
As far as Lupin saying his people aren’t accepted in society that could be a metaphor for many things, people who have aids, leprosy or some other illness.
The reason for Lupin and Tonks being together = Red herring.
As I read HBP, I remembered Tonks popping up at odd places and not acting like herself, changing her patronus, losing her animorphmagus powers and somehow always showing up whenever Draco was close by, so I swallowed all that hook line and sinker and thought she was Draco spying for Voldy and that that was part of his mission.
When it turned out she was just in love with an older man, it was weak and unexpected.
If he was gay to begin with, maybe she switched him to straight for the story to make sense. I mean, come on, they’re her characters and if a red herring is more important than the sexual orientation of a secondary character, so be it. She had to stick with that decision afterwards though.
‘Why can’t two guys be friends without it turning into a homofest?’
Well, let’s see, Dumbledore had a close friend…
So no, having a close friend does not automatically mean that there was a romantic/sexual relationship going on. But sometimes there is. Hermione and Harry are friends, they are not banging. Hermione and Ron also started out as friends, they wind up married. It’s not unreasonable to favor one or the other pairing (except that Harry and Hermione are main focal characters with endless chances to show that they are indeed just friends) Well, okay, you can favor it, but don’t expect it to happen.
Go figure that some people got to thinking when two guys gave a joint Christmas present and lived together and all that, that there might have been more than friendship there. And that until the end of HBP, that might have seemed a more likely relationship than a guy and a girl who were in the same room together once or twice (and here I thought Tonks’ banter with MadEye all throughout was way more loaded with chemistry. What, is MadEye too old for her or something?)
Canon Remus/Tonks doesn’t bother me. Fans who shipped them ever since OotP because they happened to both be single, desirable characters, they bother me. What, can’t a guy and a girl be friends without it turning into a huge heterofest?
"I thought it was the perfect plan... a bluff... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you... It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him t
Problem was, Jo had to focus on Harry’s story most of all. Going off on a tangent about the love lives of characters not directly in contact with Harry all the time would have been a digression.
Don’t forget, the books are written from Harry’s POV. He wouldn’t have been around to see the relationship develop between Remus and Tonks.