Q: Whedon's recycling of actors

[Beth]

whedongeek said:

I'm enjoying the thread! Is it "annoying" and "distracting" because it pulls one out of the so-called 'suspension of disbelief' necessary to enjoying fiction, esp. fantasy fiction? i.e. it reminds one that these are actors rather than the characters they play? BTW, I hadn't realized the Tom Lenk one, either. So we've got:
Jasmine/Zoe -- Gina Torres
Holden/Knox/Tracey -- Jonathan Woodward
Caleb/Mal -- Nathan Fillion
Hamilton/Jayne -- Adam Baldwin
Cyrus (vamp Lenk)/Andrew -- Tom Lenk
Kane (werewolf hunter)/Sahjhan -- Jack Conley
Ken/Alliance agent Dobson/Richard Straley -- Carlos Jacott
Are there more? I think CowboyGuy is right, too -- I think Whedon tries to reuse actors who have worked well for him. The idea that makeup and character matters is an important one, too: we notice the recycling when they are most similar to the other characters they played, which suggests some typage or typecasting. Hmm....

He also used Summer Glau as the ballerina stuck in time on Angel and also on Firefly as River Tam. I'm sure there are others. It kinda makes me want to look into it and see how many there are.

-- Beth

[commandercool]

That was Summer Glau? I actually did not notice that. She actually looked quite different. Obviously, I normally don't pay much attention to the actors unlees they're main characters, and even then I apparently overlook a lot.

[Beth]

commandercool said:

That was Summer Glau? I actually did not notice that. She actually looked quite different. Obviously, I normally don't pay much attention to the actors unlees they're main characters, and even then I apparently overlook a lot.

Yep. That was her. When I first wateched Firefly I couldn't get it out of my head that I'd seen River Tam somewhere before. First thing I did was search old Buffy and Angel eps. Sure enough, there she is as the ballerina.

I always liked that ep, too. It's really quite a pivotal ep. Angel and Cordelia make out while taken over by the spirits of the lovers, Wes realizes that Fred and Gunn are going to be together, and of course Groossalug shows up right when Angel is about to proclaim his love for Cordy. Sigh.

[commandercool]

Angel and Cordelia together kind of creeps me out... but it was a very cool episode. Gunn's obsession with ballet was hilarious.