20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Original Character Sketches
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As
evidenced by these character sketches here, the main characters in 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea were originally much younger than the actors that
would eventually fill the roles. In this sketch of Ned Land, he appears to have originally been envisioned as a young, vivacious, upstart of a man, not of experience but full of energy. Kirk Douglas, thirty eight years old at the time, made the character more of a cheerful, yet seasoned old harpooner who had seen it all and decided that he was going to have fun anyways. Douglas' rendition of Ned Land is far more real than the Ned Land suggested in this picture. James Mason's Nemo is the only character that made it from the drawing board into an actual actor, as if he was meant for the role before the book was written (ok well, maybe not that much fate). The beard, clothing, even the look in the eyes matches that of Mason extremely closely. An interesting thing to note is that, at the time Mason was cast for the role, he did not have a beard and it took him six weeks to grow it in. At the Disney photo archive, there is a series of photos taken weekly tracking the progress of Mason's beard. They are not, however, available here or anywhere for viewing unfortunately. The character of Aronnax aged quite significantly from paper to Paul Lukas. Apparently Aronnax was originally going to be more of a naive young scientist out to make his reputation and still very unfamiliar with the ocean and its ways. Lukas brought wisdom to the role and a great degree of philosophy that would make even the most famous Greek philosophers cringe. It works though, as Mason's Nemo is an even match that is able to throw it back at him just as quickly as he can spout it. Conseil seems to have become a stunted version of Aronnax as Peter Lorre portrayed him, although rather than a scientist, Peter Lorre played Conseil more as a gentleman's gentleman with an interest in the biological sciences. |
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