MovieChat Forums > Denial (2016) Discussion > Brendan Gleeson would have been a better...

Brendan Gleeson would have been a better choice for Irving

posted 8 years ago by dab6
3 replies | jump to latest

Timothy Spall looks and sounds nothing like David Irving. Not at all.

[–] HarveyManfredSinJohn 8 years ago

I think Tom Wilkinson, who oddly enough plays another part in the film, would have been ideal.

Spall strikes me as too cuddly and down-to-earth, whereas Wilkinson can often excel at playing haughty, arrogant, supercilious members of the establishment. Wilkinson also looks a little like Irving, whereas it's hard not to think of Spall as a character who isn't several pounds overweight (and whatever else one says about the loathsome Irving, he wasn't fat).

[–] timppal 8 years ago

and Sarah Bernhardt as Deborah Lipstadt.

[–] BravisJ 8 years ago

and Sarah Bernhardt as Deborah Lipstadt.

I had a nice chuckle at that!

As for Irving. I think Spall got some of his speech, but Wilkinson, as was originally going to be cast as Irving, I think, would have been more appropriate.

As for Irving's persona. I think he's a bit of a goof ball. He has some valid points, but he seeks too much attention. He's said that in one of the rallies, he told the neo-Nazis they shouldn't cling to Hitler and the swastika as they do. So, that's something. I don't, however, feel that he's that honest. So I don't know what to think of him most of the time.

Denying an historical event doesn't mean approving it even if it indeed happened...