The Starks are dropping like flies as far as lead actors go! Will the slaughter continue, or will they get a reprieve? Guess you’ll have to wait a bit to find out!
Seriously though, that kid can seriously act with his eyes. That’s pretty impressive. During these early scenes with Luwin when he’s talking about his dreams and Luwin tells him that they’re just dreams, you can seriously see everything he feels and thinks without him needing to say anything, or even move! That’s pretty rare, and seeing as the emotions he has to convey are not exactly one-dimensional, that’s all the more impressive. One thing he has going for him is that he really seems smart and precocious (Bran – can’t say for Bran), which is good, because I consider Bran to be probably the smartest Stark out there, save maybe for Arya.
Why’s he so low, then, especially since he’s so young? Mainly because the others above him are even better. While Hempstead-Wright’s really great with acting with his eyes, that’s about all he does (through no fault of his own – the script really limits him to pretty bland lines and no physical movement). Now, I feel bad for pinning script constraints on him, but since I’ve never seen him convey extremely complex emotional turmoil through a very subtle performance or incredible screen presence, I’d rather not assume he can do that and put him over other characters that *have* been shown to do that.
I’ll say though that he’s a fairly average actor as far as dialogue and screen presence is involved (which, considering his age, is ridiculously impressive, since most child actors tend to be passable at best), from the material we’ve seen so far. Not bad per se, but not shining either.
Best scene: The very first scene from Episode 6, when Theon bursts into his room. He plays such a good foil to Theon’s pathetic arrogance, managing to remain calm in an extremely dire situation, and making it look believable. Well done.
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When you have nothing to say, quote yourself ~ Solfadore