Reflections of a stormy petrel

Helen McCrory. Look, I don't care how good an actress this is, this is an obvious stitch-up. She was supposed to play Bellatrix last time and got pregnant, so they had to bring Helena Bonham-Carter instead - and I for one am not complaining. But evidently either Ms. McCrory or whoever is her protector is owed a favour, since some moron has announced that she is going to play Narcissa. Is effin' Hollywood colour-blind these days? Narcissa is so pale and blonde she looks like she shines in the dark in the Spinner's End episode. Her utter unlikeness to her sister is stressed. This is the second bloody time that a character described as a natural blonde is given to a most unlikely-looking bottle blonde for no discernible reason. The first was Jessica Alba in FAntastic Four, playing a blonde character from a blonde family with the Nordic name Storm. She looked like a million dollars - in three-dollar bills. Are natural blondes no longer being born, or have they gone out of style?

This may seem a strange thing to get mad about, but characters have their integrity. Even if you are playing something as vile as Wonder Woman - a character I loathe - it would be wrong to cast her as a long, lean redhead in a skirt, shirt and tie. And Narcissa Malfoy and Sue Storm Richards are characters who were designed to have a very definite look; to alter the look is to alter the character, and it is being done for no better reason than because someone in Hollywood is owed a favour.