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Pick an actress: who do you think would have fit the role of Maris?

posted 7 years ago by artguylarry (498)
44 replies | jump to latest

I've pictured a few different actresses in the role

Kiera Knightley - although she was born in 1985 so she was only 8 when the show started. I just picture her in the part as she is now.

Minnie Driver

Lara Flynn Boyle

Meg Ryan - most perfect in my opinion, though she was never really a TV actor, AND Niles actually dated someone who was the very spitting image of Meg Ryan (and oddly, not even a relation)

[–] PaladinNJ (21525) 6 years ago

I would say Shelley Long but she was already taken

[–] seal412 (336) 6 years ago

Sigourney Weaver

[–] fc31 (5477) 2 months ago

That is pretty close, though she has this ruthless look, a bit different from being callous.

The same reason I don't think Helen hunt can be Maris.

[–] ClementinaSpur (1210) 5 months ago

Hear me out on this idea....Maris should've been played by Bebe Neuwirth. Yes, the same actress who played Frasier's ex-wife Lilith.

She could've worn a blonde wig to differentiate Maris and Lilith. She's quite slender and pale which describes what characters say about Maris. Now that I think about it, I do wonder why the writers made Maris and Lilith quite alike in several ways.

It would've been quite the ironically funny twist too to have two psychiatrist brothers unaware they have married basically the same woman in two different bodies.

[–] fc31 (5477) 2 months ago

That is kind of lacking imagination, isn't it? I am sure there are others.

Brothers marrying the same woman is a bit weird too. I mean at least Martin would have spotted it.

[–] fc31 (5477) 2 months ago

So none thought of Kristen Stewart? Of course I am aware she is not the right age (she was 2 when the show started), but we are discussing the image of Maris.

I think she would work.

Maris I imagined would be beautiful and elegant, and has this cold and callous quality.

She actually needs to be prettier than Daphne, otherwise Niles would look quite bad for simply going for the look.

It should be the homeliness quality, the warmth and caring attracted him. That is what he did not get from Maris.

[–] FootOfDavros (8238) 2 months ago

Tessa Thompson

[–] fc31 (5477) 2 months ago

She can look bitchy, but that is not old money arrogant and callous.

[–] FootOfDavros (8238) 2 months ago

Whoops! Sorry - I just realised I was thinking Daphne not the unseen Maris!

[–] fc31 (5477) 2 months ago

She does not look like a Daphne either.

She does not have that homely yet lovely and pure quality, which I think was the reason Niles fell for.

She looks more "real", like Roz, to be honest she would do a decent Roz, better than the Roz in the show anyway.

[–] FootOfDavros (8238) 2 months ago

She was quite homely and low class in Creed I think. That's how I was making the association.

I take it you weren't a fan of Roz then?

I didn't find her the best really, not sure if she improved as the show went. We kind of bailed on watching this during the season where Mercedes Ruehl turned up as his boss. Maybe the 3rd?

[–] fc31 (5477) 2 months ago

I think Roz was the weakest among the main cast.

Neither the character nor the actress was great. She was supposed to be this promiscuous and independent girl, but it was neither comical nor convincing. I mean we never get to know Roz, why she did what she did, I think the character was mainly a plot device.

I think she was supposed to be a feminist written by male writers, sleep around and do not press for commitment, like a hippy girl, but I don't get hippy vibe from her.

Like what I said before I think she is a character of convenience, a side piece of Frasier character.

[–] fc31 (5477) 2 months ago

Kiera Knightley, she has this dimples look, that is just too cute to be Maris. We are not supposed to like her.

Lara Flynn Boyle, she has this comical quality, it is the same reason I don't think Valerie Mahaffey would have worked.

Minnie Driver, she kind of looks more understanding, like Kristin Scott Thomas, I think she could work things out with Niles.

Meg Ryan, really? Most perfect? Niles would break up with her, because she was cold and distant? Where did see that quality from her?