Why didn't Voldemort have red eyes in the movie?

[Lisa]

I rewatched Sorcerers Stone last night, and Voldemort had red eyes, reminding me that in the books he does have red eyes. Why did they change it in the films? I think Voldy would've been scarier in the movies if they had stuck by Rowling's description in the books.

[Farheen]

Voldemort wasn't the only character they didn't stick to the description of.There was Harry with blue eyes instead of green,the little Lily in Snape's memory with brown eyes.That was ridiculous.I didn't notice Harry had blue eyes until someone pointed it out('cause blue and green do look a bit alike)but the little lily having brown eyes was easily noticeable.And I heard Daniel Radcliffe had some problem wearing green lenses but don't know about any problem the little Lily could have. That is all I can think of.Anything I left out?

[Becky]

Maybe they thought that Voldy having red eyes would have made him too scary. Or maybe they just didn't suit Ralph Finnes and rather than trying to find another perfect actor for Voldy they just decided to forget about it.

[Amanda]

I didn't watch the movies; just read the books. Good catch! I do believe I would be mad were I to see this without forewarning!

[Sammy]

Farheen wrote: "Voldemort wasn't the only character they didn't stick to the description of.There was Harry with blue eyes instead of green,the little Lily in Snape's memory with brown eyes.That was ridiculous.I d..."

Daniel was allergic to the color changing contact lenses hence the reason his eyes were the wrong color. So that's not really the movie makers fault

[Farheen]

Sammy wrote: "Farheen wrote: "Voldemort wasn't the only character they didn't stick to the description of.There was Harry with blue eyes instead of green,the little Lily in Snape's memory with brown eyes.That wa..."

Yes,I know that(I did point it out).I was talking about the younger Lily.

[[deleted user]]

'Ultimately, filmmakers decided that Voldemort's eyes would need to be altered for the films, as they believed the red eyes described in the novels would inhibit expression and distract audiences. ''If you didn't leave an enormous chunk of human being there,'' says Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell, ''then he wasn't going to scare you.'' ' Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey

[Emma]

You would think that with all the high tech gadgets, modern technology and breakthroughs with CGI, they would be able to digitally change things like eye colour before completing the film. It's not a big problem and by no means affects how good the films are, just little niggles.

[Merry]

Why did Lily had brown eyes? "Oh, Harry, you have your mothers eyes" Yeah. Right.
Why was Lily cast as a 40 year old woman when she died at 21?
Why was Bill's character destroyed? He was so cool in the books. I didn't even noticed he was there in the movies until someone point him out and asked (in a very offended tone) "IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE BILL WEASLEY?"
It was. And it was terrible.

[BubblesTheMonkey]

Maybe the contacts hurt the guy's eyes too much, so they just let him have blue eyes. Don't really know...

[Charlee]

Voldemort was played by different people in the first couple of films so not all of them would have had problems with contacts but it was a good theory. The actuality of the situation was that J.K Rowling felt it would be too scary for kids and children were her main target as its a childrens series. She couldn't change the books for that purpose but she believed imagining it was far less scary than kids getting a visual. It is easier for visual to stay with someone. As for other characters if you have a good group of actors then you aren't going to change what you want for a film, its unfortunate that the books are different than the movies in small ways and big ways but overall I like the movies as they are and the books as they are. Its like I get to be a fan and love two different things because they have differences, so you appreciate the books and movies for different things. Along with that J.K Rowling had a lot of say and who knows if she said no to a lot of things, she herself helped pick out the cast for Harry Potter. All in all, despite everything I love Harry Potter no matter what. Although the comment about Harry having his mothers eyes and that in the movie his moms eyes are brown, I thought that was hilariously true.

[Danielle]

voldemorts eye color was only one of a million little details that they got wrong in the movies.. pretty much after the prisoner of Azkaban the movies fairly sucked when compared to the books.. they couldn't even have Hermione in the right colored dress at the yule ball.. and those are just the little details I was even more disappointed by them leaving out the big stuff starting in the movie for the the goblet of fire (yes the prisoner of Azkaban was a little different here and there but it was so well done that it didn't matter.. and I saw that movie before I read that book so it didn't bother me as much.. unlike the rest of the books that I read before the movies.. i'll never do that again if I can help it, i'm waiting to read the hunger games until after all the movies are out so I can actually enjoy the movies and not criticize the whole time instead)

[Sloka]

Becky wrote: "Maybe they thought that Voldy having red eyes would have made him too scary. Or maybe they just didn't suit Ralph Finnes and rather than trying to find another perfect actor for Voldy they just dec..."
i think it's cause the first movie was made for like 11 y/o kids so they didn't want it to look too scary for them and as the series went on they probably didn't wanna change a character's appearance mid-series

[Eva]

Sammy wrote: "Farheen wrote: "Voldemort wasn't the only character they didn't stick to the description of.There was Harry with blue eyes instead of green,the little Lily in Snape's memory with brown eyes.That wa..."

fun fact: not only was daniel radcliffe allergic to green lenses (he wore them for one scene - the goodbye scene at the end of the first movie which was filmed first), he was also allergic to the glasses!

[Vicki]

Since when do they make red lenses? How are they going to make him have an eye color that doesn't exist?

[Eva]

Vicki wrote: "Since when do they make red lenses? How are they going to make him have an eye color that doesn't exist?"

don;t they make every color under the sun? i've seen pitch black huge ones too. that is really not a problem.

[Vicki]

Eva wrote: "Vicki wrote: "Since when do they make red lenses? How are they going to make him have an eye color that doesn't exist?"

don;t they make every color under the sun? i've seen pitch black huge ones t..."

I was wrong anyway. My daughter's godfather owns a video company, he does documentary films for a living (he helped with the one about the Boys of Company C whose plane was shot down over Binh Dinh Province in Vietnam), he said they could have done it a different way even if they didn't have lenses of that particular color. He says they could have made them have rainbow-colored eyes these days. I thought they must have used lenses to do it. I don't know everything he knows, including the fact that the director, producer or screenwriter "probably made an executive decision not to use red eyes." They have seemingly millions of reasons for doing so and some are as simple as one person wants the production to reflect his own desires as opposed to the author's or screenwriter. Doing a movie production is like trying to herd cats, he said. Getting a group of people to agree on the same thing when most of them want to run the whole show from their own point of view isn't easy. Some people think there's an I in teamwork.
He thinks someone should ask the people who made the movie that question or try to find an interview of someone discussing why they didn't do it. Then he'll know for sure what the reason is. I won't know. I read a movie interview by a guy who made the film 'The Redwood Massacre.' Richard, my daughter's godfather, read between the lines to know what he was really saying. I didn't even know the lines existed until he informed me of "movie-speak," which is akin to double-speak or crypto-speak. Meaning working in the field gives one an advantage.