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I've started watching The Man in the High Castle (2015) and became quite impressed with the overall idea and presentation of the post-WWII alternative reality. It looked like the producers chose to use a lot of real facts/names from our history, however, they've decided not to use Hitler's real facial features and I would go as far as to say that there was no obvious resemblance to the real Hitler (IMHO). What might be the reason for such a decision, considering how easily they could've made him look recognizable? Is there some sort of moral or ethical burden?

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    Because he's dead?
    – T.J.L.
    Aug 17, 2020 at 14:04
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    I'm flagging this as POB because it's based on whether you think the actor looks like Hitler or not. For the record, I think he looks like a pretty close match.
    – TylerH
    Aug 17, 2020 at 14:04
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    I'm beginning to wonder if the OP knows what the original guy looked like... The character in the show is a dead-ringer.
    – Oscar Bravo
    Aug 17, 2020 at 15:56
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    I think most would agree that Hitler's defining facial feature was his moustache. If someone sports a toothbrush moustache, they will inevitably be compared to either Hilter or Charlie Chaplain. It's so iconic that you really don't need much else to play the part.
    – Nuclear Hoagie
    Aug 17, 2020 at 16:50
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    @NuclearWang I absolutely disagree. Hitler has a lot of facial features, not only hairstyle and moustache. Look at the actors who have played him over the decades. Chaplin looks nothing like him, neither does Alec Guiness and a myriad of other actors who have played the role- Muser or Ganz actually do resemble his facial features somewhat.
    – Polygnome
    Aug 17, 2020 at 20:30

1 Answer 1

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For the benefit of those like me who haven't watched the series, here's a picture of Hitler in The Man in the High Castle, as played by Wolf Muser:

enter image description here

To me, this is still recognisably Hitler, just an older, greyer Hitler. The Man in the High Castle takes place in 1962, when Hitler would have been 73, so it makes sense to me that he wouldn't look exactly like he did during World War II - he would have aged considerably since then, and indeed, he appears to have done so.

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    Counterpoint: you can put a side part and a toothbrush moustache on anything and it would look like Hitler.
    – Chris L. Barnes
    Aug 17, 2020 at 11:31
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    Literally on anything
    – infinitezero
    Aug 17, 2020 at 11:47
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    @ChrisL.Barnes True, but Muser still resembles Hitler more than some others who have portrayed him, like Alec Guiness (very little resemblance), Anthony Hopkins (very little resemblance) or Charlie Chaplin, Michael Sheard, Ian McKellen, Noah Taylor, Robert Carlyle (no resemblance whatsoever). I think Muser is quite a good choice, facially. Like with Bruno Ganz, you can clearly see the resemblance, imho.
    – Polygnome
    Aug 17, 2020 at 11:53
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    @ChrisL.Barnes: There's a difference between looking like Hitler and wanting to look like hitler. I look nothing like the man, and if I were to don the haircut and mustache, I still wouldn't look like him, but you would infer that I am trying to make myself look like him regardless. Those are different things. The man in this picture believably looks like Hitler (and oddly even more like Bruno Ganz, the actor who played Hitler in Downfall/Der Untergang, from the well known video meme).
    – Flater
    Aug 17, 2020 at 15:40
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    I really hope we don't start seeing CAPTCHAs with "select all the items that look like Hitler".
    – Acccumulation
    Aug 17, 2020 at 21:44

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