Needing no introduction

I did get to Resistance, the movie I was supposed to see in the theater on Monday night, on Tuesday night instead. As I think I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had the option of a screener link to watch, and availed myself of that option in order to put up a review.

It was fine. I haven't written my review yet. I'm still trying to decide whether to marginally recommend people see it or marginally steer them clear.

First, though, I want to write about a peculiarity in the movie's closing credits.

One of the first faces you see in the movie is Edgar Ramirez, who, through the dumb luck of production and release schedules, is appearing in the second of three new releases I will see before the month is out. He had a starring role in The Last Days of American Crime, which I reviewed back at the beginning of the month, and appears to have a similar sized role in Olivier Assayas' Wasp Network, which I expect to watch and subsequently review on Thursday. His role is much smaller here, and I didn't come here today to talk to you about Edgar Ramirez.

But another of the first faces you see is a young actress named Bella Ramsey, who was very familiar to me. It took me until after the closing credits rolled to figure out why:

That's right, she's the badass preteen noblewoman of the north, Lyanna Mormont, from Game of Thrones, who has twice the courage of men twice her age.

I probably would not have looked her up at all, though -- and would have remained ignorant of the connection -- if it weren't for the peculiar placing of her name in the credits.

After about eight of the movie's adult stars are listed, her name comes on screen as follows: "Introducing Bella Ramsey as Elsbeth."

Given that I know how the "introducing" credit is typically used, I knew it had to be her, even though I didn't know her character's name was Lisbeth. (I was paying attention, really I was.) But then I thought "Well, that can't be her, because I know I know that actress, even though I can't remember from where. They wouldn't 'introduce' an actress I know, would they?"

As it turns out, they would.

Ramsey was actually "introduced" to us ages ago. She first appeared on GOT as long ago as 2016, when she was a wee young lass of 13, or possibly even 12. (And no, she's not from Scotland, but I thought it fit here.) She went on to appear in eight more episodes.

Investigating further into the use, or possible misuse, of the "introducing" credit, I found Wikipedia has this to say on the matter:

"If an unfamiliar actor has the lead role, he may be listed last in the list of principal supporting actors, his name prefixed with 'and introducing' (as Peter O'Toole was in Lawrence of Arabia). However 'and introducing' is now mostly used in feature films by a young actor (usually a child) who appears for the first time in a motion picture."

So I thought that maybe this is the explanation, that while Ramsey had appeared in a TV show, she may never yet have appeared in a movie. Well, no, that's not it either. Prior to Resistance, Ramsey also had the following movie credits:

Two for Joy (2018) as "Miranda"
Holmes & Watson (2018) as "Flotsam"
Princess Emmy (2019) as "Princess Gizana"
Judy (2019) as "Lorna Luft"

To say nothing of the five short films she has also appeared in.

And why wouldn't she be in all these films, given how she commands the screen so memorably in a relatively short amount of screen time on Game of Thrones? (Er, memorably enough for me to know I knew her, if not immediately to know how.)

Resistance may be the most central to any film she's been in. But in one of those other films (Judy) she plays an actual person, the daughter of the title character, and she's also been on four other TV shows in addition to GOT.

In other words, thanks but no thanks. The special spotlight she gets in the credits is nice and all, but you don't need to "introduce" us to Bella Ramsey, thank you very much.

In fact, if you're not careful, she might introduce you to the cold steel of her blade, and then spit on your corpse.