[LMB] Casting Ivan

[Eric Oppen]

I always picture Ivan as very like Hugh Laurie,  the guy who played "George" 
(Prince Regent and later Lieutenant the Honorable) in the last two seasons 
of _Blackadder._

A very upper-class "Hooray Harry" sort of twit---well-meaning, but inept and 
dim as all-get-out.  However, the actor in question has played other roles 
where he's quite intelligent and cunning.  He's Dr. House in _House, MD,_ 
among other things...(www.imdb.com is our friend, isn't it, preciousss?)

So, every so often, when this version of Ivan thinks nobody's watching, you 
see glimpses of another person under his "silly upper-class bonehead" 
exterior.  Sort of like Lord Peter Wimsey---on the surface, he's a sort of 
Bertie Wooster type, but now and again the mask slips and you see the steely 
intelligence under the mask he chooses to wear.