Movie Monday #12: Madame Dorothea

We are just over a year away from the theatrical release of ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’ and the hype for the adaptation of the internationally best selling series by Cassandra Clare will only continue to grow as the release draws nearer.

I’ve banded together with other ‘Mortal Instruments’ fansites (TMI Institute, Mundie Moms, TMI Examiner and TMI News en Espanol) for a new weekly feature called Movie Monday.

Each Monday leading up to the August 23, 2013, release of ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,’ we will take a look at a scene, moment, detail, etc. and give our opinions on how we think it will be interpreted in the big screen adaptation.

Week 12: MADAME DOROTHEA

Alyssa, TMI Source: Madame Dorothea is a character that, while minor, in fact plays a huge part in the story of City of Bones. Madame Dorothea’s serves as a great transition from our world to the Shadowhunter’s world as supernatural forces come into play, with the Forsaken and the portal. CCH Pounder can definitely bring a lot of depth and substance to the role of Madame Dorothea. She can definitely bring that psychic-medium attitude and really portray her character’s twist well.

Amber, TMI Institute: With the casting of CCH Pounder as Madame Dorothea, I went back and re-read The Five Dimensional Door, to try to picture the iconic actress in this scene. There are many things we learn in this moment when Jace and Clary visit Madame Dorothea’s apartment. The majority of the chapter focuses on a discussion of magic, legends and tea leaves. Even though Madame Dorothea comes across a bit like Miss Cleo in the beginning, it quickly becomes clear that she is hiding precious info about Clary and her mom. I really look forward to seeing the moment of clarity when Jace realizes that Dorothea is harboring a five-dimensional door and the moment Clary breaks away just enough to jump through.

Katie, Mundie Moms: First off, I LOVE the casting choices for Madame Dorothea. I can not wait to see she come to life on the big screen. Scene wise, I think this is an important scene to leave in the movie. It tells us a lot, with out telling us anything, or more like giving anything away. I liked that Cassie wrote it that way. With Clary and Jace’s visit, we come to understand Clary a little more, the Shadowhunter world, and with the tea leaf reading we learn a bit more about her relationship with Jace, and what’s to come. I hope they keep this scene fairly close to how it’s written in the book.

Natalie, TMI Examiner: I am really looking forward to CCH Pounder’s performance as Madame Dorothea. Madame Dorothea is a compelling character with such an interesting twist. I also look forward to her prediction that Jace will fall in love with the wrong person. For a seemingly small role, Dorothea plays a major part in Clare’s *Mortal Instruments* universe. I also look forward to the door being revealed in her apartment. I think Pounder has the potential to bring great experience and mystery to this role.

Tita, TMI News en Español: I love the scene that takes place in Dorothea’s house. First of all, the conversation between the 3 characters (Jace, Clary and Dorothea) it’s simply hilarious. Second, it gives us a little bit more light of what is going on with Clary’s mother and her heritage. 

Madame Dorothea appears 2 times in the book, this scene and the scene with Abbadon, and they both are in my opinion very important and they should be in the movie! And with CCH Pounder as Madame Dorothea the situation can’t be better :’)

What are your thoughts? Are you excited to see CCH Pounder as Madame Dorothea? Join in on the discussion!

Check back next Monday for the next edition of Movie Monday.