Man, Burn Gorman and the directors have to put such a crazy amount of effort into make Hermann look like “that” instead of the elven prince that Gorman’s bone structure lends itself too. There’s like an insane amount of physical, comedic acting Burn does as Hermann to downplay how attractive he is. He twists his lips a lot, hunches over, fusses, and wears clothes especially in PR1 that simply don’t fit from the oversized jackets to the trousers belted at the waist that are a bit too short. These are pretty straightforward theatrical visual cues to make someone come off as “old” and unfashionable. It kinda reminds me of how Dick Van Dyke plays the old man in the original Mary Poppins. Not the least is the haircut, it just completely obscures that man’s insane bone structure.
So for me the joke is always that one day out of necessity, Hermann wears a tailored suit, maybe for some book cover photo shoot he’s obligated to go through in order to promote the sales and he grudgingly accepts the offered wardrobe change and even allows them to make him up a bit and fix his hair, and during a break he wanders back to the lab to get some work done, and like… everyone in the Shatterdome wonders if Hermann’s hot brother has showed up or something.
Newt devolves into a dumbstruck, blushy puddle when he realizes what Hermann’s been hiding under the fussy professor/Turing cosplay. The next day Hermann goes back to his old wardrobe and barely even notices the second glances, he’s got bigger things to worry about than his appearance, so long as that lends itself to professional respect by wearing proper attire for his position, but Newt can never forget.
Avelera 