Seth MacFarlane reads much more like a Harold Hill to me than a Henry Higgins. Hill is a snakeoil salesman, slick and shameless, who grows into a conventional romantic. That fits MacFarlane (in his secondary crooner career persona) much more than Higgins, who to me is an elitist self-righteous and charmingly conceited professional intelligence. That's why I was instantly sold on Colin Firth when he was rumored, regardless of his vocal aptitude, because I think the role is ably within his wheelhouse. Fiennes has more of a dark, brooding energy in most of his roles, but he has also done his share of charming, introspective and romantic, not to mention just possessing a tremendous emotional range and having made all sorts of intelligent acting choices, so I expect he'd be able to do it if cast.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
