Casting different actors to play the same character in different ages

oxygen

Casting different actors to play the same character in different ages

The upcoming X-Men Movie "Days of Future Past" will have multiple instances of different actors as older and younger versions of the same character





To this end, what example of this type of casting do you remember for its effectiveness, or even for its in-effectiveness.

oxygen

I remember the movie “The Human Stain” cast Wentworth Miller as a young Anthony Hopkins. IT was kind of a stretch to imagine Wentworth Miller was going to age to look like Anthony Hopkins in the space of 20-30 years.

Otacon

Check out Looper



I think they went a little overboard there.

DirkVoodoo

Big Fish, I thought that Alison Lohman was an incredible "young" Jessica Lang.

Ewan McGregor, not a very good Albert Finney OR Alec Guinness.

But, it's acting, I'd never be that upset with how someone looks as a younger/older version of a character, only that they both have the same interpretation of the character. For example, Michael Fassbender's accent (which becomes atrocious in the final act!) is nothing like the refined Shakespearean tone of Ian McKellen...I like Fassbender a lot so I wish he would have taken this into account rather than his own interpretation when you are both in the same continuity.

delbertgrady

The younger counterparts of the three leads in Never Let Me Go (i.e., playing the younger versions of Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield) were excellent likenesses, but they weren't stars themselves.

krudler

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Big Fish, I thought that Alison Lohman was an incredible "young" Jessica Lang.

Ewan McGregor, not a very good Albert Finney OR Alec Guinness.

But, it's acting, I'd never be that upset with how someone looks as a younger/older version of a character, only that they both have the same interpretation of the character. For example, Michael Fassbender's accent (which becomes atrocious in the final act!) is nothing like the refined Shakespearean tone of Ian McKellen...I like Fassbender a lot so I wish he would have taken this into account rather than his own interpretation when you are both in the same continuity.

wtf was that about? as soon as he puts on the Magneto helmet he starts talking in a full blown Irish accent, it's bizarre, maybe they filmed those scenes first and he hadn't nailed the nondescript accent he has in the rest of the film at that point. It's not just a minor slip either its a full blown Irish brogue.

Casting multiple actors for various ages requires a leap of faith on the viewer, sometimes they nail it, I thought the young Clark in Man of Steel was a good choice, he looks like Cavill. I'd rather that than some piss poor cgi facial makeover or dodgy prosthetics. like Guy Pearce in Prometheus, whyyy couldn't they just have cast an old actor? He looks like Bad Grandpa from the Jackass movies.

DirkVoodoo

krudler wrote: »

wtf was that about?

I know! I didn't get it at all.

"Brudders!..."

I wondered if maybe it was one of the first scenes they filmed, because compared to some earlier scenes (that great one in the Argentinian bar!) his acting is really off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VC8goX1XL8

krudler

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I know! I didn't get it at all.

"Brudders!..."

I wondered if maybe it was one of the first scenes they filmed, because compared to some earlier scenes (that great one in the Argentinian bar!) his acting is really off:

I love that scene, the shot where he chucks the knife then makes it fly back into his hand was a cool little moment. Fassbender can do accents, his German one is good (and plays a part in Inglorious Basterds, even if his English one in that is hilariously "what ho old chap"), but you can hear it slip a few times in 300 as well.

username123

krudler wrote: »

wtf was that about? as soon as he puts on the Magneto helmet he starts talking in a full blown Irish accent, it's bizarre, maybe they filmed those scenes first and he hadn't nailed the nondescript accent he has in the rest of the film at that point. It's not just a minor slip either its a full blown Irish brogue.

Its bad alright. I have noticed he is more "broguey" in emotionally charged scenes in other roles as well - I do sometimes notice actors slip back to "native" in shouted or angry scenes, but Fassbender really lets it rip in that one.

I watched Water for Elephants recently and was not impressed with the older version of the main character - nothing about him really made me think he was similar to his younger counterpart - not just looks - but essence.

oxygen

Two more for Patrick Stewart :eek:

In Star Trek TNG generation episode, Tapestry, young Picard was played by another actor, Marcus Nash

In Star Trek : Nemesis movie, Picard's clone (close enough) was played by Tom Hardy. I actually thought this casting was very effective. Terrible movie, but very effective casting

old hippy

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Fassbender's accent was all over the shop in XMen; it's a pity because I do like him as an actor.

Now, I realise Hannibal (the series) is a televisual thingy but I'd believe Mads Mikkelsen's portrayal as a younger Dr Lecter if only I could understand his accent which is occasionally inpenetrable. So, I take it Lecter is of European origin?

Otherwise a fine series.

pinkypinky

In Atonement, they had Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave playing the same character. They don't look alike but they put some effort into physical movements, mannerisms and intensity, so it worked for me.

Victor

In The Reader http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051/ I don't think it worked having David Kross (19 at the time) and Ralph Fiennes (47 at the time) playing Michael Berg aged 16-24 and 40-something respectively. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051/

Meanwhile Kate Winslet (then 34) playing Hanna Schmitz aged ~30 and ~60 didn't work either. The make-up was as bad as Leonardo DiCaprio and Armie Hammer in J. Edgar with their characters in their later years. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1616195/

old hippy

I've lost count of the amount of actors who've played Darth Vader/Annakin Skywalker... none of them were convincing apart from James Earl Jones

Victor

old hippy wrote: »

I've lost count of the amount of actors who've played Darth Vader/Annakin Skywalker... none of them were convincing apart from James Earl Jones

He only did a voice over. Properly, there were only four.

Jake Lloyd
Hayden Christensen
David Prowse / James Earl Jones

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000005/

NuMarvel

krudler wrote: »

wtf was that about? as soon as he puts on the Magneto helmet he starts talking in a full blown Irish accent,

That's where Banshee hid his Irish accent, and poor Erik was overwhelmed for a few moments :pac: :pac:. Notice how Erik is back to his normal accent when he's breaking into the FBI building later .

Sad Professor

The two worst example I think of is The Debt and The Notebook. In the Debt, you have Jessica Chastain playing a young Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington as a young Ciaran Hinds and Marton Csokas as a young Tom Wilkinson. Not only do they not look alike, but don't act alike. The movie was obviously cast to appeal to the so-called "grey pound" (i.e. elderly cinemagoers), while throwing in some hot people for the youngsters. It's a disaster!

And don't even get me started about The Notebook! James Garner and Gena Rowlands are fantastic actors, but their scenes might as well belong to a different film.

pinkypinky wrote: »

In Atonement, they had Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave playing the same character. They don't look alike but they put some effort into physical movements, mannerisms and intensity, so it worked for me.

Agreed. It works well in Atonement. It helps that Ronan and Garai were unknown at the time. Redgrave is just Redgrave, of course, but by the time she shows up the film is nearly over and you don't care.

vepyewwo

Sad Professor wrote: »

And don't even get me started about The Notebook! James Garner and Gena Rowlands are fantastic actors, but their scenes might as well belong to a different film.

What makes it even worse is that at the end of the film they show a montage of their life and they use photos of a young James Garner and Gena Rowlands despite the fact that we've spent the whole film watching Gosling and McAdams as the younger versions.

Victor

Sad Professor wrote: »

The two worst example I think of is The Debt and The Notebook. In the Debt, you have Jessica Chastain playing a young Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington as a young Ciaran Hinds and Marton Csokas as a young Tom Wilkinson.

The worst bit there was that Sam Worthington could pass for a young Tom Wilkinson.

FortuneChip

Sad Professor wrote: »

The two worst example I think of is The Debt and The Notebook. In the Debt, you have Jessica Chastain playing a young Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington as a young Ciaran Hinds and Marton Csokas as a young Tom Wilkinson. Not only do they not look alike, but don't act alike.

How on earth they thought we'd understand Csokas will become Wilkinson is beyond me! It's even less believable when (as Victor said) Worthington actually resembles him more than his counterpart!

I also have to agree with the Big Fish! I fully expect Alison Lohman to become Jessica Lange when she's older!

Table Top Joe

Otacon wrote: »

Check out Looper



I think they went a little overboard there.

That was the first movie I thought of when reading the thread title, absolutely ridiculous casting in fairness, it just looked really stupid

Ironman76

Fassbenders Irish accent in First Class is a joke. Magneto is a Kerryman, ridiculous. I wouldn't mind but I thought he did a fine job up to this point of the movie.

jones

Re Fassbender, wasnt the reason his irish accent was so apparent at the end was that they never got time to ADR the audio? Whereas the rest of the movie he did audio reshoots (or whatever ya call them)

Sad Professor

X-Men First Class was a studio rush job. Fox hates X-Men and did everything in their power to sabotage the production. It's amazing the film is even watchable.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

There's a film called The Burning Plain, and this gives away a major part of the story so if you ever planned on watching it look away now.....





In the space of about 10 years this Jennifer Lawrence....


turns into this Charlize Theron...




Looks wise I think it's pretty terrible casting, but then again it's not supposed to be obvious.... but acting wise they sell it.

Overheal

oxygen_temp wrote: »

To this end, what example of this type of casting do you remember for its effectiveness, or even for its in-effectiveness.

Its interesting we're talking about Patrick Stewart. Star Trek Nemesis in which Tom Hardy (Bane) played a younger Picard clone.

It wasn't a good fit, was kinda confusing, the movie was terrible and had way too much melodrama and bad set props and action sequences (why dune buggies? wtf was that go kart with lasers in the ship?) but in the above photo for DoFP you can see the young guy they get to play Xavier is spot on for physical appearances.

Ipso

old hippy wrote: »

Now, I realise Hannibal (the series) is a televisual thingy but I'd believe Mads Mikkelsen's portrayal as a younger Dr Lecter if only I could understand his accent which is occasionally inpenetrable. So, I take it Lecter is of European origin?



Otherwise a fine series.

Yes, he's descended from Lithuanian nobility. I thought the sound in general was iffy in the series.

JP Liz V1

In the Now and Then movie, Christina Ricci grows up to become Rosie O'Donnell, this casting always baffled me

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

In the Now and Then movie, Christina Ricci grows up to become Rosie O'Donnell, this casting always baffled me

LOL!

That was some very weird casting for sure. The other 3 girls were kind of believable but that one was miles off.

JP Liz V1

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

LOL!

That was some very weird casting for sure. The other 3 girls were kind of believable but that one was miles off.

I think Ricci's character older played by Demi Moore would have been more suited

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I think Ricci's character older played by Demi Moore would have been more suited

True, but I thought Moore was a good choice for the grown up version of the other girl. Ricci is quite... unique? looking though, maybe they couldn't find anyone that suited and thought feck it.

oxygen

Overheal wrote: »

Its interesting we're talking about Patrick Stewart. Star Trek Nemesis in which Tom Hardy (Bane) played a younger Picard clone.

It wasn't a good fit, was kinda confusing, the movie was terrible and had way too much melodrama and bad set props and action sequences (why dune buggies? wtf was that go kart with lasers in the ship?) but in the above photo for DoFP you can see the young guy they get to play Xavier is spot on for physical appearances.

Ah I have to respectively disagree with you here. The young guy is James McAvoy and he was cast because he played a young Patrick Stewart in XMen first class. That was a prequel, so he didnt need to look like Patrick Stewart.

CastorTroy

Wil Wheaton as a young Richard Dreyfuss in Stand By Me? Though Dreyfuss is credited as the narrator and not Gordy.

And not a film but great casting in a series is the young Snow White in Once Upon A Time

Overheal

oxygen_temp wrote: »

Ah I have to respectively disagree with you here. The young guy is James McAvoy and he was cast because he played a young Patrick Stewart in XMen first class. That was a prequel, so he didnt need to look like Patrick Stewart.

It's difficult to argue that it wasn't a criteria for casting, even though in First Class the two wouldn't be on screen together or Stewart in the film at all. Seems like something they would have intentionally looked for. Unless you have some inkling to the contrary? I wont argue they get the same lad from FC to play this time around again, but thats not the point.

Its a shame McAvoy wasn't considered for Nemesis. Around the time he was actually doing Children of Dune for the Sci-Fi channel, before they became SyFy and ruined Stargate and replaced it with "Sharknado" and "Sharktopus" style movies (and both of those actually happened). And he did a fantastic job of it too. Why he was overlooked for nemesis I don't know. The physical resemblence is quite good. For Tom Hardy, they had to give him prosthetic makeup and include lines in the scenes like "not the face you remember" etc. to explain why they looked nothing alike. Ugh.

I'd also say a lot of the casting decision in First Class came from this entire debacle from Nemesis anyway, with enough nerds probably ranting "wtf didn't this guy get the part??" somewhere in the intervening 10 years. When it came time for hollywood to find another young stewart - well, lets just say they didn't give Tom Hardy a call.

oxygen

Overheal wrote: »

It's difficult to argue that it wasn't a criteria for casting, even though in First Class the two wouldn't be on screen together or Stewart in the film at all. Seems like something they would have intentionally looked for. Unless you have some inkling to the contrary? I wont argue they get the same lad from FC to play this time around again, but thats not the point.

Its a shame McAvoy wasn't considered for Nemesis. Around the time he was actually doing Children of Dune for the Sci-Fi channel, before they became SyFy and ruined Stargate and replaced it with "Sharknado" and "Sharktopus" style movies (and both of those actually happened). And he did a fantastic job of it too. Why he was overlooked for nemesis I don't know. The physical resemblence is quite good. For Tom Hardy, they had to give him prosthetic makeup and include lines in the scenes like "not the face you remember" etc. to explain why they looked nothing alike. Ugh.

I'd also say a lot of the casting decision in First Class came from this entire debacle from Nemesis anyway, with enough nerds probably ranting "wtf didn't this guy get the part??" somewhere in the intervening 10 years. When it came time for hollywood to find another young stewart - well, lets just say they didn't give Tom Hardy a call.

I dont really like being proven wrong on an internet forum of all places, but I will concede you have a very valid point on the resemblance. McAvoy arguably resembles Stewart more than Hardy




We can agree on the rapid degradation of SyFy though, I think it happened when they started spelling Sci-Fi SyFy but they have renewed Continuum for a 3rd season, so hope might not be lost yet

Overheal

Continuum was a movie you mean they bought a 3rd season of Universe?

Brian?

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Big Fish, I thought that Alison Lohman was an incredible "young" Jessica Lang.

Ewan McGregor, not a very good Albert Finney OR Alec Guinness.

But, it's acting, I'd never be that upset with how someone looks as a younger/older version of a character, only that they both have the same interpretation of the character. For example, Michael Fassbender's accent (which becomes atrocious in the final act!) is nothing like the refined Shakespearean tone of Ian McKellen...I like Fassbender a lot so I wish he would have taken this into account rather than his own interpretation when you are both in the same continuity.

I'd let him away with the accent. Magneto is a German Jew and not English. His accent would absolutely have changed as he lived in the English world for longer so I don't think continuity is important.

Charles Xaviet was different, he was always a refined English aristo so continuity was important with his character.

Mellor

krudler wrote: »

I love that scene, the shot where he chucks the knife then makes it fly back into his hand was a cool little moment. Fassbender can do accents, his German one is good (and plays a part in Inglorious Basterds, even if his English one in that is hilariously "what ho old chap"), but you can hear it slip a few times in 300 as well.

He is half german, and was born in germany. So he's not really "doing" a german accent in a normal sense.

oxygen_temp wrote: »

Ah I have to respectively disagree with you here. The young guy is James McAvoy and he was cast because he played a young Patrick Stewart in XMen first class. That was a prequel, so he didnt need to look like Patrick Stewart.

Why would a prequel be excluded from continuity of appearance?

The Bishop Basher

"I'm not there" would be in the extreme end of this I would have thought with 6 actors portraying Dylan at various stages of his life / career but I reckon it works quite well for the most part.

Brian?

Swanner wrote: »

"I'm not there" would be in the extreme end of this I would have thought with 6 actors portraying Dylan at various stages of his life / career but I reckon it works quite well for the most part.

It works because they're not supposed to look like Dylan.

nicowa

Brian? wrote: »

It works because they're not supposed to look like Dylan.

It works cos they don't need to look like each other. They each have enough of a resemblance to Dylan in their own right for it to work.

FloatingVoter

Amazed nobody mentioned Don Vito yet.

JP Liz V1

CastorTroy wrote: »

Wil Wheaton as a young Richard Dreyfuss in Stand By Me? Though Dreyfuss is credited as the narrator and not Gordy.

And not a film but great casting in a series is the young Snow White in Once Upon A Time

+ 1

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Was watching 13 Going on 30 last night and thought of this thread.

The girl they had play young Jennifer Garner was pretty good casting....



in fact it was such good casting that they got the same girl to play young Garner in Ghosts of Girldfriends Past a few years later...

dark crystal

In Beaches, the girl who played a younger Bette Midler was uncanny! Mayim Bialik, who also starred in the tv show 'Blossom'.

MakeEmLaugh

The best example of this that I've ever seen was Frankie Burke playing a young James Cagney in Michael Curtiz's Angels with Dirty Faces (1938).

ItAintMeBabe

dark crystal wrote: »

In Beaches, the girl who played a younger Bette Midler was uncanny! Mayim Bialik, who also starred in the tv show 'Blossom'.

Was going to post this myself! It really is amazing how alike they are, even down to little mannerisms, great casting.

JP Liz V1

Dakota Fanning played a young Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama and it was good casting imo

krudler

dark crystal wrote: »

In Beaches, the girl who played a younger Bette Midler was uncanny! Mayim Bialik, who also starred in the tv show 'Blossom'.

And how most people would recognise her now:

razorblunt

Saving Private Ryan, from Damon to the old man in the graveyard isn't too wide of the mark.

JP Liz V1

Jennifer Connelly plays a younger version of Elizabeth McGovern's character in Once Upon a Time in America, they look very similar now