Age Inconsistency in Casting

[NicholsC97]

The inconsistency in casting drives me crazy, if the character was a teen then cast a teen! It's not that hard, I swear...

[Corina Elena]

Yes, I hate that also. The entire movie/series ends up looking unrealistic, like a bunch of 30-years-old adults are going to High School. I didn't notice it so much when I was younger, but now it just looks weird. Also, the things they do in movies like Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Riverdale, etc., drive my adult mind crazy. I would freak out if a 16-year-old would get drugged on cocaine and kill somebody, for example. I don't even know what impact these plots have on an impressionable teenage mind.

[Inkroverts]

I'm not sure if the age of the actors is the problem. I think it's the appearance. People will get mad over a child character being portrayed by an adult. The coming Dora movie has me completely baffled and I certainly will not watch it.

[DD129]

I agree that it’s not the age of the actors, but what they look like. There are definitely lots of adults out there that can pass for a teen. As long as it’s believable, then I don’t mind an adult playing a teen. Adults usually have more experience with acting than teens do too. However, if an actor is clearly too old (or young) for the role, then the character just seems out of place. Bad casting would definitely leave a bad taste in my mouth.

[Felicity Granger]

Sometimes an actress or actor seems perfect for the role due to really good acting on a whole, the audition convinced the writers or something else like a member of the casting crew just already had them in mind for the role. Also, if they look suitable for the role and can pull it off, I don't see why not.

[Nym182]

I definitely think that there is a lot that goes into picking an actor/ress for a part in a show/movie based off a book. As a book person, I of course, want to see it exactly as I read it, but I think there are some realistic issues when it comes to that.

For example, take Game of Thrones. All of the main kid characters they aged up. I assume the material they are going to be covering is a major factor. Like Arya is 9 or something and Dany is 14ish. People would have been outraged at seeing Jason Mamoa having his fictitious way with an 14 year old girl. I mean, people got made that Arya had sex in the last season.

I am way more understanding about why they age some characters up, especially if the material they are covering is darker. (luckily they got away with it in The Shining by not filming any traumatic with the kid that played Danny, he thought he was filming an entirely different movie)

[slj3988]

It depends. When it comes to minors in a film with violence, swearing or sexual content, they have to cast actors over 18 for legal reasons. And adult actors generally have more experience and can play the role with more range than a 16 year old doing their first movie. What bothers me is scenes where they wake up in the morning looking perfect. Where's the smeared makeup and morning breath?
When an actor is young and cast for a role considerably older, I don't know. It also has to do with chemistry between actors at auditions. You may get an actor who looks nothing like how the character ought to look, but they play the role better

[slj3988]

I definitely think that there is a lot that goes into picking an actor/ress for a part in a show/movie based off a book. As a book person, I of course, want to see it exactly as I read it, but I think there are some realistic issues when it comes to that.

For example, take Game of Thrones. All of the main kid characters they aged up. I assume the material they are going to be covering is a major factor. Like Arya is 9 or something and Dany is 14ish. People would have been outraged at seeing Jason Mamoa having his fictitious way with an 14 year old girl. I mean, people got made that Arya had sex in the last season.

I am way more understanding about why they age some characters up, especially if the material they are covering is darker. (luckily they got away with it in The Shining by not filming any traumatic with the kid that played Danny, he thought he was filming an entirely different movie)

Yeah Dany was 13 in the book. Graphic sex scenes with underage kids would never be allowed on film. In the book, it's a reflection of the times and doesn't come across as strongly. Maisie who played Arya wasn't even allowed to read the books for research cause of the adult scenes.

[mariana90]

It's a matter of money in the end. If you have an underage cast, they can't work for as long as over 18s can in one day, which means you need more days to film material, ergo more money.

Harry Potter got away with this because the books were so successful. It's super easy to get funding for a project with such an enormous fanbase.

If Hunger Games had had an underage cast, probably the special effects would have sucked, or something would have been sacrificed to pay for more shooting days.

[neskelin]

Game of thrones is another example. There was no way that Jon Snow was a teenager.or even the whole stark family

I agree. I started watching the show before I started the books, and it was really weird reading about Jon Snow being a 14 year old when Kit Harrington is obviously much older.

I too agree on this.

[leximutia]

Well, it would be difficult to find exact age matches for every character to the actor/actress. Honestly, as long as the actor/actress does well portraying the age of the portrayed character I'm completely fine with the difference in age. The issue is that oftentimes, actors/actress don't.

[Julie-p]

I don't agree with casting adults as teens in movies or series. I understand that it is harder to work with teen actors due to limitations in time (after all, they still need to have classes), but putting adults as teenagers end up portraiting a very different image of what teens actually look like.

Taking Hunger Games as an example, Katniss is supposed to be a 17-year-old, and it is extremely important to understand the message the story tells to see the actual violence that children and teens are subjected to in that world. They focused on the romance, something I don't believe would have happened if they had cast actors that are the same age as the characters.

[NatRose]

I don't think that actors cast need to always be exactly the age of the characters, and I understand that it can be much more difficult (and at times even illegal) to cast underage actors for a role. However, I do agree that wide disparities between an actor's age and that of the character they're portraying can be not only frustrating but also harmful. If you cast someone who's 25 to play a 17 year old, then 17 year olds watching the film are going to start holding themselves to unrealistic standards of what a 17 year old should look like. Even disregarding the role of makeup, almost any 25 year old will look better (and obviously more mature) than they did at 17. Young people in our society are increasingly trying to look older than they are, and I think the practice of casting older actors contributes to that.

Many shows and movies produced outside of the US do a much better job at realistic casting than Hollywood does. One of my favorite shows that actually uses teen to portray teens is SKAM, a show that was originally Norwegian and has now been remade in many other countries. This, along with excellent writing, makes the show much easier and healthier for young people to relate to.

[alexandriaNS]

I think the reason why this is so popular is because authors often times have teenagers doing things that may seem inappropriate in the real world. A lot of books have romance scenarios between underage teenage girls and boys who are 19-22ish. I can think of several series like that. It's more popular now to normalize these types of underage activity (i.e. Riverdale) but major motion pictures aren't going to be caught promoting it.

[Falling4Ever]

I think sometimes it's better if the actors are a bit older and know what they are doing and are more experienced than younger actors. However actors that are like 10 years older than the character just ruins the subversive experience one has when they expect the movie to resemble the book.