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30 Times Hollywood Didn’t Make A Mistake When Picking An Actor To Play Young Versions Of Older Characters
It’s no surprise that some celebrities look shockingly alike. Natalie Portman and Keira Knightly. Rupert Grint and Ed Sheeran. Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood. However, it’s uncanny when we see almost perfectly identical younger versions of older actors appear on the screen.
It’s like they’re the same person, just, well, younger. In fact, some of the actors look so similar, some of us are guilty of not even thinking that the younger and older versions could be played by different people. For example, I personally thought that the kid and teenager versions of Sabrina from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina were played by the same actress. Turns out, I was wrong.
Hollywood expert and insider Mike Sington told Bored Panda that it's not at all difficult to find the 'perfect' young actor to play their older counterpart. "The reason? The pool of actors is just so large to cast from, even of child or teen actors. And the talent pool is worldwide now. Hollywood is more than willing to look beyond its own borders to find the perfect candidate," Mike explained. Scroll down for the rest of our interview with the expert who gave us a glance at how Hollywood casting works behind the scenes.
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#1
Sabrina In The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina (Played By Mckenna Grace As A Kid And Kiernan Shipka As A Teenager)
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#2
Stanley In "It" (Played By Wyatt Oleff As A Kid And Andy Bean As An Adult)
#3
Shirley In Haunting Of Hill House (Played By Lulu Wilson As A Kid And Elizabeth Reaser As An Adult)
"I know of no instances where a production had any big problem finding a young act to play an older counterpart. It’s all about the 'look' first. Casting directors start there. The look has to be right for the audience to believe that this is the younger version of the character. Once you have that 'buy-in,' you’re mostly there. The young actor’s talent then becomes important for complete believability," Mike explained.
According to the Hollywood insider, Tinseltown almost exclusively focuses on finding people who have acting experience. Even in the case of young actors.
"It’s a rare situation to cast an inexperienced actor, and work with them during production. That would slow down the production, and of course 'time is money' which is especially true in Hollywood."
Mike added, "Most productions are working under tight budget and time constraints, and there is an unwillingness to work with new talent. An exception would be an actor that is so 'special,' the production would be willing to put in the extra time and effort to make it work. That would be a rare exception, however."
#4
Snow In Once Upon A Time (Played By Bailee Madison As A Kid And Ginnifer Goodwin As An Adult)
#5
Margot In Paper Towns (Played By Hannah Alligood As A Kid And Cara Delevingne As An Adult)
#6
Loki In Thor (Played By Ted Allpress As A Kid And Tom Hiddleston As An Adult)
There are many possible reasons why younger and older actors look alike. Probably the most important thing is that they have similar facial features. Though that creates a huge challenge: you have to find not only someone who looks like the younger actor but also someone who’s a capable actor in their own right.
Other things that make actors look similar to one another are similar hairstyles and dressing them up in clothes of the same style.
What’s more, if young actors are taught to mimic the movements and speech patterns of their older counterparts, you might genuinely think that they’re one and the same (unless the age gap is really big, of course).
#7
Cece In New Girl (Played By Jaidan Jiron As A Kid And Hannah Simone As An Adult)
#8
Agent K From "Man In Black" (Josh Brolin As Young Agent K And Tommy Lee Jones As Older Self)
Just another bot 5 years ago
I think they are both too well known now to easily pass as each other...
#9
Lucy In 13 Going On 30 (Played By Alexandra Kyle As A Kid And Judy Greer As An Adult)
Hadley Freeman writes in The Guardian that there are some other reasons why celebrities tend to look very similar.
According to Freeman, older actresses were very similar because they either had the same plastic surgeon or had the same procedures done. What’s more, stars used to have the same high-profile stylists and makeup artists.
But those aren’t the only reasons. Celebrity publicists are very image-conscious when it comes to their stars. So they’ll ‘allow’ only certain looks that change over time with trends.
That’s not to say that this is necessarily a bad thing; however, that does mean that actors have less of a chance to stand out and be original.
#10
Gamora In Guardians Of The Galaxy (Played By Ariana Greenblatt As A Kid And Zoe Saldana As An Adult)
#11
Kate From "This Is Us" (Mackenzie Hancsicsak As Kid, Hannah Zeile As Teen And Chrissy Metz As Adult)
Roni Ingram 5 years ago
I disagree with this one. The youngest Kate's features are too dark and I would guess that she has a different ethnic background to both of the actresses that play the older versions.
#12
Allie Calhoun From "The Notebook" ( Rachel Mcadams As Younger Self And Gena Rowlands As Older Self)
Leodavinci 5 years ago
Having seen the movie, the only reason this worked is because it was pointed out in the movie that they were the same character. Same with their romantic opposites played by Ryan Gosling and James Garner respectively. Neither set of actors resembled each other as younger and older versions of the same characters.
#13
Eddie Kaspbrak From "It" (Jack Dylan Grazer As A Kid And James Ransone As Adult)
#14
Theo In Haunting Of Hill House (Played By Mckenna Grace As A Kid And Kate Siegel As An Adult)
#15
Don Vito Corleone From "The Godfather" (Robert De Niro As Young Vito, And Marlon Brando As Older Self)
Oskar vanZandt 5 years ago
Almost didn't recognise Mr DeNiro... the mole helped. One of the best film trilogies ever made...
#16
Latika In Slumdog Millionaire (Played By Tanvi Lonkar As A Teenager And Freida Pinto As An Adult)
#17
John In Ted (Played By Bretton Manley As A Kid And Mark Wahlberg As An Adult)
#18
Joe In You (Played By Gianni Ciardiello As A Kid And Penn Badgley As An Adult)
#19
Jean Gray In Dark Phoenix (Played By Summer Fontana As A Kid And Sophie Turner As A Teenager)
#20
Nemo From "Mr Nobody" (Thomas Byrne As Young Nemo, Jared Leto As Older Nemo)
HigherthantheSky 5 years ago
Agreed! A must watch who have an attention span greater than 5secs.
#21
Caroline In The Vampire Diaries (Played By Mckenna Grace As A Kid And Candice Accola As A Teenager)
#22
Bill Denbrough From "It" (Jaeden Martell As Kid And James Mcavoy As Adult)
#23
Charles Xavier From "X-Men" (Younger As James Mcavoy And Old As Patrick Stewart)
#24
Mike Hanlon From "It" ( Chosen Jacobs As Kid And Isaiah Mustafa As Adult)
#25
Cassie In Euphoria (Played By Kyra Adler As A Kid And Sydney Sweeney As A Teenager)
#26
Jordan In Little (Played By Marsai Martin As A Kid And Regina Hall As An Adult)
#27
Beverly Marsh From "It" (Sophia Lillis As Kid And Jessica Chastain As Adult)
#28
Thor In Thor (Played By Dakota Goyo As A Kid And Chris Hemsworth As An Adult)
#29
Nell In Haunting Of Hill House (Played By Violet Mcgraw As A Kid And Victoria Pedretti As An Adult)
#30
Kevin From "This Is Us" ( Parker Bates As Kid, Logan Shroyer As Teen And Justin Hartley As Adult)
#31
Elena In Little Fires Everywhere (Played By Annasophia Robb As A Young Adult And Reese Witherspoon As An Older Adult)
#32
Diana In Wonder Woman (Played By Lilly Aspell As A Kid And Gal Gadot As An Adult)
#33
Richie Tozier From "It" (Finn Wolfhard As Kid And Bill Hader As Adult)
#34
Maddy In Euphoria (Played By Keilani Arellanes As A Kid And Alexa Demie As An Adult)
#35
Randall From "This Is Us" (Lonnie Chavis As Kid, Niles Fitch As Teen And Sterling K. Brown As Adult)
#36
Ed Bloom From "Big Fish" (Ewan Mcgregor As Younger Self And Albert Finney As Older Self)
#37
Magneto From "X-Men" (Younger As Michael Fassbender And Old As Ian Mckellen)
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 5 years ago
nope. But then again, it's hard to get it right for Ian McKellen.
#38
Camille From Sharp Objects (Played By Sophia Lillis As A Kid And Amy Adams As An Adult)
#39
Jenna In 13 Going On 30 (Played By Christa B. Allen As A Kid And Jennifer Garner As An Adult)
Tina Scogin 5 years ago
that don't look the same at all. well, they do both have brown eye color, so i guess....
#40
Emma In Once Upon A Time (Played By Abby Ross As A Teenager And Jennifer Morrison As An Adult)
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What do you think ?
Nitro 5 years ago
What about Ewan McGregor playing young Obi-Wan and Alec Guinness playing old Obi-Wan, in my opinion that's top tier casting.
mph seti 5 years ago
Agreed. I'm still waiting on Disney+ to launch the Obi-Wan show with McGregor...Then I might check it out.
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giraffescupcakesandlove 5 years ago
McKenna Grace seems to be in a lot of them...I mean, she is really good!!!
Nitro 5 years ago
What about Ewan McGregor playing young Obi-Wan and Alec Guinness playing old Obi-Wan, in my opinion that's top tier casting.
mph seti 5 years ago
Agreed. I'm still waiting on Disney+ to launch the Obi-Wan show with McGregor...Then I might check it out.
Load More Replies... giraffescupcakesandlove 5 years ago
McKenna Grace seems to be in a lot of them...I mean, she is really good!!!
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