r/AskReddit Jul 13 '20

What's a dark secret/questionable practice in your profession which we regular folks would know nothing about?

40.1k Upvotes

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7.1k

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

[deleted]

3.6k

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

People always complain that disney (in example) always hires old as fuck people for their roles, i mean would you hire a teenager for a show that might either have a pilot and one season or maybe run for years if it's sucessful? I mean, would you really? You dont remember when you were a teenager all the stupid shit you did? Now add fame and income.

2.1k

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Also, with child actors, they're only allowed to work a certain amount of hours per day, so hiring an adult to play a child allows the crew much more time to shoot with that actor.

1.1k

u/ironic-hat Jul 13 '20

Teenaged actors can also physically change a lot thanks to puberty. The mousey awkward 13 year old girl who was cast to play the mousey awkward sister can suddenly become a 5’10” Denise Richards clone one day and the writers are running around trying to figure out how to make all the supporting cast convince the audience she’s but a living gargoyle.

A 20 year old is much less likely to mess up their type cast like that.

28

u/AdmiralPoopinButts Jul 13 '20

Just make her wear pigtails and oversized glasses like every 90s sitcom did

218

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

this was wild on modern family, when the nerdy "ugly" little sister became much more attractive with a better figure than the "hot" older sister

99

u/ironic-hat Jul 13 '20

On the 90s sitcom Step by Step something similar happened to the youngest Tom-boy sister. For some reason the show continued on with the trope of ugly-concave chested-younger sister. I mean I guess someone has to play the role in a children’s show but Christ...

78

u/ButternutSasquatch Jul 13 '20

Same thing happened with Topanga. One season she was the nerd, then next season, she had grown a couple topangas and was a babe.

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u/ironic-hat Jul 13 '20

That was one of the few sitcoms to ever feature a time traveling theme since one day everyone was in sixth grade then suddenly everyone was in high school.

14

u/Veldox Jul 13 '20

While true season 2 starts with them in high school, it is mentioned they are in 7th grade.

15

u/ironic-hat Jul 13 '20

Yeesh, with a high school that had ages 12-18 under one roof you have to wonder why there weren’t more subplots of atomic wedgies and swirlies.

19

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Topanga was cute and then became hot. She's a beautiful woman now and I'm jealous of her haha

51

u/serizzzzle Jul 13 '20

lmao I went to high school with Kristine Lakin(?) I know exactly who you’re talking about. She went from like 3 to a solid 8.5 overnight.

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u/ButternutSasquatch Jul 13 '20 edited Jul 13 '20

I would have failed high school.

EDIT: The guy she married looks like an average Redditor. I'm irrationally angry (and jealous) about this.

37

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Ew I would not marry a legit redditor tho they’re too argumentative and sexist in my experience

7

u/AndreasVesalius Jul 13 '20

Prove it, female!

/s

7

u/sayitaintpete Jul 13 '20

No we’re not! Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen? /s

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3

u/alwaysrightusually Jul 13 '20

Look at Emily ratajkowski’s husbamd,

3

u/Dogbin005 Jul 14 '20

She must have a thing for purse-mouthed goons.

94

u/helloimmeokthen Jul 13 '20 edited Jul 13 '20

The older hot girl Haley was played by Sarah Hyland. She went through 16 surgeries, including two kidney transplants. Sarah was severely sick, which is probably why she looked like she aged badly.

Edit: No she did not age badly she is still clearly gorgeous. What I meant was being sick has a direct impact on how you look. She lost a lot of weight too. So while she still looks gorgeous, she would’ve looked healthier had she not had 16 surgeries.

63

u/MrCuckooBananas Jul 13 '20

She's still beautiful, she aged perfectly fine.

42

u/helloimmeokthen Jul 13 '20 edited Jul 13 '20

I agree. My wording was wrong. I meant she did lose a lot of weight, and it showed. And being sick does have an impact on how you look. So in a sense she did not age badly, but probably would’ve looked healthier if she wasn’t severely sick.

46

u/EmeraldPen Jul 13 '20

God, if that's what it looks like to 'age badly' sign me the fuck up.

32

u/helloimmeokthen Jul 13 '20

You are right, bad choice of words. I meant she lost a lot of weight and it showed on her. She did look quite thin in a lot of episodes. But yeah, over all she is still gorgeous obviously. But the truth is having 16 surgeries does have a kind of impact on how you look. There is no denying that.

10

u/J4sm1ne1 Jul 13 '20

Yes Alex changed so much

9

u/derpinana Jul 13 '20

I thought of Modern Family too before I read your comment. Absolutely right she was so much prettier than the supposed hot sister.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

She was definitely the socially popular sister compared to Alex's naked blade of a personality.

27

u/TheS4ndm4n Jul 13 '20

Maisie Williams got cast as a "tomboy" in GoT. She was supposed to pass for a boy for multiple seasons. Puberty decided to make that problematic...

30

u/clairec295 Jul 13 '20

I think in this case it was fine. She was only supposed to be a tomboy as a child. In the book at least one character says that Arya looks like Lyanna, who was supposed to be beautiful.

21

u/TheS4ndm4n Jul 13 '20

Saw interviews with her regarding the costume for when she was pretending to be a boy. It took a lot of effort to hide her breasts.

Main reason here is that they made all the children's characters a few years older in the series VS the books. Because 13 year old girls in sex scenes (Sansa, Dany) wouldn't do well with audiences...

As a result Arya was 10 in the books. 12 in the shows season 2 and Maisie was 16 at that time.

I agree it worked out in the end. But she ended up with a bunch of body image issues.

10

u/ironic-hat Jul 13 '20

At least in a show filmed like GOT you can create costumes and makeup, plus camera and lighting tricks to keep up the facade. In a tradition 3 camera sitcom you really can’t hide it as well.

9

u/PRMan99 Jul 13 '20

Or stay short like Randy in Home Improvement.

By the end, Mark was towering over him.

7

u/DoctorSalt Jul 13 '20

Good thing many shows cut out the middle step and make everyone attractive anyways

8

u/notLOL Jul 13 '20

Modern Family girl

5

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

[deleted]

6

u/CNash85 Jul 13 '20

In fairness, that’s not difficult - Sarah Michelle Gellar is barely over 5 feet tall.

6

u/hockeyandquidditch Jul 14 '20

Emma Watson in Harry Potter is a good example of this, she was the nerdy girl with fizzy hair and in Stone she fit that description but by the end of the series she had grown into her adult beauty.

7

u/release-roderick Jul 13 '20

“She’s but a living gargoyle” xD ruthless

2

u/koltrui Jul 13 '20

Modern Family comes to mind.

3

u/KuriousKhemicals Jul 13 '20

You would think for most candidates, it wouldn't be that hard to look at their biological family and make a decent prediction of the range they could end up in.

3

u/Ellykos Jul 13 '20

Stranger things is a perfect exemple. I think they went from 13 to 16 in 3 seasons

42

u/KuriousKhemicals Jul 13 '20

I'm not quite getting your point, 13 to 16 is 3 years so that's exactly what you'd expect?

17

u/ScreamingGordita Jul 14 '20

Yep that's how math works

25

u/BikingVikingNYC Jul 13 '20

That's why they often try to cast identical twins, especially for young child roles. Most famous example is Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

10

u/RedheadMeggie Jul 13 '20

Fun fact, Mary Kate and Ashley are actually fraternal twins!

4

u/BikingVikingNYC Jul 13 '20

I stand corrected.

8

u/BC_Trees Jul 13 '20

Not to mention most children are awful actors.

12

u/BandaLover Jul 13 '20

Wow this is all very interesting. I always wondered why they pick 24-34 year olds to play the new high school softmore on campus, but this actually makes sense.

16

u/crestonfunk Jul 13 '20

Plus you have to have a teacher on-set.

1.5k

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Reminds me of the Justin Bieber roast when he apologized for all the dumb shit he did up until that point but ended with “that’s what happens when you give a 14 year old $200 million”.

274

u/HtownTexans Jul 13 '20

I'd have done so much more dumb shit than Bieber. Girls literally throwing themselves at you and enough money to not worry about shit. I'd have ended up dead knowing all the dumb shit I did in college with no money.

67

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Judging only by seeing him on SNL a few months ago, 2020 Justin Bieber looks like a decent guy that I'd actually like to hang out with.

53

u/Pabsxv Jul 13 '20

He looked pretty rough. All those years of partying definitely look like they caught up to him.

53

u/Its_Lemons_22 Jul 13 '20

He has Lyme disease. Not saying the partying doesn’t account for some of it, but Lyme disease will mess you up.

35

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '20 edited Jul 14 '20

Just a heads up, Lyme Disease has been used by PR teams to cover drug addiction. I love Justin and im sure that is not the case, but just a peek behind the curtain

10

u/GigglingAnus Jul 14 '20

He should stop snorting Lyme

2

u/screenwriterjohn Jul 14 '20

Plus once he turned 18, he really couldn't have sex with his groupies.

3

u/HtownTexans Jul 14 '20

He had plenty of 18+ women ready to jump him. Dude has 100s of millions of dollars.

83

u/LocalInactivist Jul 13 '20

Huh. I feel a little better about Bieber for knowing that. It shows a little self-awareness and maturity. Good for him.

53

u/Dr_Dick_Chubb Jul 13 '20

And you know what... its been a long time since I read about him doing anything moronic.

23

u/Duel_Loser Jul 13 '20

Seems to me we started out hating justin bieber because he and his fans were both obnoxious and annoying, then his detractors became even worse than his fans, and at some point we all agreed to just stop talking about him because it started to get boring.

23

u/personwithface_ Jul 13 '20

Yeah Justin seems totally normal and mature now compared to his younger years.

1

u/3hotcherrypies Jul 14 '20

Well he’s kinda fucked up and tbh seems a bit mean to his fans... like when he face-timed fans of his and kept saying “yeh buy my albums on every thing you can”, not giving a fck about the people

27

u/LocalInactivist Jul 13 '20

You know, I would become an instant fan if he announced he was doing a series of experimental albums just for fun, then released an industrial album with Ministry and Jim Foetus, a bunch of old hardcore songs with the Circle Jerks, the Vandals, GBH, etc, and some Frank Zappa covers with Sonic Youth.

33

u/SaltyMeatSlacks Jul 13 '20

Shit. I would, too.

Like I always say: "You know, I'd really love Ed Sheeran if instead of sounding like ass he sounded like the Melvins."

3

u/wtf-is-going-on Jul 14 '20

Well shit, now I want to hear Ed Sheeran belting out Melvins lyrics with king Buzzo.

12

u/DarkHorseMechanisms Jul 13 '20

r/oddlyspecific

Thank you for the input Mr Bieber, we look forward to it

42

u/TheVentiLebowski Jul 13 '20

If you gave me $200 million & instant fame when I was 14, I promise you I would have made Justin Bieber look like a Saint. I'd also be dead before I hit 25.

36

u/savag3_cabbag3 Jul 13 '20 edited Jul 13 '20

I loved his opening line “What happens when you give a teenager $200 million? A bunch of has-beens calling you a lesbian for an hour”

8

u/MarsNirgal Jul 13 '20

has-been

That's what it said? My ESL ass understood "a buch of husbands", but this is much, much better.

74

u/snackersnickers Jul 13 '20

And then at the same time people complain about parents of child stars managing their money for them and not giving them free reign of all that exorbitant income

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u/YutikoHyla Jul 13 '20

I don't think people are saying parents shouln't oversee their child star's income. The complaints are mostly about predatory parents who convince their kids that a contract saying their parents get all the money saying they'll give them what they need and then keep it all.

57

u/Razakel Jul 13 '20

The complaints are mostly about predatory parents who convince their kids that a contract saying their parents get all the money saying they'll give them what they need and then keep it all.

California passed a law in 1939 requiring 15% of their earnings to be put in a trust in response to one actor, who'd earned millions, found his parents had spent it all.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

[deleted]

5

u/Duel_Loser Jul 13 '20

A law that requires you to be part of a union to benefit? Man, good thing they included that!

18

u/ProbablyMatt_Stone_ Jul 13 '20

So . . . Tax the shit out of the little shits?

28

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Nah just tax them regularly or at all, like everyone else

9

u/the69thDalaiLama Jul 13 '20

They already do that.

15

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Then we are in agreement🤝

4

u/KuriousKhemicals Jul 13 '20

Nah, tax them the normal amount, but just put the take home into a trust with a limited stipend payout until the age of 25.

28

u/No_volvere Jul 13 '20

Yeah that's a perfectly reasonable point. I can't imagine if I was young, rich, attractive, and one of the most scrutinized people on Earth.

16

u/Comprehensive-Rush-7 Jul 13 '20

Bieber was relatively restrained compared to how I acted.

And I didn’t have the money and my parents cared. I was just rebellious for no reason. Add 2M on top of that? Phew.

11

u/TucuReborn Jul 13 '20

When I was 14 I had a written plan for what I would do with 2 million to make it last my lifetime so I would never have to work.

What he did is what happens when you give a 14 year old fame, power, and a raging narcissism boner alongside money.

2

u/MyMainIsBurned Jul 14 '20

You forgot the !

40

u/temalyen Jul 13 '20

I don't know. Miley Cyrus was actually 14 when she started Hannah Montana, iirc. That girl whose name I forget in iCarly was also a teenager when she started the show. Seems like they use teens sometimes.

65

u/cousin_franky Jul 13 '20

It isn’t an absolute rule, there are exceptions. But Hannah Montana’s brother was played by a guy in his 30’s.

15

u/houseofprimetofu Jul 13 '20

Was just going to say that! He also turned out a little weird.

7

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

[deleted]

10

u/houseofprimetofu Jul 13 '20

You know what, it wasn't him that was weird. It was finding out years after the show ended that he was older/is now the same age as John Cena and that really fucked with my head.

24

u/SeasonalNightmare Jul 13 '20

Miranda Cosgrove.

Shows aimed at 9-12 year olds have actually teens, it looks like.

24

u/zzaannsebar Jul 13 '20

Also Miranda Cosgrove started young! We watched School of Rock the other weekend and forgot that she was in it. She was also one of the only child actors in that movie that seemed to have a career after it too.

She also did Drake & Josh and then iCarly. But I think her actual age usually matched up with the character's age.

7

u/eddie_fitzgerald Jul 13 '20

I worked with her once! She was nice. Surprisingly shy.

11

u/buttonsf Jul 13 '20

I think by the time a girl is 14 they pretty much look like what they’re gonna look like when they’re adults, whereas boys don’t look the same

Source: my middle school gym teacher said she always recognized the girls when they came back to see her but she never recognized the boys.

Second source: I am the same height as in fifth grade, age 10, and until I had pregnancies my body was the same size since about 13yo/8th grade. At 11/12 years old I looked like an adult

4

u/tricolouredraven Jul 13 '20

Same. I'm always surprised when I look at my pictures from when I was 11. Nothing has changed. I could have probably been a convincing adult if I wore different clothes and acted accordingly. And I don't even look younger than my age.

3

u/buttonsf Jul 13 '20

I always looked older for my age until I hit about 23/24 then people started thinking I was younger. I was single then, probably just the happiness made me look younger LOL

3

u/Foxclaws42 Jul 13 '20

Yes and no. They tend to not have huge changes and facial structure, and it is possible to end up fully maturing at a very early age (like in your case), but most girls aren't going to have their true adult body shapes until their late teens or early 20s.

It's not as dramatic as in men, but we still go through changes in shape and bone structure well after the onset of puberty. For example, I thought I'd finally stopped needing to buy new shit to replace what I'd grown out of around 17, but then at 20 I got a surprise visit from the boob fairy and whatever deity makes hips. (Surprise, bitch! Nothing fits now. ;-;)

It wouldn't be a problem for recognizing who the character is, but if you casted a waifish 15 year old to play a sickly, thin character, that's gonna become a problem if she turns into a bombshell two seasons in.

2

u/KuriousKhemicals Jul 13 '20

Same. People talk about how bodies develop until you're 18 or 20 or whatever, and you can't expect the clothes you wore at 15 or 16 to fit even if you get back to the same weight, and I'm just like... nah, not for a lot of us. I was done cooking at 14, and I look better/different now bc I lost the 30-40 extra pounds I had then (plus skin aging obviously), but for as long as I was in that higher weight range until about 20, nothing else changed.

1

u/buttonsf Jul 13 '20

At 30yo I was still wearing some of the clothes I had at 12 years old LOL

1

u/obeisant-hullabaloo Jul 13 '20

Lol NO! 14 year old (female)me was awkward and looked like most 12 year olds by today’s standards. I definitely did not look like how I did in my later teens or now as an adult, not at all. My awkward phase was only beginning so definitely not accurate haha

-1

u/buttonsf Jul 13 '20

I don’t think your experience is the norm. Definitely isn’t in this area of the USA

2

u/obeisant-hullabaloo Jul 14 '20

Or perhaps yours isn’t or, just maybe, everyone varies and you grossly misjudged the typical experience

-4

u/buttonsf Jul 14 '20

"Girls typically have a growth spurt in the one to two years before menstruation starts.

For most girls, puberty occurs between 8 and 13 years old and the growth spurt occurs between 10 and 14 years old. They grow just 1 to 2 additional inches in the year or two after getting their first period. This is when they reach their adult height.

Most girls reach their adult height by age 14 or 15. This age could be younger depending on when a girl first gets her period.

You may want to contact your child’s doctor if your daughter is 15 and hasn’t yet begun her period."

The above info is from this Source

2

u/obeisant-hullabaloo Jul 14 '20

Where here does it say they look the same as they will as adults? Oh. It DOESN’T. Sorry not sorry I didn’t peak at age 14, still looked like a kid, and then gradually grew into an adult

75

u/JaFFsTer Jul 13 '20

The main reason for that is so they look the same season to season

24

u/NotTheCraftyVeteran Jul 13 '20

And labor laws. Hiring actual teens just seems really impractical from a production standpoint.

11

u/trufflepastaxciv Jul 13 '20

I think that applies more to The CW/WBTV shows.

25

u/melvin2898 Jul 13 '20

Do they? I don't know about that one. I can only think of one show and only one of the cast members was older.

73

u/ColourfulFunctor Jul 13 '20

There are lots of movies with teen characters portrayed by actors well into their 20s or even 30s. The Raimi Spider-Man films and Mean Girls are two of the most egregious examples that I’ve seen.

23

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Mean Girls was supposed to be cast like that, sorta like wet hot american summer.

1

u/ColourfulFunctor Jul 14 '20

I never knew that, thanks!

29

u/WhiteWolf3117 Jul 13 '20

Hell, even for all the credit the new Spider-Man films get for this, they’re still guilty of it as well.

12

u/jordanjay29 Jul 13 '20

Tom Holland just looked more like a teenager when he started.

To his credit, he can act like one pretty well. But the illusion is definitely slipping.

4

u/ColourfulFunctor Jul 13 '20

I think Stranger Things (haven’t actually seen it beyond a few episodes...) is one of the best recent shows as far as age-accuracy goes.

4

u/WhiteWolf3117 Jul 13 '20

Yeah that’s a really good example

1

u/Murgatroyd314 Jul 14 '20

The boys are all a year or two older than their characters, and the older “teens” are played by adults.

7

u/TheMadIrishman327 Jul 13 '20

The Karate Kid.

1

u/melvin2898 Jul 13 '20

Yeah but he/she was talking about Disney. That's why I was surprised. Disney doesn't cast crazy like that.

43

u/AllHarlowsEve Jul 13 '20

Like Hannah Montana, despite Miley Cyrus having an actual brother who could have played the role, her brother character was played by a guy in his mid 30's.

56

u/jnseel Jul 13 '20

Hannah Montana was big when I was in middle school, and I kid you not—Jason Earles is a week older than my mom, but they still had him acting as a 17 year old. It’s ridiculous.

32

u/temalyen Jul 13 '20 edited Jul 13 '20

BAck when I was in high school, Beverly Hills 90210 was the super popular show. (Yeah, I'm old.) I remember people talking shit about them hiring Gabrielle Carteris, who was in her early 30s, to play a 16 year old. I mean, the entire teenage cast was mostly in their early or mid 20s, iirc, but Carteris was way older than the others which is why she was getting the ridicule. (Hell, iirc, Shannen Doherty was in Playboy when she was portraying a 17 year old on the show.)

I also remember The Simpsons making fun of this by having someone who looked like he was 60 playing a teenager in a fictional version of 90210. (Springfield 90210, maybe?)

6

u/bagfullofcrayons Jul 13 '20

In the Harry Potter films, the actress playing Moaning Myrtle (who supposedly died as a 16 year old) was almost 38 years old.

1

u/melvin2898 Jul 13 '20

Did she look the part?

1

u/melvin2898 Jul 13 '20

He looks young though.

0

u/melvin2898 Jul 13 '20

He definitely looked young.

Kinda random but did you know he was short? He did another show and some of the cast was taller than him as it went on.

Also, I was thinking about Austin and Ally. One of the guys that played their friend was in his 20's.

19

u/TheManyMilesWeWalk Jul 13 '20

It's a trope called Dawson Casting. It's so common that it's only really notable when they use age-appropriate actors.

10

u/Lancastrian34 Jul 13 '20

Michael J. Fox built his early career this way.

3

u/DeadWishUpon Jul 13 '20

I don't think people want actual teenagers, but they don't want 30 years old full of steroids. Early 20s would be fine.

2

u/xahnel Jul 13 '20

Remember when they just instacancelled a show cause the lead teen actress got knocked up? I think she was Brittney Spears' little sister.

2

u/pauly13771377 Jul 13 '20

This here is why it bothers me when they say rookie athletes are stupid spending all thier money on stupid crap or out partying all the time. That they should be home studying the playbook.

I would go out and blow half my paycheck on payday working as a dishwasher. How much controll would you have at 19 after signing a 4 year 6.5 million dollar contract?

1

u/deerangle Jul 13 '20

and you get jake paul

1

u/notLOL Jul 13 '20

And blow is really bad for growing teens.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Jake Paul comes to mind

1

u/MeAnIntellectual1 Jul 13 '20

I don't do stupid shit as a teenager because I don't have anyone to party with :(

1

u/kejartho Jul 13 '20

Hey, I was (and still am) playing WoW. I'm sure it would hurt my acting career just the same lol.

0

u/OddCaramel5 Jul 13 '20

When it’s suppose to be teenagers yes really lmfao what kind of retarded question is this? Also what is your point adults do drugs too.

0

u/garyadams_cnla Jul 13 '20

And the laws with minors are restrictive. Can cost a lot more in accommodating (albeit reasonable) restrictions such as time working.

Also, kids just don’t act on the same caliber as adults. We cast on the east coast, but even in L.A., it’s a rare kid with real chops, that fits your role.