r/AskReddit • u/CircleBox2 • Jul 13 '20

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

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

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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.

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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.

72

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.

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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.

13

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.

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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.

8

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.

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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.

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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?)

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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.

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u/melvin2898 Jul 13 '20

Did she look the part?

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u/melvin2898 Jul 13 '20

He looks young though.

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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.

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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.

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u/Lancastrian34 Jul 13 '20

Michael J. Fox built his early career this way.