actors aging

[GulPlum]

jillily3g wrote:

> AP ran an article talking about how the "kids" aging might affect 
> their believability if they decide to continue with future movies. 

As, incidentally, has just about every other press organ. I've yet to 
see an article about CoS which didn't raise that as an issue, and 
several reviews also referred to it.

I got the feeling at one stage that the production team were 
deliberately planting the idea, and I remain convinced that this is 
the case. Mainly because I suspect that it focussed people to think 
about how much more mature as actors the young cast were in this 
movie compared to the last one, rather than how much better they 
*could* have been under a more accomplished director. 

> I can't see this as a serious problem, looking at glaringly obvious 
> non-teens playing teen roles such as on 90210 and Grease, but I'd 
> like other opinions. Anyone want to weigh in? Is there a problem 
> with a 20- somthing-year-old Daniel playing 17-year-old Harry? 
> Would this be less "believable" than switching actors or would the 
> public accept a switch ala James Bond? 

The younger fans would have a hard time accepting any change (bear in 
mind that Bond is aimed at a slightly older demographic), but I 
expect that even they would eventually get over it. 

One of the sincere things I think Columbus & Co have said in the 
recent splurge of hype is that they will keep the current cast for as 
long as the kids are comfortable with appearing in the movies, and 
accept it as a bit of fun. Apart from anything else, once they start 
taking the hype seriously is when they start turning into celebrity 
brats, and by extension, become difficult to work with. 

Personally, I have no problem with a 20 or 21 year-old Trio playing 
17 year-old characters. By that stage, they will have played the 
parts for the best part of a decade and will be best-suited for the 
job. I also feel that it would be a tremendous achievement for such a 
long series of movies to be made with the same young cast, but 
ultimately I agree with Columbus: whether they stay the course is 
*their* choice. I suspect that the possibility of going down in 
hisotry as having "done the job to the end" appeals to them (even 
more than the money; they all come from affluent backgrounds, which I 
suspect is one of the reasons why they were chosen in the first 
place). 

If the kids choose to leave these roles behind them (Tom Felton has 
already said that he's willing to continue playing Draco for the time 
being, but has had enough of acting) then I'm sure the fans will 
accept it, and accept their replacements.