The good, the bad, and the ugly when adult actors play high school students

Getting the right actor for a part is hard as heck. You’ve got to find a person with the right look, feel, tone and personality to bring that vision to life on screen. (Or so we’ve been told from the writers and directors and producers out there.)

So when Dear Evan Hansen director Stephen Chbosky cast 27-year-old Ben Platt in the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical, you could kind of understand why. He did win a Tony for the part during the show’s original run, after all. But as it turned out, Platt was the only original cast member to make that leap.

The moment the trailer was released, viewers totally called out the age gap. Unfortunately, following the TIFF premiere of Dear Evan Hansen, it became even more obvious that they should have found someone more age-appropriate for the part.

Sure, in film (and TV) you’re often asked to suspend belief in order to go with the story. But Dear Evan Hansen shot Platt under florescent lighting and had tons of close-ups, all while getting him to grow in really curly, almost wig-like hair. It was too much for many of the film’s critics to get behind, and the movie is getting mixed reviews as a result.

On one hand, it’s kind of sad that age is taking over the conversation when it comes to a six-time Tony-winning play that markets itself as a story about teen mental health. (Whether it actually does is another question.) On the other, it’s pretty common for adults to play teens. In fact, last year The Ringer revealed the average age of actors playing teens in qualifying movies is 21.7 year old.

That’s partially because casting a teen can lead to tricky labour laws, and calls into question some of the adult themes and subject matter the film may be dealing with. But it can also cause problematic portrayals of “teens” with mature bodies, which often leads to damaging development expectations from real kids who aren’t as muscly or big-chested, for example.    

So when have films gotten it right and where have they historically gone wrong? We took a look at the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good: Elliot Page and Michael Cera in Juno

20th Century Studios

Elliot Page was 20 years old when Juno hit theatres at the end of 2007. In the film, he played a 16-year-old who gets pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption. The baby is fathered by Juno’s boyfriend, Paulie Bleeker, a.k.a. Michael Cera, who was 19 at the time.

So yes, both roles were played by adults, but the age gap was barely there. Add in the fact that both actors had baby faces, they weren’t sexualized in their respective roles, and they were both critically applauded for their performances (Page got an Oscar nod), and we’d say the casting was perfect.

Others:

Saoirse Ronan was 22 years old in Lady Bird, when she played a 17-year-old. It was totally believable though, and Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age TIFF film received five Oscar nominations, including a nod for Ronan’s lead performance.

Ralph Macchio was 23 years old when The Karate Kid hit theatres in 1984, but he believably played a bullied 17-year-old. Many people were shocked to discover that Macchio wasn’t really a kid at all, and he went on to play the role in two sequels.

Florence Pugh got all the flowers (and an Oscar nod) for playing Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Little Women, despite the fact that she was 22 years old and playing a 12-year-old.

One of the best parts about watching Wet Hot American Summer is the fact that the entire cast is comprised of adult actors, who play teens, without anyone ever calling attention to it. That unspoken parody is part of the reason the movie has such a cult following.

The Bad: Alan Ruck in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Paramount Pictures

Alan Ruck was 29 years old when he played 23-year-old Matthew Broderick’s onscreen, straight-laced, teen bestie Cameron in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Sure, the film made a point of mentioning that Ferris and Cameron were approaching graduation, but Ruck looked way beyond his teen years… and to be honest beyond his early twenties, too.

If you also consider the fact that he wasn’t a lead, it seems like it wouldn’t have been that hard to find a kid who could be bullied into taking his dad’s car out for a spin the way Ferris bullied Cameron. But, for one reason or another director John Hughes went with it, and for many fans, it’s a weird (but not altogether unforgiveable) distraction throughout the entire movie.

Others:

Rebel Wilson was 32 years old when she appeared as recent high-school grad Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect. Her age was definitely noticeable but at least she committed to that role—burritos and all. 

Sissy Spacek was 26 years old when she starred in the creepy 1976 film Carrie. As a result, the scene where Carrie gets her first period is completely unbelievable, but at least the actor sold that final, pig-blood-soaked scene.

Leonardo Di Caprio was 28 in Catch Me If You Can, which included scenes of him playing a teen. Di Caprio was definitely more scruffy-faced than baby-faced, but thanks to the subject matter you quickly forgot about the age thing.

There are so many things to love about Tina Fey’s Mean Girls, and Rachel McAdams is one of them. But McAdams was 25 years old when she played Regina George, which got super awkward when she was onscreen with her “cool mom” Amy Poehler, who is actually only seven years older in real life.

The Ugly: the entire cast of Grease

Paramount Pictures

There are tons of things that don’t hold up with this classic movie, so any re-watch is hard enough. But it’s impossible to see the film and not raise your eyebrows at the adult cast playing teens. John Travolta was 23, Olivia Newton-John was 29, and Stockard Channing was 33. In other words, none of them looked like high-school seniors in real life.

Reportedly Newton-John was initially concerned about her believability as a teen, and so she insisted on a screen test before she would even accept the role. What she saw must have jived though, because the rest, as they say, is history. 

Others:

Spidey senses were tingling everywhere when Tobey Maguire was cast as Spider-Man in 2002. The 26-year-old looked a lot older than 17-year-old Peter Parker, and recently fans have been calling that out. Of course, Andrew Garfield was 27 when he took on the role, and that decision has been equally controversial.

Harry Potter readers were pretty shocked when Shirley Henderson, 36, was cast as Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In the books, the deceased character was supposed to be 14 years old, and there was no mistaking Henderson for anything other than an adult.

Jesse Metcalfe was 28 years old when he got the lead in John Tucker Must Die. And while we suppose we can understand why the Powers That Be would want an older actor to play a popular, womanizing high school heartthrob, it just set up all kinds of unrealistic expectations for real high school kids.

Pauly Shore’s whole shtick has serious Peter Pan vibes, a.k.a. he comes across as the guy who never wants to grow up. Maybe that’s why he looked even older than 24 when he played a “teen” in Encino Man? Either way, as much as the movie had its moments, Shore trying to sell himself as a real high-schooler is not one of them. 

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