Jesse Bradford was born in 1979. So how come he was playing a 14 year old when this picture was made, which was 1998? Who negotiated that screwup?
shareHe couldn't have been playing a 14-year-old in the final section of the film. He was sporting a beard and his stepmother was urging him to go to college.
shareActors play younger than themselves all the time. Most teen characters in film and on television are played by adults. In this way, producers don't have to deal with child labor laws while shooting and, most likely, they get a more compelling performance from a more seasoned actor/person.
share^^^ True but in this case I think there was a bit of a plot hole. Channe and billy were around the same age in the start of the movie{ infact I think channe was just a tad bit older) but towards the middle channe was just starting puberty and getting a bra and yet billy was allready sporting a full beard and was off to school.
shareThe film was released in 1998, which means it was filmed in 1996 or 97. When you first see Channe and Billy as teens, I believe they are both supposed to be 14. When they move back to America, they can drive, so they're at least 16. I'd assume Billy is 17 at the end, as his mother is urging him to go to college. What's so odd about a 17/18 year old guy portraying a 14-17 year old? He's not very tall, so he had that going for him from the beginning. He looked the same age as Channe to me...
shareWhy re-cast them just for a 5 year difference? Then we would have had to adjust to THREE different main protagonist actors.
I don't know, most coming of age films , you can only focus on 2 main ages.
Do you expect them to get 3 different sets of actors, just to transition from 14 to 19? Seems unneccesary. The audience would have a hard time even figuring out which was the middle-aged versions of Charlotte and Billy if you add another version of them to the mix. Not to mention, it would mess up the flow and pace of the story...