MovieChat Forums > Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2006) Discussion > Elden Henson

Elden Henson

posted 17 years ago by tammyeaod
9 replies | jump to latest

How did he play two characters?

He played young Steve also?

FYC Oscars 2008 Reservation Road
Best Actress Catherine Keener - An American Crime

[–] nebs_2000 17 years ago

The movie is actually based on a short from 1990. They integrated it into the full length movie. He played Young Steve in the original, so you can see him at about 13 years old in the older scenes :)

[–] kekest1 17 years ago

I thought I was the only person who noticed that. I did find out that the movie was done twice by the same director once in 1990 and again in 2005. They must have taken the scenes from the older version and put them in with the newer version. I was confused when I first saw it I thought I was tripping.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] weepups2-1 16 years ago

Wow I was wondering. I thought the guy who worked in the bread shop looked a LOT like young Steve. At first I thought boy those two actors really look the same. Now I see it is Elden Henson playing both. Clever how they took a short from 1990 and put it together with more scenes as adults fifteen years later.

[–] lordnikon16 16 years ago

Ok I thought it was just me. I logged on to IMDb specifically to find this out as I'm watching it on Starz at the moment. I was beginning to think he had a younger brother who looked exactly like him until I saw the movie listed as 1990 and 2005. I think it's interesting how they weaved the footage from 1990 into the newer version of the film.

[–] silverbullets 16 years ago

They looked so much like the same guy I at first was confused (huh? is this a time warp that Frank is in and he actually knows Steve as a young man?) and then automatically assumed that maybe Samson was actually somehow related to Steve and we would find that out...that maybe they casted Elden's son as young Steve!

Then I found out about the 1990 short in the commentary as others have mentioned. One interesting reason they decided to have Elden play Samson was the thought that the flashbacks weren't necessarily in Steve's mind but shown as Frank was imagining it in his own mind. The thought was that he would imagine Steve as a boy as looking like Samson, his best friend in real life. A long shot, but interesting.

[–] chicago85 8 years ago

Incorporating earlier films into another much late one has been done before. I remember Terrence Stamp made "The Limey" in 1991. He played an English gangster who gets out of an English prison after being behind bars for a great many years. He discovers his grown daughter has been killed in California.

He feels guilty about never being there for her. They used footage from "Poor Cow" made in 1967. In it Stamp played the same sort of person when he was young with a wife and small child. They used it as flashbacks in the Limey.

I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] signlady 8 years ago

HA! I logged on just to find this out too!

I noticed the similarity of the two characters right away - and was convinced they must be brothers - then read the cast credits and was like 'wha'??? How can it be the same guy ... I even watched the 'short film' on special features and did'nt catch on -

Thanx for explaining! ... own a lotta movies, watched a
lotta movies - never seen that done before. Pretty cool