Maggie Smith Played A Character 36 Years Older Than She Was, And 50 More Actors Who Played WAY Out Of Their Age Range

Look, I get that there's some wiggle room in casting. The actor doesn't need to be the exact same age as the character they're playing. But sometimes it's so bad, it literally takes you out of the movie or TV show, leaving you thinking, "Were there really no appropriate-aged actors?"

Hollywood does this for a number of reasons. There's plenty of sexism and ageism in Hollywood, particularly geared towards women. Instead of casting an actual 40-year-old, for example, they'll cast a 25-year-old that better fits current beauty standards. And when it comes to teenage characters, due to child labor laws, it can be difficult to film with actors under the age of 18 (unless they're emancipated)...though this doesn't give them an excuse to cast someone who's 18 or 19, rather than 30, as a teenager.

Don't believe me that it can actually be that bad? Check out these shocking examples.

NOTE: Some of these ages may be slightly off (but within the year), as we're relying on filming dates from Wikipedia and IMDB. If we used movie release dates, most of these gaps would be even more severe! 

1. Angelina Jolie played a fully adult Colin Farrell's mother in Alexander at age 29. Colin is less than a year younger than her IRL.

3. Lawrence actually has a bit of a legacy of playing roles older than her actual age, as Vogue notes — she was only 23 while filming American Hustle. Her character was meant to be in her early-to-mid thirties.

4. And when she played Joy Mangano, a housewife-turned-inventor, in Joy, she was only 24. She portrayed Mangano at ages 34 and up, including into her forties.

5. Scarlett Johansson was only 17 while filming Lost in Translation. While, yes, her character was meant to be young (a recent college grad) — and the age gap between her and costar Bill Murray was meant to be large — her being literally underage made it cross over into unbelievable and uncomfortable.

6. Barbra Streisand was 40 while playing Yentl as a student in Yentl. Yentl's exact age is unclear, but she should be somewhere in her twenties — some sources claim Streisand changed the age to 26, which is still 14 years younger than Streisand was at the time.

7. Gabrielle Union played teenage Isis in Bring It On when she was 27. In contrast, Kirsten Dunst was 17, about the right age for her character — putting a ten-year difference between the two, who were supposed to be the same age.

8. Alan Ruck was 29 when he played 17 or 18-year-old Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. His costars, Mathew Broderick and Mia Sara, were 23 and 18, respectively, making Ruck the character with the biggest age difference by far.

9. Stacey Dash was 27 when she filmed her role as Dionne in Clueless. Her character was around 16. She actually continued playing the role in the TV show, which ended in 1999, when Dash was 32.

10. This only added to the comedy, but Paul Rudd played a teenage camp counselor in Wet Hot American Summer — when he was 30 or 31.*

11. Twenty- (or even thirty-) somethings playing teenagers is bad enough, but it gets even worse when there are sequels. For example, Andrew Garfield was already 27 during The Amazing Spider-Man, playing 17-year-old Peter Parker. But it got even worse for the sequel, which began with his character graduating from high school (so presumably 18). Garfield was 30 during filming. Emma Stone wasn't quite as bad at 24, but was also older than she should've been.

12. Speaking of Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire was 26 when he played 17-year-old Peter Parker in 2002's Spider-Man. His costar, Kirsten Dunst, was only 18. Interestingly, Elizabeth Banks was told she was "too old" to play MJ, despite being only 16 months older than Maguire.

13. Not as bad, but while Tom Holland wasn't too far off from his character's age in Captain America: Civil War, the gap got worse as the movies went on. He portrayed 15-year-old Peter Parker at age 20, then ~17-year-old Parker at age 24. Following a time jump for the upcoming Brand New Day, Peter should be ~21. Holland is now 29, which is an eight-year age gap. Costars Zendaya and Jacob Batalon are around the same age.

14. In one of the worst examples on this list, Shirley Henderson, who played Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films, was actually 37 when she appeared in the second film. That would've made her around 40 when she reprised her role in the fourth film three years later...playing a 14-year-old.

15. Amy Poehler was only 33 when she played the mom of a high school junior in Mean Girls.

16. Rachel McAdams was 26 when she played Regina in the same film, meaning she was only seven years younger than Poehler, who played her character's mother.

17. Laurence Fishburne was only 14 when he played a soldier — so, at least 18 — in Apocalypse Now. He actually lied about his age to get the part.

18. Keira Knightley was only 18 in Love Actually, playing a newlywed.

This is especially shocking given that Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played Sam in the same film, was 13. There was only a five-year age difference between the two.

19. Gwyneth Paltrow was only 22 when she played 32-year-old Brad Pitt's wife in Se7en. The characters were supposed to be high school sweethearts...so the same age.

20. Sally Field was 64 when she got the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in Lincoln. The film takes place in 1865, when Mary Todd was 46. "I'm 10 years older than Daniel [Day-Lewis], and Mary Todd was 10 years younger than Lincoln. I'm 20 years older than what Mary was," Field pointed out, saying that she almost lost the role due to the discrepancy. However, her audition with Daniel Day-Lewis won her the role despite this fact.

21. Similarly, Gloria Stuart was 86 when she filmed her role as 100-year-old Rose in Titanic — a 14-year age difference.

22. Ser'Darius Blain was 29 when he played Fridge in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. As a high schooler, Fridge would've been, at oldest, 18.

23. Ross Butler was 28 when he filmed To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. His character, Trevor, was likely about 17. (Trevor grew up with Peter, who was around 16 or 17 in the second film, so Trevor's age was probably similar.)

24. Ben Platt was 26 when filming for Dear Evan Hansen began; the movie came out on his 28th birthday. The character is 17. He faced a ton of backlash for starring in the film, reprising his Tony-winning role from Broadway, especially as his father produced the film. His "too old for high school" appearance in particular was widely mocked.

25. Justin Chon was 27 playing a 17-year-old Eric in Twilight. Not much time passes between Twilight and Breaking Dawn Part I, in which Chon last appears — Bella is still only 18 when she marries Edward, so we can assume Eric is the same age. At that time, Chon was 29.

26. Michael J. Fox wasn't that much older than his character, Marty McFly, when he starred in Back to the Future, but by the end of filming for the third film, he was WAY older than his still-teenage character at 28.

27. Amanda Seyfried was 27 when she played Cosette in Les Misérables. While Cosette's age is not confirmed in the film, it's understood to be in her teens in the book, and there is a time jump of only nine years after we see Cosette as a young girl (played by the 10-year-old Isabelle Allen).

28. Florence Pugh played Amy across her adolescence and young adulthood in Little Women, including playing her as young as 12. Pugh was 23 when the film was released...and TBH, I think they should've cast a younger actor to be believable as a 12-year-old.

29. This one's a little convoluted, as the timelines of Mamma Mia! make no sense...but Donna had her flings in 1979, right out of college, so we can assume she's about 22. She would've had Sophie by 23. Sophie is 20 in Mamma Mia!, so Donna has to be around 43. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep was 58 during filming.

30. It's not necessarily wild that 72-year-old Cher played Sophie's grandma in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, but it is odd considering she was playing the mother of then-69-year-old Meryl Streep.

31. Similarly, K Callan was 82 when she played Great Nana Wanetta in Knives Out. Seems fine, right? Except her onscreen son, played by Christopher Plummer, turned 89 during filming.

32. While the Percy Jackson films chose to age the main characters to 16, the actors' ages (outside of Logan Lerman) are VERY off, especially in the sequel. Alexandra Daddario was 26 during filming for the second film, where the characters would've been 17.

33. Brandon T. Jackson is a bit trickier because Grover technically is older than Annabeth and Percy, but due to Sartyrs' aging process, he should look their same age. He was 28 during filming for the second film.

34. In Dune, at least in the novel, Paul is only 15 at the start of the book. The movie doesn't state his age, but he still seems to be a teenager. Then, 23-year-old Timothee Chalamet played the role. He should only be a year or two older in the next film, but Chalamet was 26.

35. Justin Long was 28 when Accepted was released. In the film, he plays a high school senior who creates his own fake college, so an 18-year-old.

36. His classmate Rory (with whom he went to high school) was played by Maria Thayer, who was 30.

37. Margot Robbie was newly 22 when she played Naomi in The Wolf of Wall Street. The character she was based on was in her mid-twenties to mid-thirties over the course of the events in the film.

38. Leonardo DiCaprio was 37 when he played Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street — which began with Jordan at age 25.

39. And DiCaprio was 27 when he played a teenager in Catch Me If You Can – Frank was meant to be between 16 and 20 for most of the film.

40. Whoopi Goldberg played Celie in The Color Purple from her twenties until her mid-forties, despite being only 30. Golberg has said before that she lied about her age at the beginning of her career, saying she was five years older, so it's possible that was the case here. Plus, maybe I'm being a *bit* unfair given how many years the story takes place over. But they could've gotten a third actor! (They do have a second actor for child Celie.)

41. In a similar example, Tom Hanks was 37 while filming Forrest Gump, in which he played high school-aged Forrest. Of course, he'd also play Forrest into his adult years, and the film's surrealist nature probably excuses this one, TBH.

42. Samuel L. Jackson was 57 when Coach Carter came out. He played 40-year-old Ken Carter in the film. (I don't believe they say Ken's age in the film, but the real Ken Carter was 40 during the events of the film.)

43. Maggie Smith was only 56 when she played 92-year-old Wendy Darling in Hook. Though maybe this one is cheating, as they did use makeup to make her older. Still — that's a 36-year age gap.

44. Max von Sydow had a similar age gap. He was only 43 when he played an aging priest in The Exorcist; the character's age isn't explicitly stated, but it can be assumed he's in his seventies or eighties. Again, makeup was used to make him look older.

45. Accounts of Achilles's age during the Trojan War vary from 12 to his twenties...but certainly younger than then-39-year-old Brad Pitt, who played the role in Troy.

46. The Harry Potter films seemed to forget that Lily and James were only 21 when they died. The actors were certainly older, but we'll give the films the benefit of the doubt and say that their ghosts are how old they'd be in the current time (same with the Mirror of Erised). We can't make such an excuse for Snape, who should be 32 when Harry first arrives at Hogwarts, considering he was James and Lily's classmate. Alan Rickman was 54 when filming began and 64 when it ended, at which time Snape would've been 38.

47. And David Thewliss, who played Lupin, turned 40 shortly into filming for the third film. Lupin would've been 34, and was 38 by the last film; Thewliss turned 47 shortly into filming.

48. Gary Oldman, who played Sirius, turned 45 during filming. Sirius, likewise, would've been 34 when he was introduced, and 36 when he died. Oldman was 48 when filming for the fifth film, which features his character's death.

49. And finally, we have to end with Grease, because the age discrepancies are infamous. Honestly, they're similar to others on this list — but it's more obvious because they just really, really cannot pass for teenagers. First off, Olivia Newton-John was 29 when she played teenage Sandy.

50. Michael Tucci was 31 when he played 18-year-old Sonny.

51. And Stockard Channing, who played 17-year-old Rizzo, was a whopping 33.

What miscasting due to age always bothers you? Let us know in the comments!