BrooklynKnight said:
Fan sites and movie reviewers are constantly speculating about the possiblities of the original actors being cut due to aging. If this is a real risk, the best solution would be to simply film 5 and 6 together before some of the older cast (like Rupert Grint/Ron Weasley) from having to be cut due to age.
Although he's the only actor of the primary 3 with the largest risk (he'll be 17/18 when filming on OoTP starts) to be cut, it would be terrible to break apart the original 3.
The age of the actors is a non-issue.
Anyone ever see
Grease? A bunch of 30-ish actors playing high school students. Didn't hurt the film one bit. John Revolta was 24, Olivia Neutron-Bomb was 30, and Stockyard Channing was 34. Jeff Conaway 28, Didi Conn 27, Jamei Donnelly 31. The other actors in the T-birds gang were 28, 32, and 32. Yikes. At least Dinah Manoff was only 20. That's one performer out of ten (the leads + their gang members) who was even close to the appropriate age for the character.
The HP actors are so identified with these roles, fans will want to see them in the roles even if they're 20+ years old.
BrooklynKnight said:
Some of the magic of the Harry Potter movies is that there arent many visual diffrence that remind you you're watching a series of movies between each sequal. The actors all remain the same. If you change a primary (or even favorable supporting) actor you kinda jar a viewer out of that "place" and force them to start speculating on the changes.
Replacing Dumbledore hasn't hurt the movies at all; In fact, #3 and #4 are better than #1 and #2.
BrooklynKnight said:
Though Book 7 obviously cannot be filmed yet considering its not complete, 5 and 6 can and should be. Which should give the actors a decent vacation before filming 7. Additionally it would reduce the age diffrence of the actors to their characters for all 3 books.
That would just make movie #7 all the more jarring, as it would have the largest "age gap" of all the movies.
BrooklynKnight said:
Could a 21 year old Rupert really pass for a 17 year old Ron? Look at the guy that played Viktor Krum? He was HUGE! That guy was way older then 17 heh.
And, yet, in discussions of the movie, the age of the actor playing Viktor Krum is hardly mentioned.
The age of the actors just isn't a primary concern.