Jane Austen discussion

I was researching the ages of the actors when they performed the roles. Some surprising results!

The age given in the book is next to the names or if it isn't stated (?) then I have estimated ;)

Darcy - 28
1995 - 35
2005 - 31
Not that surprised.

Lizzy - 20
95 - 26
05 - 20
Again, not that surprised. Knew most were older than they were meant to be in 95.

Jane - 22
95 - 30
05 - 26
Didn't think 05 was 4 years older!

Bingley - 22
95 - 26
05 - 25
Not bad :)

Mary - 19 (?)
95 - 28
05 - 20
Woah! 1995!?

Kitty - 17
95 - 19
05 - 20
Close!

Lydia - 15
95 - 27
05 - 21
Woah! 95 older than Lizzy!

Wickham - 28 (?)
95 - 37
05 - 24
Knew 95 was old, but not that old!

Charlotte - 27
95 - 24
05 - 31
Fits what I thought.

Collins - 25
95 - 41
05 - 38
A lot older!

Georgiana - 16
95 - 21
05 - 18
Fits what I thought again!

95 are all generally older which makes it more proportional I guess!

Wow, yes, most of the actors for 95 are older. I wonder why, hmmm. I realize the newer adaptations focus alot on the details such as
1. what I call the small expressions
2. They add music to stir up the plot
3. chemistry between the hero and heroine

Whilst the older adaptations prime target is the transition of the script.
I am not saying that all the adaptations follow that pattern but it is a general observations.

I believe that the age of the actors does matter, to represent the character. Well unless, the actors looks suits the role.

That is the same observation that I had made!
Exactly! Haha

I think age matters. I think 95 worked because Everyone was older (pretty much)

Yes, it is one of the reasons (hand shake) :D

:)

Pretty close, but ages also have to reflect contemporary attitudes to be convincing. Collins and Charlotte work better as older characters- having said that, make up can do a lot too. :)

Now may be a good time to brag that I was asked for ID to buy alcohol about six months ago (I'm 31 so this made my day!)

Anyway, this is interesting! (good post Soph) - I think it's how old they look that's important, rather than how old they are. Some 35 year olds would never pass as a 28 year old :)

Make up can do a lot Anna!! Haha

And nice one Sarah! ;)

I agree, it is how old they look. I never thought some of those were as old as they were! It was interesting finding out about it actually and really surprising, but then if they can pull it off, it doesn't matter really ;)

I agree as well with the premise that it is not how old you are but how old you look. That is how you see an actor playing so many different roles.

Exactly!

I posted this in the "Colin Firth or Matthew MacFadyen; that is the question?" discussion, but I decided to re-post it here...

I don't know if this is true, but I think a lot of actors are older than the characters they play. Also, judging by photos I've seen, younger people tended to look older & more mature than younger people of the same age look today (if that makes sense). That's why I'm okay with the cast being older than the characters.

Yes we should!

Yes, Emma Thompson 19... I think not!

It will be interesting to see the ages for S&S. I think the movie version with Emma Thompson takes an entire different feel than the book because I think both Elinor and Marianne are intentionally older. I think that change also makes the movie more "understandable" to modern women - we might think it very strange to be "worried" about being single at 19 or 17 - ages when most of us are trying to survive the last year of high school or trying to figure out college. LOL
Your thoughts?

Right I have done the ages. For all the Austen novels and adaptions actually. I will post them shortly :)

That was so interesting Soph!! Thanks for sharing :) I look forward to seeing the other ones.

Here you go!

http://laughingwithlizzie.blogspot.co...

Thanks Soph, that's really interesting.

Some of them are actually younger than they look too ;)

I think some looked a lot younger yes! It was interesting to do!

Soph wrote: "Here you go!

http://laughingwithlizzie.blogspot.co..."

Thanks so much, it was great :)

Glad you liked it!