I got to thinking about a movie I saw recently called A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, wherein a young Shia LaBeouf plays the character of Dito as a youth, and Robert Downey Jr. plays the grown up Dito.

It occurred to me to try to think of other pairings in films where the same character is played by two or more well-known actors, aka "stars" (or went on to become stars, as in the above example).

I'm sure there are dozens of other examples (and I realize this thread may have been done before, but it's a hard topic to search on). Can you name any?

Remember, not-very-well-known actors don't count. For instance, Jeff East as young Clark Kent in Superman: The Movie doesn't really count, because despite appearing in a couple other mildly successful '80s movies, Jeff East is a long way from a household name.

Godfather II - Vito Corleone, played by Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando

Edit: I'm retarded, but I'll leave my incorrect response up for public ridicule.

Marlon Brando wasn't in Godfather 2.

Damn brain of mine! I think I tend to view I and II as one long movie in my mind.

Ashley Judd as Norma Jean Baker and Mira Sorvino as Marilyn Monroe in the HBO movie: Norma Jean and Marilyn

Best example I can think of: Face/Off

John Travolta and Nicolas Cage both take turns playing the hero/villain.

MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (1934) - Mickey Rooney plays Clark Gable as a kid
BEAU GESTE (1939) - Donald O'Connor plays Gary Cooper as a kid
JANE EYRE (1944) - Peggy Ann Garner plays Joan Fontaine as a kid

Radio Flyer - Tom Hanks and Elijah Wood

Richard Dreyfuss and Wil Wheaton in 'Stand By Me'

River Phoenix and Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Bill Pullman and Balthazar Getty in Lost Highway...probably.

John Randolph and Rock Hudson in Seconds
Raquel Welch and Rex Reed(!) in Myra Breckinridge

Dont be so hard on yourself. First one that popped into my head as well.
Followed quickly by this one:



What about the Bob Dylan film that came out recently? Never saw it but werent there a couple of people that played Dylan?

Gloria Stuart isn't necessarily a household name yet she was nominated along with Kate Winslet for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for playing the same character, Rose, in Titanic.

Isn't there some sort of actor switch on the same character halfway through Lost Highway?

In Robocop, the same character is played by both Peter Weller and the real Robocop.

Once Upon a Time in America -- Jennifer Connolly & Elizabeth McGovern

All of the Mission Impossible movies have this but my favorite is in 3:

The same thing popped into my head, luckily it popped right out again.

It works if you go with The Godfather: The Complete Motion Picture Saga (or whatever the hell it's called).

You took my first thought.

Mayim Bialik and Bette Midler in Beaches.

Does I'm Not There count?

Now and Then had at least one, maybe two of these. Christina Ricci played the young Rosie O'Donnell, of all people. Thora Birch (not that famous but sort of known) was the young Melanie Griffith. The other two didn't really become famous. Gaby Hoffman (the young Demi Moore) at least works steadily, and Ashleigh Aston Moore (the young Rita Wilson) died of pneumonia at age 26.

Wouldn't a number of the body-switching films work for this?

Freaky Friday (2003)
Vice Versa (1988)

And somewhat related:
Face/Off (1997) edit: Dr. DVD beat me to this
Being John Malkovich (1999)
17 Again (2009)
All of Me (1984)

Michael J Fox and Eric Stoltz in the first Back to the Future.

The movie from a couple of years ago, where there was several people who played Bob Dylan, I don't remember the name.

I thought about putting this in the OP, but although several famous actors are ostensibly playing Dylan in the movie, their characters actually have different names. So yes and no.

A silly one, but Tom Cruise and Mike Meyers playing Austin Powers in part 3. And what about Peter Sellers and David Niven in Casino Royale? Never saw it, but I thought they both played James Bond.

Norton Pitt Durden