What movies were filmed over such a long period of time that the lead actors and actresses noticeably aged? To be clear, I mean that none of the characters should have really aged because the movie itself takes place over a relatively short period of time. Thanks to anyone who replies.

I'm sure there are lots of kid examples - Vacation comes to mind. Rusty grows three inches during filming. It was several months between the starting of filming and reshooting the ending.

David Lynch's Eraserhead was filmed over several years. It isn't so much as the actors aged but Jack Nances hair lenght changes between scenes sometimes.

Boyhood by Richard Linklater? I know that's cheating.

Lawrence Fishburne, Apocalypse Now

Nowadays it’s extremely rare to have movies filmed longer than 6 months maximum. Plus, studios hire continuity coordinators to make sure everyone has the same look in case there is an extended break in filming.

The OG Evil Dead. Aside from the obvious haircut, The actor playing Scotty seemed to age considerably after some pickup shots much later.

Not a movie but I’ve started watching The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles with my son and the kid who plays young Indy noticeably ages from episode to episode. It’s even more noticeable because George Lucas apparently re-edited the series to create feature-length episodes so Indy looks 8 or 9 and then immediately looks 12 or 13 from scene to scene.

BTW, the show so far, is terrible. Indy is like Forrest Gump. He has an adventure with a historical figure in each episode.

Samurai Cop

That was the premise of the show. Part of the point of the series was to encourage children to learn more about the real history connected to each episode.

Thats definitely the way the show feels. So in that regard it works. For me, who’s continually trying to connect it to movie Indy, it’s not working.

I just keep imagining Harrison Ford’s Indy talking about “That time he climbed the great pyramids with T.E. Lawrence” or “when he was a kid and hung out with Picasso in Paris.”

Or that time he made out with his wife in a broom closet, but it turned out he was just groping a broom handle.

The Phantom Menace - Jake Loyd is visibly older in the scene where he goes to say goodbye to Padme. The wig is very noticeable.


Also, the scene where Obi-Wan apologizes to Qui Gon, Ewan McGregor has clearly put on weight since the main filming.

Off topic I suppose, but I think the show gets much better once you reach the episodes with Sean Patrick Flanery. I think the kid ones have a certain charm to them but they're definitely not for everyone. The Flanery ones have more to offer, although he will continue to run into historical figures.

I finally decided to try IJ Chronicles earlier this year and didn’t get far.

^ Not to derail the thread, but I'm finishing up this series at the moment. For me, it's mostly been a bland slog. I completely understand the sharp drop in viewership it had and why the later VHS line was canceled prematurely. As a kid, I watched it occasionally when it first aired. I barely remembered a thing about it other than old Indy with an eye patch. Now I get why almost nothing else from it stayed with me.

The idea behind the project was commendable (a history focused adventure program for the whole family) and doing such a globe-trotting production was very unique. Sean Patrick Flanery delivered a more consistent and less wooden performance than Hayden Christensen in the Star Wars prequels, but his acting as young adult Indy often gave me 80s sitcom vibes. I probably enjoyed the 10-year-old Indy chapters better, mainly for the scenes with Henry Sr.

There is an earnest corniness to the tone of the series that keeps it from being great. More recurring characters (who aren't Remy) and multi-episode mystery arcs would have gone a long way in pulling in an audience compared to the mostly standalone episode approach they went with. The near absence of supernatural elements didn't help either. Even that one Dracula episode they did was neither scary or fun.

Boyhood. Jeez, that kid must have aged 10 years!

Crystal Skull mentioned Pancho Villa in passing..

Maybe off topic but Steve Martin and Brian Cox looked old in the 90's and they still look old in 2023.

Were they supposed to look younger 30 years later?

Also, doesn't count, but I just watched El Camino last night, after finally finishing Breaking Bad, and the Todd character doesn't really seem to match up at all…

Willie Nelson always looked old back in the 80's and 90's too

Harry Potter.

In the movie Chaplin, there are parts of the movie where Robert Downey looks like a younger man, and then other parts where he looks like an old man