I was watching The Wolf Man recently (got the DVD Legacy Collection). As I watched the film, I found it a bit distracting (in an amusing way) that Lon Chaney Jr. was supposed to be Claude Rains’ son. I kept trying to imagine just how giant a woman Rains would have had to have had sex with in order to produce Lon Chaney. The two are just so incredibly mismatched in terms of physical characteristics it was laughable.
Now I know that genetics play surprises in real life too. I’m a pale skinned, 5’7”, redhead, whereas my brother is a tanned 6’4” blonde- same mother same father. I also understand the willing suspension of disbelief while watching a film. But still, can you think of any pairings of family members in movies or on T.V. that you just couldn’t accept (based on contrasting physical characteristics)?
Those towhead, blue-eyed children on Everybody Loves Raymond.
I think the Quaid brothers do look alike. Except one is much more better looking. Reminds me of the basketball Millers. Cheryl and Reggie look remarkably alike but somehow Cheryl is a very attractive woman and Reggie is a Ferengi.
Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick played grandfather-father-son in Family Business, leading one to conclude that the women in that family were highly promiscuous.
In the same year, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise were equally unlikely brothers in Rain Man.
I found Billy Crudup to be kinda wrong as the son of Ewan McGregor/Albert Finney and Alison Lohman/Jessica Lange. Two light-haired blue-eyed parents producing a boy with black semi-curly locks and dark eyes? They should’ve asked Jared Leto if he was busy that week for the same basic look but more believable parentage.
And add to that the towhead, blue-eyed kids on Full House, who were supposed to be the children of a brunette Bob Sagat and John Stamos’ sister, whose family was Greek. :rolleyes:
The best example of this has to be the movie “To Catch A Thief” (1955) where Jessie Royce Landis (born Nov 25, 1904) portrays the mother of Cary Grant (born January 18, 1904) !!!
Other egregious pairings:
Angela Lansbury (born October 16, 1925) portrays the mother of Elvis Presley (born January 8, 1935) in “Blue Hawaii”.
Angela Lansbury (born October 16, 1925) portrays the mother of Laurence Harvey (born October 1, 1928) in “The Manchurian Candidate”.
Spencer Tracy (born April 5, 1900) and Robert Wagner (born February 10, 1930) portray brothers (okay half brothers) in the movie “The Mountain”.
This was a bit of casting that always seemed unlikely to me too, until I saw The Graduate again; in the scenes where young Hoffman hangs around by the pool wearing his sunglasses, I can see a plausible resemblance to Cruise.
The least believable family casting I ever saw was Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams as twin brother and sister in a film called Fiesta: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0039377/
IRL families often produce talent and no talent siblings. I remember an episode of MAS*H which co-starred Alan’s father, Robert and Alan’s younger brother (Anthony?). Robert and Alan gave their usual good performances, while the younger Alda was cringe-inducing (he had to yell at the two elder Aldas over something). Good God, y’all.
Well, Jeff Goldblum (son) as the intellectual progeny of Judd Hirsch (father) in Independence Day strained plausibilty, Jeff Goldblum and his “daughter” in Jurassic Park 2 strained biological plausibilty.
Is it possible to find Jeff Goldblum effectively credible as anyone’s relative?
In Poltergeist, when the father goes to the parapsychologists to ask for help, they ask him the ages of each member of the family. He says that he’s 31 and his wife is 30 or something like that and that their oldest daughter is 16. It’s not impossible, but it’s highly unlikely that a couple their age would have a 16-year-old daughter. And yet, at the same time, I can’t help but think that the writer(s) knew what they were doing. I mean, it’d be one thing if the ages of the parents and the age of the daughter were mentioned in two separate scenes. At least then, the excuse could be made that the writer(s) just didn’t have their thinking caps on. But when the ages are given in the same scene, not ten seconds apart… I just can’t believe that during the months-long production, not a single person noticed the oddity and pointed it out. So, I think it must have been deliberate.
