MovieChat Forums > The Natural (1984) Discussion > Yes, One MORE Age Post for The Natural

Yes, One MORE Age Post for The Natural

posted 11 years ago by HowYaLikeDemApplesWill
3 replies | jump to latest

It has been posted ad nauseam about Redford's true age (47) during the filming of The Natural, and speculation as to whether he was miscast, whether they should have at least gotten a younger actor to play the younger Roy Hobbs, and on and on....

But here are a few nuggets that really drive the point home:

Wilfred Brimley, who played manager Pop Fisher, was only three years older than Redford at the time.

Robert Prosky, who played The Judge, the owner of the Knights....was a mere seven years older than Redford at the time.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] turtletommy 11 years ago

Yeah yeah yeah yet I'm STILL ok with Redford's casting, except for playing Hobbs as a young man with Iris in the barn- there I can understand the complaints by some.

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 11 years ago

Hey same here, I have said before he was probably too old, but hey we're talking Robert Redford here, and it would be hard bordering on impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.

And yes just like they did in Redford's movie Sneakers, they could have easily gotten a younger look-alike actor to play the teen Roy Hobbs, and it would have been much more effective.

But with that said, at some point you just know this movie is going to be remade just like every other movie of the 80's, and the odds of someone playing the role who is north of 40 years old is close to zero. It will be more of a Ryan Gosling type...just sayin'.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] Prismark10 9 years ago

In retrospect the film should had younger actors playing Hobbs as a teenager.

I think Redford just about got away with playing the older Hobbs.

It's that man again!!