Why are the children so young? - Grace and Frankie (2015) Discussion

[–] e827 10 years ago

Ethan Embry is 36, and Baron Vaughn is 34 - those sound like reasonable ages for a couple that was married for 40 years.

Brooklyn Decker, though, was born when Jane Fonda was 49. But I'm thinking Brooklyn Decker's character is supposed to be older than the actress playing her.

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[–] Glozone 10 years ago

Plus, it's mentioned that Grace is only 70, even though Jane Fonda is 77. I think they're all supposed to be only around 70. And the kids are all various states of 30s.

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[–] kaphawoman 10 years ago

Brooklyn Decker is only 28 (or at least, that's her published age). I was wondering the same thing.

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[–] davidwile 10 years ago

Hey folks,

One needs to consider the "characters'' ages rather than the actors' ages. Jane Fonda looks much younger than her 77 years, and I assume the four main characters to be at or about 70 years of age. When seeing their four children, however, I also thought they seemed to be a bit too young for their parents. It is not a big problem for me, however, so far I have been more captivated by the story and how it has been played.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

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[–] jdw2691 10 years ago

Also, Lily's children are supposed to be adopted, so age is no factor with her kids.

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[–] mcorner 10 years ago

I agree. I was 36 when my mother was 70! I also had a baby that same year.

My mother died when she was 77 (shortly before her 78th birthday) and I was 44. People at the nursing home were somewhat shocked by my age, thinking I was *so* young in comparison to her. I guess a lot of people have babies at much younger ages than 34. I also have a younger sister.

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[–] tuckmics-58647 9 years ago

My mother was 35 when I was born...75 when I was 40 (that was 10 years ago).

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[–] Taco_Lips 9 years ago

Yeah my Mother and Father were both 36/37 when I was born, also. It wasn't uncommon for people to have kids in their 30's in the 1970's, as much as people seem to think it was. Not everyone was married and pregnant by 20.

I really think that it's a huge misconception that seniors citizens children must all be middle-aged - because I know pleanty of people whose parents are in their 60's + and are under 40.

Riddle wrapped inside an enigma, wrapped inside a taco.

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[–] Catdubh 10 years ago

It works, and you're nit picking about 5 or 10 years, with the actors REAL ages? Wow!
Brooklyn Decker is playing a young mum in her early to mid 30's; it works. If Brooklyn was playing a woman in her mid 20's it would work.
Jane Fonda is going to be 78 at the end of the year, is playing a 70 year old, and her 70 year old character is passing herself off as a 64 year old, and it works.

Not to be rude but if you can't let your imagination work just a bit, read a text book for entertainment.

Jack's not dead! Jack would never die without telling me, first!



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[–] blanche-2 9 years ago

Remember too that Jane was probably busy with her career, too, and waited until later to have kids.

I don't find the kids' ages a problem.

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[–] TVguy80 10 years ago

Yeah, the actresses who play Jane and Martin's daughters look like they should be their granddaughters. Kind of throws the show off for me. Wonder if it was a vanity thing on Jane's part since she's a producer on the show

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[–] AnUnnamedGalaxy 10 years ago

Yeah, the actresses who play Jane and Martin's daughters look like they should be their granddaughters.

Well thats certainly pushing it.

Traditionally, sure they are younger than your standard age range that modern society has become accustomed to, but it's also not that strange for women to have "late in life babies." In which they have a child or two in their forties and even fifties.

As they have said a dozen times each episode that the older actors on the show are all playing 70 (give or take a couple years), it would have Fonda having her children on the show in her forties, not that implausible.

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[–] Kassie24 10 years ago

I was thinking the same thing, totally threw me off

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[–] brando587 10 years ago

I wasn't so thrown off by it because the kids in this show are a lot more likable than the ones on Transparent; really I was just grateful they weren't *beep* heads. (I beeped myself btw).

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[–] KlutzyGirl 10 years ago

Also keep in mind that they live in southern CA, where most people, or at least the upper middle class, strive to look as young as possible.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Isle1970 10 years ago

I agree that the kids seem a little young, but it's not bothering me too much. I had my last baby at 36. I'll be 66 when she's 30.

So, I'm assuming that they all put off having/adopting kids till their clocks almost ran out, and their business were firmly established.

And let's face it, people look pretty good in their 30s and 40s these days, so I'm putting all the kids at around 35, despite the fact that the actors themselves all "look" late 20s/early 30s to me.

Edited to add: I just looked, and as I expected, 3 of the kid actors are indeed around 35; but Brooklyn Decker is only 28. I think it would help the optics a bit if she didn't so clearly look (by appearance and behavior) exactly her real age, but a really late baby isn't unheard of either (ask Halle Berry). Maybe they could address the late baby thing sometime, and get it out of the way, so that it's not a stumbling block to some who otherwise like the show just fine.

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[–] bkerber 10 years ago

Grace is 70. She has said that many times on the show.

I took the kids to be in their mid 30's. That would put her in her mid 30's when she had them. Although that is unusual for her age, it's not unheard of. Grace built a successful, and we're led to believe, rather large, beauty products company. She may have been working on that before she decided to have children.

I'm just a wee bit older than these kids so my mom became a mom in the same era. She was 30 years old when she had me. Not too terribly strange.

As for Frankie's kids - they are quite clear that Frankie wanted to have children so one can assume that there were efforts to make that happen before the children were adopted - that could potentially make her a first time mom in her mid to late thirties rather than her 20's.

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[–] 8tangerines 9 years ago

Frankie and Sol may have just wanted to adopt and not try to have biological children. That's what I assumed when I saw their kids were adopted. I grew up in California in the 70s when over-population was a big topic of concern and adoption was seen as a solution. It would be fully in keeping with their characters for them to have adopted kids out of a desire to have kids without adding any more people.

IRL Jane Fonda's children are 47 and 43, and she is 77. When whe was 71, like Grace, her kids were 40 and 36.

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[–] stefanRTI 9 years ago

People don't all have kids at the same ages. When my mother is 70, her kids will be 52, 50, and 46. When her sister turns 70 the year after my mom, her kids will be 35 and 30. So Grace was more like my aunt - and Frankie adopted hers.

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