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For Sale Mar 31, 2026 at 12:57 PM

Who would you cast as the leads in the 40-year age-gap scifi romcom" 42.6 Years"?

Posted by Extension-While7536

So the cryo sci-fi romcom "42.6 Years" has its stars in Andy Samberg and Annette Bening, but I have a bit of a qualm. The characters are supposed to be exes separated when Andy's character is accidentally frozen for 42 years. Annette Bening is 67, and Andy's going on 48. Unless Bening's character was a 20-something he was dating in his mid-40s, it strikes me as off. Who would YOU match up though if you had to put a comic actor together with an actress 40-ish years his senior, playing his ex?
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NicCageCompletionist Mar 31, 2026 +24
Welcome to Hollywood, where Sally Field went from Tom Hanks’ love interest to his mom in six years.
24
SquirrelMoney8389 Mar 31, 2026 +3
To be fair, that's a story spanning decades - she had to wear old age makeup, and he had to play a high-schooler at nearly 40...
3
MultiPass21 Mar 31, 2026 +9
Will Poulter and Susan Sarandon
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Qforz Mar 31, 2026 +4
Jesse Plemons and Kathy Bates
4
icky_dirt Mar 31, 2026 +1
I see the vision here
1
grumblyoldman Mar 31, 2026 +2
But how is it profitable for Frito-Lay?
2
nishi-no-majo Mar 31, 2026 +5
Math aside, Andy still looks like he's in his 30s. And Annette, while being a very beautiful women who ages extremely well, in comparission to many other Hollywood actresses who did a lot of cosmetic work can pass for someone in her early 70s. That's the reality. People who age naturally can play someone who is 5-10+ years older and no one will notice. I think they'll make it work. But I also like the idea of swapping Andy with Michael Cera.
5
grumblyoldman Mar 31, 2026 +2
Please, no one would believe Micheal Cera is a man in his 30s. That man is permanently in his 20s, until he hits 80 and suddenly gets old.
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General-Show-6985 Mar 31, 2026 +4
The math definitely doesn't work out there. Maybe swap Samberg for someone like Michael Cera or Jesse Eisenberg - they still got that awkward energy but look young enough that dating a 27-year-old Bening back in the day would make sense. Or go the other direction and get someone like Steve Carell with Helen Mirren, that could actually be pretty funny.
4
Kjler Mar 31, 2026 +1
Bryan Cranston and the baby from Breaking Bad had some good chemistry. 
1
QuietQuitting01 Mar 31, 2026 +1
So if they were the same age when dating, he'd be 25 when he came out of cryo? If I was casting it, I would want an actress that we knew was older, but didn't look it (cuz we need beautiful people in the movies), so AB is a great choice. If I casting was set an AS as the male lead, I would establish in the movie that AB is older than her actual age. It's probably more important to cast actors who can deliver the script (be funny) than worrying about their actual ages.
1
SSLByron Mar 31, 2026 +1
Maybe they're doing that because the obvious age gap creates the opportunity for comedic tension.
1
Extension-While7536 Mar 31, 2026
Well then the MORE obvious the gap, the more the tension right? Why not try to get it closer to the gap the story calls for?
0
CaptainKirck Mar 31, 2026 +2
Don't think the story calls for a 42.6 year age gap, that's just how long he was frozen. It's probably along the lines of he was frozen for 42 years and when at the time he was 48 dating a 26-27 year old. Now he still wants to be with her when he's 48 and she's 68-69 reversing the age gap between them and exploring her side of things and how she feels about him now vs when she was mid 20s
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grumblyoldman Mar 31, 2026 +2
Yeah, I totally agree. Exploring how the relationship changes when the age gap *reverses* (he was 20 years older vs now she's 20 years older) is much more complex and fertile ground for storytelling (comedic or dramatic) than simply the idea that they used to be the same age and now they're not. Nothing about the set up demands the latter.
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