With director Andrew Niccol’s new film In Time about to arrive in theaters on Friday, it isn’t surprising to see that most are curious about Niccol’s out of the ordinary casting.
With the premise of In Time taking place well into the future, where the aging process stops at twenty-five, Niccol was presented with an unusual task of bringing on actors who could play a part beyond their years, he recently explained to the L.A. Times. Most of the actors, he said, “had to have something ancient about them.”
In the film Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Amanda Seyfried‘s 110 year old father, had the talents Niccol was looking for. “There’s something about him that I just go, ‘Wow, yeah, he can play someone who’s 100 years old. Not everyone can.”
For most of the actors the age difference might pose a challenge, but according to Kartheiser, he didn’t have trouble pulling off the role. “As an actor growing up, you oftentimes have to play characters that are way older than you are.”
After being consumed in the universe of In Time where humans don’t look their age, Niccols explains that even he was starting to see things differently. “It was very strange, because I would be looking in the lens of the camera, and maybe a crew member who was only 40 would pass in front, and I would go – What is that?”
The director also shared who his favorite character of the story. The 105-year-old Henry Hamilton, played by White Collar star Matt Bomer. “He’s immortal, but he wants to die. Your mind can be spent even when your body’s not.”
A role Bomer said he researched by “visiting wealthy retirement communities with some centenarians, just hoping by osmosis something would rub off on me. I got some info from those people, just some life experience and stories.”
