The production generated a wide net when it came to finding the right child to play Jonah, the son of Sam’s matchmaker, and the young actors who appeared in the search, according to Carlson, included Elijah Wood, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brutal Ben And strong knight, Jason Schwartzman And Joaquin (still following Leaf) Phoenix—who, at the age of 17, was quickly dismissed for being too old for the role.
The final part has come to the 8-year-old Nathan Watt. He’s so “cute”, casting director Laura Rosenthal call back to Carlson, as well as Ephron’s first choice.
But by many accounts, after just a few days of filming, it became clear that Watt – who had never been in a film – was not going to make it. “The child was not an actor,” the on-site editor recalls Bob Reitano“but most importantly he can’t remember his lines.”
Watt, who starred in wireless hero with Diane Keaton several years later but stopped acting in his teens, telling Carlson he doesn’t remember much of the experience, except Rosie O’Donnell funny and kind and Ephron is “abrasive”. It’s disappointing that it didn’t work out, but, he added, “I’m 8 years old.”
Enter Ross Malingerwho made his film debut in the 1990s Kindergarten police, like Johnny. Hanks told Carlson: “He was an 8-year-old who understood that there was a difference between saying lines and playing around. “I don’t know what it is, but as soon as we started working with Ross, it was the movie. Unexplainable.”
