Diesel La Torraca addressed Ginny & Georgia fans who think he is too old to play Austin.
La Torraca, 14, shared a TikTok on Tuesday, June 24, with the caption, “What’s it like talking to any ‘teenager’ from a TV show.” The actor reenacted an audio of someone saying they were 35 before writing, “15 going on 30!”
The social media upload is a subtle nod to viewers who questioned whether La Torraca was now too old to play a second grader on Ginny & Georgia. The comments started after season 3 premiered earlier this month, with viewers quickly pointing out the lengths the Netflix show went to conceal La Torraca’s growth spurt.
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Creator Sarah Lampert ultimately weighed in on why the show wasn’t trying to be accurate with Austin’s age.
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“Anyone who works on the show will tell you I am fastidious about the details. I am just specific with so many things. Then things like Diesel growing five years [older], I’m like, ‘Whatever.’ Because you can’t control it,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in June. “We can’t recast. Diesel is Austin.”
Lampert made it clear there were no plans to bring in someone younger to play Austin.
“There are a few jokes we’re planning to make. We’re aware that he’s growing up and that helps us,” she said before acknowledging that viewers will have to “suspend their disbelief” because La Torraca “grew [up] and it’s a TV show.”
“You don’t want to do a big time leap because that really misses emotional storytelling. Because of that, the flashbacks already make no sense in terms of the timeline of the flashbacks,” she added. “Time is but a construct in Wellsbury.”
La Torraca, meanwhile, addressed the concerns while sharing the creative ways the show disguised his obvious growth spurt.
“Well, honestly, we kind of ignore it a little bit!” he told Teen Vogue. “It’s kind of just like … there’s a 14-year-old sitting at the table with Harry Potter glasses on that’s supposed to be 9. And that’s OK! In some shots, I did have to bend my knees a little bit to look a little shorter than [Antonia], or they got her an apple box a few times, but for the most part, we’ve kind of just kept the show running.”
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La Torraca continued: “Playing a 9-year-old for six years when you are growing … I’ve grown with him, but I’ve also kind of departed from him because I was 8 when we started, now I’m 14. There are a lot of differences in the way that he would move and act and speak. I have to heighten my voice register, slouch a little bit [to] feel like I’m actually a shy, insecure 9-year-old.”
La Torraca isn’t the only actor visibly playing a character younger than him. Chase Stokes was 28 when Outer Banks introduced him as high school student John B. And five years later he has remained in the same age range on screen despite now being into his 30s in real life.
Nicola Coughlin, meanwhile, played high schooler Clare Devlin in Derry Girls, but the actress was already 31 at the time. There was also Darren Barnet, who played high school student Paxton on Never Have I Ever at age 29.
Ginny & Georgia is currently streaming on Netflix.
Us Weekly
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