Frodo come on we have no clue how the casting process started and how it's wrapping up. No way they really would just say oh we are just looking at teens no one else. 99% of the time for films and shows about teens they usually hire older. No reason and we haven't had any reason to think they didn't at first look at a wide age range. And then once they widled down after a few call backs. Decide to go in younger direction. They probably did go up to 25 yrs old. Then started to break down most liked from like 16 to 19 and 20 to 25. And then once they got a better look at ones they liked. They likely decided then to go younger. We again have no clue how it went.
In this case , Its pretty clear to me at least that Marvel at least was focusing on teens. Again, teens have played teens , adults have played teens. They tend to use
both models and
neither model has been more dominant then another in Hollywood history. That's just the reality. For as many times you can mention a teen being played by an adult, you can mention a teen being played by a teen. Its not a one size fits all thing and it depends on what the casting directors and the production want to go for. That's just how it is.
In this case , from the very early reports that Marvel wanted a 14 year old Peter and that they were testing a 16 year old Mates Ward, that that was the direction that they were headed in more than looking at 23 to 25 year olds. You're correct that nothing is 100% confirmed and we don't 100% know how the casting may have started out .
That said , given the fact that the information we've gotten at least since the early part of this year all said they were testing teen actors mostly for the part in conjunction with the names we've heard , there hasn't been any indication that they were looking at 25 year olds. Ultimately people are gonna believe what they want to believe about how the process is going. They'll either believe scoops and rumors or not .
From what i've seen , and that's all I can I'm go by , I suspect they were always aiming at teens. I do think
Sony considered older actors when they decided they were going to reboot the series regardless of a Marvel deal, and that
they may have had in mind actors in their twenties, which is why we heard the names of Lerman and O'Brien . However the early reports about Marvel Studios intentions with a 14 year old Peter, Feige's statement's , and the recent names of Holland, Butterfield, etc tell me there wasn't some change, but that they were likely always looking that way. Again, its my own opinion that that's what likely happened as opposed to them looking at actors between 16-25 and then deciding to focus on teens .
You can agree with that or not, but I just don't believe that
Marvel were looking at people in their midtwenties for the part. I felt it was
possible when the deal first went through last year and when we didn't have any reports about actors testing, but given what we've heard since then has pretty consistently pointed to teen actors with Wolff being the oldest at 20 or 21, I find it hard to believe that
Marvel skewed older than 21 in their casting search. We could ultimately argue hypothetical's all day about what could or couldn't have happened, and we may just have to agree to disagree.