The first trailer came out Tuesday for the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, the six-time Tony Award–winning Broadway musical that helped make Ben Platt a star.
Platt is reprising his role for the film, playing the titular Evan Hansen, a socially anxious teenage boy who's thrust into the spotlight after a lie he tells about the tragic death of a classmate spirals beyond his control.
Fans are excited to see the hit musical brought to the screen, but many are also pointing out that Platt, who is a 27-year-old playing a teenager, looks verrrry much like a 27-year-old playing a teenager.
In an interview with Vanity Fair published Tuesday, Platt and director Stephen Chbosky discussed the decision to cast him and begin production in September last year during the pandemic.
“His understanding of the character is so complete and so profound," said Chbosky. "I couldn’t imagine anybody else playing it. It’s his part. I felt very strongly about it. And to me it was never even a consideration.”
"[Before filming] I’d lost about 15 pounds and did a very specific diet, grew my hair out, and was shaving to make sure that I didn’t look like I had five o’clock shadow all the time, you know," revealed Platt. "I was just stripping myself into being a teenager for the last time. For what is hopefully the last time.”
Platt is certainly not the first adult to play a teenager onscreen, nor is he the first to look his age while doing it.
Teen shows, including Gossip Girl, The OC, 13 Reasons Why, Sex Education, Pretty Little Liars, and many others, have cast actors in their twenties for leading roles. Riverdale, whose "teen" stars are actually as old as 28, included a time jump in its most recent season that aged them up seven years, aiding in believability.
Adult-teens are also common in the musical theater movie genre, perhaps most famously in Grease, where Rizzo was played by a 33-year-old Stockard Channing.
Still, after the Dear Evan Hansen trailer dropped on Tuesday, people couldn't stop making some lighthearted jokes.
Ben Platt in the Dear Evan Hansen trailer:
I’m so excited about the Dear Evan Hansen film!!! #DearEvanHansen 💙
Ben Platt is unrecognizable in first photos of the Dear Evan Hansen movie
Just your average teenage boy who is not a grown man!!!!
i dunno, i think ben platt looks great in the DEH movie guys..
ben platt filming school scenes for dear evan hansen
dear evan hansen looks great
It is, admittedly, pretty hard to get past.
ben platt during his first day of shooting dear evan hansen (2021)
Ben Platt trying to blend in as a high schooler amongst actual high school students:
i got a message about the dear evan hansen trailer while watching it and wanted to be like “haha i’m watching too” and i accidentally got the best fucking screenshot imaginable
Platt also appears to be sporting a curly hairdo (or wig?) in the film, which quite a few people have...........opinions on.
who was in charge of the wig in dear evan hansen? i just wanna talk
personally if I was ben platt and my dad was producing the movie I’m starring in and he put in the at wig I would not be going to thanksgiving dinner this year
I actually think it’s beautiful that they recycled Meryl’s August: Osage County wig for Ben’s Dear Evan Hansen wig.........sustainability win!!
the dear evan hansen production team really looked at ben platt’s hair from pitch perfect & said “yes, that again, but worse”
Dear Evan Hansen will be released in theaters on Sept. 24. Coincidentally, that is also the day Platt will turn 28.