Hollywood Nepotism: The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly

[DearEvette]

I think you are thinking of Casey Affleck, Ben's younger brother.

[GHScorpiosRule]

59 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Wasn't Chad Lowe in Manchester By The Sea? Geez...that was a tough one to watch. He was very good in it, but I think he was accused of sexual harassment by several women during another film production. That seemed to put the nail in his career.

No.

37 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I think you are thinking of Casey Affleck, Ben's younger brother.

Yes, he’s the one.

I've never heard anything bad about Chad Lowe. It’s Rob who’s got the reputation of doing questionable things.

And Chad also moved to the director’s side of the industry. He’s a better actor than Rob, in my opinion.

[annzeepark914]

Thanks for the correction!!  I knew it was the lesser known brother of a well known actor--just got the wrong brothers. And now that I think about it, I remember the similar accent both Afflecks like to use in Boston movies (e.g., Ben in "The Town").

No idea why I read both of Rob Lowe's memoirs, other than both books had really good reviews in The Washington Post. He looks just like his very handsome father (poor Chad looks like their late mother). In his second book, he kept referring to his "beautiful" wife, so much so that I wondered if it was from a guilty conscience. Both books were well written. He may have had a ghost writer...not sure. 

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by annzeepark914

[methodwriter85]

On 6/14/2023 at 2:42 PM, annzeepark914 said:

Wasn't Chad Lowe in Manchester By The Sea? Geez...that was a tough one to watch. He was very good in it, but I think he was accused of sexual harassment by several women during another film production. That seemed to put the nail in his career.

You're thinking of Casey Affleck, little brother to Ben Affleck. He got an Oscar but his career pretty much halted afterwards. Although I don't think he got the level of backlash that James Franco or Armie Hammer got. 

Anyway, Milo Manheim:

He's an interesting case. Camryn had her gay model BFF donate sperm to her in order to create him, and I think it created a goofy theater kid who is also tall and with a great body, which bodes really well for his career once he starts moving into more adult roles. He's good looking enough that he can play the male lead, but not so good looking that he can't play the relatable nerd.

Disney really seems to like him, which is generally good for a career, if you know how to play it right like Zendaya or Raven Simone. Especially now that they have Fox.

I can definitely see Milo having the same kind of "hey, it's that guy" career that his mother has. Lots of roles- maybe nothing A-list, but plenty of work. I don't think he'll have much of a problem with transitioning to more adult roles, especially with that great height.

He really, really reminds me of a young David Schwimmer. 

[festivus]

He is adorable. I didn't even know Camryn had a son. I've never seen any of the stuff he was talking about but I'm not the target audience for it. 

[methodwriter85]

12 hours ago, festivus said:

He is adorable. I didn't even know Camryn had a son. I've never seen any of the stuff he was talking about but I'm not the target audience for it. 

I came across him because I watch YouTubers who make fun of Disney Channel movies so that's how I found out about this kid. He did Dancing with the Stars as well. 

Milo is definitely adorable. I can see this guy doing a lot of fun crowd-pleasing type stuff.

I don't think Milo is going to have any problems trying to transition into more adult roles. Again, that height. Not quite an advantage as a child star, but definitely helpful when you're going to move into playing adults.

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by methodwriter85

[Scarlett45]

On 6/15/2023 at 8:20 PM, methodwriter85 said:

You're thinking of Casey Affleck, little brother to Ben Affleck. He got an Oscar but his career pretty much halted afterwards. Although I don't think he got the level of backlash that James Franco or Armie Hammer got. 

Anyway, Milo Manheim:

He's an interesting case. Camryn had her gay model BFF donate sperm to her in order to create him, and I think it created a goofy theater kid who is also tall and with a great body, which bodes really well for his career once he starts moving into more adult roles. He's good looking enough that he can play the male lead, but not so good looking that he can't play the relatable nerd.

Disney really seems to like him, which is generally good for a career, if you know how to play it right like Zendaya or Raven Simone. Especially now that they have Fox.

I can definitely see Milo having the same kind of "hey, it's that guy" career that his mother has. Lots of roles- maybe nothing A-list, but plenty of work. I don't think he'll have much of a problem with transitioning to more adult roles, especially with that great height.

He really, really reminds me of a young David Schwimmer. 

Oh I know him! He was the lead in those Zombie movies!! I feel so hip. He’s a nice looking young man, not crazy beautiful but nice looking in an “every man” kind of way. He’s got a great facial structure and assuming he doesn’t abuse substances he should age nicely.

 

 

I didn’t realize he was Camryn Mannheim’s son! Regarding the bolded, isn’t that an ideal sperm donor situation?? Not the gay part, the model best friend part, you know he’s good looking and have some sort of idea what his temperament is like, and if he has more kids of his own, your child can know where their bio siblings are, and know their bio parent if they have questions.

[methodwriter85]

15 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Oh I know him! He was the lead in those Zombie movies!! I feel so hip. He’s a nice looking young man, not crazy beautiful but nice looking in an “every man” kind of way. He’s got a great facial structure and assuming he doesn’t abuse substances he should age nicely.

Yeah, Milo is going to be really good for those "every man" type of roles as he gets older, assuming nothing crazy happens to derail him. Being tall is kind of a negative for child actors but it's good for him when he starts playing more adults. And he's got a really nice face that should age well, but it's not so beautiful that he can't play normal roles.

In a couple more years Milo would be really good for a Friends-type ripoff. They've never stopped making those types of sitcoms. LOL

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by methodwriter85

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

Being tall is kind of a negative for child actors but it's good for him when he starts playing more adults. And he's got a really nice face that should age well, but it's not so beautiful that he can't play normal roles.

It is a huge negative for child actors as the ideal is to hire an older child who looks small so they have the language skills and the maturity for the part. Also kids do grow at different rates and it sucks to have an awkward growth spurt right in the middle of your career where you may look “young” but stick out among another groups of kids. 
 

Seeing him reminds me of Lee Thompson Young may he rest in peace, such a handsome young man who lost his battle with depression. 

[methodwriter85]

5 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

It is a huge negative for child actors as the ideal is to hire an older child who looks small so they have the language skills and the maturity for the part. Also kids do grow at different rates and it sucks to have an awkward growth spurt right in the middle of your career where you may look “young” but stick out among another groups of kids. 

Not a nepo case but I always thought it was funny how Chris Colfer had a late growth spurt. He started Glee around 5'6" and ended it around 5'9" or 5'10". 

[absnow54]

I thought Milo was good in Prom Pact. He's 22, so well past the child actor phase. He'll be stuck in his high school phase for another 5-10 years, though, with his bone structure. 

[methodwriter85]

On 6/19/2023 at 7:43 AM, absnow54 said:

I thought Milo was good in Prom Pact. He's 22, so well past the child actor phase. He'll be stuck in his high school phase for another 5-10 years, though, with his bone structure. 

He's got that mix of a mature, fit body but Babyface that Hollywood absolutely loves for casting 25-year old "teenagers." Hopefully Milo embraces that instead of trying to mature his face with plastic surgery like Zac Efron did. I can see him set up for a pretty prolific Every Man type of career unless he decides to pivot. 

[pancake bacon]

On 6/19/2023 at 1:02 AM, methodwriter85 said:

Being tall is kind of a negative for child actors but it's good for him when he starts playing more adults.

It's a similar path with Nicholas Braun, AKA Cousin Greg on Succession. He's a nepo baby of sorts, as the son of Rolling Stone logo designer, Craig Braun. (Yes, that mouth!) 

He was tall and gangly in various child roles. In the TV adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You, Cousin Greg Nicholas was the tallest teenager ever it seemed, as he was already 6'6". His co-star and fellow nepo (grand)baby Ethan Peck probably thought he was going to be pretty much the tallest cast member at 6'2" of the show, but paired with Nicholas… the camera people and production design folks of the show must have had their work cut out for them! 

Nicholas continues to be vague about his true height as according to him, admitting you are 6'7" is too much for the casting directors. 

Edited June 21, 2023 by pancake bacon
Grammar fixes

[methodwriter85]

1 hour ago, pancake bacon said:

It's a similar path to Nicholas Braun, AKA Cousin Greg on Succession. He's a nepo baby of sorts, as the son of Rolling Stone logo designer, Craig Braun. (Yes, that mouth!) 

He was tall and gangly in various child roles. In the TV adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You, Cousin Greg Nicholas was the tallest teenager ever it seemed, as he was already 6'6". His co-star and fellow nepo (grand)baby Ethan Peck probably thought he's was going a pretty tall cast member at 6'2" of the show, but paired with Nicholas, the camera people and production design folks of the show had their work cut out for them! 

Nicholas continues to be vague about his true height as according to him, admitting you are 6'7" is too much for the casting directors. 

Yeah, it kind of seems like 6'5" is the cutoff but Nicholas seems to be squeaking through. They do seem to be good at masking at least somewhat how insanely tall he is. I would have thought he was 6'4" or so.

[Anduin]

3 hours ago, pancake bacon said:

Nicholas continues to be vague about his true height as according to him, admitting you are 6'7" is too much for the casting directors. 

I wonder if he likes SF. They often have especially tall people. Peter Mayhew, the original Chewbacca, was seven feet tall! And while the Expanse show mostly used regular-height people for Belters, in the books they were supposed to be right up there too. Height is good for baddies as well. Great for looming over the plucky heroes and being intimidating.

[paulvdb]

I just watched You are so not invited to my bat mitzvah on Netflix with Adam Sandler, his wife Jackie and their two daughters. Going through their IMDB profiles I saw that Adam worked with them in a lot of movies.

[Spartan Girl]

On 8/25/2023 at 10:28 AM, paulvdb said:

I just watched You are so not invited to my bat mitzvah on Netflix with Adam Sandler, his wife Jackie and their two daughters. Going through their IMDB profiles I saw that Adam worked with them in a lot of movies.

I just watched it, it was cute. Figured it was inevitable after all the times that they camoed in Adam’s movies, but they did a good job.

What shocked me was how an Adam Sandler movie sensitively handled puberty issues. 

[Kel Varnsen]

On 8/25/2023 at 10:28 AM, paulvdb said:

I just watched You are so not invited to my bat mitzvah on Netflix with Adam Sandler, his wife Jackie and their two daughters. Going through their IMDB profiles I saw that Adam worked with them in a lot of movies.

I mean if Adam Sandler is going to give people jobs I kind of would rather it was his own family instead of Rob Schneider and Kevin James.

[methodwriter85]

Excited for the upcoming Snakes and Songbirds movie...I haven't seen Tom Blyth act but I'm hoping he's good. He falls in line with the "industry personal connection" nepo level, as his late father produced UK soap operas. So something similar to Timothe Chalamet, where they don't have household name type parents but they do have relatives in the entertainment industry background. (His aunt is Amy Lippman who produced Party of 5.)

I'd say that's probably more preferable because you have connections that can help lead the way, but you don't have the weight of a famous family name weighing on you. You also don't have the public scrutiny that gets put on the celebrities kids.

Edited October 20, 2023 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

Margaret Qualley is that rare example of a nepo baby who actually might have more starpower charisma than their parents did at their peak. I mean, seriously- when she's on you really cannot look away from her.

 

[Bastet]

I've only seen her in Maid, which was fantastic, and she was great in it.  Definitely better than her mom (I don't think Andie MacDowell is terrible, but just okay).

[methodwriter85]

On 11/2/2024 at 4:21 PM, Bastet said:

I've only seen her in Maid, which was fantastic, and she was great in it.  Definitely better than her mom (I don't think Andie MacDowell is terrible, but just okay).

I've just never really felt that much range from Andie MacDowell. However, you do got to hand it to her- a lot of her peers are not acting anymore and she's still very much there. When she aged out of the "Pretty Girl" eye candy parts, she transitioned pretty easily into Mom, The Boss, and now Grandma roles. I know she's doing a lot of work with Hallmark which was (at least on the surface) pretty aged-friendly. 

I do think Margaret Qualley has a really good shot at winning an Academy Award in the next 10 years given her general career trajectory. I don't think it's going to be for The Substance because the Academy HATES horror (Nicole Kidman should have gotten it for The Others not The Hours), but she's definitely building the case for one.

 

Edited November 8 by methodwriter85