‘Young Sheldon’ Crew Says Casting Was Iain Armitage was Easy
If you could tell 9-year-old you anything, what would it be? Would you tell yourself that bangs were a bad idea or would you convince the younger you to try out for the drama club?
This is kind of how Young Sheldon will play out. Instead of having an older Sheldon talking directly to the younger one, the Sheldon we know and love will be narrating the inner thoughts of his younger self.
Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, has often compared himself to his younger costar, telling Iain Armitage that he has much more in common with him now than he would have as a kid.
“I was much more fearful of other people than you were. You will talk to anyone. I still won’t, no offense, but I really won’t. I don’t know. But I would say in those ways, and in many ways I felt … I had a great time as a child. I really did. But those are some of the ways in which I was just slightly different,”
Parsons said to Armitage. .
“I was not an overly bright child. I was mediocre, and I didn’t befuddle my parents. That came much later, with my sexuality,”
Producers Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro have been thinking about a Sheldon centered spin-off for 10 years.
“The origins of Sheldon have been something we’ve been interested in writing about for a couple-hundred episodes of ‘The Big Bang,’
says Lorre.
“And so last fall, when Jim sent me an email discussing the possibility of actually taking it a step further, it just seemed like the greatest idea in the world. And so I called Steve, and he thought it was a great idea.”
Iain was visiting family for the holidays when he heard about the opportunity to play young Sheldon Cooper. His mother even used her iPhone to shoot an audition video of him.
“He made us laugh,” recalls Molaro. “We laughed. We looked at it and went, ‘Oh, my God. We can’t possibly be this lucky.’ He was just spectacular,” says Lorre.
Since Iain was such an amazing fit, they needed to find the perfect actress to play Sheldon’s mother. Zoë Perry is daughter of Laurie Metcalfe, who currently plays Mrs. Cooper on The Big Bang Theory.
“Genetics do a lot for me. This is my voice. Certain mannerisms just come with the territory,” she says. “I mean, upon knowing I was going to audition for this, I re-watched all the episodes that she was in, because I just wanted to be sure that I was in the same ballpark as her.”
I honestly couldn’t think of a more perfect pairing.
Young Sheldon will premiere Monday September 25th after the season 11 premiere of The Big Bang Theory. The spin off will then fall into its regular time slot on November 2nd.
Source: Triblive.com
#Bazinga!
‘Young Sheldon’ goes to High School in this New Promo
Ranking TV’s New Fall Shows Based On Their Trailers: CBS
When Beth “grows up” she wants to see her creations appear on the screen and stage. In her free time, Beth blogs about her love of craft beer and writes screenplays. She received her bachelors in journalism from Youngstown State and received her masters in communication from The University of Akron. She is honored to be a part of the FanFest family.
