Who Should Play Me in a Movie?

Having a movie made about your life seems like it would be a pretty cool thing.  I used the words “seems like” on purpose; it wouldn’t necessarily be a cool thing.  Like if the movie was The Strangers.  Or The Exorcist.  Or Herbie: Fully Loaded. 

I have heard many people proclaim who they would like to play them in a movie.  That is all well and good, but they are forgetting something very important: In a movie about a person’s whole life there will need to be different actors playing a  particular person at various ages.  It is possible that you haven’t thought much about this.  If not, you should.  You never know when you will get your arm pinned between two boulders and have to cut it off in order to survive.  Or when you will end  up as a soldier in Vietnam after playing football at the University in Alabama followed by a stint as a shrimpin’ boat captain.  Or when you will develop a social networking site along with a few of your friends and then get involved in a controversy over who should get the credit. 

Maybe you’re not ready with a list  of who could play you at various ages.  But I am.

Me as a baby:  Any fat baby with black hair.  It doesn’t have to be a boy; it just has to be fat.  The nurses at the hospital called me Tubbs.  Seriously.

Me as a young boy:  Danny Devito.  I was built just like him when I was six-years-old.  Yes, I know that he is over 60 and bald.  But if you put a toupee on him and let a make-up artist do her magic, he could pull it off. 

Me as a teenager:  Dakota Fanning.  Why?  Because she is the best young actor/actress out there.  You know she’s a girl, right?  Listen, if they can make all those actors who played the Na’vi in Avatar look blue and 10 feet tall, surely they can make Fanning look like an overweight teenage boy.

Me as an adult:  Vince Vaughn.  He is only a couple of inches shorter than me and about 79-times funnier, so it should work.  Plus, he has gotten a little bit of a gut on him.  Really, though, I would settle for anyone other than Nicolas Cage.  He’s in way too many movies as it is.

Me as an old man:  Christopher Walken.  I have no idea if I will look like him or act like him when I am his age, but I sure hope so.  “I need more cow bell.”  And a new hip.

So there is my list.  I think that it’s a pretty good one.  Honestly, though, I think it would be strange to see anyone else play the part of me.  Because I am me–the only me that will ever be.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made
Psalm 139:14

I may not think very highly of myself and you may not, either.  But we have  been made by God with purpose and with care.

Let’s praise Him for this and seek to be continually transformed more into the image of Christ.

And just in case something happens to me and the story of my life has to be made posthumously, save this list.  It might be needed.

(Which actors/actresses would you choose to play you at various ages?  How is your transformation process going?  Share away!)

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