I think it was an interesting choice to cast two of the genuinely prettiest soft looking guys ever to play the main guys of this movie, like Tom and Eddie are both absolutely pretty boys, it adds so much to this forced kind of ‘machoness’ or wtv of in the themes of the film and their ( at least Alex’s) characters
Yeah, and I think it very much is an intentional choice. Both of them are nearly angelic looking and that really plays on so many of those age-old tropes about beauty being only skin deep, don't judge a book by its cover, etc. The boyish and innocent appearance belies the darkness lurking underneath. It's a classic narrative choice: the Angelic Monster, Beauty juxtaposed with the Horrors in order to exaggerate through contrast.
I don't think this story could have worked in the same way at all if they had been more stereotypical masculine archetypes--typical athletic, brawny, macho types. Like the shows about high school students played by actors who are in their late 20s, where it just doesn't feel realistic at all. Both of them LOOK only 17 (even though Eddie was actually several years older; he always does look younger than he is), and that's important to hammer home the understanding that these are still KIDS. Damaged and twisted kids who do terrible things. I think that contrast is a really important aspect of the narrative.
It does also emphasize that gap between Alex still being a boy and trying to perform the type of "manhood" exemplified by his father and the overall culture he's in. If he had been a beefier, sporty kind of guy rather than an Intellectual type, it would have felt just sort of....expected for him to be an aggressive bully. But pairing it with his angelic face makes it all the more stark. It also helps sell the idea that he's able to fool people more easily.
As a related point of interest, here's a little blurb discussing how casting Alex was about finding someone with the right eyes:
Redmayne is a young actor to watch. Though this is only his first feature film, he captures the character of Alex with subtle verisimilitude. Director Read claims that ‘I wanted to find someone who had the eyes. The casting was all about the eyes.’ This, however, proves to be truer of Tom Sturridge’s portrayal of Nigel. Rather, Eddie Redmayne’s facial expressions as a whole carry his performance.
--From Double Trouble: Like Minds
Frankly, both of them have extremely compelling eyes, and also some incredible microexpressive emoting that sells their performance in the movie far beyond the relatively basic lines they deliver.
And here's as video from the Behind the Scenes feature on the DVD: Part 1 - Casting - in which the immediate chemistry between Tom and Eddie is mentioned.
Like Minds Masterpost - Main
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