While I’ve historically harped on modern war films for this sin, today I’ll choose Isabella of France in Braveheart.
While modern war films might absurdly cast actors in their 30s, 40s and 50s to play characters in their late-teens to mid-20s, this one is a doozy.
The real life Isabella was born on an unknown date in 1295. William Wallace, for those who don’t know, was executed in August, 1305.
The simple math says she was between nine and ten years old when Wallace died.
So casting a then 28 year old Sophie Marceau to play her is the absolute height of lunacy.
Of course, we can’t place the blame for this on the casting department. The utterly fact-challenged screenplay includes Isabella as a character to begin with, even though she didn’t arrive in England until age twelve, two years after Wallace’s death. Worse still, the script clearly presents her as an adult throughout the film.
The cherry on top of this cake of crud is that they’re placed in a romantic relationship in the film, with the implication being that William Wallace fathered Edward the III of England with Isabella of France. Obviously that’s impossible given Isabella was a little girl when Wallace was executed and any “relationship” he could have theoretically had with her (Wallace was in France at the French court when Isabella was a small child and potentially did meet her) would have made him the worst possible villain imaginable.
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