Leaving Lieberher

I’ve now seen two movies featuring Jaeden Lieberher in the past six weeks. You know him, of course, as he’s only 16 but has already appeared in 11 feature films, most of which had wide releases. He’s of course best known as the young Bill Denbrough in the It movies, the second of which I saw last night. James McAvoy plays the character now, but there are also new scenes of him as a kid, when he was played by Lieberher. Lieberher was also in The Lodge, the Riley Keough horror I saw at MIFF, which hasn’t had its wide release yet -- and won't until February, I'm now learning. 

Except in neither of these films did I actually see Jaeden Lieberher. I saw Jaeden Martell.

The actor once known as Lieberher has changed his name to Martell. You might think this is just a cool-sounding stage name that reminds a person vaguely of Game of Thrones, but it’s actually his mother’s last name. He’d gone by his father’s last name previously, and though there could be something to the name change that relates to his dad and the kind of guy he is, I’m going with the simpler explanation that it’s shorter, snappier, easier to remember and easier to spell. You know, all the reasons people normally choose a stage name, just with a basis in his actual reality.

Even if he had just made it up, it would be legitimate to change the name for any number of reasons. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the exception, rather than the rule. (You may remember he was temporarily known as “Arnold Strong,” which was maybe too on the nose.)

The thing that struck me as noteworthy about this one is that it came after he had already firmly established himself, which seems a bit unusual.

I don’t have statistics on this, but I venture most people arrive at a stage name before they are cast in multi-million dollar Hollywood films. In fact, you often change the name specifically to help you get cast in such a movie. Clearly, “Lieberher” wasn’t holding Jaeden back.

If you want proof, well, how is Aloha, Midnight Special, The Book of Henry and It for proof? I mean, I’m a guy who can identify and name actors that others can’t, so I may not be the best example. But I usually only bother when I’ve seen them a couple times and I consider them significant enough to note the name. In the case of Jaeden Lieberher, I think I remembered his name specifically because the last name was a bit of a mouthful … kind of like “Schwarzenegger.”

Which is why I immediately noticed the change when I was watching The Lodge. I identified pretty early on that this was, indeed, the star of It and Midnight Special, but I thought there was at least a 20% chance I was confusing him with someone else, so I waited for the credits to confirm my guess. But there was no Jaeden Lieberher in the credits, only Jaeden Martell.

And though “Martell” is undoubtedly a cool name, it feels a ton less distinctive than Lieberher.

Even IMDB is a bit confused by the change. As is the standard practice when an actor changes how he or she is credited – you know, when a Richard E. Jenkins becomes Richard Jenkins, or when a Larry Fishburne becomes Laurence Fishburne – IMDB lists his older role with the following designation: “(as Jaeden Lieberher).” But they’re actually confused about exactly when the change occurred. For The Lodge they have “(as Jaeden Lieberher)”, even though this is where I actually noticed the name change.

The thing that makes it even a bit stranger is that the change occurred in the midst of an ongoing movie franchise. Sometimes you have to switch out an actor between movies, like when a Terrence Howard decides he no longer wants anything to do with the MCU. They kept the actor between It and It: Chapter Two, but switched out the name. Which could also confuse some people, though probably only nerds like me who care about such semantics. 

This post is as long as it is just to hear myself talk, or maybe to hear myself type, or maybe because it’s the end of the day on the last day my boss is in the office for ten days, after she’s already left. This issue does not actually warrant this many words.

Especially if Jaeden’s dad is a dickhead and he just didn’t want anything more to do with him.

Either way, his It director probably sympathizes. Back when he made Mama, Argentine director Andy Muschietti was called Andres. At least he kept the ethnicity of one of his two names, though you could argue that "Muschietti" was the harder name to spell/remember than "Andres."

Anyway, I guess Martell is working for Jaeden, as he’s also going to be in Knives Out, Rian Johnson’s new movie. Then again, who knows if Johnson cast him before or after he left Lieberher.

When I first posted this, I noticed that I used the label "jaeden lieberher," not "jaeden martell." I've since changed it, as I suspect I'll be writing about this talented actor again in the future, when everyone but me will have forgotten his original name.