What is your favorite scene from a play? Why?

*SPOILER ALERT* In the 2002 movie 'The Importance of Being Earnest' based on Oscar Wilde's play, why was Jack made to be Algy's younger brother? And in another scene, why was the order of Jack and Algy's entrance reversed?

• 1. In the play, Jack was supposed to be Algy's older brother with their father's death occurring before Algy turned one. In the movie, however, Algy was the older son, with their father dying when he was three. 2.The scene where Gwendoline and Cecily reveal the true identity of each other's fiances, the movie has Algy entering before Jack while it was the other way round in the play. There are other discrepancies between the play and the movie (such as Jack's age) but these can be explained. The above two did not seem to affect the story at all and yet the filmmakers made a point of deviating from the original. Could someone preferably from the film industry please explain why?

• Answer:

  One obvious answer is because Rupert Everett is actually older than Colin Firth. There's only about sixteen months between them, but Firth is (arguably) aging better so they may have felt once production was underway that the audience wouldn't swallow Firth as the older brother.