# Child Actors and Potentially Disturbing Roles/Scenes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260 "2004-07-15T14:25:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/21 "2004-07-16T04:04:45Z")
_The Tin Drum_ has to be the ultimate creepy kid role. **shivers** The kid who played the prince in Derek Jarman’s _Edward II_ (which I just saw this evening – weeeeeird movie, that) had some pretty disturbing scenes, too… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/22 "2004-07-16T04:33:36Z")
Hey-what about the little boy in Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary”? Literally the scariest movie I have ever seen (and have vowed NEVER to watch or read, ever, ever again). ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/23 "2004-07-16T04:40:27Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’d like to know if child actors are briefed, de-briefed. I’m pretty sure they get to wear their underwear. -lv ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/24 "2004-07-16T04:50:10Z")
IIRC there was actually a Shirley Temple movie where an influential movie critic, (later spy novelist) Graham Greene, was sued by her studio, when he made the not so veiled observation that a [large part of her appeal was to pedophiles.](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/1608/greene.htm) > [@](#): > > In 1935, he added films to his book reviewing work at The Spectator. > He continued to review films for over a decade, and is widely regarded one of the finest critics of his time, the Shirley Temple fiasco notwithstanding ( His review of a 1937 film, Wee Willie Winkie, contained disparaging remarks about Ms. Temple’s precocious body and it’s alleged exploitation by Hollywood movie moghuls. The review led to a messy lawsuit, and possibly the closing down of Night and Day, for which Greene had written the piece See [“Sex and Shirley Temple”](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Lundy/childsexual.html) > [@](#): > > The Lolita-like portrayals of Shirley Temple, Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby and Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver continue to appear. The “constant sexualizing of children and our quick denials of that activity” (Kincaid, 307) reflects a culture of conflicting beliefs and of unconscious desire. Humans may be visual creators, but when the sexual precociousness of Shirley Temple was noticed in print, a public outcry ensued. The novelist, Graham Greene, in reviewing the Shirley Temple vehicle, Wee Willie Winkey, exposed the supposed sexual movements of little Miss Temple. The infamous comments ignited a flurry of criticism and a lawsuit by Twentieth Century-Fox. Graham stated in London’s highbrow entertainment weekly Night and Day that “infancy with her is a disguise, her appeal is more secret and more adult…her neat and well-developed rump twisted in the tape dance: her eyes had a sidelong searching coquetry” (Wood,32). He labeled her portrayal in Wee Willie Winkie as nothing more than a complete totsy wearing short kilts. The case was settled in Temple’s favor and the judge deemed the libel “a gross outrage” (Wood, 32). ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/25 "2004-07-16T05:06:59Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Hey-what about the little boy in Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary”? Literally the scariest movie I have ever seen (and have vowed NEVER to watch or read, ever, ever again). I was disturbed by this too, until I found out that an automaton was used for the intense scenes. I just checked the IMDB to verify. > **[Pet Sematary (1989) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098084/trivia)** > > Pet Sematary (1989) Trivia on IMDb: Cameos, Mistakes, Spoilers and more... ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/26 "2004-07-16T08:04:10Z")
> [@astro](#): > > IIRC there was actually a Shirley Temple movie where an influential movie critic, (later spy novelist) Graham Greene, was sued by her studio, when he made the not so veiled observation that a [large part of her appeal was to pedophiles.](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/1608/greene.htm) > > …The case was settled in Temple’s favor and the judge deemed the libel “a gross outrage” (Wood, 32). I guess they’d never heard of [_Polly Tix in Washington_](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0023348/): > [@](#): > > In this outing, 4-year-old Shirley Temple plays Polly Tix, a high-priced call girl who is sent by corrupt officials to influence a backwoods politician. There’s racial stereotypes, racy dialogue and a rather bizarre cake fight. Little Shirley sashays across the screen in a manner that would make Madonna blush. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/27 "2004-07-16T12:18:48Z")
So, to paraphrase the central question in my OP, "Is there some sort of standard in place in the movie industry when child actors do intense or disturbing scenes? ": [ul] [li]Shoot the scene with the child off-set as much as possible, relying on camera angles and such to distract the viewer.[/li][li]Whenver possible, keep the child in the dark about what the movie/scene is about.[/li][li]Judicious use of body-doubles.[/li][li]Interviews and psychological testing of the child before filming.[/li][li]Hiring mature-for-their age or younger-looking but older actors.[/li][li]Keep a social worker on the set whenever the child is being filmed.[/li][/ul] Anything else? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/28 "2004-07-16T12:38:12Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > [list] > [li]Shoot the scene with the child off-set as much as possible, relying on camera angles and such to distract the viewer.[/li] This seems to be the general practice with young child actors even when the scene _isn’t_ disturbing. As mentioned above, kids aren’t legally allowed to spend much time working, and most little kids aren’t very reliable actors anyway. It’s usually easiest for everyone if as much of the movie as possible is shot without the child actors being present at all. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/29 "2004-07-16T14:50:27Z")
Going in a completely opposite direction from the sexual nature of the examples outlined above, I was really disturbed by the obese kid in **Monster’s Ball** , and how Halle Berry’s character berated him for his fatness and was actually slapping him around. It really makes me wonder how that kid felt at the end of each shooting day. Is there any amount of “It’s just a movie” reassurances that can take that “fake” abuse away? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/30 "2004-07-16T16:53:41Z")
> [@Jadis](#): > > Going in a completely opposite direction from the sexual nature of the examples outlined above, I was really disturbed by the obese kid in **Monster’s Ball** , and how Halle Berry’s character berated him for his fatness and was actually slapping him around. It really makes me wonder how that kid felt at the end of each shooting day. Is there any amount of “It’s just a movie” reassurances that can take that “fake” abuse away? ☹ I heard that after each scene or time they acted together, Halle was very careful to spend time with the kid afterwards, tell him he was actually beautiful and perfect, she didn’t mean what she had said, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/31 "2004-07-16T17:12:54Z")
Yeah, I read that Louise Fletcher absolutely loathed having to be abusive to the two little children in “Flowers in the Attic”, and always made it clear to them that they were just pretending and that afterwards they could be friends again. ---
**Author:** ![SaxFace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SaxFace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaxFace)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/32 "2004-07-16T17:23:01Z")
Re: The Exorcist We own the video and there’s a special chat with the actors and director and writer afterwards. I watched it yesterday and Linda Blair said that her body double did the masturbation scene. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/33 "2004-07-16T18:46:54Z")
I was at an event where Rachel Even Woods was presented an award and Ron Howard introduced her. They had just finished working on The Missing. I never saw the film but Howard related how on the set he tried to talk to Ms. Woods frequently about the scenes that were coming up and how they would handle them and I gathered that they were of disturbing nature. He said finally she rolled her eyes like his own teenagers and said "Ok Ok it’s no big deal you know. We’re _acting_.’ Basically it is all handled on a case by case basis. There is no set proceedures on how to direct children, just how long they work. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/34 "2004-07-16T18:58:28Z")
> [@Katisha](#): > > _The Tin Drum_ has to be the ultimate creepy kid role. **shivers** Remember when there was that big deal about _The Tin Drum_ being considered pornographic due to the child/oral sex scene? It even lead to the director of the ACLU in someplace like Mississippi being visited by the sherriff. Anyway, the director of the movie said the child actor and the female actor weren’t even in the same room when the scene was shot. That it was carefully coordinated to keep the boy from the reality of the scene. Hmm, I’ll have to dig around and see if I can find the actual interview. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/35 "2004-07-17T02:47:59Z")
> [@Burrido](#): > > Natalie Portman in The Professional. It disturbs me that she was protrayed as a lolita type character next to Jean Reno. My thoughts exactly. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/36 "2004-07-17T07:24:52Z")
The movie **Rabbit Proof Fence** was 90% just following 3 very young Aborigonie girls across Australia. The DVD extra of the “making of” the film goes into detail about how they handled some of the tougher scenes in the film, especially a really heart-wrenching one where the three girls are forcibly taken from their mother. The one girl who had to put up one hell o fa fight looked absolutely distraught after the scene. The thing that made this movie really tough was that the girls were all really Aborigionie and they didn’t start off as trained actors. So imagine it like a bunch of black kids from the ghetto getting picked to play slaves on Roots. There’s got to be a ton of emotion in that. Quite different than child actors who learn from a young age the difference between “acting” and “real life”. Good flick, I recommend it. I also wonder about kids in TV sketch comedy shows like Kids in the Hall or SNL. Every so often I see a filmed spot on SNL (such as a commercial) that makes me wonder what the kids’ parents think about the content. Same with KITH. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/37 "2004-07-17T10:31:51Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > Remember when there was that big deal about _The Tin Drum_ being considered pornographic due to the child/oral sex scene? It even lead to the director of the ACLU in someplace like Mississippi being visited by the sherriff. I don’t know if anything did or didn’t happen in Mississippi concerning _The Tin Drum_, but in Oklahoma City, the city forced the public library system to remove the video from circulation. One copy (it may have been the only copy, I’m not sure) was checked out at the time and the police went to that person’s house to confiscate the tape. As for the crucifix scene in _The Exorcist_, it was, as far as I can tell, a combination of both Linda Blair _and_ a body double. The way the scene is set up, you see Regan lying on her back on the bed. First, you see just the top of her body, maybe from the chest up, and you see her raise the crucifix. That’s Linda Blair that you see. Then, the next shot is of her plunging the crucifix between her bloody legs. _That_ shot is of the body double’s legs. The body double had a sponge soaked with fake blood between her legs and that’s what she plunged the crucifix into. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/38 "2004-07-17T13:18:59Z")
[hijack] > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Aborigonie Aborigine. Natasha: Ignorance Fighter. On an unrelated note: 3 Torres Strait Islander children, all \<16 yrs old, survived 6 days out at sea, including a 3km+ swim in Australian winter waters after their boat capsized. Their mother, father and younger sibling who were in the boat when it capsized have not been found. Story [here](http://www.abc.net.au/news/australia/qld/cairns/200407/s1153374.htm) [/hijack] Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how the boy out of _The Shining_ could’ve not known at least some of the things that were going on. But maybe they used tricky shots, to make it seem as if he was there? What about when he gets pulled into room (insert spooky number here) by that gross dead woman? At his age, that woulda given me nightmares for weeks! ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/39 "2004-07-17T13:28:13Z")
> [@MidnightRadio](#): > > I don’t know if anything did or didn’t happen in Mississippi concerning _The Tin Drum_, but in Oklahoma City, the city forced the public library system to remove the video from circulation. One copy (it may have been the only copy, I’m not sure) was checked out at the time and the police went to that person’s house to confiscate the tape. Yes, it happened in Oklahoma City. (I think the poster said Mississippi by mistake.) This was right after the “Virtual Porn” law was passed, which also contained a clause banning any visual depiction of sexual activity, implied or otherwise, between actors who “appear” to be under 18, and the feds decided to flex their muscles by arresting three people who had recently rented that tape. Coincidentally, one of them just happened to be a high-ranking ACLU member, and the shit hit the fan. IIRC, the people arrested sued the government, and won something like $40,000 for their troubles. The law itself was ruled unconstitutional by SCOTUS a few years later. Of course, Blockbuster _still_ doesn’t carry that movie. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/40 "2004-07-17T13:34:12Z")
I think that the way that movies are shot makes it appear that the scenes are very harrowing to play when in actual fact with all the cameras and people milling about onset and the short duration of the takes it is probabley pretty mundane. Imagine seeing that gross woman from the Shining sitting about, learning the scene and drinking tea before you do a five second scene with her, it’s probabley not that freaky at all. I think likening it to a sex scene is a good analogy - it looks really erotic on screen but for the actors involved it is probabley far from arousing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260.md?page=3)