# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/41 "2004-07-17T17:26:38Z")
Y’all still have the _Tin Drum_ controversy wrong. It wasn’t the feds. It was the Oklahoma City Police Department. In 1997, an individual in Oklahoma submitted a copy of the Academy Award-winning 1979 movie to the Oklahoma City police for review. The police got a local district judge to give an informal advisory opinion, without force of law, that the movie was obscene under the Oklahoma statutes (Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 1024.1), not a federal obscenity law, for its scene of a younger boy having sex with a teenage girl. The police then confiscated copies from six video rental stores in the city, and used rental records to track down remaining copies, including one at the home of an ACLU employee, who had probably rented it for the specific purpose of defying the confiscation and thus setting the grounds for the lawsuit. Director Volker Schlondorff stated in writing: “I can insure you, that despite the effect on the screen, no frontal nudity took place. It is the artifice of editing that creates the scene. In fact the actress Katharina Thalbach had expressly stipulated that she would never denude herself in the production. Parents and all juvenile legal representatives were present at the set at all time of the shooting.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/42 "2004-07-17T17:53:56Z")
> [@Burrido](#): > > Natalie Portman in The Professional. It disturbs me that she was protrayed as a lolita type character next to Jean Reno. God… it’s been awhile since I saw that film. IIRC (and apparently I don’t) I thought she was in more of a “caretaking” role to him, and not really presented as a sexual object, although she had kind of a crush on him. Was there some sexually charged scene in that film I missed? ---
**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 17, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/43 "2004-07-17T22:15:42Z")
> [@astro](#): > > God… it’s been awhile since I saw that film. IIRC (and apparently I don’t) I thought she was in more of a “caretaking” role to him, and not really presented as a sexual object, although she had kind of a crush on him. Was there some sexually charged scene in that film I missed? It’s been a while since I saw it, but IIRC the only “sexually charged” sequence in the movie went like this: It was near the beginning of the movie, and the hitman/arsonist/bombmaker guy is walking through an apartment building. NP’s character, a 12-year-old girl (I think she’d been orphaned and was living on her own), is there in the hallway, wearing a seductive-looking outfit. She gives the hitman guy a pouty, come-hither look, and pulls back her shoulders (to make her chest stick out). She doesn’t do it very well, and the guy laughs at her half-hearted attempt at seducing him. From that point on they begin an uneasy friendship. But that’s all it is - friendship. ---
**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 18, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/44 "2004-07-18T01:35:20Z")
> [@Go You Big Red Fire Engine](#): > > [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! They only did that in the remake. In the original, Danny starts to go into the room, and then they cut to Jack and Wendy, or something. Then Danny shows up with the bruises on his neck. We don’t see the woman, or even the room 217 or 271 or something like that until Jack goes to investigate. In the remake, though, we DO see Danny go in and find the woman. Good god, she was SCARY. I still get scared when I see that! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/45 "2004-07-18T02:42:37Z")
> [@WILLASS](#): > > 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. Adding on this, music/sound effects, lighting and proper editing make horror scenes look far scarier to the audience than they ever were or could be to the film crew and actors. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/46 "2004-07-18T04:06:24Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > Of course, Blockbuster _still_ doesn’t carry [_The Tin Drum_]. :mad: Oddly enough, the first place I ever saw that video was…at my public library. Yup, right out in the open, for anyone to check out. And for free, of course. And, seeing as it was in a library, that meant it was government\* property, doesn’t it? 😃 \*Well, county government. But it still counts. Ranchoth (Guess which state I live in. Go ahead, take a wild guess.) ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/47 "2004-07-18T04:54:16Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > It’s been a while since I saw [The Professional], but IIRC the only “sexually charged” sequence in the movie went like this: > > It was near the beginning of the movie, and the hitman/arsonist/bombmaker guy is walking through an apartment building. NP’s character, a 12-year-old girl (I think she’d been orphaned and was living on her own), is there in the hallway, wearing a seductive-looking outfit. She gives the hitman guy a pouty, come-hither look, and pulls back her shoulders (to make her chest stick out). She doesn’t do it very well, and the guy laughs at her half-hearted attempt at seducing him. Well, there’s also the letter she writes, calling Leon “my love” over and over again, and the scene where she tells the hotel manager that he is his lover – which leads to problems, of course. 😉 (Actually, that part kinda rubs me the wrong way, since kids making false accusations is one of my pet peeves…but the way it’s staged, ya can’t help but laugh anyway.) I’ve heard that the director’s cut adds many more “Lolita” type moments (I’ve never seen it) but as far as I know, Leon himself never feels the same kind of attraction. Although he definitely develops a paternal sort of love by the end of the movie. > [@Ranchoth](#): > > Oddly enough, the first place I ever saw that video was…at my public library. Yup, right out in the open, for anyone to check out. And for free, of course. Hey, a library! Are those things still around? 😃 Never thought of checking there. I saw _Frailty_ tonight, and that’s another movie that should’ve been pretty intense for the kids to film…helping their Dad to murder people and bury the bodies and all that. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/48 "2004-07-18T06:18:50Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > Well, there’s also the letter she writes, calling Leon “my love” over and over again, and the scene where she tells the hotel manager that he is his lover – which leads to problems, of course. 😉 (Actually, that part kinda rubs me the wrong way, since kids making false accusations is one of my pet peeves…but the way it’s staged, ya can’t help but laugh anyway.) I’ve heard that the director’s cut adds many more “Lolita” type moments (I’ve never seen it) but as far as I know, Leon himself never feels the same kind of attraction. Although he definitely develops a paternal sort of love by the end of the movie. I only just realised what film you guys were talking about, it was called ‘Leon’ when it was released here. IIRC the french version of it has a lot more hints at a more sexual relationship between the two but never explicitley says so. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/49 "2004-07-18T15:20:12Z")
I’ve heard that sometimes, when a young actor has to interact with someone in gruesome make-up, etc. that they’ll bring the kid in to show the actor getting made up. IMO, a kid would probably find the process really cool, and seeing how it’s done, wouldn’t have much of a problem on set when the other actor is in full make-up. On the subject of _Leon (The Professional)_, I recently read that they may be doing a sequel, and that Natalie Portman is very much looking forward to it. Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/50 "2004-07-18T15:25:41Z")
> [@Beauty Personified](#): > > On the subject of _Leon (The Professional)_, I recently read that they may be doing a sequel, and that Natalie Portman is very much looking forward to it. From the “Can’t leave well enough alone” department. It WILL suck. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/51 "2004-07-18T15:37:20Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I was wondering about something similar, in scenes where a baby is crying. Do they wait around until the baby cries naturally then start filming, or do they poke the kid with a stick to get things rolling? There are grown men that make a living out of crying like a baby (I mean other than Shaq and Kobe). It is really creepy to see them do it. I saw it on a behind the scenes special on Soaps. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/52 "2004-07-18T22:35:19Z")
On the final dialogue scene between the father and the son in “Happiness” (which has got to be one of the hardest scenes to watch in the history of film), the camera switches back and forth between the father and the son, never showing them together when words are actually being spoken. The kid read his lines seperately, and didn’t hear them in context (although they were pretty fucked up even out-of-context). ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/53 "2004-07-18T23:56:44Z")
> [@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, that’s exactly the evnt I was thinking of. Sorry, about the Mississippi crack. At the time it happened, I was thought Oklahoma was very backwards. I was just in Oklahoma City a month ago and it was very pleasant. **Walloon** , thank you for the correct information. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/54 "2004-07-19T01:46:22Z")
> [@Beauty Personified](#): > > On the subject of _Leon (The Professional)_, I recently read that they may be doing a sequel, and that Natalie Portman is very much looking forward to it. Oddly enough, I noticed a couple of things on [Ms. Portman’s IMDB page](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000204/bio)… > [@](#): > > Turned down the title role in Adrian Lyne’s Lolita (1997), due to her feelings about young adult actors/actresses being exposed to sex in films. > > “Young actors often don’t think of the consequences of doing nudity or sex scenes. They want the role so badly that they agree to be exploited, and then end up embarassing family, friends, and even strangers.” > > (re: “Lolita”) “I don’t think there needs to be a movie out where a child has sex with an adult…I think there’s enough exploitation out there that it’s not nescessary to do more…Let me tell you, this movie’s going to be sleaze.” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/55 "2004-07-19T06:02:05Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > 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. Humph! Well, all actors are usually off the set when they aren’t needed - I assure you, watching something get filmed is boring as hell. If you want to learn something about filming, do a student film - professionals don’t want anyone around. Unreliable child actors don’t last long. I know, my daughter worked with one, and he was gone as soon as they could get a replacement. The other kids were fed up with him also. My daughter liked it - she got some of his lines. But the vast, vast majority of child actors have this incredible focus. One time the shooting was going on way past midnight on location. One of the leads, a girl who has gotten a lot better known, was under ten. She was kidding with the crew, and seemed to be right on the verge of losing it - a condition all parents know well. But when they yelled “action” she was right in the scene, and did it perfectly. Oh, and **WILLASS** has it exactly correct. I can’t imagine any kid over six being scared of someone in makeup, who is talking in a normal voice to everyone, getting direction, and probably reading the paper before going on. There is nothing further from reality than a set. ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/56 "2004-07-19T12:25:55Z")
Does nobody here watch “Reno:911”? There was an episode in the first season of that show in which one of the officers takes a tour group full of children on a tour of the jail, and there’s a long scene where he describes to them, in detail, some very, very gruesome things that had happened in the cells there. I rewatched the scene carefully, I don’t think there were any camera tricks. The kids were actually there when he was talking. The reactions you could see on their faces were appropriate to the scene, too. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/57 "2004-07-19T13:08:17Z")
What about that Australian film “Walkabout”? There was plenty of full frontal nudity of child actors… or at least, I think they were child actors. They certainly looked it. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/58 "2004-07-19T15:50:15Z")
> [@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). A problem they had wttle kid was that they were unable to get a cast of his head in order to design him some proper prosthetic make-up. If you’ve read the book, you know the kid was seriously mangled. But to design prothetic make-up that suited the “mangled look” they needed to make a cast his full head – it can be scary enough if your an adult who understands the process. The little guy would panic, so all they could do was a generic make-up “scar” rather than the grotesque monster he was supposed to be. In Pet Sematary they did use animatronics. But I do know a guy (and yes, he is really, _really_ short) who has been a stunt double for small children, like “Simon Birch” and did a lot or work on the Chucky movies. I don’t think he’s ever been a homicidal toddler, but he would be a good guy to call if you needed a mature body double to take over as a little kid lunging at someone with a knife. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/59 "2004-07-19T18:38:47Z")
More The Professional discussion… > [@WILLASS](#): > > I only just realised what film you guys were talking about, it was called ‘Leon’ when it was released here. IIRC the french version of it has a lot more hints at a more sexual relationship between the two but never explicitley says so. Portman definitely was lolitized (to coin a word) in the movie, but IMO in a quite acceptable non-icky way. It was clear watching the movie that the character of Leon recognized the situation and the extreme awkwardness of having to protect a girl that had a crush on him. He seemed to make every effort to keep their relationship “safe” and big-brotherly, extremely well acted by Jean Reno I thought. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260/60 "2004-07-19T23:05:55Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > I saw _Frailty_ tonight, and that’s another movie that should’ve been pretty intense for the kids to film…helping their Dad to murder people and bury the bodies and all that. The DVD has interviews with the kids & the younger one (Jeremy Priven, I think- who was last year’s excellent _Peter Pan_) seemed to have tons of fun tho he also admitted the whole story was over his head. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-and-potentially-disturbing-roles-scenes/255260.md?page=4)