# Children acting in R-rated movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346 "2008-11-05T20:53:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [November 6, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/21 "2008-11-06T01:05:35Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > FWIW, here’s a [scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peJWxqEVXPY) (warning, language) from the awesome “Bad Santa” where Billy Bob clearly yells “Are you fucking with me” at the kid in the car with him. The actor was no more than 10 at the time according to imdb. Tough to see how they could have done this in post. It could easily have been dubbed. Not that it is very likely that a ten year old in the business hasn’t ever heard (or used) the word. **friedo** , there is a big book of rules about kids acting. I’m not sure if they are laws, or SAG rules, or both, but they got put into place after the Vic Morrow disaster. A parent is always allowed on set when a kid is filming, and is allowed to object to anything considered dangerous or unsavory. There was a tiny bit of smoke work at sets I’ve been on, and they were incredibly careful about safety. I assure you that no agent or manager would let a client even audition for a role where there could be problems without ample prior warning. The last thing she wants is for a parent to yank the kid and the production company having to find another at the last minute. That’s disruptive and expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/22 "2008-11-06T01:09:37Z")
Read Roger Ebert’s review of the movie The Good Son. He found the whole thing creepy, considering the ages of the kids in it(Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin). [The Good Son is creepy](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19930924/REVIEWS/309240303/1023) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/23 "2008-11-06T01:11:57Z")
Didn’t Kubrick somehow manage to shield that young kid Danny in _The Shining_ by using various tricks like telling him to make certain types of faces without telling/showing him what he’s supposed to be afraid of? Tho I would have sworn that he was in the same shot here and there with Jack Nicholson when the latter went axe-crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/24 "2008-11-06T01:18:38Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Didn’t Kubrick somehow manage to shield that young kid Danny in _The Shining_ by using various tricks like telling him to make certain types of faces without telling/showing him what he’s supposed to be afraid of? Tho I would have sworn that he was in the same shot here and there with Jack Nicholson when the latter went axe-crazy. Apparently everything was either post or trickery, from what I’ve heard. What I gathered from imdb a long time ago was that the kid had no clue he was even in a horror movie until years later, and now (understandably I suppose) doesn’t even want to TALK about the movie at all. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/25 "2008-11-06T04:05:51Z")
I’ve heard that the child stars of _Children Of The Corn_ were unable to see their movie in cinemas. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/26 "2008-11-06T04:51:14Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Wasn’t there some controversy over a movie (I don’t recall it unfortunately), where an under age girl was not only nude but having oral sex with another under age girl? Anyone recall the movie I’m talking about? > > It was an independent film, possibly European… Was it [Maladolescenza](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0076749/)? The movie’s currently banned as child porn in the USA _and_ Europe, so don’t expect to find it on Netflix… (Speaking of which…whatever happened to that Dakota Fanning rape movie? Did it never come out?) ---
**Author:** ![Influential\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Influential\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Influential_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/27 "2008-11-06T04:55:06Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Wasn’t there some controversy over a movie (I don’t recall it unfortunately), where an under age girl was not only nude but having oral sex with another under age girl? Anyone recall the movie I’m talking about? > > It was an independent film, possibly European… You’re probably mis-remembering the controversy from **The Tin Drum** which caused a bit of controversy when the wrong person rented it from a rental store in Oklahoma. > **[The Tin Drum (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tin_Drum_(film)#Controversy)** > > The Tin Drum (German: Die Blechtrommel) is a 1979 anti-war film adapted from Günter Grass's novel of the same name, directed by Volker Schlöndorff from a screenplay co-written by Schlöndorff, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Franz Seitz. It stars Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach, Daniel Olbrychski, and Charles Aznavour, with David Bennent in the lead role of Oskar Matzerath, a young boy who willfully arrests his own physical development and remains in the body of a child even as he ente... ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/28 "2008-11-06T05:04:05Z")
In _Happiness_, the father has an extremely frank discussion with his young son about his pedophilia. The critic Roger Ebert found it disturbing to think the child actor may have actually been subjected to this, but he later learned no, they filmed the father’s dialogue separately, without the kid on the set. The boy’s lines were such that he really could not figure out what he was talking to the father about. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/29 "2008-11-06T05:46:10Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Let me know when you find the name. 😉 Implied pedophilia. Oh, the hilarity. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/30 "2008-11-06T05:47:24Z")
One notable example would be the stuff Linda Blair had to do for “The Exorcist”. Friedkin supposedly had a lot of trouble finding a girl he thought would be able to handle what he was going to be asking of her, such as the “masturbation with a bloody crucifix” scene. Not to mention the language - the “demon voice” was a voiceover by Mercedes McCambridge, but Blair still had to mouth all the words for the camera. All in all, lovely stuff to have a 12 year old doing. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/31 "2008-11-06T12:41:47Z")
I thought that kids were allowed in R rated movies if their parents were present. If the kid’s parents are with him in the theater, then there should be no problem. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/32 "2008-11-06T14:13:17Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > It could easily have been dubbed. Not that it is very likely that a ten year old in the business hasn’t ever heard (or used) the word. I watched the scenes with Billy Bob & the kid again last night, and most of them could have easily been done through editing. It’s actually rare for BB’s face and the kid to be in the same frame while he’s cursing - so you may be right, they may have dubbed that scene. The checkers scene is a good example - really all you see the kid do is slide the checkers around a bit, then look at BB blankly. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/33 "2008-11-06T14:29:18Z")
Was in Leister Square last nite to watch the Dutchess, the lady at the booth were not letting in a couple take their 11 year old son in (this was at the Odeon.). So in the UK at least the theaters can not let children in. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/34 "2008-11-06T14:34:24Z")
Dakota Fanning’s character was raped in a movie called [Hounddog](http://www.slate.com/id/2158214/). ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/35 "2008-11-06T14:34:30Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > (Speaking of which…whatever happened to that Dakota Fanning rape movie? Did it never come out?) That was _Hounddog_. There was an impressive interview with her that I saw on YouTube where she explained (intercut with demonstrations/clips) about how she got to know the actor who played her assailant, and how they started out with play-fighting and other things to get them both to the point where they could act out an attack. The Wiki article on the film says that the assault’s ‘actions’ weren’t really shown, her facial expression was. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/36 "2008-11-06T14:40:32Z")
> [@Tamex](#): > > I thought that kids were allowed in R rated movies if their parents were present. [Parent or adult guardian.](http://mpaa.org/FlmRat_Ratings.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/37 "2008-11-06T14:45:26Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > That was _Hounddog_. There was an impressive interview with her that I saw on YouTube where she explained (intercut with demonstrations/clips) about how she got to know the actor who played her assailant, and how they started out with play-fighting and other things to get them both to the point where they could act out an attack. The Wiki article on the film says that the assault’s ‘actions’ weren’t really shown, her facial expression was. Now I’m second-guessing myself as the synopses all refer to an “older boy” and I thought it was a definite adult (and I thought it was a step-father or other father figure type) who was the subject of this discussion. How many precocious young actresses have found themselves in this kind of role lately? :dubious: (Either that or my memory sucks, which I already know to be true.) ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/38 "2008-11-06T14:54:09Z")
I know accidentalyuppie mentioned Pretty Baby, but wasn’t Brooke under age in Blue Lagoon, where she posed naked (although not necessarily showing things off) and doing semi-sexual scenes? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/39 "2008-11-06T14:59:44Z")
> [@SeanArenas](#): > > I know accidentalyuppie mentioned Pretty Baby, but wasn’t Brooke under age in Blue Lagoon, where she posed naked (although not necessarily showing things off) and doing semi-sexual scenes? Yep. According to IMDb, Brooke was born in 1965, and _The Blue Lagoon_ came out in 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346/40 "2008-11-06T15:11:07Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Yep. According to IMDb, Brooke was born in 1965, and _The Blue Lagoon_ came out in 1980. I thought those were body doubles though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-acting-in-r-rated-movies/471346.md?page=3)