Every single time I see a baby in a movie, I ask myself, who gives their newborn baby to be in a movie? How does that work?
In the movies I’ve seen the newborns are clearly older babies covered in some kind of non-toxic jelly. They are always too big and too developed.
I, too, mostly remember babies that are obviously older than they are supposed to be. So, nobody gives their newborn baby to be in a movie. People give their 6 month olds. Especially “stage mom” people, I guess.
“You’re not projecting! You’re not projecting!”
But still…who gives a six month old baby?
I know very little about babies, granted, but a six month old baby still seems like it would be pretty hard to give up so and let someone else tote around for the day.
They are specially bred on a Hollywood back lot – casting couch auditions.
I remember hearing that they use a mixture of cream cheese and grape jelly. I guess if the shoot doesn’t go well you could always make sandwiches.
I’ve heard Judd Apatow say he wanted to use real footage from an actual childbirth for the delivery scenes in “Knocked Up,” but that he couldn’t do so for an odd reason.
As he tells it (believe him or not), he was told by the actors’ union that only babies registered with the union could appear in a movie. And obviously, an infant who’s just been born can’t possibly have a SAG card (not could its mother apply for one before its birth).
Keep in mind that Hollywood’s use of special effects doesn’t require a live newborn in all scenes where a live newborn is essential to the plot. A real baby may be shown for only a few seconds if at all; other shots or angles may use a prop doll, CGI, a lump in a blanket or only a reaction shot.
Some of the more realistic looking newborns on TV and in movies are, i believe, now synthetic/mechanical babies. I saw a report on TV a while back showing the making of these fake babies, and was amazed at how realistic their faces and their movements were. They apparently cost tens of thousands of dollars to buy.
A friend of mine had his baby used in the TV movie Three Wise Guys. As I remember it, his wife was somehow involved with the production company, and a message went out that they were looking for a 6 month or younger baby. She brought the baby in for a few days, and simply handed her over to the appropriate actor, filmed for a few minutes, and then got the baby back. So she got paid to take care of her own baby at work (and I think she got a lackey of some sort assigned to her as well) - pretty easy gig.
The actress holding the baby most of the time was Katy Sagal BTW. And yes, we made ever single Peg Bundy joke we could possibly think of.
You’re not familiar with pageant and stage moms are you? They don’t look on it as pimping out their kids. The kids want to do it, hell they’re dying to do it! And besides the kids have a blast! It’s all for the kids!
Mothercare
This is exactly what I came in here to say. Those people are crazy.
As far as I can tell, it’s mostly people already in the industry in some other capacity - like muldoonthief’s friend in the production company. I’ve heard a number of stories where the wee little ones are the kids of secretaries or key grips. Outside direct nepotism, parents of other child actors are a good bet - they already have agent connections.
There are age limits due to either child labor laws or SAG regulations; IIRC, it’s 5 months, but don’t quote me on that. But that’s why newborns rarely look like newborns - they’re played by 5 month olds. The few that do are either animatronic, CG or older preemies.
When WhyBaby was 6 months old, she looked nearly like a newborn, 'cause it was less than 2 months past her due date. I considered getting her into a few roles as a “newborn”, but I couldn’t find an actual honest casting agency, only scammers wanting obscene amounts of money for head shots or listing your baby with studios. I lost interest in the pursuit after a while.
So it’s sort of a natural selection thing going on: only those crazy and tenacious enough to be stage mothers get to be stage mothers. We reasonable mothers who just think it would be a lark and maybe some money for college can’t break in before we lose interest and/or the kid is too old. That leaves the stage mothers an undiluted crazy lot.
The baby in “Children of Men” was digitally created, and looked perfect. It’s a bit of a pet peeve seeing someone give birth to a six month old infant.
A friend once told me that a baby has to be a certain age–I’m remembering it as about six weeks–before it can be in a movie. So, for that reason, they like preemies, like WhyNot’s daughter, because they can fulfill the age requirement (small as it is) and still look like a newborn.
So the correct answer isn’t Central Casting?
muldoonthief:
No Leela jokes?
And babies in films and television shows are often twins, actually. That way, twice as much filming can be done per day. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson got started that way, as did Lindsay & Sidney Greenbush from Little House on the Prairie.
Parents who want their children to appear in films/commercials etc are generally registered with modelling/acting agencies. What you often find is that the parent is already a registered model/actor and therefore rolls out the family business to the kids.
I’ve worked in advertising and have used various models/actors of various ages. So, for instance, if I need a two year old blond girl or a six month old brown haired baby, I’ll give a brief to an agent and look at models in their catalogue. Simple. And an easy way for families to make some extra money.
Bear in mind that the parents aren’t just handing over their kids to strangers for the day - they would always be present at the shoot. And the point noted earlier about twins is a good one - if you’ve got one screaming baby, it helps if you can swop in the nice quiet smiling one.