# Worst example of child acting in a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953 "2008-05-04T02:02:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/41 "2008-05-04T23:24:04Z")
[QUOTE=George Lucas] I’ve worked hard enough and earned enough to fail for the rest of my life. And I’m gonna do it!! - About making art films that he admits no one will want to see. [/QUOTE] What a load. This is his defense for making whatever the opposite of an “art film” is–a garbage film?–that no one wants to see? What a load. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/42 "2008-05-04T23:56:53Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] Assuming he doesn’t get his by a bus, American Grafitti and these later films will be the ones that will define his legacy - as well as the technological changes to film-making he pioneered. [/QUOTE] Lucas’s legacy will be, beyond any doubt or question, “Star Wars.” It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference what he does for the rest of his life; Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader are what he’ll be remember for. “The Force” will be in every newspaper story about his death. This “Lucas made the movies he wanted” excuse is interesting, but I don’t for an instant believe he intended to make BAD movies. But that’s what he did. So, frankly, no, I don’t believe he got what he wanted. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/43 "2008-05-05T00:19:27Z")
I thought the girl who played Pearl in Night of the Hunter was pretty bad, but most of the articles I’ve read disagree. I realize acting is difficult for a four or five-year-old, but the little girls in Ponette and Forbidden Games were amazing. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/44 "2008-05-05T00:32:15Z")
> [@George Lucas](#): > > I’ve worked hard enough and earned enough to fail for the rest of my life. He’s gotten quite a head start, then. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/45 "2008-05-05T00:40:32Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] His experiments “Sound Droid” and “Edit Droid” became Pro Tools and Avid respectively. [/quote] Hate to burst your bubble, sparky, but Avid was founded in [1987](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avid). They showed the Avid/1 in 1989. They bought Edit Droid and Sound Droid from Lucas in 1993, at a time when Avid was already a well known product and company. Meanwhile, [Digidesign](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digidesign) (maker of Pro Tools), was founded in 1983, and launched Pro Tools in 1991, and had squat to do with “Sound Droid” ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/46 "2008-05-05T03:07:28Z")
[QUOTE=TWDuke] I’ve somehow managed to miss every Dakota Fanning film, but seeing her listed along with Haley Joel Osment and Brandon de Wilde makes me think she may be a great young actress who’s worth seeing. This thread is meant as one big whoosh, right?It really does seem to break down by age, with Ewan McGregor being the dividing line. [/QUOTE] The general concensus about her seems to go like this: After her first movie: “Wow, what a fantastic actress. She managed to play a child with maturity far beyond her years.” After her second: “Uh… this seems familiar…” After her third: “Holy crap! She plays the same ‘child who acts like a 30-year-old’ character in every movie!” YMMV (everybody’s does. You’ll just have to watch and judge for yourself. But skip WotW. It’s utter crap.) ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/47 "2008-05-05T04:10:32Z")
The kid in [Manos: Hands of Fate](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060666/) was atrocious. Then again, so was the movie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/48 "2008-05-05T06:46:58Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] Hate to burst your bubble, sparky, but Avid was founded in [1987](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avid). They showed the Avid/1 in 1989. They bought Edit Droid and Sound Droid from Lucas in 1993, at a time when Avid was already a well known product and company. Meanwhile, [Digidesign](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digidesign) (maker of Pro Tools), was founded in 1983, and launched Pro Tools in 1991, and had squat to do with “Sound Droid” [/QUOTE] My mistake. I had [confused Digidesign with Sonic Solutions](http://www.studiodaily.com/main/news/5660.html): > [@](#): > > Proof of this is seen in the dissemination of LucasFilm/ILM technology and innovation in the decade after EditDroid and Sound Droid were first premiered. In 1986, it sold the portion of the computer division specializing in rendering software. This group would later become Pixar Animation, headed by Ed Catmull. Then in 1993, Avid Technology acquired the EditDroid, though Rubin notes that this was merely marketing deal not a technology deal, and that Avid developed its solution independently. The technology for the SoundDroid spun off and became Sonic Solutions. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/49 "2008-05-05T07:04:54Z")
From that article: > [@Michael Rubin](#): > > It’s not so much the any certain product that was created as much as the style and the interface of the tools,” notes Rubin. “When we look at the computer today, with a Bitmap display with a timeline running horizontally with picture labels and all that, that is directly from the EditDroid. The EditDroid and the Sound Droid presented a vision for the future. Jeezus. That is just so wrong. Lucas\* (Arts, ILM, whatever) didn’t visualize the “timeline” as a software interface. If you want to dispute this, I’ll dig up cites, but a timeline interface to show events was something shown in (my estimation, cites upon my time to google) around 1980-ish, and probably long before. I recall reading articles regarding music editing software that did something like this in the 70’s. MIDI software was doing a bunch of this kind of thing in the mid-80’s. I don’t know what the genesis of this sort of thing was, but I’m really sure it wasn’t a Lucas project. ETA: I’m sure Rubin and others did really good, original trials of what interfaces to use, and more importantly, how to make them work – the EditDroid trial using laserdiscs was indeed innovative, and got a ball rolling of a certain sort. It was good stuff. But I don’t see why it should be claimed, whatever its values, as a genesis of this sort of thing. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/50 "2008-05-05T07:30:33Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] Name one. [/quote] One toady? Whoever told him that a seven year old protagonist was an, “Ace idea Mr. Lucas, true genius!” > [@](#): > > Seriously. Lucas is the world’s most powerful independent film-maker. With Lucasfilm and ILM he accomplished something that no filmmaker I can think of other than Robert Rodriguez has accomplished - complete independence. It can be argued that he’s had more positive impact on film than any living person. His experiments “Sound Droid” and “Edit Droid” became Pro Tools and Avid respectively. Pixar was a spin-off of the Lucasfilm Computer Graphics department, THX set new standards for theatrical presentation. and ILM sets the standard for computer graphics. Unlike Rodriguez he hasn’t directed anything of worth since 1977. > [@](#): > > Lucasfilm and ILM do what George Lucas wants. I didn’t say he wasn’t rich. I said he’s an idiot. > [@](#): > > Yes, they were. They were intended to be so. They were Saturday morning serials with a huge budget. He got what he intended. But if you haven’t seen American Grafitti or THX-1138 you have no idea what he is capable of producing when he’s not creating a huge budget popcorn movie. IMDB doesn’t list any of them yet, but Lucas plans to make arty films next: Please. They weren’t throwaway popcorn movies, they were embarrassing failures by an arrogant fat-head who didn’t think he’d actually have to work to continue the one set of good ideas he ever had. He’s pathetic. He’s the fat burn out rock star who comes back to stage after thirty years and hasn’t practiced guitar since his last concert. He should be ashamed and we should pity the utter immensity of his failure. > [@](#): > > Assuming he doesn’t get his by a bus, American Grafitti and these later films will be the ones that will define his legacy - as well as the technological changes to film-making he pioneered. You’re wrong. Thanks for your peculiar ideas though. ---
**Author:** ![Nurobath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a88e57/32.png) [@Nurobath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nurobath)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/51 "2008-05-05T08:14:35Z")
I don’t think anyone’s disputing that Lucas (and his many companies) has had a huge impact on the industry or that he’s made a couple of cool movies. I think that what happened to him as he got older was that he found that he enjoyed the technical aspects of film making much more than dealing with actors. His biggest problem is that he can’t seem to let anyone other than himself have any kind of control of the film; he wants to do everything himself. What he needs is a co-director to direct the actors and he can do all the fun stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/52 "2008-05-05T14:14:50Z")
I would also nominate the kid from Kubrick’s The Shining, only I’m not even sure that was a real kid. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953/53 "2008-05-05T14:46:44Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] \ \ Yes, they were. They were intended to be so. They were Saturday morning serials with a huge budget. He got what he intended. But if you haven’t seen American Grafitti or THX-1138 you have no idea what he is capable of producing when he’s not creating a huge budget popcorn movie. IMDB doesn’t list any of them yet, but Lucas plans to make arty films next: [/QUOTE] Sorry but a genre film, like Star Wars can be well written and have good performances. See the Indiana Jones movies. Generally well written and generally well acted. Those are the Saturday morning serials films. As far as his future projects, I’ll watch them and _then_ judge them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-example-of-child-acting-in-a-movie/447953.md?page=2)