The Most Controversial Roles Featuring Child Actors
Sometimes child actors portray roles that deal with adult subject matter. Some of the most mature roles taken by child stars, however, may leave some questioning the director’s artistic intent. Of course, directors often take steps to limit children’s exposure to sexual and violent scenarios, but sometimes the age of the actors involved and the intensity of the subject matter can cause concern among audiences. We need to remember, though, when examining the controversy over children playing these parts the most important perspective is that of the young actors themselves.
Léon: The Professional marks Natalie Portman’s film debut. The actor was just 11-years-old when she was cast as the Mathilda, the spunky hitman-in-training of Luc Besson’s 1994 film. The role required a lot of maturity on Portman’s part; many scenes involved smoking (which Portman’s parents strictly forbade), and the more violent scenes were emotionally intense for the young thespian.
Portman gives an incredible performance — despite her inexperience — but the most controversial aspects of the film are the repeated hints at the romantic relationship shared by Mathilda and the adult hitman who takes her under his wing, Leon (Jean Reno). In the international cut, there's a scene where Mathilda and Leon go to a restaurant, and Mathilda gets drunk.
While at the table, Mathilda drunkenly tries to kiss Leon (repeatedly). The scene was cut for the American release after some screen tests, as the audiences found it to sexually charged and borderline pedophilic.
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Jodie Foster actually came under the scrutiny and protection of the Los Angeles Welfare Board for her role in Taxi Driver. To determine whether she was mature enough for the role of an underage prostitute, Foster participated in a four-hour interview with a psychiatrist, who agreed she was ready for the part.
Foster was only 12-years-old at the time, so there had to be a child welfare worker on set whenever she had a scene (although her 20-year-old sister Connie worked as her body double during the more sexually explicit scenes). As an adult, Foster has reflected that it was "uncomfortable" working on the film, saying that:
They were very uncomfortable about my character. Nobody knew how to direct me. Scorsese would say something like 'unzip his fly' and just start laughing and not know what to do so he would hand it over to Robert De Niro and then Robert would tell me what to do.
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Brooke Shields’s mother, Teri Shields, caught flak in the 1970s for letting her daughter participate in some mature projects when she was still a young girl. Teri's most controversial move was signing off on a photo shoot with Gary Gross, which featured a 10-year-old Shields completely nude and wearing heavy makeup.
Louis Malle’s 1978 film Pretty Baby was also the subject of intense debate. In the film, Shields plays Violet, a young girl who lives in a brothel with Hattie (Susan Sarandon), her prostitute mother. After Violet’s virginity is sold off, she too becomes a prostitute. Shields was only 11-years-old when they filmed the movie, and it features numerous scenes of her topless and in overtly sexual situations. Shields herself, however, has said she has no regrets about the role.
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The 2007 film Hounddog caused an enormous uproar upon its release. The story follows Lewellen (Dakota Fanning), a young Elvis-loving girl growing up in the southern United States in the 1960s. One short scene in particular had some people concerned for Fanning.
In the film, 12-year-old Lewellen is raped by her teenaged neighbor after she’s asked to perform for him in exchange for a couple of Elvis concert tickets. The scene doesn't feature any nudity, and you can only see Fanning’s face and hands.
While the scene bothered some, Fanning and director director Deborah Kampmeier were praised by others for addressing the issue. Fanning herself came to the defense of the film, saying, “It’s not really happening. It’s a movie, and it’s called acting. I’m not going through anything.”
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When Kirsten Dunst was 11-years-old, she played the role of Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. She experienced her first kiss during that film with Brad Pitt, who was 29 at the time. As an adult, Dunst called the kiss “disgusting” (Pitt, for his part, was apparently equally displeased). She went on to say:
It was horrible, and I hated it. Brad and Tom were like my big brothers on the set, so it was like kissing your big brother — totally gross! He said, ‘How do you think I feel? I have to kiss a little girl.’ It was awful!
In the movie, Claudia is turned into a vampire when she is still a child. Over the years, her mind matures while her body does not. Claudia eventually falls in love with the vampire who turned her, Louis (Pitt), and turns violently against his creator Lestat (Tom Cruise).
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Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed’s characters in the 2003 film Thirteen are impulsive, sexually adventurous, and generally not amazing people. Tracy (Wood) and Evie (Reed) are two girls hellbent on partying, drugs, and sex, in a reflection of the teenage experience often not seen on film.
Their hard-partying lifestyle quickly leads both girls on a downward spiral of self-destruction, which some parents at the time found too intense for younger audiences. The film was co-written by Reed, and loosely based on her own life. Even though Reed may have lived some of what was depicted on-screen, some audiences felt uncomfortable watching two adolescent girls navigate sexually mature scenarios, although the film was generally well-received by critics.
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Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita has received two major film adaptations. Stanley Kubrick directed the first film in 1962, but it was Adrian Lyne’s 1997 version caused a real stir. Lyne’s take is truer to Nabokov’s novel, and therefore more graphic in it’s depiction of an older man’s infatuation with a 12-year-old girl.
Dominique Swain was 14-years-old when she starred alongside Jeremy Irons, who plays Humbert Humbert in the film. While Lyne used a body double for the more graphically sexual scenes, there are still a lot of sexual and violent scenarios, like Swain kissing - and getting slapped by - Irons. Lyne tried to take precautions, like placing a cushion between Irons and Swain when she sat on his lap, but the film was still criticized for placing a minor in sexual situations.
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While the relationship in American Beauty between Kevin Spacey and Mena Suvari’s characters overtly deals with the sexualization of minors, that's not the most scandalous part of the movie. It's actually Thora Birch’s role as the main character’s daughter that raised concern among some audiences.
Birch was only 17-years-old when she starred in the movie, but in one scene she appears topless. Birch needed permission from her parents to go topless for the movie. “To me, it made sense,” Birch said of the scene. “It wasn’t something that shouldn’t be in there. It’s something that would happen.”
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Understanding the extent of Woody Allen’s sexual abuse makes his 1979 film Manhattan exponentially creepier. In the film, Allen essentially plays himself, a writer who dates a 17-year-old girl named Tracy, played by Mariel Hemingway (who was actually 17 at the time of the shoot).
Considering Allen’s relationship and eventual marriage to his adopted daughter, and the sexual abuse allegations levied against him by his other daughter, Manhattan reads as a look inside Allen's actual desires. Additionally, Hemingway later came out and said that Allen tried to seduce her after the shoot.
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Everyone In 'Kids'
Photo: Shining Excalibur FilmsWhile Larry Clark’s 1995 film Kids is about a bunch of teenagers, it is decidedly not child-friendly material. The young actors in the film - including a 15-year-old Rosario Dawson - deal with a lot of intense, adult scenarios. At the time of its release, the movie was considered one of the most controversial films of the decade.
There is underage sex, drug use, and a young HIV-positive rapist who goes around infecting virgins. It was originally slapped with a NC-17 rating, but infamous Hollywood predator Harvey Weinstein decided to release the film unrated.
