Been thinking about movies where young kids act in them but aren't told everything related to the story and they don't get to see the finished movie til years later. Most famous example is Danny Lloyd in "The Shining," he wasn't told that it was a horror movie and probably wasn't aware of the scary stuff that happened in it til much later.

In "Mysterious Skin," two kids are molested in one scene. At the time it was shot, they weren't told about what was happening in the movie, the actor playing the molester wasn't even in the same room, and of course their parents read the script beforehand and were OK with it. Still, if I had been one of those kids I would probably feel mad later on about being put in a scene like that and not being told about it beforehand. I would've rather just had it explained to me (some people do bad things to kids, and that's what happens in this movie) and then have a chance to decide if I wanted to do the scene or not.

The little girl in the Red Jacket in Schindler's List is another famous example of this. I'm sure she probably didn't see the movie until years later.

I was going to say Pretty Baby, but seems like everyone including Brooke and her mom signed off on it knowing full well what the movie was about...

I'm guessing a young Jodie Foster probably didn't get to see Taxi Driver until she was older.

I think we can assume that many (if not most) young kids who appear in films intended for an adult audience don't see them until they're older.

What about the girl in Poltergeist? She's really cursed, right?

I read that Kirsten Dunst was not allowed to see Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) when it was first released.

What about the kids Jamie Lee Curtis is babysitting in Halloween?

Shavar Ross ("Reggie The Reckless" in F-13th: New Beginning) said that he just had to close his eyes for certain parts of the movie when he saw the film at the time of release. Wonder if that was common for other Horrors and raunchy comedies of that era.

The girl in Schindler’s List is kinda iffy, as that wasn’t exactly a realistic depiction although she does die. Don’t know the story on that but it could’ve been like a modeling job for her.

I don’t mean just not being allowed to see the movie, but not even being told what it’s about or what is really happening to their characters. With Mysterious Skin, I don’t know how the actors felt about that but I’d be pretty mad to see a movie I was in years ago and it turns out in the scene I was being molested but I never knew about it until now. I’m sure Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver at least had a better idea of what her character was doing.

That was my first thought but I didn’t want to be a killjoy. I would assume most little kids who co-star in any horror movie would fit the criteria.

There is just something unethical and wrong about that. I definitely would not do that to my child or any child for that matter.

Spielberg told her not to watch it till she was like 16 or 17, but she watched it as a tween and found it very traumatic. I may not have the ages exactly right, but it's in the trivia section on IMDb

I started a thread for a film that unquestionably fits the bill back in September.

Fuck My Son!

The child actress in question is Kynzie Colmery as the heroine’s daughter. Her character is not treated kindly. And the beloved animated characters that she hallucinates from her favorite Veggie Tales-inspired TV show increasingly encourage her to accept it.

I posted the TIFF Q&A in that thread as well as an image of the YouTube thumbnail I made showing how they (jokingly) treated her appearance at the screening. For her sake they tried to dance around the title and other content and only partially succeeded (although I’m sure she was probably somewhat aware of it).

Because the movie is designed for limited theatrical engagements and will likely piss off as many people as it entertains, it will probably be ages before many people see it, but I noticed that most of the production folks present at TIFF also showed up at other one-off screenings, including Colmery, so I’m sure that even if she still hasn’t seen it (and she shouldn’t), she probably intuits more weird details about it at every stop on the tour.

Damien

There are lots of child actors in adult movies. For example, Santa Sangre was rated NC 17, and had child actors. I'm pretty sure that Mario Peebles knew what was going on in Sweet Sweetback's Badassssssss Song.

But Alan was asking about movies where the child actor was deceived about the content of the movie. Is that a common practice?

Great question. A few that come to mind. There are probably many others:

Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 - 1976 version, where a kid is gunned down violently and very bloody, too.

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? -- 1975 scary and violent Spanish effort where the whole film is about kids going crazy on a remote island and how the adult survivors can kill them and escape.

THE CHILDREN (1980) -- notorious horror film where kids are made killing machines due to a spill from a nuclear plant -- and the adults must chop off their hands (with black fingernails) throughout the entire film.

Several other films in the 1970s -- in the "let's kill the kids" phase which which included the Aussie pic STRANGE BEHAVIOR and others.

Dakota Fanning probably fits the bill in several movies

Man on Fire

Hounddog

Hide and Seek



Elle Fanning

The Door in the Floor

Chloe Moretz was talking about not being able to see this one on Seth Meyers.

I was about to make a really dark Victor Salva joke. What’s wrong with me?

[QUOTE=zyzzle;14669391]Great question. A few that come to mind. There are probably many others:

Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 - 1976 version, where a kid is gunned down violently and very bloody, too.

/QUOTE]

That kid was none other than Kim Richards, of ESCAPE FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN fame, better known today for being Paris Hilton's aunt.

No, she's better known as a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills and a sad witness to the woman who yells at a cat.