Do the kids that play the characters ever feel affected by what their character's go through, themselves. I've just never really understood how child actors are able to take on these roles where it involves their character's being raped/molested, tortured and beaten. How are their parents okay with them taking on these extreme roles? Could someone explain?
shareLet me know if you get an answer. I posed just this question to a friend recently after watching an episode of SVU or Law and Order or something. How do you explain to a 5-year old child that they're playing a rape victim, or the character's parents were murdered and they have to testify. There's been a ton of kids, little kids, on SVU who have had to play a kid in a truly traumatic situation.
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Unique Chic
I think I got your answer. I know they don't have to explain it to them, I'm just wondering how do they do rape scenes in any movie or how are these child actors not affected by it
Kevin Bacon gave an interview about his experience on set. He said that during off-takes, he and the boys would sit together, laughing, joking, and having small talk. Then, once the camera starts rolling, he would abuse them, per character.
The boys were able to separate role-playing from reality.
Sometimes a traumatic scene involving children will have all the child's shots done separately, so they aren't really fully involved in the scene. Or that technique can be used even when the scene isn't scary, because children's attention can waver. For instance, in THE HOURS (2002), all the reaction shots of the little boy at the dinner table were filmed while his adult costar told him "Jack and the Beanstalk", rather than playing the actual monologue in the scene.
But there's also instances like a scene in LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD (1994) where very young children are crying hysterically as they're being separated from their mom by social services....and you wonder "How did they do that??"
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