What 10 child stars really thought about their mature movie roles

• Many iconic films have cast young actors to play intense roles far more mature than their age.
• Between inappropriate scenarios and provocative costumes, some performances have disturbed viewers.
• Actresses like Natalie Portman and Brooke Shields are proud of their roles, but have faced scrutiny.

Ten-year-old Kirsten Dunst shared a "gross" kiss with 29-year-old Brad Pitt in "Interview with the Vampire."

At 10 years old, Dunst scored the dark and disturbing role of Claudia in the 1994 hit "Interview with the Vampire," based on the Anne Rice novels.

Turned into a vampire as a child by Louie (Pitt), her body stays the same for eternity while her mind still develops.

In the mature role, Claudia rages throughout the movie and continuously tries to kill Lestat (Tom Cruise). She eventually falls in love with Louie — who sees her as a daughter — leading Dunst to share her first on-screen kiss with Pitt, who was nearly 20 years older.

Dunst said the kiss was uncomfortable for her in a 1998 Interview Magazine interview, as per Harper's Bazaar. Although she has spoken fondly of how her older castmates treated her, in 2019, she confirmed to the fashion publication, "Yeah, it was gross! I stand by that."

The actress received her first Golden Globe nomination for the role.

Linda Blair, who starred in "The Exorcist," said being questioned about "all the devil stuff" by the press was a lot of pressure.

"The Exorcist" is one of the most iconic horror movies of all time, but the set was plagued by so many injuries and issues that the director, William Friedkin, actually invited a priest to bless the set.

In the 1973 film, the lead, 12-year-old Regan MacNeil (played by a 14-year-old Blair), is a child possessed by a demon. Regan can be seen screaming obscenities and harming herself and priests. The vulgarity disturbed and concerned viewers, including members of the Catholic community.

Not raised Catholic, Blair told Dread Central in 2013 that she thought the story was a work of fiction, though it was based on a true story. "When the press kept asking me about all the devil stuff, it just kept adding to the pressure I was under, and it was just an awful thing to go through as a teenager," Blair said.

Proving the strains of a physically demanding role on a young child, Blair fractured her spine and later developed scoliosis from a prop malfunction during the levitating bed scene. "I'm crying, I'm screaming; they think I'm acting up a storm ... it is the footage that's in the movie," Blair said, as per Looper.

Blair won a Golden Globe for her role and reprised it for the 1977 sequel.

Christian Bale said "Empire of the Sun" caused him to feel trapped in a "prison" at just age 13.

In the acclaimed 1987 Steven Spielberg film "Empire of the Sun," then-13-year-old Bale played an English schoolboy living in Shanghai. Set during WWII when Japan occupied China, Bale's character had to face the brutalities of war and live in a Japanese internment camp.

While Bale was praised for his talent, he suffered from the pressure, reportedly once having a breakdown during a press conference. 

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, Bale reflected on the weight of wanting to support his family with his career and the "Empire of the Sun" role giving him a "love-hate" relationship with acting.

"It became sort of a thing of 'Oh, I could actually really provide with this,' and there's a pride in being able to do that — but there's also a prison, you know, at such a young age," Bale said.

The Los Angeles welfare board set strict protections for Jodie Foster's role in the 1976 film "Taxi Driver."

In the cult classic "Taxi Driver," Jodie Foster was just 12 years old when she played her character of the same age, Iris, a child sex worker. Styled in hot pants, platform heels, and heavy makeup, Iris walked the streets and was intimate with an older "pimp," Sport.

In the climax, the lead character Travis (Robert De Niro) goes on a killing spree and kills Sport in front of Iris, scarring her.

"It was a great part for a 21-year-old, but I couldn't believe they were offering it to me. I was the Disney kid," Foster told The New York Times in 1976.

Prior to Foster getting the role, the Los Angeles welfare board tried to protect her. They ensured a body double (her 20-year-old sister) would be used for sexual scenes, and they had a psychiatrist interview Foster to see if she was "mentally equipped to handle the part," The New York Times reported. During filming, a welfare worker was present.

In 2016, Foster told Graham Norton that the crew was more uncomfortable than she was. "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," she said, The Independent reported.

Isabelle Fuhrman was proud of her role in the 2009 film "Orphan" and will be reprising it in a prequel.

In the psychological thriller "Orphan," 12-year-old Fuhrman played 9-year-old Russian orphan Esther who gets adopted by the Coleman family.

However, the big twist is that Esther escaped from an asylum and is actually 33-year-old Leena. She has a genetic condition that stopped her from growing and causes her to still look like a child.

Throughout the film, Esther causes frequent harm and even sends her adoptive mother, Kate (Vera Farmiga), to the hospital because of her jealousy and attraction to her "father," John. In a disturbing scene, the young actress dresses up and puts on makeup, attempting to seduce and kiss John (a 38-year-old Peter Sarsgaard).

Fuhrman relished in the critics' backlash and told the Boston Herald in 2009, "If America hates me, then I've done my job."

She is acting in and producing "Orphan: First Kill," which is set to release in 2022. The prequel shows Esther's earlier journey and uses cinematic techniques to make Fuhrman look like the 10-year-old character again.

"There's never been an adult actress who reprised a role she played as a child," she told Collider in 2021.

"Gummo" is an art film with several disturbing themes and inappropriate scenes, some of which feature 13-year-old Jacob Reynolds.

The experimental 1997 film "Gummo" stars an amalgamation of "deformed, disturbed, and perverted" characters, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Following the survivors of a tornado in Xenia, Ohio, it mainly focuses on the young anti-heroes Solomon (Jacob Reynolds, then 13) and Tummler (Nick Sutton).

The pair's disturbing hobbies of killing cats, getting high, and paying for sex are just a fraction of the film's bizarre nature.

Though the nightmarish film got flack, Reynolds has fond memories of being on the set and was thankful for his controversial role.

"I believe that when 'Gummo' was made, it was kind of a resurgence for independent film. So, we were really lucky to make the film when we did," Reynolds told Crime School Films in 2020.

In the 1994 film "Léon: The Professional," Natalie Portman acted out mature content and became sexualized at a young age.

Portman has fond memories of her debut R-rated film, "Léon: The Professional." She was 11 when the movie was filmed. She played Mathilda, a girl whose family was murdered and sets out to get revenge. She then teams up with a much older hit-man, played by a 46-year-old Jean Reno.

Some critics took issue with scenes of Portman with firearms, smoking, or cursing, and Mathilda's romantic relationship with Léon.

The US movie cut excluded a scene of Mathilda kissing Léon. Portman defended this in the 2005 documentary "Starting Young," saying, "It doesn't cross that line. It's just these two people who are so alone and happen to find each other."

The young actress' joy on set changed after the film came out in 1994 when she was 13. "My work and my art would have a human response," Portman recalled her initial excitement at the 2018 Women's March, NME reported. But on opening her first piece of fan mail, she read a letter from a man who'd fantasized about sexually assaulting her, she said.

She also recalled being sexualized with a countdown to her 18th birthday and reviews about her breasts.

There was pushback over Dakota Fanning's character in "Hounddog" being sexually assaulted, but the actress told critics, "It's called acting."

Before the 2007 film "Hounddog" was released, there was backlash from activist groups over word that there would be a sexual assault scene with 12-year-old lead actress Fanning. 

In the movie, Lewellen (Fanning) suffers from neglect and abuse at the hands of her family. Lewellen would do anything to get tickets to see Elvis Presley — she's then tricked into believing an acquaintance would get them for her, before he takes advantage of her instead.

The scene does not show the sexual act; however, it does show Fanning's hands and her face, which made viewers distraught. 

Despite critics feeling the scene was considered child abuse on set, Fanning has defended the scene and her role multiple times. In 2007, she told Today that, "it's called acting. I'm not going through anything," and that she could easily walk away from intense scenes.

Fanning said in a 2008 interview, "I wanted to do the film because I thought it might help one person that has happened to and help them overcome adversity in their lives."

Macaulay Culkin came a long way from his good-boy persona in the thriller "The Good Son," which some felt was miscast.

Following "Home Alone 2," Culkin starred in a role much darker than his famously goodhearted characters. In "The Good Son," Culkin, 12, plays the opposite of what the title suggests.

Henry (Culkin) has hateful and psychopathic tendencies that lead him to attempt to kill his siblings and his visiting cousin Mark (Elijah Wood, then 11).

Whether because of his age or his clean-cut image, Culkin didn't receive rave reviews for this mature role.

"Not every actor, no matter what the age, can convey the dark side ... he can't overcome the fact that he is simply miscast," the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan wrote in 1993.

The intense film's young cast also included Culkin's real-life siblings Quinn (then 8) and Rory (then 4).

Although Culkin hasn't commented on his role recently, in an interview during filming, he said, "Henry is a different role for me, but I'm having a lot of fun playing a bad boy."

In 1978's "Pretty Baby" and 1980's "Blue Lagoon," Brooke Shields played young characters in mature scenarios.

Shields starred in two controversial R-rated films, "Pretty Baby" at age 12, and "Blue Lagoon" at age 15, both of which exploited her body and dealt with sexuality.

In "Pretty Baby," Shields played a girl who was thrown into a brothel and became a sex worker after her virginity was auctioned off. Shields' supposed nudity in the film had it banned in some countries, but she testified that a body double was used.

Despite the negative attention and criticism she faced, in 2018, she told Vanity Fair, "It was the best creative project I've ever been associated with."

In "Blue Lagoon," Shields' character is stranded on an island with her cousin (Christopher Atkins, then 19). The two fall in love and explore each other sexually in many scenes, before having a baby together. 

After the film came out, she spoke to People in 1980 about how she had changed since "Pretty Baby," saying, "I was not very developed, and I didn't care much about taking off my clothes. Now I do."

She revealed that for "Blue Lagoon" she wore nipple pasties and had her hair glued down on them for necessary coverage. She had a body stand-in for this film, as well.

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