Significant Child Performances

[dunbar]

Home Alone, right?

[Stewball]

Can't believe that arguably the most famous child performance in world cinema hasn't been mentioned. What am I thinking of?

Are we we talking most famous, or best?

I looked around a little more, knowing there's still more:

I never saw, I Am Sam (the movie's premise turned me off), but Dakota Fanning was supposed to be excellent in it.

Of course there's Linda Blair in The Exorcist which is certainly one of the best known performances, if not one of the greatest career killer performances.

But I gotta admit I wouldn't have thought of this one if I hadn't been slapped in the face with it:

Jodie Foster was only 12 when she made Taxi Driver. I probably knew that at one point (it's easy to forget), but that puts her near if not at the top of the list. It's interesting to contrast her full on sexuality in Taxi, with Julian Shatkin's underlying barely nascent adolescence, and worldly wise innocence, in Like Sunday, Like Rain, him being 12 as well. Imagining them in the same movie would be a whole 'nother milkshake.

[mattorama12]

Can't believe that arguably the most famous child performance in world cinema hasn't been mentioned. What am I thinking of?

Of course that would be Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. I was also surprised it hadn't been mentioned yet.

[ShogunRua]

Can't believe that arguably the most famous child performance in world cinema hasn't been mentioned. What am I thinking of?

Of course that would be Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. I was also surprised it hadn't been mentioned yet.

Or possibly Drew Barrymore in E.T, which also hasn't been mentioned. (And I don't believe deserves to, but it's certainly one of the most famous...)

[MacSwell]

Or possibly Drew Barrymore in E.T, which also hasn't been mentioned. (And I don't believe deserves to, but it's certainly one of the most famous...)

I thought Henry Thomas was far more impressive.

[Midaso]

[hellboy76]

I agree with many on this list..

I thought River Phoenix was good in Stand By Me.

Oddly enough Christina Ricci in The Addams Family sticks out as incredibly believable.

Maybe Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz? I think she was 15 or 16.

[Stewball]

I agree with many on this list..

I thought River Phoenix was good in Stand By Me.

Oddly enough Christina Ricci in The Addams Family sticks out as incredibly believable.

Maybe Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz? I think she was 15 or 16.

I listed Ricci, but Phoenix was c. 16 and Garland was c. 17. The point I was getting at with this thread is that with younger children, until the 60s, they and/or the directors were never good enough so they either fudged the role with older children, or they put up with hyper-sappy performances--e.g. Shirley Temple. Sometimes, like with Garland, they did both, though other aspects of such films makes us filter our memories through rose colored glasses. There's a universe of difference twixt 12 & 20.

[martryn]

Can't believe that arguably the most famous child performance in world cinema hasn't been mentioned. What am I thinking of?

Of course that would be Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. I was also surprised it hadn't been mentioned yet.

I entered the thread to say this.

The two other ones that come to mind immediately (that I haven't seen mentioned) are Christian Bale (Empire of the Sun) and that hot chick from Spider-Man in Interview with the Vampire.

I was also a fan of Nicholas Hoult in About a Boy, but maybe only because he was so cute.

I also thought of the chick form Let the Right One In, but thinking about it more, I think I prefer Chloe Moretz (or however you spell it) in the American version.

[Stewball]

Can't believe that arguably the most famous child performance in world cinema hasn't been mentioned. What am I thinking of?

Of course that would be Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. I was also surprised it hadn't been mentioned yet.

She was definitely very precocious, but that role wasn't as demanding as Iris in Taxi Driver. And in case anybody is wondering, Sue Lyon was 16 when she did Lolita, and Sami Gayle was 15 when she did Detachment which was probably better than O'Neal or Lyon inmynevertobehumbleopinion--though O'Neal was 10.