Why, oh, why would you want to do that? Please let me tell you how I
*know* that this is a bad, bad thing.
I used to do a fair bit of extra work on many Australian tv shows and
movies and initially I had the big idea of bringing my stunningly
gorgeous baby daughter along. She made an appearance on "Prisoner" (I
was cast as an inmate!) and we had to be on set at 5am and we sat all
day in a draughty bus waiting for our call because we were on location
and it was cold and horrible.
We had to do our scene several times (bomb scene, crowd, panic, etc)
and, late in the afternoon, one of the stars, the late Sheila Florence
(i.e. the old, gnarled, inimitable Lizzie Birdsworth for any fans out
there), said to me in her slow Aussie drawl, "Don't do it, darl. Don't
do it to her. It's not a good place for kids. I've never seen a happy
child in the industry." And you know what? She was right. From that
day on, I let my baby girl be a baby, ever so slightly ashamed that I
had allowed myself to let her be caught up in my ambition.
And over the years that I worked, I saw many, many child actors and
quickly worked out that not many of them became rich or famous and
that if the kids weren't overwhelmed and miserable, then they were
precocious and miserable, and who wouldn't be? They're placed in an
artificial and horrendously competitive environment. Their friends
can't relate to them or the pressure they're under and their siblings
are, naturally, going to be jealous as all get out.
Just look at the track records of so many child stars. And they're the
ones who make it. What if your baby doesn't cut it. Do you want some a
20-something fashionista production person looking at a photo of your
precious one and saying, "Yeeuck, no way!" Because they will. Or an
old, jaded adman fast forwarding through your darling's video audition
and saying, "Oh my gawd!" Because they will.
And will you be able to forgive your baby son for failing you? Deep
down, you won't. Why don't *you* go and get a casting agent and live
your dream *yourself*! You and your son will probably be a lot happier
if you do. |
