I watched a video essay about how young actresses who play roles like this end up getting typecast and treated like they're actually the characters instead of children. Real fucked up stuff the film and entertainment industry does.
The abusive shitshow with the original Lolita adaptation from 1962 also comes to mind.
The producer, James B. Harris, likely raped Sue Lyons#Controversy) (Dolores's actress). Kubrick picked her for Dolores because she had bigger breasts and that it'd make her look older. She was thirteen when she was cast, and fourteen during the film's shooting. The film also does stuff with the framing of shots and clothing that are intended to make her look older, too.
Due to Hays Code bullshit, there was apparently serious talk about ending it with Humbert Humbert getting married to Dolores in a state that allowed child marriage, because of the weird logic of how censorship codes work. (It's also why Dolores is aged up a bit; "actually, it's ephebophilia" was apparently in play with the Code.) They decided against the marriage, at least.
And then there's the further issues with how Lyons was treated in relation to the media, including Harris and Kubrick curating a persona for her as the "Lolita image."
You said they were talking about 'the hot sexy young star of the film'.
Films generally come out a year or so after filming. By the time the media was talking about *the star* (not *the character*), they would have been focused on someone who would have been older at that point.
If she'd been 15 or 16 at the time the media was talking about her, I'd agree with you. But it's not unheard of for both men and women to look at someone in their very late teens or early 20s and say, 'Wow, she's gorgeous'.
u said that "they would have been focused on someone who would have been older at that point," disregarding the fact that the scenes theyre focusing on are depicting the actress while shes a minor. yes she aged but that doesnt magically age her up in those scenes as well
The media aren't focused on the scenes. Read the person's comments above: the media were focused on the actress, they weren't saying the character was 'hot'.
So the actress's age is directly relevant, and she would have been older once the film came out.
13
u/[deleted] 11d ago
[removed] — view removed comment