Minnie Driver is promoting her new movie, Beyond the Lights. Her role is that of a “nasty Hollywood momager.” I wonder if she based her character upon Kris Jenner. That’s the only way Kris should ever be an inspiration to anyone. Minnie spoke to Us Weekly about how she doesn’t think that children should be allowed to act. That’s quite the sweeping statement because so many tv shows and movies include kid and teenage roles. Minnie even works with teenagers on About a Boy, which could make things awkward for Minnie. The parents of her tv son, Benjamin Stockham, may not appreciate the shade. Minnie has a point, so I’ll let her take it away:
On showbiz parents: “I’m not really for the whole kids in show business thing. It’s really difficult even when you meet lovely parents of children who are in show business. There is still the fact that they’re not having a childhood. They are out of their element, and in the element of an adult world which is not always appropriate. It seems to me there is always a certain level of desperation that makes a person put a child in that position.”
Her momager character: “That’s an interesting place to start for a character: Someone who’s desperate and conflicted. And if that’s overshadowing everything else, it doesn’t matter how nice or kind or empathetic they may be elsewhere. The overriding thing is quite fierce. You love them, of course you love them, but you want this other thing. It’s the realm of the hungry ghosts. That’s really interesting for an actor. You can’t be a villain. Villains aren’t interesting unless there is the un-villainous part of them. You really understand why she does what she does … You really get it. It’s not from a malicious point of view. She’s not a sociopath, she’s not evil. She just desperately did not want to go back to that poverty and she wanted something better for her kid.”
[From Us Weekly]
I guess we won’t be seeing Minnie’s own son, Henry (6), onscreen anytime soon. It will be interesting to see if Minnie keeps this perspective if Henry expresses interest in acting as he grows older. I see what she’s saying. We’ve seen so many showbiz kids get sucked into drugs and a party lifestyle. These kids turn into bratty divas and then fail to make the transition into adult acting. Minnie’s right. These kids should have a real childhood. They have the whole rest of their lives to work. Let kids be kids.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN
We DID get to see Henry when she was featured on ‘Who do you think you are’. Seeing celebrity kids on that show is not typical. #mommybranding
Wow, I’m definitely surprised she would say this while she’s starring on a show that revolves around a child. (He’s fourteen, and this is his third network show in four years.)
Maybe that’s why she’s saying it??
Could it be a dig?
And it’s not the first time she has played a mom on television. She was in The Riches too, playing the mother.
Love her shoes!
I think it’s OK for kids to act, but put a limit of say one role yearly on each child. That way all the Hollywood rubbish does not sweep them away and they can remain grounded. Also, this will prevent parents from getting greedy and pushing their kids too far, or trying to make a living off them.
If it’s an on going role, then it should be a very small one. We really don’t need sitcoms starring kids. My kids would be just as happy to watch a cartoon or a movie and, lets face it, it’s all about the money not the kids anyway.
•decorative item•
I was coming to say the same thing. Children *need* boundaries and if they are firmly set with parents and other adults acting in the child’s long term health, I don’t see it as a problem. It’s a combination of pushy parents, non-caring studio executives and unconcerned people on the set that can be damaging.
Yup, I agree. I don’t think that kids should NEVER act, but they should never be the breadwinner and they should never be on set instead of in school. There should be a strict yearly cap on how many hours children can work in entertainment. If they want to act, they should do school theater or take acting classes and give it an honest go when they turn 18.
The problem is that greedy or needy or desperate (take your pick) parents will always find a way around the rules.
There are current rules that seriously limit how many hours per day/week a child can work and STILL parents find a way to get past that.
And when they sign to a company like Disney that maximises those few hours whilst getting maximum use out of the child actors that turns the child into a money making machine, it’s a recipe for disaster.
I think it all depends on the parents. If they’re the ones pushing for the showbiz career, living off the kids’ earnings, and don’t care about balancing and education and social life, then there’s going to be problems.
But I think Minnie is saying that even if the parents are well-intentioned, having kids in showbiz is still a problem because they’re growing up on a set, not in the classroom and playground like most children. A kid who’s a regular on a TV show misses out on a “normal” childhood because he’s on set for hours each day.
I think it depends on the work they’re doing. Starring on a TV show where they’re in almost every scene and there most of the time, with no chance for school and other activities? Definitely problematic. Filming a movie or show during the summer, or a small recurring role on a TV show that can be scheduled around school? That can work.
Larry Birkhead put his daughter in showbiz as a Guess model when she was six; plus he used every opportunity to be on TV or tabloids. I saw him on “Wife swap”, Opra, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, OK, People ,etc. Birkhead’s role model is Kris Jenner, Billy Ray Cyrus and other momagers and dadagers…People use their kids as source of income, meal tickets. They don’t think about kids wellbeing and mental health.
I have wondered what I would do as a parent (I’m not one) if my child wanted to do something that would alter their childhood drastically – if they wanted to act, or model, or dedicate themselves completely to a sport that they had to practice for hours every day, or to music etc. I honestly don’t know. I would be torn if they really, really wanted to do it. I would want to support their interest, but you’re only a child once, and what if they ended up feeling like they had no childhood? Of course, I was bored to death for a lot of my childhood and couldn’t wait, I mean could. Not. Wait to grow up. So there’s that.
Having a one year old, I have to say I wouldn’t let my little girl model or get into acting. At least not with Hollywood. If my daughter really wants to act then I’ll find something local that she can get involved in like school or community groups. Reading all of the gossip and seeing what happens to most of these child stars, I just couldn’t let her do it. Not to mention all of the nasty rumors about sexual abuse towards children. I would feel like I’d have to hover over her constantly and that would probably drive her crazy as she got older. When she is older it would be up to her, but as a small child I just couldn’t let her. I wouldn’t even want to let her while she is in her teens, but I don’t know. I would never want to keep her from her dreams if that’s what she aspires to be, but gosh I really wouldn’t want in her Hollywood until she’s a grounded and established young adult. Hollywood is a really nasty thing when you really think about it.
That would be a good solution, I think, to stay local. Good thinking.
That’s how I feel about some activities like ballet and ice skating. Even if my daughter really wanted to do it I don’t think I could let her. I’ve known a few successful ice skaters/ballerinas and it’s not a good life. The pressure they put on them is insane and there’s also a whole secret cult of anorexia since skaters and ballerinas are constantly pressured to be ‘as light as possible’. It just seems so unhealthy and the girl I knew who ended up quitting, said even when she was traveling and winning she was so unhappy. A normal life is much more fullfilling I think.
Leaving aside all the child stars whose success didn’t continue into adulthood, look at the child stars that did make it. Most of them still have issues stemming from their stunted childhood- even the uber successful ones.
Agree but never going to happen. Folks aren’t going to stop writing roles for under sixteens.
Also, not all child stars go haywire. Parenting, schooling, strict oversight and perhaps counseling are all very important factors. It can be done right.
SHOES!!!!!
Many actors( Bale,Dunst,Dicaprio…) who started to work very young agree with her point of view.To act young is fun until that becomes professional
I often wish that there was a huge official pool of child and teen actors producers and directors could use. The kids could just rotate in and out of roles and no one kid would work too much in a year and they could still have plenty of time for regular school, friends, and just being X years old. A different (but similar looking) kid could be used in each movie in a franchise, a different kid could rotate into a TV show after the mid-season hiatus, with the pair of kid actors also changing completely for each new season. A kid who doesn’t want to, or can’t, work very much at all could just do the holiday special episodes and the (current) regular kid could take a break and have a real Christmas vacation.
Child actors don’t even have to turn into “bratty divas” to be chewed up and spit out by Hollywood. Sadly, I think most of them just grow up and lose the cuteness that was their initial appeal to directors, casting directors and audiences, and nobody wants to put a kid who was once adorable and who’s now just another average young adult in their movie.
She is so right about child actors. As much as I enjoy their cuteness which makes me a hypocrite, there should be a minimum age that children should be allowed to start working in the ents business. 18/17 at least.
I LOVE her dress in that last pic! She looks really soft and pretty.