Upset babies in movies

[MaMaD1990]

Now I'm aware people will think I'm being totally over the top, but I was watching a movie (life as we knew it) and I just felt so bad for the little baby when she was crying. She's not 'acting' upset, she genuinely crying and I was so sad in a bit where she was about to walk at the guy pushes her over onto her bottom to stall her so the woman can see her first steps. I just kept thinking "she must be looking at her mum or dad wondering why they are letting actors do this to her". Poor little thing. I wouldn't of thought twice about this before having a baby but does anyone else feel like this when they see a crying baby in a movie?!

Guess they thought it was worth a few hundred dollars maybe. I'd just rather not see children in films like this, or horror at all. Imagine playing the ' fun' part as a child then watching as adult and realising that your character has a horrific end or similar.

It's horrific OP. I remember years ago, there was a scene in Eastenders where the (very real) baby seemed to cry for most of the episode - baby Thomas I think, and one of those very closed episodes with only one or two characters in the whole thing, pretty sure Dot Cotton was in it. I complained to the the BBC about it. It was so distressing, the baby was puce for most of the time, genuinely in distress. How ANY parent watching from the sidelines can think this is acceptable is just beyond me. I'm not sure how many more complaints were made, but my online post about it on a forum (Digital Spy I think) was quoted in a newspaper and the scene was cut from the weekend omnibus.

It upsets me too, even if they're just waiting until they're already crying. I always instantly soothe my babies. When my firstborn was a few months s, a friend in the industry encouraged me to apply for my baby to be used for a TV show. I didn't even click the link she sent me. No way was I going to let strangers hold my PFB 😆

I worry about children and babies in scary scenes - I hated the one in Pirates of the Caribbean with the toddler screaming as the pirates were pillaging the town. He's snatched up by his 'mum' so he's only being filmed for a minute but it must have been a traumatic minute!

@dancingthroughthedark that last bit had me laughing! It's good to know how it works from a parent who's actually been involved in it.

I think it’s quite rare to see a crying baby on tv or film actually - their face is usually turned away (often not enough so you can tell they’re not really crying) and they just play a recorded crying sound.

Also what about when small kids have to call actors mum or dad for a scene? Isn’t that confusing?

If they’re old enough to learn some lines then surely they’re old enough to know it’s just pretend.

I will never forget the distress of the little girl in Sophie's Choice ; it didn't look like 'acting' .

@Soubriquet

I know which film you’re on about OP

But yes, there are times where it’s clear the baby isn’t crying at all. The sound is just edited in

Any chance it’s life as we know it?

I don't think for children calling the actor "mummy" is more confusing than taking part in the school nativity play: surely they know they're not married to the Virgin Mary either?

As for being upset and needing comforting, some of the actors who shoot several scenes with children do take time for the children to get to know them first, and the parents are at hand.

I read an interview with Jim Carter who played Mr Carson in Downton Abbey where he talked about the scene where he walks into the room and finds Baby Sybbie crying. Apparently he was meant to play that as a comedy scene with the clumsy butler not knowing how to deal with the baby, but when it came to it the baby was genuinely upset so what he did instead was what you see in the film: picked her up and comforted her very expertly until she stopped crying.

There is another scene in a later series where Mr Barrow, played by Rob James-Collier, is saying goodbye to the children and suddenly Sybbie walks up and hugs him. Apparently that wasn't in the script either, it was just a child reacting to a hugging scene involving an actor she knew and had played with between takes. (Actually, if you look, you can see that the actor looks genuinely taken aback and moved)

Both these actors were fathers and no doubt had experience of comforting their own children: I don't think that's any worse than a child being comforted by a nursery worker or something.

I worry about children and babies in scary scenes - I hated the one in Pirates of the Caribbean with the toddler screaming as the pirates were pillaging the town. He's snatched up by his 'mum' so he's only being filmed for a minute but it must have been a traumatic minute!

Haven't seen the scene but are you sure it wasn't filmed separately and cut as to fit into the rest. A close-up of a baby isn't necessarily filmed at the same place or on the same day as other shots of the same scene.

Have just spent a good 2 hours filming (very amateurishly) a scene where my daughter appears in tense discussion with two other characters: to the best of my knowledge, one of them is currently in Cyprus and one in Rome.

@corythatwas well that is so lovely to hear, such a sweet experience. I guess as a viewer you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes and the obvious editing that happens as well as the work that goes into building a relationship of sorts with an actor. It still breaks my heart every time I see it on screen but I'll force myself to remember your comment in future!

fairly old but there is a scene in Bram Stoker's dracula where a woman drops a baby on the floor. I saw a 'behind the scenes' program where they show that the actress was walking over a mini bridge with an adult lying on the floor below to catch the baby when he was dropped. no crying but it looks pretty nerve-wracking to film.

I think the baby in Modern Family always looks very uncomfortable and unhappy with the whole experience. We've watched an entire series on Netflix and she hasn't smiled once, or made a sound for that matter. It's very noticeable because she's an integral part of many scenes

Changing tack, I recently re-watched Erin Brokovitch and noticed what a good rapport Julia Roberts had with the baby in that.

@AkeyBrakeyHart Changing tack, I recently re-watched Erin Brokovitch and noticed what a good rapport Julia Roberts had with the baby in that.

This! I watched it the other week and thought how cute they both were when she was on the sofa with the baby negotiating her employment benefits!

I just remembered the scene in Trainspotting with the baby. It haunts me even 20 years later. Great movie, but I can't watch it ever again.

I hate it. I’m fine with them crying ‘for some other reason’ for a ten second clip because I assume their parent then comes to comfort them, but you can see real distress sometimes. Like in ‘The Help’ - that kid isn’t acting, she’s upset.

@MaMaD1990 And this one!

Babies crying has never bothered me. Even my own one crying. Now, I don’t leave him in distress if he’s bawling his head off but if he’s clean, fed and safe, I’ll leave him crying for a bit. It never occurred to me to be upset by babies crying in tv. I wonder if there’s something wrong with me.

@AkeyBrakeyHart Yes!! Melts my heart!!

I remember when I was pregnant with DS considering signing him up for Call the Midwife - the second he was born I changed my mind, the notion of him being covered in water/fake blood and bawling his eyes out, probably freezing, brought tears to my eyes!

The scene in Labyrinth where the little boy is screaming makes me so uncomfortable. His face is red and covered in snot and tears so I don't think it was a momentary cry. Welfare standards were probably lower in the 80s though!

Looks like I wasn't the only one who thought the Modern Family baby wasn't really enjoying the show. This thread prompted me to Google and she (actually they - twins) gets replaced at the end of season 2 ... ew.com/article/2011/05/26/modern-family-finale/

I may be the only person in the world who didn't already know that.

I would often wonder this whenever I watched Steel Magnolias. There is a scene when a character played by Julia Roberts is collapsed on the floor and her son is screaming and sounds distraught. I have to fast forward it. Although in the same film the child has a birthday and I do know that he was not sat on the lap of Julia Roberts but his actual mum so I would hope they quickly and in one take filmed home crying before he was swiftly handed to mum.

I realised one day watching Eastenders (please don't judge - it's my DP's choice of trashy tv!) that whenever you hear a baby cry, it's the exact same cry each time! Now I've noticed it, I can't un-notice it! It seems to be used for all "babies" no matter what their age.

Again, I've noticed that most of the time the babies look perfectly content despite their "cries"!