Now that I’m reading Dorothy Allison’s 1993 debut novel, Bastard Out of Carolina, I’m remembering an article I once wrote for The Hollywood Reporter, in which the TV-film version of this novel played a large role. Allison’s work, based heavily on her own impoverished upbringing, raised many hackles because it unflinchingly depicts the sexual molestation of its pre-teen heroine, who vividly narrates her life story. Born out of wedlock to a fifteen-year-old mother. Anney, in South Carolina, Ruth Anne (called “Bone” by one and all) suffers many indignities because she’s officially been labeled “illegitimate” on her birth certificate. Anney’s attempts to supply her with a male parent end disastrously when a first step-father dies and a second, Glen Waddell, begins to physically abuse her, on the very night that her baby brother is born dead. Though over the years Anney tries to protect Bone, she’s too devoted to her current spouse to ward off the inevitable rape and the violence that accompanies it. Thankfully, the story ends with young Bone finally managing to leave the family unit behind and begin her own independent life.
Back in 2000, when I was writing about the 1996 filmed version of Bastard Out of Carolina, it was not easy to find. Certainly it has an impressive pedigree. Jennifer Jason Lee is top-billed as Bone’s mother; Ron Eldard plays the nefarious Glen. Also featured in the cast are Glenne Headly, Dermot Mulroney, and a host of other Hollywood regulars. Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston made her directorial debut with this project. But the key role of Bone was played by a showbiz newcomer, Jena Malone, who was all of 12 when she was cast. (Her performance got her nominated for Independent Spirit and SAG awards.)
I had a long phone conversation with Jena Malone when she was not yet 16. At the time, I was working on an article about children who play key roles in films that rely heavily on adult-level sex and violence. The conversations I had with child actors were interesting ones. An eight-year-old who played Mel Gibson’s daughter in a Revolutionary War drama called The Patriot was hardly put off by the film’s graphic battle scenes. She gleefully reported to me that “the blood is ketchup and stuff. The people who play dead get up and yell ‘Lunch!’” Still, a child psychiatrist I queried was convinced that, for a young person, playing a victim on screen can trigger severe reactions down the road.
Post-traumatic stress, I learned, can be particularly acute in young actors whose roles expose them to simulated violence and sexual abuse. That’s partly why some parents are diligent in checking out exactly what will be happening to their kids on the set, and turning down roles they feel will compromise these young actors’ sense of well-being. Still, other Hollywood mons and dads jump at the chance for their youngsters to play central roles in controversial dramas. (After all, Linda Blair nabbed an Oscar nom at 14 for starring in The Exorcist.) I once spent an evening with a deeply religious family. They were fully convinced that their 6-year-old daughter’s key role in a film about demonic possession would be a boon to all humanity.
When I chatted with Jena Malone about Bastard Out of Carolina, I was surprised by her maturity. She said that at 12 she had fully understood the implications of the story’s sexual scenes and wanted them to be accurately depicted. My thoughts? I was glad my own young daughter would never be in the position of playing such a role.
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