This is Ryan Kiera Armstrong, the titular protagonist of Firestarter, another adaptation of Stephen King’s story about a girl with pyrokinetic abilities.
This year, the Razzies, the snarky antithesis to the Oscars, nominated the twelve-year-old for “Worst Actress” in the “remake”, prompting a backlash so severe, the Razzies issued an apology, removed her from the ballot, and announced that from now on, there would be an age limit to nominations.
But there are many that feel that it’s too little, too late for that, because the Razzies have a history of nominating child actors for “bad” performances. I think you know who comes to mind:
It makes me happy to see the people are coming to Lloyd’s defense after all the crap he’s put up with for 23 years – I just wish society had done this immediately after TPM came out (the only one who did was former child star Ron Howard) but those of us who loved the prequels had to contend with bullying ourselves. Anyway, Lloyd isn’t the only child actor who got a Razzie nomination. Here are some other underage nominees.
Gary Coleman for On the Right Track (1981) – Coleman was 13 at the time.
Macaulay Culkin for three movies in 1994 – Getting Even With Dad, The Pagemaster and Richie Rich. Macaulay was 14 at the time. It was revealed later that Culkin’s domineering, abusive father, Kit, was forcing him to take roles he didn’t want and after those box office failures, he took a break from acting to lead a more normal life. The Razzies need to consider this.
Jaden Smith for After Earth (2013). Jaden was 15 at the time and won the Razzie for the role.
Brooke Shields for The Blue Lagoon (1980). Ah, where do we begin with this one. This is a film, Ms. Shields denounces to this day, for being exploitative of two teenagers. She was 14 at the time, when she was cast as a marooned girl who starts a romance with her cousin – played by Christopher Atkins, who was 18 at the time – on a deserted island. Most of Brooke’s sex scenes were filmed with a sex double and her topless scenes were filmed with her hair glued to her breasts. That’s not the only hell she went through during filming. If the Razzies knew about this, would they have thought twice about giving her the award for Worst Actress?
Apparently not, because the next year, 15-year-old Shields would be nominated again for Endless Love, a film directed by Franco Zeffirelli (of Romeo and Juliet fame) about a passionate romance between two teenagers. Zeffirelli had to cut a lot of love scenes between Shields and her co-star, Martin Hewitt (who was 23!!!), and submitted it five times to the MPAA to lower its rating from an X to an R. If this film had been released today, Zeffirelli would be accused of child porn.
C’mon Razzies, cut the girl a break!
Hilary Duff (17) for A Cinderella Story and Raise Your Voice (2004).
Mara Hobel was 10 when she was cast as a young Christina Crawford in Mommie Dearest (1981), the infamous Joan Crawford biopic. I don’t know about you, but when I saw the film for the first time on TV, I found it painful to watch due to its spot-on portrayal of child abuse. How anyone (looking at you drag queens) can see this film as “camp” or “so bad it’s good”, is a mystery to me.
Aileen Quinn was 11 when she “won” the Razzie for Worst Actress for playing the titular heroine of Annie.
Razzie Films That Went On to Become Classics
Another problem with the Razzies is they dump on the latest “bad” film, only to look like fools when that film is later reevaluated as a classic. Here’s some nominees (and winners) that’ll make you go “SAY WHHHAAAATTT!”
1980 – Xanadu and Friday the 13th
1981 – Heaven’s Gate (now part of The Criterion Collection)
1982 – Annie
1987 – Ishtar
1992 – The Bodyguard and Newsies (now a Broadway Musical)
1997 – Batman & Robin
1999 – Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace and The Blair Witch Project
2002 – Star Wars: Episode 2 – Attack of the Clones
2016 – Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Yes, there are many bad movies out there, some that deserve to be torn to bits by society. But art is subjective and what may be a bad film to one person or demographic, may be entertaining (and even relevant) to another. Heck, there are Oscar winning films I think deserve Razzies. The Golden Raspberry Awards isn’t going away, but as more actors and directors step forward with revelations of on-set abuse, or mental illness, perhaps it’s time to retire The Razzies for good.
the lady from planet x 