This is an old news item, but I wanted to post it because Tatum and Dakota are playing mother and daughter in their next film, The Runaways, which is scheduled for release in spring 2010. The trailer for the film is out, and you can view it here. But best of all, a photo has surfaced of Tatum and Dakota together on the set. I cannot wait to see these two onscreen together!

 Tatum & Dakota behind the scenes on The Runaways.

Fomer child star Tatum O'Neal has said that she finds nothing wrong with Dakota Fanning appearing in a rape scene because the then 12-year-old actress was just playing a part. In the film Hounddog, Fanning played a girl who endures a graphically suggested rape. O'Neal explains, "I think it's her parent's decision. I think she is a real actress. I think she's probably very smart, and she probably looked at  the script and said that she felt it was okay for her to do as an actress. I think that's okay." O'Neal admits that it would be a different story if her daughter wanted to do such a film: "Would I let my daughter? No. But I'm her mother. Dakota's mother thinks it's okay."

A breakdown of young actresses who smoked cigarettes -- or rather, pretended to -- on film:

Tatum O'Neal, Paper Moon (1973). Age: Turned 9 during filming. Tatum's character, Addie, in addition to being con-artist with a vocabulary full of swear words, also smokes in several scenes throughout the movie. It's obvious that she's a pro at it and doesn't intend to quit. Tatum wrote in her autobiography, "Peter [Bogdanovich, the director] wanted me to smoke in the movie, but the cigarettes were filled with lettuce, not tabacco. They glued sandpaper to my fingers so I could strike a match one-handed."

 Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon

AnnaSophia Robb, Sleepwalking (2008). Age: Turned 13 during filming. AnnaSophia's character, Tara, smokes in one scene, while lounging by a pool; she then jumps into the pool while fully-clothed and wearing roller skates. This and the smoking might have been to impress two young male onlookers. When asked in an interview if she really smoked, AnnaSophia said, "No, it's an herbal cigarette. Charlize [Theron, who played her mother] made me promise not to ever smoke, which I don't want to. I think it's really gross. I did have to learn and Charlize did teach me, but I only smoked probably two or three puffs. I never inhaled."

 AnnaSophia Robb in Sleepwalking

Natalie Portman, Leon: The Professional (1994). Age: Turned 12 during filming. Natalie's character, Mathilda, smokes in several scenes, but she quits toward the end of the film. In a documentary featured on the ten-year anniversary DVD, Natalie recalled, "One of the things my parents were particularly concerned about was the smoking in the movie. They had a very detailed agreement with Luc [Besson, the director] about what could be used. I was only allowed to have five cigarettes in my hand during the entire shooting of the film. I wasn't allowed to inhale, they weren't allowed to be real cigarettes. But you can actually see in the movie, you can see me putting them to my lips, but you never see me blowing out, or you just see me holding a cigarette. And then, the other thing was that she has to quit during the movie, which is also in there. You see her -- you see Leon scold Mathilda for smoking, and then later on, when she's alone, she just throws a cigarette away."

 Natalie Portman in Leon: The Professional

Dakota Fanning, Hounddog (2007). Age: 12. Dakota's character, Lewellen, sticks an unlit cigarette in her mouth and pretends to puff on it while playing dress-up, but she never actually smokes.

 Dakota Fanning in Hounddog

But while these young actresses all pretended to smoke and may have made it look glamorous, one young actress actually smoked in real life -- and it was anything but glamorous for her. Drew Barrymore doesn't often talk about what she went through as a kid, and to look at how successful, confident, and talented she is now, you'd never guess what a troubled past she has. The most shocking segment of her interview on Inside the Actor's Studio is behind the cut.

It's old news, but I only discovered it yesterday. (How didn't I know about this sooner??)

Tatum O’Neal has been cast as Dakota Fanning’s mom in her new film The Runaways.

I always love it when former young actresses work with current ones. Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin in Nim's Island are a good example; there was a lot of buzz about the two of them doing a movie together, but Tatum playing Dakota's mom doesn't seem to have gotten as much attention. Perhaps when The Runaways is closer to release (it'll be out sometime in 2010).

I think that this will be a good film for Tatum. Her career hasn't been in the best shape (one of her most recent films was the sleazy-looking TV movie Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal) and this could provide a big boost to it: a solid role in a wide-release movie with A-list stars. This is an opportunity for her to remind us why she still holds the title of youngest Oscar winner ever. In case you don't know, she won Best Supporting Actress in 1974, at age 10, for her role opposite her father, Ryan O'Neal, in Paper Moon. And despite all that she's been through between then and now, I still believe that she's just as talented as ever.

Whether this will be a good film for Dakota, I'm not sure. The pictures of her on the set seem so... tasteless. I hate to sound prudish, but her costumes are revealing, and her makeup is very heavy and punk. I don't expect her to be the little girl in I Am Sam forever, but one day on set last June, she wore extensions, a short skirt, high heels, and had fake blood dripping down her inner thigh (for a scene where her character got her first period), and I don't expect that from her, either. She's still just 15! I mean, Hounddog was controversial in its way, but her character in that was innocent, not trying to be sexy.

One thing I do know, Tatum O'Neal is very candid. I imagine that as filming continues, she'll have at least a little to say about working with Dakota, and how Dakota compares to herself at that age.

It's also worth noting here that earlier this year, Dakota's little sister Elle Fanning did a photoshoot as Tatum's character in Paper Moon.

Vanity Fair magazine recently did a series of photoshoots recreating scenes from movies made during or set in the Great Depression. Among them was Paper Moon, starring Ryan and Tatum O'Neal -- a great movie, and one of my all-time favorite performances from a young actress. Chosen to recreate Tatum's role was current young actress Elle Fanning.

At first glance, everything seems a-okay. After all, Paper Moon is a classic movie, and it made Tatum the youngest Oscar winner ever. It's an honor for Elle to recreate that role. So why does the idea make me so uncomfortable? Maybe because Tatum's young life went so sadly awry after her Oscar win, and that's the last path I want Elle to follow.

 
Left: Ryan & Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon, 1973. Right: Josh Duhamel & Elle Fanning for Vanity Fair, 2009.

According to Tatum's autobiography A Paper Life, her dad Ryan was bitterly jealous of her Oscar win; she suffered much emotional and physical abuse at his hands, attempted suicide at age 13 (after she caught her dad having sex with her best friend, Melanie Griffith), and began abusing drugs and alcohol a few years later. Her career has never recovered from all those blows, and more importantly, neither has her personal life. As an adult, Tatum still struggles with drug addiction and was arrested for buying crack cocaine in 2008. Her dad Ryan has said that her book tells "vicious lies," but he admitted that their relationship is so bad that when he saw Tatum at Farrah Fawcett's funeral last June, he didn't recognize her and tried to hit on her. Does it get any sadder than hitting on your own daughter? And at the funeral of your girlfriend, no less! What a scumbag.

Of course, Elle Fanning isn't going to become the next Tatum O'Neal just because she did the Paper Moon shoot. (After all, Elle already has what Tatum was so sadly missing: stable, supportive parents!) But still, can you blame me if I'm a tad uncomfortable with putting young, innocent Elle in those shoes? I mean, I firmly believe that Elle has a bright future ahead of her, but I also know that everybody once thought the same of Tatum.

 
Scowling Tatum O'Neal. Smiling Elle Fanning.

I also wonder why Elle was chosen to recreate Tatum's role. Except for that they're both blonde, they don't resemble each other at all. Elle has a pixie face, while Tatum had a boyish face (although as an adult, her face is more feminine). Elle was perky and bubbly during the shoot -- as she and her sister often are in public, which frankly is starting to put one toe over too annoying -- while Tatum's character in Paper Moon was one tough customer. In her book, Tatum captioned a photo of herself in the film with the comment: "People have always said I had a pretty mean stare." I find it hard to believe Elle is even capable of giving a mean stare.


Elle, during the photoshoot, watching Tatum in Paper Moon. Elle was 11 when she did the shoot. Tatum turned 9 while doing the movie. I have to wonder if Elle knows what Tatum went through after the fame and fortune of being a child star had faded away.