How Director Jennifer Fox Found a Safe Way to Shoot Harrowing Underage Sex Scene in ‘The Tale’
"It was important to not blur the ordinary horror of child sexual abuse," filmmaker says
As a director shooting the HBO movie “The Tale” based on her own experiences as the survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Jennifer Fox faced a special challenge: how to handle the crucial and horrific sex scene between 13-year-old Jennifer (Isabelle Nélisse) and her grown-up track coach (Jason Ritter).
“That scene is so broken apart, we shot-listed it, and we prepared days before of where the cameras would be, that it didn’t have this great emotional meaning for me that people would expect,” Fox told TheWrap.
And Fox and her production team got creative in how they set up the scene to protect Nélisse, who was 11, turning 12, at the time the film shot on location in
“Isabelle was on a vertical bed, and there was never any physical contact between her and Jason,” Fox told TheWrap. “Jason wasn’t even allowed to put his arm around her, according to Louisiana law. Everything Jason did [physically] was done with a 22-year-old body double — even the dialogue, which was pretty graphic, wasn’t said to Isabelle directly.”
Instead, Fox explained, she would read cues to Nélisse, like “act like a beast is on you,” “act like your grandma is chasing you” or “act like you are eating something sour” to get the facial reactions from Nélisse used in the film.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 18 | June 23, 2018 7:12 AM
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Things have certainly changed since Malle shot "Pretty Baby" with Brooke Shields at the Columns in New Orleans.
Louisiana had very little "protection" for her at that time.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 21, 2018 6:38 AM
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"Act like your grandma is chasing you"... umm, wtf? Is that supposed to be fun, or scary?
by Anonymous | reply 2 | June 22, 2018 7:51 PM
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Also, why is it "harrowing"? I thought both the real Jennifer Fox and her tweenage character insist that it was fun and enjoyable, not rape-rape.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 22, 2018 7:52 PM
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I guess the pedos will like this
by Anonymous | reply 4 | June 22, 2018 7:52 PM
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That scene was indeed harrowing, but very well done. I think the dialogue was the most disturbing I'd ever heard.
R3 - My take on the film is that Jennifer thought at the time that they were boyfriend and girlfriend and felt very grown up. It's with hindsight and her mother discovering 'The Tale' years later that she realises she only felt like that at the time because the grooming she'd gone through by the couple was so strong.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 22, 2018 7:58 PM
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Kevin Spacey's favorite film
by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 22, 2018 8:18 PM
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Kevin likes ‘em young but he isn’t interested in the puss.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | June 22, 2018 8:27 PM
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I just read that Jennifer interviews the coach and his girlfriend years later. Does anyone know what those two had to say for themselves?
by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 22, 2018 8:36 PM
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WHY is this even being FILMED.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | June 22, 2018 10:17 PM
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Yeah, I always feel uncomfortable when rape and child molestation are depicted on-screen, even artfully: Do we watch because we're bravely facing the truth, or do we watch because we find it titillating? Or some combination of the two?
by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 23, 2018 12:03 AM
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Yeah - you know the pervs fapped to that scene, even though the girl character was shown throwing up immediately afterward.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | June 23, 2018 12:36 AM
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I saw a movie years ago where I think Jenna Malone played a child that was raped and they showed it pretty graphically - horrific but even more so because the actress was so young at the time. It’s good that sort of thing isn’t allowed anymore
by Anonymous | reply 14 | June 23, 2018 12:49 AM
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Who's the audience for this film supposed to be - pedophiles? Can't imagine anyone else paying to see this, body double be damned.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | June 23, 2018 1:00 AM
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Bastard Out Of Carolina R14?
by Anonymous | reply 16 | June 23, 2018 1:57 AM
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R11 - It's being filmed because it's an important topic. Jennifer's story is a classic case of being groomed and abused by people she trusted. They made her think what was happening was completely normal, hence her not thinking there was anything wrong with it at the time.
They normalised her situation to the extent she went back to school and wrote about it in a 'What I did in the Holidays' kind of way. They completely took advantage of the fact a young girl would be excited about having a 'boyfriend'. The (true) story is made even worse by the fact his 'wife' was involved in the grooming.
They were a predatory couple and Jennifer wasn't the only girl they did this to, but they got away with it as they'd convinced these girls there was nothing wrong with it.
I admire Jennifer coming forward with this story and presenting it in such an honest way. She doesn't shy away from the ambiguity of her feelings about the situation. It took her years to realise that what happened was abuse and not the loving relationship she had believed it was.
I thought it an amazingly acted and very well made film. I won't be rushing to watch it again as some of the scenes made me feel very ill, but it's something everyone should see.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | June 23, 2018 7:12 AM
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