.Alex_Lily talks to the filmmaker and writer Sarah Polley about her new book, the dangers of letting kids act, and the slipperiness of memory.
In the fall of 2015, the filmmaker Sarah Polley was at a swimming pool near her home in Toronto, rummaging through a lost-and-found bin for her hair dryer, when a jostled fire extinguisher fell on her head. Polley’s vision went blurry; the world tilted and slowed. It turned out that she had a concussion, one severe enough to keep her bed-bound for weeks, and foggy and hindered for months, then years. A movie that she was writing had to be abandoned; the scope of her life dramatically compressed.
I know that, until I was seven or eight, I didn’t mind it. But I don’t have a memory of forcing my way into it.Yes. I mean, I couldn’t get out partly because I had signed—I can’t remember how many years that contract was, it was between five and seven years with the TV show “Road to Avonlea.” But certainly after “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,” my interest had taken a hit.
It seems, from the way you describe it, that acting at a younger age was almost a way of being made to conceal yourself. You write about being at odds with a lot of the roles you were in—certainly with the role in “Road to Avonlea,” which was this sort of naïve, happy girl, built on nostalgia for an earlier time. And, meanwhile, you were becoming an adolescent, and presumably going through adolescent stuff.
I was thrilled. We had grown up listening to “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” on repeat. We’d seen “The Meaning of Life” and “Life of Brian” over and over again. It was sort of the biggest thing that could have happened. I’ve heard athletes talk about being nineteen or twenty, and you win that medal, and you’re standing on the podium, and there’s this moment of, Oh, my God, nothing I ever do will make people this excited again. And I certainly had that moment with “Baron Munchausen.
There were a lot of explosives, and there were a lot of things that didn’t go according to plan, and some of those things were dangerous. And the hours were really long. Some days, it was freezing cold, and I would be in water tanks for very long periods of time, or running down passages with explosions going off all around me. It was absolutely not what I imagined.
Film sets are not designed with the interest of children in mind. They’re designed to get a film made, or, at their worst, to make something that’ll turn a profit. So, while I had extreme experiences, they certainly weren’t unique, and they’re certainly indicative of a larger problem. Every day, kids on sets are running into situations where they’re not entirely comfortable. They’re tired; there’s pressure.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Sarah Jones Deploys Dazzling Array Of Characters To Explore Sex Industry In ‘Sell/Buy/Date’ — SXSW StudioTony winner Sarah Jones is such a talent that no less a figure than Meryl Streep is an admirer. Streep is an executive producer of Jones’ directorial debut, Sell/Buy/Date, a provocative film on the…
Read more »
What is a Russian oligarch and why are they being sanctioned?Insider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.
Read more »
The problem with analysis from the Congressional Budget OfficeOpinion | Congress treats the Congressional Budget Office like a crystal ball for legislation, but one economist says their models are built on flawed assumptions (by paulconstant)
Read more »
Here's why Amazon is all but sure to win union vote in Bessemer againAmazon is all but sure to defeat another union drive. We went to its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, to find out why.
Read more »
Russia: Agents threatened Google exec to remove voting app in MoscowPutin's agents reportedly threatened a top Google executive in Moscow with a 24-hour ultimatum – Take down Russia protest vote app or go to prison
Read more »
QUITS DIARIES: Stories of people who joined the Great ResignationInsider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.
Read more »