Chloë Grace Moretz recalls how older men would “infantilize” her on sets
Chloë Grace Moretz began acting at only seven years old
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The ethics of childhood stardom have been a source of constant debate, with accounts like iCarly star Jennette McCurdy’s recent memoir and Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal bringing the conversation back to the forefront in recent months. Now, Chloë Grace Moretz—former child actor and still very young industry vet (she’s only 25!)—is speaking out about her own troubling experiences working with much older men on set.
Moretz, who landed her first role at only seven years old, recently spoke out about the power imbalances she experienced leading multiple casts of grown adults as a teenage girl. “Having to even advocate to an older man on behalf of your 14, 15, 16-year-old self is a really, really crazy kind of mind fuck,” she said on the latest episode of the “Reign With Josh Smith” podcast (via IndieWire).
“It was always really interesting to see who would be really unhappy with a young woman,” she continued, before sharing that when she landed her first major leading role in Carrie at 14, “I had already worked for so many years—almost 10 years—and as I continued through having more important roles on set as I grew up, it was always very interesting to see the pushback that I would get from a lot of people… The majority of it was older men for sure who would infantilize me. If I had real things to bring to the table, a lot of the time it would get shot down.”
Luckily, not all of Moretz’s experiences have been so stress-inducing. In a recent interview with The A.V. Club, Moretz spoke highly of her The Peripheral co-star Jack Raynor, saying that “he’s seriously one of my best friends now, and I really see him as a brother of mine.” She also gushed about working with Martin Scorsese on Hugo when she was only 14, sharing that “he treated us as equals, and he really allowed us to have a conversation and cared about our opinions on the projects that he showed us.”
The Peripheral is currently streaming on Prime Video. New episodes drop every Friday.
68 Comments
very young industry vet (she’s only 25!)What do you mean? She’s only a few years away from a career retrospective before being put out to pasture: https://jezebel.com/bafta-hosted-a-retrospective-of-margo-robbies-career-s-1849816119
LOL also she has been great in The Peripheral, also loved her in Let the Right One In.
Seconded on The Peripheral. I gave it a chance just because the banner showed up on my home screen, and I’ve been enjoying it a lot on a weekly basis.
So I have I. I was looking for a new show to watch and decided to give it a shot because I LOVE Chloe, and it’s been damn good so far. Really interesting idea’s, well acted and looks damn good as well. Plus it has T’Nia Miller who I loves from Flanagan shows on Netflix she is so damn GOOD and being just sinister AF.
Someone needs to set her up with DiCaprio before it’s too late!
She’s 25. It’s too late.
Shit, you beat me to it!
Oops, should have acted right away. Now it’s too late.
“25?! Eww, keep that spinster away from me!”- DiCaprio
Too old and too much plastic surgery.(note: this is an old @HipsterDBag meme for those who may not have 10 years of working experience here on the AVC boards)
I’m just waiting for E.BuzzMiller to come back from the dead (again) to give us his opinion.
She’s practically “Old Yeller” Moretz at this point!
To be fair, I still think of her as a child. But only because I loved her My Name is Earl episode so much. Missi Pyle and she were fantastic as the mother and daughter knife-throwing act.
Aw, that’s just precious. She’s so cute.
And so poised, too! Just like a little lady.
Would she be pretty if she smiled?
Choke on a duck.
I’m sure it was frustrating to her, but it’s not surprising a roomful of adults wouldn’t be looking for creative input from a 14 year-old.
Don’t want creative inputs from a 14 year old? Don’t hire 14 year olds in creative positions and expect them to work like morons without any opinions of their own.
Isn’t this just standard feelings from a teenager? I felt this way all the time dealing with my parents and other adults as a teenager. And nowadays I’m sure I’d hold a teenager’s opinions in the same regard that adults held mine many years ago. It’s the curse of aging.
Not holding teenager’s opinions in high regard might be the BLESSING of aging.
Good point
Just because it’s not surprising doesn’t mean it’s not a problem.
What if they were listening but her ideas sucked?
60 year olds have ideas that suck all the time. All the time. It’s of course possible the idea was bad, but it’s not reasonable to assume that an idea is bad just because it came out of the mouth of a 15 year old just like it’s not reasonable to assume that an idea is good just because it came out of the mouth of a 60 year old.
It’s not a problem.
At least Bill Murray never threw her in a trashcan.
That 14 year old is a professional being paid to do a job. Given that she’s expected to do that job well, they probably should be listening to her.
Call me old fashioned, but I actually don’t think it’s unreasonable to not prioritize the opinion of a 14, 15, 16 year old in a professional environment, even if that teenager has as much experience as an older worker.
That is correct. Where else or what other context would she think this fly? Unless she worked with adult actors who never been in anything, she is still a child.
What I’d call that is agist, not old fashioned, just like I was a specist when I made hurtful comments stereotyping hamsters.
While it is quite specist, if you spend a lot of time around a lot of hamsters you start to see where those stereotypes come from.(Speaking of rodent stereotypes, it’s only ever gerbils that I hear about getting crammed into human anuses.)
I’ve been lucky enough to avoid the human Habitrail thus far.
(Incidentally – nobody is actually putting gerbils in their butts. That was made up to demonize gay people.)
Well, in contrast to hamsters, gerbils have tails, so there is a built-in mechanism for getting them out.
You may be old fashioned, but that is not an unreasonable point.
That may be a reasonable point, but I like cake.
Then you don’t understand acting or directing. If you are not listening to your actor, using it to help them internalize their role, then you’re not doing your job and you won’t get the best performance possible. It’s not an office job. If you’re not going to bother listening to your actors, especially young actors, then you’re going to get stiff and unmoored performances,As she even notes, the best work she did at a young age was with Scorsese, who actually engaged with her (and the other actors) and listened to her ideas and questions about her character.
Dare I say a manager in an office would also get the best performance possible if they listen to their workers.
What does that have to do with allowing a child to have creative input in giant multimillion dollar project? She only said her creative inputs would often be shot down but what if her creative inputs as a child were misinformed due to her being a child actor her entire life and thus maybe not equipped to overrule the writers and directors at that point in her career regardless of what she might have thought.Do many other child actors get creative inputs into their Hollywood projects? I’ve never heard of one.
That’s true, I am not now nor have I ever worked as an actor or director. My opinions on the relative merit of experience and age come from other fields.That being said, within this particular article it was not specified that Moretz was asking directors for assistance with understanding the role. “If I had real things to bring to the table, a lot of the time it would get shot down.” It sounds more like a young person who thinks that their ideas are not being taken with the seriousness that they think they deserve. (And I’ll also cop to not having listened to the podcast that this came from, so it may well have a lot of context that would make me reconsider my opinion in this particular case.)
Listening to your employees is a core principle of good management. Even if you know exactly what you are going to do regardless of what they say, people want to be heard. If you can establish that you understand their concerns, it does wonders for morale.
“even if that teenager has as much experience as an older worker.”This is the phrase that makes your opinion really suspect. If they have equal experience, why wouldn’t you consider her opinion on equal footing? Childism is definitely old-fashioned, so at least you acknowledge that much.
Because the brains of children are not fully developed. A 24 year old with 10 years experience in a field is still interpreting that experience with the brain of a 24 year old, so I’m going to generally prioritize the 10 years of experience of a 31 year old.It’s not unfathomable that a 15 year old with 8 years of experience has the intellectual horsepower to make better observations, decisions and conclusions than a 30 year old with 8 years experience, but it’s not where I’d be placing my bets.
The human brain isn’t fully developed until around age 25-26, so you really shouldn’t be listening to the 24 year old either, if that’s your criterion.If it’s a good idea it’s a good idea. You didn’t say you wouldn’t listen to the idea because it was bad. You said you wouldn’t listen to the idea because of her age. If you’re hiring someone with experience to do a job, you should be listening to that person about how they do the job. If you can’t show that amount of respect to your workers, you really don’t need to be in any positions of authority anyway.
Agreed.
It’s not always about the authority that experience and length of service gives you in directing though. There’s also the need to capture perspectives you can’t get yourself. Which is probably what Scorsese understood about listening to the kid – he’s not a little girl, has no idea what it’s like to be a little girl from her own lived experience.
Just be thankful it wasn’t a room full of Jezebel writers.
I was expecting Moretz to name names. Who’s the creepiest perviest actor she has had to work with?
I both do and don’t want to know this. But more importantly, I’m glad she appears to have navigated the choppy seas of child stardom quite well.
She said nothing about creepiness or perversion. Please don’t comment on articles you didn’t read.
True, but a reporter/interviewer would follow up with that kind of question, especially now in 2022.
Given that she starred in that horrifying Louis CK Woody-Allen-alike vehicle, I imagine that would be up there.
I’m sure you have a ton of insight into that.
I cannot imagine being a adult actor on set having to listen to some 14 years old’s opinion.Any chance I can get out of the greys Emma? I want to be verified like the cool kids!
Good luck, I’ve been a user for years, pre-kinja, and I’m still in the greys
I am going to keep trying dammit.
Listening to a coworker’s opinion???? Gross!!! IDGAF how old someone is. If they’re doing the same job as you it’s probably in your best interest to at least listen. Just fucking listen for fucks fucking sake.
I was hoping for some juicy goss about witnessing an Alec Baldwin tantrum.
Probably because at 25 she looks 17.
What a creepy ass thing to say. How do you have it in your head what a 17 year old girl would look like? That’s just a weird comment.
Please don’t project your weird shit on me. I can’t think for you, you fucking weirdo, those are your thoughts…
Go outside.
Moretz spoke highly of her The Peripheral co-star Jack RaynorIf you don’t know who Jack Raynor is, go watch Sing Street. You will become a fan.
Even if you do know who Jack Raynor is, go watch Sing Street. It’s fucking delightful.
She’s been brilliant in The Peripheral and her chemistry with Jack Reynor (who plays her brother) is seriously exasperated-siblings energy. I remember not thinking she’d be very good in Hugo but being really impressed by her performance. If you’ve never watched that film, do (I like to put it on over Christmas for the wee fast folk. Keeps them distracted whilst I dissect a turkey).
Most adults ignore the opinions of teenagers.
we need to take actors seriously. important message here.