The Forgotten: Underage Actors within the Film Industry

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A brown-haired, brown-eyed 14-year-old girl fidgets in her freshman English class. As the teacher drones on about The Odyssey, she doodles with a black Sharpie. It’s a good thing she is wearing a sweatshirt that can cover the growing black flower encapsulating her hand, wrist, and lower arm. Still a child, her biggest concern is whether or not the flower will wipe off before her parents notice.

Mila Kunis wasn’t your average 14-year-old girl. Instead, at 14, she starred in That 70’s Show. By the time she was 19, she had kissed, on-screen, almost every co-star. Yet, every one of these co-stars were well into adulthood when Kunis started on the show. Because Kunis has been a star for so long, many people forget the age gap between Kunis and her co-stars.

The age gap between actors in That 70’s Show alludes to a larger problem within Hollywood. A problem centered around the potential legal and moral responsibility of a 21-year-old kissing a 14-year-old for entertainment. Child actors must be protected under laws from engaging in sexual acts for filming purposes. 

Recently, Kunis’s age gap has become a point of contention after one of Kunis’s That 70’s Show co-stars Danny Matterson was sentenced to jail. For context, Danny Matterson was found guilty of raping two different women. He was sentenced to 30 years to life for his crimes. Despite many being shocked by Matterson’s actions, there were early signs. When That 70’s Show started, Matterson bet an adult costar Aston Kushner $10 to kiss 14-year-old Kunis. 

Interestingly, Kunis and Kushner wrote letters to the sentencing judge saying that they knew Matterson’s good character. They claim their knowledge comes from working with Matterson on That 70’s Show– the same show where Matterson encouraged an adult to kiss a minor. Ultimately, it was not only Matterson who encouraged the two actors to kiss, but it was the broader industry that enabled such behavior.

Within the film industry, the Hollywood age gap is a common term used to describe age gaps between co-stars, fictional characters, and real-life romantic relationships. Within Hollywood films, it's not uncommon to have large age gaps in Hollywood. In fact, there tends to be a trend of older male actors having younger female actors as their love interests. Movie examples include Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, No Time to Die, and Oppenheimer. 

These large age gaps are actually uncommon in real life. In North America, the age gap between spouses is, on average, 2.3 years. So, why have these large age gaps in film if they aren’t applicable to the real world? Even though there are often public “callouts” of these inappropriate relationships in film, nothing else ever seems to happen. This is because every adult actor consents to film with their co-star. Thus, by extension, it can be argued that an actor consents to a large age gap. Therefore, there is no way to regulate large age gaps in film. 
However, not everyone involved in large on-screen age gaps is an adult. Underage-to-adult gaps are more problematic and are less often discussed than the typical Hollywood age gap. Further, despite some of the most iconic roles being played by underage actors such as Kierra Knightly and Sophie Turner, there still is a lack of conversation surrounding the underage-to-adult gap. 

Kierra Knightly, as Elizabeth Swann, was only 17 during the filming of the first Pirates of the Caribbean while Orlando Bloom, as Will Turner, was 25. Their characters kiss during the film. In addition, Sophie Turner, was 14 when she began filming Game of Thrones. Her character Sansa goes through a detailed abuse story including graphic rape. Moreover, her co-stars are all significantly older than her, including the actor whose character rapes Sansa. 

Currently, there are laws for child actors surrounding education and money. However, there are no regulations on underage actors' involvement in sexual or traumatic scenes for the purpose of entertainment.  

Nationally, the age of consent is 16. In many states, including California, consent can only be given at the age of 18. Therefore, any childhood actor in Hollywood would be unable to consent to sexual acts. Any adult in California who “annoys or molests” a minor can face a $5,000 fine and/or a year in prison. Further, the law specifies that the intent behind the action has to be of sexual interest. 

Because of how the laws are written, as long as an adult actor does not have a sexual interest in their underage co-star, kissing them on screen is perfectly legal. The fault in this legislation is that there is no clear way to tell someone's desires. A casting director can not predict the intentions or sexual interest of an actor. Further, there is no way to determine if an adult is attracted to a minor. 

For scriptwriters and study executives, it may be uncomfortable to write scenes where there are sexual interactions between a minor and an adult, but it is not illegal. Despite legality, there could be a moral responsibility to protect child actors. If a child is underage, do they have the ability to consent to all aspects of a script? As the age of consent is 18 in California, a child can not consent to sexual acts. Thus, it can be inferred that they also can not consent to sexual acts within a script. 

In the case of Sophie Turner, she was a part of abuse and sex scenes from 15 till well into her 20s. There was no way for her, at 15 years old, to understand the parts of the script that outlined abuse and rape. Yet, she participated in such scenes for years simply because she agreed to play the part of Sansa. 

If Hollywood is taken out of the equation, would the general public care more? Let’s consider the situation of a freshman in high school dating a senior in high school. Society views these relationships as problematic due to maturity and experience differences. Likewise, there are both social and legal protections for the freshman in the relationship. Socially, the senior can be shamed by parents, teachers, or classmates for the relationship. In addition, legal protections, like laws on consent, come into play if there is a minor and an 18-year-old (or older) having sexual interactions. Because of these social and legal protections, we protect minors in sexual relationships. However, a minor within the entertainment industry forfeits that same protection. 

There is a moral responsibility for the film industry to protect child actors. Because it has not done its job to protect child actors, the government must step in. There needs to be clarification of the age of consent and regulations on what parts of a script a child actor can partake in. These actors' best interests, including their mental and physical health, should be taken into account before filming sexual interactions. There is no reason an underage actor should portray sex or rape scenes on screen. 

Let’s revisit Kunis, a talented actor who earned her role in That 70’s Show at the age of 14. Despite her passion for acting, at this age,  she did not have the ability to fully understand what her role on the show would entail. If Kunis was an average high school freshman, would she have been given more protections? Would Kiera Knightly or Sophie Turner? 

If the film industry is not protecting minors, it's the responsibility of the government to step in and create regulations to protect them. As a consumer of films, it is also our responsibility to criticize films if they are actively participating in harming minors in this way. We can not simply accept the industry as it is. We must hold it to the same moral standard we hold each other.