Uncomfortable Intimacy Makes ‘Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields’ Stand Out From Celebrity Documentary Crowd
They don’t make ‘em like they used to, and sometimes that’s a very good thing. Take the 1978 movie Pretty Baby for instance. Amidst the controversy, what’s often lost is that it’s a non-sensationalized psychological study of a child prostitute.
What it’s actually remembered for is that Brooke Shields was a mere 11 years old when she took on this role, and the movie matter-of-factly included several shots of her nude. This had implications that the young actress was able to fully grasp at her age, and it’s difficult to fathom how the filmmakers could’ve possibly been unaware of this.
The answer likely lies in the fact that they clearly cared far more about what they were trying to accomplish than the well-being of their young lead.
