Keith Carradine, who starred alongside Brooke Shields in the film Pretty Baby, has praised her as an ‘extraordinary’ woman, following the release of her two-part documentary titled Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.
Brooke Shields, now 59, gained significant attention after her role in the controversial film Pretty Baby, directed by Louis Malle. The 1978 movie, written by Polly Platt, tells the story of Violet, a 12-year-old girl living in a bustling New Orleans brothel, portrayed by Shields.
After leaving the brothel, Violet is taken in by Ernest Belloqc, a photographer played by Carradine, with whom her character shares a kiss in a contentious scene. At the time of filming, Shields was only 11, while Carradine was 27.
Shields, a mother of two, has mentioned that Carradine, now 75, reassured her that their on-screen kiss did not ‘count as a first kiss.’ This moment has been explored by director Lana Wilson in her documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.
The 2023 documentary delves into Shields’ challenging journey to fame and her experience of self-discovery upon attending Princeton University. Discussing the infamous kiss, Wilson stated, “This is a moment I wanted to feature and unpack because, even if child Brooke was fully cognisant of the role she was playing, and even if she realized that acting was pretend, I can’t help but think: ‘This is an actual 11-year-old girl having to kiss an actual 29-year-old man’.
“That inescapably is real. And the impact of that is real, too. Eleven-year-old Brooke expressed discomfort during the filming of this moment, but that discomfort was not taken seriously by the director.”
Following the debut of Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and its release on Hulu, Carradine has commented on the film.
In a conversation with Yahoo! Entertainment, Carradine expressed that a film like Pretty Baby would not be produced today. “There is, of course, no way that film would be made today,” he said. “Nor should we. I was invited to participate by one of the world’s premiere filmmakers and it was made by a major film studio and I trusted the people with whom I was working that it would be handled properly and delicately.
“And frankly, I was 27 years old at the time and pretty naive in my own right. But we were working with extraordinary artists, and I did feel like care was being taken.”
When asked about telling Shields that their kiss ‘didn’t count,’ Carradine recalled, “I remember it very clearly,” he told the publication. “I applaud Brooke’s exploration of her life and re-examining things from her childhood. She’s a substantial person, and I can only support her efforts at completing her exploration of how she feels about it now.”
Reflecting on the era, Carradine noted, “The ’70s were an interesting decade in terms of the explosion of women’s rights and the sexual revolution,” adding, “And it was certainly an exploratory era in terms of filmmaking and storytelling. There were some very daring things being done cinematically that would probably not be explored or dealt with today. And that’s the nature of society and how we grow and the things we learn.”
You can watch the full documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, now available for streaming on Hulu.