How Did Underage Actors Oddly Affect the Filming of the Movie Superbad?
Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far.
MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Underage actors resulted in a number of interesting filming issues during Superbad.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse was just along with a couple of friends auditioning for a role in Superbad (the casting call was for a regular, typical looking teen) when he decided on a whim to audition as well (using a camera phone to take a head shot).
He landed the role of Fogel, also known by his fake ID name, “McLovin.”
However, due to the fact that he was only 17 years old, certain issues had to be taken with his usage in the film. For instance, his mother actually had to be on the set for the filming of his sex scene!
Here’s Mintz-Plasse on it, from a good interview from The Guardian…
My first ever sex scene in a movie was in Superbad. Because I was 17, for legal reasons my mother had to be on the set. It was real awkward but it worked out OK because when I watched the movie with her the sex scene wasn’t awkward because she’d been right there when it happened. Afterwards we didn’t talk about it; we still don’t speak about that moment. Now, I’m 19 so my mom doesn’t have to be in the room when I have sex, thank God.
In addition, another major scene where underage actors were a concern was the flashback to when Jonah Hill’s character Seth was embarrassed by his classmates discovering that he constantly draws pictures of penises.
First, we see Seth as a kid (played by Casey Margolis) drawing the pictures…
But when we see the actual pictures, we never actually see young Seth with the actual penis drawings, and that is because the hands drawing the pictures are actually those of a young (but over 18) woman…
Similarly, in a later scene when Seth is discovered, the character of young Becky (played by Laura Marano) is shown looking at the pictures…
while an older actress actually holds the actual penis drawings (Marano’s paper is blank).
Heck, you can obviously tell they’re not even holding the pictures in the same fashion!
Man, no wonder W.C. Fields said “never work with kids and animals” – it sounds like a real pain!
The legend is…
STATUS: True
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I’m not saying it has any effect on the conclusion of true, but holding the paper the wrong way happens frequently in film, as reversal shots are typically shot separately.