Brooke Shields’ Pretty Baby co-star Keith Carradine has called the actress an ‘extraordinary’ woman following the release of her two-part documentary film of the same name.
59-year-old Shields initially gained widespread notoriety for appearing in the controversial Louis Malle-directed drama, Pretty Baby.
Written by Polly Platt, the 1978 flick follows 12-year-old Violet (played by Shields), a child residing at a popular brothel in New Orleans.
After leaving the house, she is taken in by and eventually marries a photographer named Ernest Belloqc (Carradine), whom her character shares a kiss with during one divisive scene.
At the time of filming the project, Shields was just 11 while Carradine was 27, according to the man himself.
The mother-of-two has since stated that Carradine, now 75, told her their scripted embrace didn’t ‘count as a first kiss’ – but the concept of it being immortalized on film has previously been unpacked by Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields director Lana Wilson.
Her 2023 documentary sees Shields getting candid on her turbulent rise to fame as well as revealing how it felt to finally be allowed to embrace her own identity upon attending Princeton University.
Discussing the significance of the Shields-Carradine kiss, Wilson, 41, 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.”
Brooke Shields (right) starred in Pretty Baby when she was just 11 (Bertrand LAFORET / Contributor /Getty)
Following the premiere of Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and its subsequent debut on Hulu, Carradine has finally spoken out.
In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, the actor revealed there was ‘no way’ Pretty Baby would ever get made today.
“There is, of course, no way that film would be made today,” he admitted. “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 if he remembers telling the five-time People’s Choice Awards winner that their kiss ‘didn’t count’, the California native replied in the affirmative.
“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.”
Both Shields and Carradine have continued to speak highly of one another (Michael Ochs Archives / Handout / Getty)
“The ’70s were an interesting decade in terms of the explosion of women’s rights and the sexual revolution,” he continued.
“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 stream both parts of Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields on Hulu now.