Childstar 2004

Childstar 2004

Childstar 2004
1h 38m | Comedy, Drama | Release date: January 28, 2005 (Canada)

Storyline:

Taylor Brandon Burns, a conflicted twelve-year-old TV star from the U.S., runs away from the set – and his problems – while shooting a big-budget film in Canada. His reluctant limo-driver, Rick Schiller, a down-on-his-luck indie filmmaker, is enlisted to find Taylor before the childstar destroys himself.

Motion Picture Rating (MPA)
Rated R for language and some sexual content

User review:

Famous 12 year old TV star Taylor Brandon Burns arrives in Toronto with his manager mom Suzanne Burnbaum (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to do a big budget bombastic movie. Rick Shiller (Don McKellar) is the struggling indie filmmaker turned reluctant driver. Taylor is under tremendous pressure struggling to grow up in a grown up world. Suzanne is useless and having a fling with Rick. When Taylor goes missing with struggling actress Natalie, Rick has to go find him.

This actually got interesting. The most interesting is Taylor running away with Natalie. The movie needs to be about that. The other parts should be trimmed back. McKellar should really get out of the way of his own movie. It should not be his movie. It should be about the kid. It’s risky to bet the whole project on a child actor but this kid has the skills to pull it off.

The moviemaking within the movie has one great section with Taylor in the fake cockpit. The fake CGI is a big mistake. The movie does not need it and it looks really fake. The only way to save that is to make sure that the audience knows the footage is rudimentary test footage. The main problem with that is the audience is unlikely to be smart enough to get it. All in all, I really like the kid’s performance and his struggles.

Director: Don McKellar
Writers: Don McKellar, Michael Goldbach
Stars: Don McKellar, Peter Paige, Gil Bellows
Country of origin: Canada
Language: English
Filming locations: Toronto, Ontario, Canada