Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: John Malkovich, Christian Bale, Joe Pantoliano, Miranda Richardson, Leslie Phillips, Nigel Havers
Continuity mistake: When Jim's mom kisses him goodnight, his father turns around to leave twice.
Continuity mistake: When Jim is in bed talking to his mother about God, his left hand is either resting by his head or down by his waist, depending on the angle.
Continuity mistake: When Jim opens the fridge the cheese changes positions between shots.
Visible crew/equipment: When Jim returns to the party with his father after he met the Japanese soldiers, you can see the microphone at the bottom of the screen. (More recent transfers address this and make sure it is not seen).
Trivia: When Jim returns home after losing his parents, his nanny slaps him. The actors had practiced a fake slap and fake reaction, but Spielberg and the actress playing the nanny conspired to make the slap real when the cameras were rolling, so Christian Bale's reaction would be genuine. Therefore, Bale is really being slapped, and his shocked reaction is no act.
Question: Most adults in Empire of the Sun either dislike Jim or are openly mean to him. Why?
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Answer: I don't think anyone disliked Jim or was mean to him. Basically, he's a somewhat annoying, overly-active kid that the adults, who are in a very dire situation, simply didn't have much patience or the inclination to deal with. Also, the adults are mostly upper-class British, and in that era and before, they tended to be stricter with and more dismissive of children.
raywest ★