Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: John Malkovich, Christian Bale, Joe Pantoliano, Miranda Richardson, Leslie Phillips, Nigel Havers
Continuity mistake: When Jim's car approaches the beggar on the sidewalk, in the wide angle Jim is sitting on the far right. In the close-up he is sitting on the far left.
Continuity mistake: Jim passes twice by the same part of the Gone with the Wind poster.
Continuity mistake: When heading for the costume party, when Jim leans to see the crowd, his hand is on/off the car's window.
Continuity mistake: When James is eating at home alone, he flips his spoon into his water glass. In some shots it's leaning against the right side of the glass, and in other shots it's against the left side.
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 ★