Forced to Strip naked in “The Possession of Joel Delaney”

[Nospeedo]

Certainly, in that situation I have no doubt that my parents would have gone along with it and given permission for me to be nude in a movie. In my real teenage daily life, they had little regard for my modesty, especially when I developed UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections) as a teen & occasionally required diapers due to lack of bladder control (until antibiotics relieved the condition).

Those UTIs sound rough. I’m sorry you had to go through that.

I don’t think my mom would have let me do that scene. While she wasn’t overly concerned about my modesty, she would have been more protective of me because of the exploitation in the scene. If a scene required me to be nude to take a bath, go for a swim in the ocean or be examined by a doctor, she would probably have no qualms about that. If the nudity was extended or full frontal that would be fine so long as it innocent or wholesome. But dancing naked on a table with everybody watching would probably cross a line for her.

[Nospeedo]

Hello Nospeedo,
Those are all understandable questions and thoughts to have and I’ve also thought about the same. Shooting a movie scene, as I understand, may take many takes and the boy probably had to dress and undress several times for the scene. The most humiliating aspect would probably have been having the young Lisa Kohane watching him taking off his clothes and dancing naked. She was only a couple of years older than him, probably still virginal and likely never had seen a naked boy that up close. Also, as you say, there could have been other adult women present as part of the crew. Very embarrassing for a 12 year old boy!

Another question I have is how many of David Elliot’s friends and family saw the movie in its initial run. Did the other kids at school talk about the end of the movie? Did his aunts and uncles mention that scene when they came over to visit? Or did no one ever bring it up and David always wondered who saw the humiliating scene? When they looked at him did they see him on the table at his most vulnerable? Which of these relatives or close friends got pleasure from the scene? Which would pity him? No wonder this movie haunted him.