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After Jim grabs the marbles, a boy with brown hair stands up, and a blonde one stays on the floor. When the angle changes they've swapped positions. See more...

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. See more...

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Empire of the Sun (1987) - 1 correction

Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Christian Bale, Joe Pantoliano, John Malkovich, Leslie Phillips, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers (add more)

Genres: Drama, War

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Jim doesn't age during the movie. He was in the prison camp for about three and a half years. When we first see him he looks about 12. By the end of the movie he should be a gangly teenager but he hasn't aged a day. [While this is true, some license should be allowed given the awkward age range involved. Twelve to sixteen isn't really a big enough change to warrant a second, older actor, especially since many sixteen-year-olds don't look particularly adult. And there's not much you can do with makeup in that age range either. (It's not like he ages from five to fifteen, or twenty to fifty.) This is just a case of suspending your disbelief. Or, poor treatment in a prison camp could stunt his growth and/or delay onset of puberty.]

Edit Corrected by Krista

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