Chloe Moretz and Keanu Reenact Taxi Driver
How is this OK?
I love Keanu Reeves. I even have an affectionate nickname for him: Cardboard Keenu. Yes, his acting is wooden and, yes, most of his roles are as three-dimensional as the paper product I named him after; but with that fact, I can overlook such trivialities. I also love Chloe Moretz. I enjoy that she resembles Macaulay Culkin circa Saved (do you remember that doozy with Mandy Moore?) and I even sort of enjoy that she too has that semi-creepy child-actor aura of being way too savvy for her age. And I have to give props to anyone who gives good cry-face, as evidenced by her LOVE cover.
As part of the posse of early teen queens ruling the red carpet, Chloe and her cohorts (Hailee, Elle and, to a lesser extent now that she is post-pubescent, Dakota) have been lauded for their refreshing age-appropriateness. Though this age-appropriateness is somewhat a paradoxical notion in an industry where youth - or at least the appearance of it - is so highly valued that even 20-year-olds will stick needles in their faces in the hope of preserving it.
Controversial photoshoots of under-age girls are not within Harper's Bazaar's realm. But in a recent collaboration with Martin Scorsese to celebrate his latest film, the magazine recast some of his most memorable scenes - including one from Taxi Driver, with 14-year-old Chloe in the role of Iris, the child prostitute immortalised by a young Jodie Foster, and Keanu reinterpreting Robert De Niro's old role of Travis Bickle. Chloe hasn't actually seen Taxi Driver, because her mother believes it's inappropriate material for someone of Chloe's age.
It might put some of you on edge to see Chloe playing Iris the child prostitute, given the disturbing glorification of baby beauty-queens slutting it up as Pretty Women and Dolly Partons... But I'm more upset about the fact that Keanu doesn't look as hot as his usual self in this spread.
Disclosure: I really enjoyed The Matrix. All of them.
Words: Christel Escosa
