Tatum O’Neal is reflecting on the position that might have been.
The enduring actress, who made historical past at age 10 by successful the Greatest Supporting Actress Oscar for 1974’s “Paper Moon,” advised Selection that her father — fellow actor and “Paper Moon” co-star Ryan O’Neal — forbid her from auditioning for “Taxi Driver.” Tatum was requested to audition for the Martin Scorsese characteristic after her Academy Award win; the movie was launched in 1976 with a 13-year-old Jodie Foster as a substitute within the Oscar-nominated position of a kid prostitute.
“My father mentioned, ‘No, you possibly can’t,’” Tatum mentioned of Ryan proscribing her budding profession as a toddler star. She added that Ryan thought the half was “a bit of too bare.” Tatum continued, “And I by no means actually recovered from that.”
After Tatum grew to become the youngest particular person to ever win an Academy Award (a document she nonetheless holds to this present day), she defined that her father Ryan began to thwart her ambitions.
“He was controlling, and telling me, ‘No, you’re not good,’” Tatum mentioned. “And so then I began to get not good, feeling scared on a regular basis.”
Whereas Ryan was the larger star on the time in “Paper Moon,” Tatum’s efficiency is the one which grew to become critically acclaimed and awarded. “Issues acquired ugly fast,” she recalled of the rivalry together with her father. Ryan refused to attend the Oscars along with his daughter Tatum and as a substitute opted to remain on location in Eire to movie Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” in lieu of touring to Los Angeles for Tatum’s massive night time. Ryan had beforehand been nominated for “Love Story.” That Greatest Actor nod was his solely Oscar recognition throughout his profession. Ryan died in 2023.
After successful the Oscar for Greatest Supporting Actress, Tatum went on to star in 1976 movie “The Unhealthy Information Bears” (which was launched the identical yr as her would-be flip in “Taxi Driver”) and 1980’s “Little Darlings.” She additionally reunited together with her “Paper Moon” director Peter Bogdanovich for 1976 movie “Nickelodeon” and 2013 characteristic “She’s Humorous That Means,” later retitled “Squirrel to the Nuts” for its director’s lower. Bogdanovich died in 2022.