When you watch The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, there are some pretty intense practical effects scenes that Sarah Polley had to go through. In particular, I

When you watch The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, there are some pretty intense practical effects scenes that Sarah Polley had to go through. In particular, I'd be leery of the combination of water, large animals, and explosives myself! In fact, I'd probably want to be there as they were setting things up, asking countless questions until I was satisfied that all danger was illusory. Even as an adult, this would likely have been hard to do in a chaotic production where everything was constantly in danger of spinning out of control. Gilliam obviously did not have full knowledge of how Polley was feeling at the time, but her experiences offer a lesson for anyone who has to put a child in circumstances that are challenging. It's crucial to spend extra time explaining and educating them in order to defuse fear that they might not admit to. Children have a lot of things they still need to learn, and one of those is when to speak up for themselves when they're not comfortable. Polley was wise to have this discussion with Gilliam and, perhaps, wise also to make it public. Directors often have too much on their plate to worry about the welfare of their actors and parents are probably afraid of interfering in a way that might harm their child's chances to work in later productions. It's sad, but Polley's parents were her agents in a way, and had an incentive to prevent her from objecting when she felt she was put in danger. Perhaps a third party advocate for child actor safety should be on set, but admitting this would be a bitter pill indeed for the parents!