Blogger Kristopher Tapley, of the movie awards site In Contention, shares a humorous video spotlighting one of this year's Oscar hopefuls, Jason Reitman. The young filmmaker, who already received an Academy Award nomination for directing Juno, is a front-runner this year for helming Up in the Air, which opens in limited release next week and opens nationwide on Christmas.
Before he was a success behind the camera, though, he was simply the son of Hollywood director Ivan Reitman. And like many filmmakers' kids, he was employed in minor roles in his father's films, including Ghostbusters II, Twins and Dave. The funniest of his cameos is in this make-out scene from Kindergarten Cop, mainly because it's his most embarrassing.
In fact, Reitman has expressed his continued humiliation on Twitter, where Tapley and Reitman conversed about the scene following the blogger's discovery of the YouTube clip. "The worst part was getting directions from my dad," Jason is quoted as writing (the actual Tweets were slightly altered, as you can see here). "It was really embarrassing. My kissing was half as bad as my acting. I doubt she knew it was my first kiss. Her name was Tiffany."
After the posting of the video on In Contention, Reitman (jovially?) responded to Tapley with profanity.
Should he be so ashamed? Sure, his braces and '80s preteen wardrobe are plenty painful, but the actual kiss is barely visible. It's probably, understandably more awkward in his memory than it appears on screen. Besides, it must have been cool at the time, in spite of his dad being there. How many kids that age could brag about kissing a girl and acting opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and have the visual proof to back it up?
Jason Reitman's last gig acting for his father was 1997's Father's Day. Afterward he appeared in a few of his own early short films, but he hasn't done any cameos in his own features. However, he has already passed the torch to his daughter Josephine, who has a minor credit for appearing in a photo in Juno. Maybe one day he'll direct her first kiss, as well.
