How 'Sound of Freedom' Protected Child Actors From Disturbing Film Content

The children working on Sound of Freedom, a movie about the global sex trafficking industry, were protected from what they were filming, its director has said.

Sound of Freedom has become the surprise hit film of 2023 and is the 10th highest-grossing film of the year so far, and, in an exclusive interview with Newsweek, director Alejandro Monteverde discussed how he made sure his child actors never knew the full story.

"We were very, very careful to be protective of them. I was as protective of them as I am with my own children," Monteverde explained.

The movie follows the real-life Tim Ballard, played by Jim Caveziel in the film, as he leaves his role as an officer battling child pornography at Homeland Security to start his own non-profit organization to rescue children trapped in the world of sex slavery.

Monteverde, who also wrote the screenplay, balanced the shocking scenes of child exploitation, which were aimed to raise awareness of the issue, by making sure never to "cross the line" into gratuitous depictions of sexual violence.

"That was the hardest part and I knew from the beginning I was not going to go on set until we had the perfect balance... to make a movie that audiences can not only digest, but also enjoy," he told Newsweek.

"I also knew that I needed to remind the audience that they're watching a film...so they know, we're not going to cross the line."

When finding the child actors for Sound of Freedom, Monteverde looked for children with little acting experience, who had "not lost their innocence."

It was especially important for the main two children Ballard rescues in the film, Rocio (Cristal Aparicio) and her brother, Miguel (Lucás Ávila). Their harrowing story sees them snatched from their father, sold to the highest bidder and trapped as sex slaves for pedophiles.

"For Lucás, it was his first film ever and he was just very, very pure. His performance was very fresh," Monteverde said. "Cristal was already a working actress and she was very professional, but she was very natural. So she was able to take all of her experience and really execute an incredible performance."

But in terms of making sure the children did not come to any harm during filming because of the content, the filmmaker had a series of measures in place to protect them, such as not telling the children the content of the film and not allowing them to read the script outside of their scenes. As per industry standards, a parent on guardian was always on set with the young actors.

"We always kept them away from anything that could harm them psychologically," Monteverde explained.

"Lucás was only 5 or 6 years old when we filmed, so obviously he didn't read the script, his father was there all the time and I was just working with him seen by scene."

The director explained the young actor "just knew what was happening in the moment," and would be given vague instructions about how to present his emotions, rather than telling him explicitly what had happened to his character.