She stole scenes from Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix in Signs, held her own trading quips with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, and now ten-year-old actress Abigail Breslin is taking Hollywood by storm with her turn in the acclaimed comedy Little Miss Sunshine, playing an aspiring beauty pageant queen who takes a cross-country trip with her dysfunctional family hoping to make her big dream come true. Let Hollywood introduce you to the adorable young star who has Dakota Fanning watching her back.
Hollywood.com: All the adult actors said that having you on set was just like working with another grown-up actor. Did you feel like that, and was that how everyone treated you?
Abigail Breslin: Yeah, but whenever I’d go on and Alan [Arkin] was cursing I was listening to music, really. So I didn’t hear any of that, but whenever I go on sets they never say any bad things, and when they do they say, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.” I’m like, “Oh, it’s okay.” I don’t know how it would really be being treated like a grown-up, because I’m not a grown up and so I don’t know that.
HW: Everyone supported Olive and what she was trying to do. So besides acting is there anything else that you’ve wanted to do and have had the support of your family?
AB: I want to be a veterinarian actually. I have two dogs and one cat.
HW: Have you ever had to tend to them when they were sick or hurt?
AB: Well, once in a while one dog will step on the other dog’s foot and they will yelp, but we just take them to the vet. But the only thing that I can’t do is give them needles or anything because I feel bad for them.
HW: What do you think of beauty pageants for kids?
AB: I mean, I think that it would be a lot of hard work. That’s what I think it would be like, but they seem to have fun on them.
HW: Olive learns that it’s okay for a even a beauty pageant kid to indulge in ice cream. What’s your favorite flavor?
AB: Chocolate. But sometimes if you go to Baskin Robbins you can get this thing called Gold Medal Ribbon.
HW: Did you get to eat extra ice cream on the day that you shot that?
AB: No. I didn’t get to eat extra, but watching everyone else eat it in the movie I was like, “I so want a bite of that.”And then I think that once they said cut earlier and I was like, “Wait! I didn’t get to have a bite yet.” But then I finally did.
HW: Have you ever been on one of those long family car trips?
AB: Yeah. Actually, we do it very often when we go from New York to L.A. or from L.A. to New York because my mom doesn’t like flying neither do I really. So we do that. The only thing that I do like is that they have TVs, so I can watch TV.
HW: So you were used to the whole road trip thing?
AB: Yeah. I loved it—unless it’s like a hundred degrees out.
HW: Other than the heat, how was it being in the van shooting scenes all that time?
AB: It was fun, but I couldn’t think of anything else except how hot it was in the van. Oh my goodness, but they had another van so that when we had breaks we could go in that one. I felt better.
HW: Did you feel like a family after spending all that time in the van together?
AB: Yeah, kind of. Yeah, a little bit.
HW: Now working with all of these funny people, was it hard to keep a straight face and were they making jokes all the time?
AB: Actually, they weren’t making many jokes. Just when we weren’t working.
HW: Do you have a favorite scene in the film?
AB: The dancing scene probably. The dancing or the pushing the van. I thought that was kind of fun. It was a little scary though. My mom was really nervous about me doing it. She wasn’t even watching because she was afraid, but one of the producers–I banged my shin one time, and my mom was like, ‘What?!’
HW: What was it like dancing onstage with Steve Carell and Toni Collette for Olive’s big talent routine?
AB: That was fun. That was a lot of fun, but when I first did it I was kind of nervous because there were a lot of people up there. So that was a little bit nerve racking, but once I did it like once or twice I was fine.
HW: Who’s your favorite actress to watch on television or films?
AB: Oh, I like Lindsay Lohan.
HW: Do you get excited when you meet really famous people or is it just more people for you to work with?
AB: Well, I get excited, but sometimes I’m a little shy. That whole thing. But I’m that way whenever I meet anyone. I do get shy.
HW: You have a lot of great scenes with Alan Arkin. How did you like working with him?
AB: He’s great. He actually taught me the popcorn thing and they were telling me that he was going to teach me something from the beginning of the shoot and I told them that I wanted to know what it was, and he was like, ‘No, no, no. We’re not going to tell you.’ I said, “That’s not fair.” So then on the day that we were doing it they showed it to me. I was like, “I wanted to know this sooner.”
HW: What was your reaction when you got the part for this film?
AB: I was very excited. I actually, I’m trying to remember, but I think that I was in the car and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh that’s so cool.’ And I screamed a little bit, I think. yeah.
HW: Do you get excited the way that Olive gets excited when find out that you got a part in a movie?
AB: I do sometimes. When I find out and I’m on the street or something I don’t scream. I don’t scream or I cover my scream up.
HW: Then you scream when you get home?
AB: Yes!
