Read the interview with the actress Abigail Breslin and choose the correct question from the options given.
Abigail Breslin has been acting since she was three. Inspired by her fourteen year-old brother Spencer, who is also an accomplished actor, she has appeared in commercials, TV shows and films. She played Mel Gibson’s daughter in M. Night Shyamalan’s SIGNS and appeared with her brother and Kate Hudson in RAISING HELEN. She lives in New York with her family. In her next film, still untitled, she stars as the niece of Catherine Zeta Jones. Unlike many child actors, in person, she appears to be refreshingly grounded. Wearing a simple sundress, she discusses her role as Olive in the following interview. ……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “I had a lot of fun playing her. Olive is very fun and happy and loves dancing and loves beauty pageants. She finds out suddenly that she can be in the beauty pageant, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and so she is very excited. I like Olive a lot and I think she is very cool. She’s strong and happier than some of the others in her family, who are quite sad. I don ’t think she really understands a lot of what is going on and a lot of their problems, so that makes her a little more happy than they are.”
Are most of your friends actors?
There are some emotional scenes. Is it hard to switch from crying to laughing?
What was it like playing Olive?
……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “She is really nice, she was a lot of fun to work with. She is friendly and was always happy on the set.”
You are starring with Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart in a new film, what was that like?
You have a big dancing scene at one point in the film – was it difficult to learn the routine?
What was it like having Toni Collette as your mother?
…………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “It’s not that hard, you just think of something sad. When I was crying I was thinking of Alan Arkin as my real grandpa who passed away, so that made me a little sad. But I find it quite easy to change from happy to sad.”
There are some emotional scenes. Is it hard to switch from crying to laughing?
What is your own view of beauty pageants?
What was it like playing Olive?
……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “It took two weeks for me to learn it, but I loved doing it, I had a really great choreographer and her assistant who worked with me. I thought it was a lot of fun.”
Do you want to be an actress when you grow up?
What do you like to spend your money on?
You have a big dancing scene at one point in the film – was it difficult to learn the routine?
……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “I don’t think I would ever want to do it, I am not interested in entering anything like that. Also, I wouldn’t want to give acting up. But I think most of the girls that do enter them, like them a lot and have fun, so that is why they do it.”
What is your own view of beauty pageants?
You are starring with Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart in a new film, what was that like?
What do you like doing apart from acting?
……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “ Either an actress or a veterinarian because I really like animals and I have pets myself, two dogs and one cat. I have not decided yet what I will do. But at the moment I am enjoying acting.”
What do you like doing apart from acting?
Do you want to be an actress when you grow up?
What is family life like in your house – anything like the Hoovers?
……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “ We live in New York, not Los Angeles, so I don’t have a lot of friends who are actors, just a couple. Most of my friends are nothing to do with films. They don’t treat me special at all. Sometimes we’ll be talking and I will tell them I have a movie coming out and they will say ‘that’s cool anyway lets go and play’, so we don’t really talk about it a lot, they do think it’s cool and they are happy for me, but they don’t treat me any differently from anyone else. “
What do you like to spend your money on?
Are most of your friends actors?
What do you like doing apart from acting?
……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “I don’t think our family is anything like this one. Every family has issues and problems I think, but I think my family is a little more sane and a little less crazy. They are just different. My family are mostly together and very happy with each other. The Hoover family seem to be in a bit of a pickle sometimes. But I like them. “
What was it like having Toni Collette as your mother?
What is family life like in your house – anything like the Hoovers?
There are some emotional scenes. Is it hard to switch from crying to laughing?
……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “That was a lot of fun. We shot that in New York actually which was great because I live there. Catherine plays my aunt. She is a famous New York chef, I live with her because I was in a car accident with my mother and she died. So Catherine takes care of me and doesn’t know what to do with me really. She is not mean, but does not know what to feed me and how to take care of a child in the right way, and she is trying to do her best for me.”
Do you want to be an actress when you grow up?
You have a big dancing scene at one point in the film – was it difficult to learn the routine?
You are starring with Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart in a new film, what was that like?
……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “I like to talk to my cousins Casey and Ashley on the phone, over and over again for three hours at a time and the only time we ever stop talking is when my cousin says, ‘ok Abby I am going out, can I call you right back?’ And I say, ‘yes I will call you back after dinner.’ They live in New Jersey. In the summer we see each other a lot and go to the beach. But I love talking to them on the phone and I like to swim and I like playing with my American Girl dolls.”
You are starring with Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart in a new film, what was that like?
What do you like doing apart from acting?
Are most of your friends actors?
Q: What is your fashion sense? A: “I don’t think my style is like Olive’s. Some of my friends are ‘girly girly’ and they only like to wear pink skirts and pink tee shirts, I am not really like that. I usually wear jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt.” ……………………………………………………………………………………….? A: “Technically I am not allowed to use any of money until I am 21, so I can’t spend a lot of money, but I do get an allowance – I get ten dollars. We get one dollar for every birthday. My brother is fourteen, so he gets fourteen dollars. Sometimes I save up for something like a doll but if not I spend it. I love American Girl dolls but I can’t save up for them, they are much too expensive. I can just buy candy and small things.” (Adapted from uk.hollywood.com)
What was it like having Toni Collette as your mother?
