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Hangin' With Archives
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Abigail Breslin:American Girlby Lynn Barker
If you or your younger sis collect the American Girl dolls or have read the novels, you’ll be familiar with the Kit character. For those who are clueless about the popular franchise, Kit is the very bright and curious daughter of the owner of a car dealership in 1934. She wants to be a reporter and, in the film story, starts investigating several robberies in her town. She also has to adjust to the upheaval caused when her beloved dad’s (Chris O’Donnell) business goes under and he must search for out-of-town work. She and mom (Julia Ormand) have to stay behind and take in boarders to keep the family home. We sat down with Abby in Beverly Hills recently and are continually amazed at how “real” and non-snooty she is. She hasn’t let “stardom” effect her at all or so it would seem. Looking prim and trendy in white blouse, black studded belt, skinny jeans and gladiator sandals, Abigail did everything from demonstrating how double-jointed she is to talking about losing her iPod! Abby entered our interview room carrying an adorable, fluffy Pomeranian puppy. It wasn’t hers but she introduced it to us anyway…. Abigail: Hi. This is Teddy. AGW: Awwww, is he yours? Abigail: No, I wish. I have two cats, two dogs and a turtle. [She hands Teddy over to her mom who is in the room]. AGW: Were you familiar with the American Girls before getting involved in this? Abigail: Yes, I loved all the American Girls dolls. I had them all. Kit was always my favorite but I also like Felicity, Samantha, I like all of them really. It was really exciting to get to play Kit. I really liked her hair. I just thought that she was pretty fun. AGW: Did you know anything about the Great Depression in the 1930’s in America? Abigail: My grandma grew up in the Great Depression, so I got to talk to her a little bit about that, so that was interesting. She told me some stuff about how everybody was in the same situation back then, and how they would take a sugar lump and put it on their tongue and then drink tea over it. She said all the clothes [in the film] were really authentic.
Abigail: Yeah, it’s hard to think about people who struggle like that so [for today’s audience] I just hope that this movie shows that if you go through hard times, you can still pull through it. AGW: Do you think you would have liked living during the 1930s? Abigail: Maybe, but I would not be used to not having my phone and my computer and my iPod. I lost my iPod! AGW: What music was on it? Abigail: I had Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, Rihanna. David Cook is really good. I also had David Archuleta on my iPod AGW: Sorry you lost it! Did you enjoy history in school? Abigail: Yeah, and I read all the books while I was doing the movie, so I really liked Kit’s story and how her and her family pulled together. AGW: And with Kit being a journalist, did you have to learn about that profession? Abigail: Well, I had to practice [typing on] the typewriter, and I was like, ‘Well, where is the screen?’ And they said, ‘There is no screen.’ That was a little bit surprising. Kit takes a lot of notes and I think that I would lose track of mine if I were a journalist. AGW: And the keys do stick together, don’t they? Abigail: Yeah, yeah. It’s hard, you have to hit them hard, rather than like a computer where you can lightly tap them. AGW: Don’t you do some writing for fun? Abigail: Yeah, I do some. Me and my brother actually are writing a script. We’re kind of still editing stuff around. We’ll write some and then send it to the other person, and then we’ll write some and send it – you know. AGW: Did you like the clothes Kit wore? Or did you keep any of your wardrobe? Abigail: Yes. I liked them. I kept the overalls and the hats were pretty cool. AGW: What was your favorite scene to shoot in this film?
AGW: There were a lot of kids in this movie that had no acting experience so did they come to you for advice, or did you offer any advice? Abigail: No, no, we never really talked about it that much. We just hung out, but I wouldn’t give advice to anybody, because I’m not good at it. I wouldn’t even give advice to somebody about how to tie their shoes, honestly. AGW: We hear that you all had nicknames for each other. Abigail: Yes, Madison’s character was Ruthie, so we called Her Roo, Zach was Sterling, so we call him Ster-Ster and I was Kit so we called me Kitty. AGW: Did you play and goof off between scenes? Abigail: Yeah, we did, it was really fun. We just joked around when we were done with working and, at the end of the day, we would all go out to dinner or the mall and hang out and everything, so it was fun. AGW: Who’s hot right now with you and your gal pals? The Jonas Brothers or somebody else? Abigail: We like the Jonas Brothers [big grin]. Oh, we all like the Jonas Brothers, yeah. AGW: What’s your every day schedule on the set? Abigail: Usually wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, go to wardrobe, hair and makeup and then work, then lunch, more work, and then done for the day. Oh yeah, and school on set. AGW: Have you ever had an experience like when Kit goes to get the newspaper editor to print her story and he’s mean to her? Abigail: No, I haven’t dealt with that before, but I really think that Kit is a lot more brave than I am, she goes, ‘No, no, I am going to do this.’ I couldn’t do that. AGW: You are going into 7th grade. Are you excited about junior high (Middle School)? Abigail: No. (sighs) I just don’t like math. I can handle everything else, but I hate math. My favorite subjects are probably art and reading…and lunch. AGW: Okay, no math but do you have any hidden talents? Abigail: I am double-jointed! [She demonstrates by pulling her thumb all the way down to meet her hand.. ewwww]. Do you want to see my feet? [She gets up and turns her foot completely around, facing the other way]! AGW: That’s pretty awesome! When you met Max Thieriot who plays Will in the movie, did you know he was kind of a heartthrob with a lot of teenagers?
AGW: Were you on the set when Will Smith came on to visit his daughter Willow? Abigail: Yeah. He’s so nice, and he’s just like any regular guy, he’s really nice. AGW: How was working with a dog and a monkey? Abigail: They were funny! I loved the basset hound. The monkey [came with] a memo about the stuff that you can’t do around the monkey. He was a really funny monkey. He was cute. AGW: How do you choose what role you will take? Abigail: I guess I see if it’s somebody I would like to know. My mom will read it and we’ll see if we all like it and, if I want to do it, we’ll say yes. AGW: What do you do with all the money you earn making movies? Abigail: I get $12 allowance a week. AGW: What do you spend it on? Abigail: CDs. Lip gloss and I want another puppy. I have two dogs. But I want a pug. AGW: What do you hope that young people, who watch this film will take away from it or learn from it? Abigail: I guess, I learned a lot about the Great Depression when I was making the movie and I learned that even though you’re going through a hard time, you can still pull together with everybody. I know from Kit that she loves to help others and also that if she doesn’t want to do stuff she’ll do it anyway and do it happily too; she just has fun with it. AGW: What do you want to do next? Anything booked? Abigail: I just finished My Sister’s Keeper with Cameron Diaz, Jason Patrick, Sofia Vassilieva, Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack is in it too. AGW: Are you hanging out for the summer with family? Abigail: I’m going to Prince Edward Island for a couple days so that will be fun. I’m excited about that. And I’m having sleepovers too. I’m home schooled so it’s just with my friends and my cousins.
Pictures courtesy of and copyright Picturehouse, 2008 |
 
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Talented
tween actress Abigail Breslin (age 12) has proven that she can do edgy
comedy (Little Miss Sunshine), “Indiana Jane” adventure
(Nim’s Island) and heartfelt drama as the daughter of a
dad looking for love in Definitely Maybe. Now Abby takes on period
dramady as a young girl dealing with the stress and turmoil of 1930’s
Great Depression in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. 
AGW:
For someone who’s so successful, was it hard to get into the mindset
of the depression where people are losing their possessions and their
homes?
Abigail:
I really liked the scene where me and Ruthie are in Mr. Berk’s room
[hiding] in the closet. We had fun with that because we were getting a
little bit claustrophobic, but we were laughing the whole time, it was
fun.
Abigail:
No, but he’s really nice. I liked the movie The Pacifier,
I saw that a lot.