But here is Quvenzhané Wallis â€" the 8-year-old star of Beasts of the Southern Wild and indie darling of the moment â€" cutting up, laughing and enjoying herself in one of a string of press days.
"I'm used to the flashes," she tells the photographer. Good thing, too, because she might have more in her future.
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Sure, her personal tastes tend more toward Hannah Montana than The Deer Hunter. But the first-time actress and fourth-grader already is garnering Oscar talk as the film opens today in Los Angeles and New York.
"She is a miraculous human being," says Beasts director Benh Zeitli n, who co-wrote the Louisiana-filmed folk tale based on a play by Lucy Alibar. The film tells the story of 6-year-old Hushpuppy, her ailing father, Wink (Dwight Henry), and a group of resilient people cordoned off from civilization by a large body of water and always fearing the flood that may wash away their lives.
Wallis' Hushpuppy is a kindergarten-age Paul Bunyan who is taught how to survive in "The Bathtub" by her daddy. "She was bad â€" that's why I liked her," says the native of Houma, La. "She does whatever she wants to do and nobody scares her."
H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY
Birds of a feather: Quvenzhane Wallis, left, and Dwight Henry offer critically acclaimed performances in 'Beasts,' performances which mark the first film experience for both actors.
Is she as fearless as Hushpuppy? "Mm-hmm! Even more fearless," Wallis says proudly. Her two teenage brothers might have had something to do with her fortitude, although she won't say as much: "As soon as I was born, they started aggravating me."
A standout among 4,000
She's playful but knows what she wants. A tape recorder blocks the chair she's supposed to sit in? Not anymore. And she'll make sure you know the correct spelling of Emily, a baby chick she named herself.
Zeitlin saw this spunk three years ago, when Wallis (whose first name is pronounced "Qui-ven-ZHEN-ay") and her mom walked into the library where the director was holding open auditions. He looked at 4,000 potential Hushpuppies, but no one challenged him â€" quite literally â€" like this little girl.
"She took me on," Zeitlin recalls. "I was telling her to throw this stuffed animal at the other actor as part of the scene, and she refused. She took a moral stance. She said, 'It's not right to throw something at someone you don't know.' It wasn't just that she was defiant as she was defiant on the grounds of being a sweet person, which is really who Hushpuppy is."
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Sweets won her over
Zeitlin had two actors set to pl ay Wink, but Wallis didn't feel comfortable with either of them. She was OK with Henry, though, primarily because her fellow first-time actor greeted her with sweets from his Buttermilk Drop Bakery Café.
"When they told me I was going to meet Nazie for the first time," Henry says, "I packed up four boxes of all kind of goodies. I handed it to her, it put that big ol' smile on her face, and I knew I had the part then."
If buzz holds to form, Wallis could tie with Justin Henry for the youngest Oscar nominee ever â€" the co-star of Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) was nominated for best supporting actor. The youngest winner, though, is still Tatum O'Neal, who won best su pporting actress at 10 for Paper Moon (1973).
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Beasts has allowed Wallis to see a lot more of the world than her peers she'll see in school in August. She has ventured from the Sundance Film Festival in Utah to Cannes in France (Beasts won prizes at both) and views her journeys with the perspective that comes only with youth.
"You just fall asleep and then you wake up two hours later and you're on an airplane," Wal lis says. "You're sitting there wondering, 'How in the heck did I get here?' It's something you don't expect, to be all over the world. You're little â€" why would you be all over the world?"
She figures she'll act in school musicals and plays, and her role as Hushpuppy may lead to more on-screen opportunities.
But Henry wants her to keep close by and work at his bakery â€" that is, if she doesn't eat all of his signature buttermilk drop doughnuts.
"She's going to be my cashier," Henry says. "She's going to manage the front and watch the money for me."
Wallis smiles a wide, ambitious and possibly even Oscar-worthy grin. "And sell ice cream."
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