No Reservations Interview

In the case of Abigail Breslin, real young. She's 11.

But the Oscar nominee for "Little Miss Sunshine," who'll be back in theaters next Friday in "No Reservations," is already a seasoned pro.

Before we could even get out a "Hello," Abigail was answering unasked questions.

"I was in Philadelphia once," she said, with the type of enthusiasm that disappears soon after one turns 12. "I stayed on the Rittenhouse Square and went to see Betsy Ross's House."

She was here to star in M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs," her first role, shot when she was five.

"I don't know how I memorized my lines," she said. "I was so young. I can barely remember them now."

You know, now that she's so old.

In "No Reservations," Abigail is forced to live with her Type-A aunt (Catherine Zeta-Jones), one of New York's finest, and least socialized, chefs.

During filming, one of the sets was a giant kitchen and food was everywhere.

"It was a lot of fun," Abigail said. "But we'd eat so much that I'd go to lunch and not even be hungry."

One of her tasks in the movie's kitchen was to peel asparagus and Abigail said it was a challenge.

"I didn't even know they needed peeling," she said.

Since Tattle doesn't eat asparagus, neither did we.

Her best dish? Peanut butter and jelly. "The trick," she said, "is to put jelly on one side of the bread because it sogs the bread."

Abigail said two dream roles would be Helen Keller and Lady Jane Grey, but who has the time?

If you think your 11-year-old has a busy schedule, last week Abigail wrapped shooting on "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery" on Monday, traveled to New York for a few days of press for "No Reservations," spoke to Tattle by phone on Friday (the preparation for that alone would be daunting to most children) and then flew to Australia on Saturday for a three-month shoot on "Nim's Island," where she'll star with Jodie Foster and Gerard Butler.

"There are a lot of animals in the movie," she said, implying that was a good thing.

She added with a laugh, "I was telling everyone I was going to Bris-bayne, but it's really Bris-bin. . . . I'm so excited," she said.

And with that, she was off.

Food as foreplay hits the gag reflex "I wish there were a cookbook for life," moans Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones), the fabulously successful, impossibly beautiful yet romantically bereft head chef of a New York West Village upscale eatery in No Reservations , a shamelessly microwaved American rewarming of the 2002 German romantic comedy Mostly Martha .Down-to-earth star of Little Miss Sunshine loves her pets, cooking and going shopping


Abigail Breslin, nominated for best supporting actress for her role in last year's sleeper hit Little Miss Sunshine, sits in direct, glaring sunlight on the patio of yupscale Pusateri's on Bay and Yorkville nibbling on a piece of strudel.

She has beautiful fair skin but refuses to switch places and sit in the shade. Her mom, Kit, who is also her manager, just shrugs.

Breslin is wearing a stifling, black hoodie with Superman on the back and fake bleach spots on the front.

"I bought it at (über trendy) Scoop in New York," says Breslin. "I love Roots here; I love to shop."

"It's our sport," says Kit. "We're extreme shoppers."

Breslin, 11, is slimmer and taller in person, having apparently outgrown the puppy fat she had in the film. That said, she still keeps getting recognized by passersby.

She is taking a break from shooting the film Kit Kittredge: an American Girl Mystery here in Toronto, to chat about the movie No Reservations, which opens today.

In Reservations, she plays Zoe, niece of Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones), an intimidating, perfectionist chef at a trendoid Manhattan eatery.

Zoe is a bright and shy 9-year-old whom Kate has inherited after the death of her sister.

"Zoe is an orphan because of a car accident and her aunt doesn't know what to do about Zoe because she doesn't have kids," explains Breslin. "Zoe is really missing her mom and I think she doesn't like the big house and having to move. She knows her aunt is not nurturing."

Breslin says Zeta-Jones was "very nice" but her kids are younger than her so they didn't really hang out.

Aaron Eckhart plays Nick, the eatery's flamboyant new sous chef, and the kitchen really heats up.

Breslin connected with Eckhart, teaching him cheerleading cheers.

Was he any good?

"Yes, he has possibilities."

Meanwhile, Breslin learned how to flip pancakes.

"I really like to cook," she claims. "Peanut butter and jelly is my best thing – and I love to do laundry and I like to vacuum."

Housecleaning is a good fallback career because after an Oscar nom., it's all downhill from here, kiddo.

But the biggie for Breslin was discovering truffles: as in the prohibitively expensive fungi.

"We're not buying truffles," states Kit. "Except the chocolate ones."

Nick makes kid-friendly food for Zoe, whose taste runs to fish sticks, not foie gras – though you get the impression Breslin would go for the foie gras given her truffle lust.

"I had to eat pasta and it was really good," Breslin recalls. "What's my favourite food? One you order out."

She loves Vietnamese food.

Breslin, born April 14, 1996 in New York, has been acting since age 3, making her debut in a Toys R Us commercial.

Her two older brothers, Spencer and Ryan, are both actors. Her father, Michael, is a computer programmer and consultant.

"My brother was working and I did commercials and it was fun," she explains. "Then I did a movie."

It was Signs, in which she played Mel Gibson's daughter.

A scene from Little Miss Sunshine was featured in the last episode of The Sopranos. Did she know?

"We heard that but it's not really an Abbie show," says Kit.

Was the Oscar nod life changing?

"We're still living the same life," Breslin says. "I'm home schooled."

Though she does allow that Oscar night was "really cool and a lot of fun," she says. "The funniest part was seeing everyone in a gown."

Everyone wanted to meet Leonardo di Caprio that night, Breslin says, but the highlight for her was meeting Meryl Streep.

"Meryl Streep was in The Devil Wears Prada and Stanley Tucci is in it and it's my favourite movie," says the fledgling fashionista.

Tucci is also in Kit Kittredge, as is a menagerie of animals, including a "very demanding" monkey always asking for treats, which thrills Breslin, whose alternative career aspiration is being a veterinarian.

"I have two dogs, a cat and a turtle," she says. "I want more."

"No," says Kit, to adopting another animal. They live in an apartment and having livestock is problematic.

A woman and her daughter, who are staying at the same condo, interrupt to invite Breslin to go to the daughter's sixth grade graduation. Breslin declines politely. She has plans to see the film Nancy Drew.

The Breslins leave. Cue the sun to go behind a cloud.

The key to a good interview, as any sophomore journalism student will tell you, is preparation.

You have to know your subject. Figure out how to develop a rapport. Prioritize questions. Anticipate answers and be ready with smart, provocative follow-ups.

Try not to be thrown off your game. Especially not by 11-year-olds . . . who want to know what your favorite animal is.

Dogs? No, no, that's too pedestrian. She'll think less of me.

Unicorns? No! Of course not. Not even a real animal.

"Um, llamas, maybe?"

Llamas. Who likes llamas? And there it is, 20 seconds out of a short interview spent stuttering incomprehensibly -- she's a wily one, that Abigail Breslin.

And not afraid to go for the jugular.

Okay, fine. It's probably just common swing-set courtesy to return the volley with a question like that. Still.

It is, though, easy to imagine her on a swing set. You get the impression she'd do fine at most any playground, despite the fame, the Academy Award nomination and the US Weekly appearances.

Her voice is not one of an 11-year-old who spends a lot of time watching the Pussycat Dolls or playing with Bratz toys.

She's on the phone from New York, and she's excited to be talking to someone in Washington, because her older brother Ryan goes to college here (at American University) and she has been here before and "he's given us a tour and we saw the cherry blossoms in bloom."

"They're soooooo pretty."

Absolutely they are.

So is she. As pretty and lovely as she is sweet. When you're talking to Breslin, who still squeaks and giggles, it's easy to forget about Lindsay Lohan. About the dangers of the Hollywood game. And when you remember, you'll want to pray she figures out how to thrive, to emerge unscathed.

"People do recognize me on the street," she says. "But they're all really, really nice. They're all really nice, and I'm so excited they like my movies."

Life, she says, hasn't changed that much since she became a household name for her showstopping "Super Freak" dance sequence in last year's darkly hilarious "Little Miss Sunshine."

She still lives in New York City with her parents and older brother Spencer, who appeared with her (and Kate Hudson) in 2004's "Raising Helen."

And she says: "I still have to do school, which I don't like that much. But I like reading. Do you like reading?"

Definitely.

"And I really like art. I like to paint, and I'm not huge on math. I don't like math at all."

What she does like is acting. And she liked acting with her co-stars in the new romantic drama "No Reservations," in which she plays the orphaned niece of a top chef (Catherine Zeta-Jones), whose life is turned upside down by her new charge and her entanglements with fellow chef Aaron Eckhart. (See review on Page 35.)

"Everybody was so nice," Breslin gushes. "And Catherine was really nice and Aaron was really nice."

Not so nice? Shooting outside in New York in the dead of winter -- "and of course when it got springy and warm, we went into the studio," she says.

Things were a little better shooting "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery," a movie due out next year based on the American Girl doll line and set during the Great Depression.

She doesn't know what to expect from her next project. She's getting ready to head off to Australia to shoot "Nim's Island," a fanciful adventure tale set in the tropics.

"Have you ever been to Australia? No? Well, I'll tell you all about it when I get back," she promises.

The great thing about this one is that she gets to play with lots of animals and be a brave heroine.

"Most girls don't get to be, like, action-adventure people. It's mostly guys, you know, so it's kinda cool," she says. "Girls can also sword fight and swim and climb volcanoes, you know?"

They can and they should. They can also be great, accomplished professional actresses, or -- like Breslin is thinking about -- they can go off and become veterinarians.

Her favorite animal, by the way?

Elephants. And orangutans.

It's a tie.

And two good answers are better than none.

CHILD star Abigail Breslin graced the red carpet of Movie World last night for the Queensland premiere of No Reservations, in which she stars alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart.

It is the first public appearance the 11-year-old Oscar nominated Hollywood actress has made since arriving on the Gold Coast earlier this month.

Walking the red carpet in gold ballet slippers and a matching denim jacket and jeans, Breslin smiled and waved at the crowd like a true star.

She said she had been doing three hours of school work a day while filming Nim's Island on the Coast and enjoyed working with Jodie Foster.

Last week, the starlet took a dip in the wave pool at Wet 'n' Wild for a shoot. ``The Gold Coast is really nice, it's a lot warmer than New York. I got a couple of big gulps of water when I was in the wave pool but it's been a lot of fun,'' she said.

Breslin said she loved acting and wanted to be either an actress or a veterinarian when she grew up.

Producer of No Reservations Kerry Heysen said they had already taken more than $46 million since the film opened in America three weeks ago.

``Abigail is wonderful. We had a tremendous cast,'' she said.

``She is still a child off camera. She will do a Meryl Streep-style performance and come off camera and say, (as a nine-year-old) `it's only five more days until I'm double digits'.'' Her favourite part was flipping pancakes and eating spaghetti.

Breslin was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Olive in Little Miss Sunshine.

She is currently filming Nim's Island at Warner Roadshow Studios in Oxenford with highly acclaimed double-Oscar winning actress Jodie Foster and Gerard Butler (300).