Star admits unusual problems filming
9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis may now be donning pint sized awards gowns and charming Oscar voters, but the role that’s won her fans across the world, as Hushpuppy in ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’, was a rather less glamourous business she revealed.
Speaking with ‘Beasts’ director Benh Zeitlin at a Q&A at the Paso Nuevo Youth Performance Program, the young star revealed how playing a swamp dwelling urchin meant getting pretty dirty, and facing up to scary animals on set.
According to the Washington Post, when asked about her biggest challenge making the movie she said: “Dealing with the mud. Mosquitoes, because I’m allergic. And the one scene with the big, black heavy pig.”
The film features the pig like creatures, or the ‘Beasts’ of the title, something that meant Quvenzhane had to film scenes with the black pigs, which was difficult for the actress as she’d only come across pink pigs before.
Wallis added: “That was my first time ever touching a black pig. I’d only touched pink pigs before. That’s the type you normally see.”
Aww! Well considering that she was five when she first won the role, it’s probably to be expected that she worried about the pigs on set. She does however seem to get on with another animal, as her puppy purse is becoming a fixture of the awards circuit, and she had it again at the Q&A.
However with her new stardom Quvenzhane has been forced to grow up fast, and showed some of her maturity by being very diplomatic and neither confirming or denying whether she was set to star in a remake of ‘Annie’.
On her future, instead she said: “I want to just be what kids believe in.”