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‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’s Quvenzhane Wallis To Play ‘Annie’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Sunday February 24, 2013 @ 10:59am PSTTags: Annie, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Big Deals Film, Quvenzhane Wallis, Sony Pictures
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Sony Pictures and Overbrook Entertainment have found their title character for Annie. They’ve set Oscar nominated Beasts Of The Southern Wild star Quvenzhane Wallis to play the role, in a film to be directed and produced by Will Gluck. Also producing are James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith producing through Overbrook, with Shawn “Jay Z” Carter, Jay Brown and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith through Marcy Media. That was the role that Willow Smith was going to play, but she grew out of it during the film’s long period of development. The contemporized re-imagining of the Broadway musical will shoot later this year for holiday 2014 release. Gluck, the helmer who directed Easy A and Friends With Benefits for Sony-based Screen Gems, signed on last month. Gluck has been revising a screenplay written by Emma Thompson and rewritten by Aline Brosh McKenna based on the musical and its book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin. That’s based on the Little Orphan Annie comic strip. Wallis is up for Best Actress today–youngest ever in that category–for her cute as a button portrayal as Hushpuppy in Beasts Of The Southern Wild. She was six when she made that film and is now nine, but is even more adorable, if that is possible. She’s repped by ICM Partners. Here is the official word from Sony:

Overbrook Entertainment, Marcy Media,  director Will Gluck and Sony Pictures Entertainment have cast Academy Award®  nominee Quvenzhané Wallis, the star of Beasts of the Southern Wild, in the title  role of Annie, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia  Pictures, and Hannah Minghella, president of Production for the studio. READ MORE »

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OSCARS: ‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ Score

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday December 4, 2012 @ 10:00pm PSTTags: Awardsline, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Oscars, Quvenzhane Wallis

David Mermelstein is an AwardsLine contributor.

Convincingly relating a child’s sense of wonder in a movie for grownups is never easy. But Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer managed it handily in the music for Beasts Of The Southern Wild, which Zeitlin also directed and co-wrote.

Set in the wetlands of the deep South immediately before a major storm (presumably Hurricane Katrina), the film combines expected musical choices—country fiddle, accordion—with some unconventional ones—celesta and pop-music beats—to create a satisfying gumbo rich in character, mood, and atmosphere.

Related: OSCARS: Behind The Scenes On ‘Beasts’

“I think the world looks down on these places,” Zeitlin says of his film’s setting. “I wanted to make this film about why people stay, about how beautiful and how much freedom there is in this culture. I want audiences to understand that places like this have found freedom and joy, and the music takes you there.” Read More »

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OSCARS Interview: Quvenzhané Wallis

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday November 23, 2012 @ 4:46pm PSTTags: Awardsline, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Oscars, Quvenzhane Wallis

Diane Haithman is an AwardsLine contributor.

Looking back at her audition for the lead role of Hushpuppy in Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Quvenzhané Wallis is able to put it all in perspective. “If you are a 5-year-old, you just go ahead and try something,” she observes. “You don’t think about it. You are just a little kid.” Of course, she’s older and wiser now. She’s 9.

Today, Wallis, pretty in pink sequins and skinny jeans, is offering this thoughtful career overview in the elegant lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Her mom, Qulyndreia Wallis, is seated on a nearby sofa, but young Wallis fields questions about her first acting role all by herself. Read More »

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OSCARS: Behind The Scenes On ‘Beasts’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday November 9, 2012 @ 11:40pm PSTTags: Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Oscars, Quvenzhane Wallis

Diane Haithman is an AwardsLine contributor
It’s not that independent filmmaker Benh Zeitlin, 30, and his team at Court 13 Productions had nothing to lose when they set out to produce Beasts of the Southern Wild, Zeitlin’s first feature film. But with a miniscule budget somewhere between $1.5 million and $1.8 million, they could afford to take a few more risks than a Hollywood producer hoping to turn a profit on a $200 million action film.
On the risky side: Casting two Louisiana locals with zero acting experience in the lead roles—one a 6-year-old—and dressing up a crew of little pot-bellied pigs to represent a herd of giant prehistoric Aurochs. These boar-like beasts bedevil the imagination of Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), an independent little girl in white rubber boots who defies nature to try to save her ailing father (portrayed by Dwight Henry, a baker and restaurateur in real life) and her bayou home during a raging Katrina-like storm. (“They are about the cutest thing in the world when you see them live,” Zeitlin says of the little porkers).  Read More »

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ICM Partners Signs ‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ Cutie Quvenzhane Wallis

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday August 22, 2012 @ 1:00pm PDTTags: Beasts Of The Southern Wild, ICM Partners, Quvenzhane Wallis
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: ICM Partners has signed Quvenzhane Wallis, who captivated the Sundance and Cannes Film festivals earlier this year starring as Hushpuppy in the Benh Zeitlin-directed Beasts Of The Southern Wild. The film, which was acquired by Fox Searchlight, … Read More »

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