Abigail Breslin had no problem doing 'Kit Kittredge'

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No one had to twist little Abigail Breslin's arm when she was asked to take the lead role in "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl."The movie is based on a series of books and accompanying dolls whose various young heroines face crises in different American eras, blending historical fact and inspirational fiction in stories that encourage girls to embrace their dreams. The 12-year-old Breslin, best known for being one of the youngest Academy Award nominees ever two years ago for "Little Miss Sunshine," says she has read all the "Kit" books in this series, of which there are seven, and "I've collected all the dolls, so I'm a big fan."When they asked me to do the Kit movie I said, 'Yeah, she's one of my favorites.' So I was so excited."Breslin has been on the road for weeks promoting the film, which she made last summer in Toronto, although it is set in 1934 Cincinnati during the Great Depression. In Boston, she's seated at a big table in a hotel meeting room that makes her look even more petite than she is. Across from her is her mother, Kim, who accompanies her famous daughter on everything from movie shoots to press interviews.Kim laughs when asked whether she's paid by the studio when she accompanies her daughter or son, Spencer, who is appearing opposite Mark Wahlberg in "The Happening." "No, no, no," she protests with a chuckle. "Parents don't get paid for being on the set. They're parents. You don't get paid for being parents."Kit Kittredge takes place in a time that's not quite unlike ours, what with home foreclosures, rising unemployment, a falling stock market. So was Abigail, precocious and whip-smart as she seems, aware of the similarities to today while making the film? "I don't like to see anybody struggling," she responds indirectly. "But the thing I like about this movie is it's sort of about families pulling together."I think Kit is very brave. And one thing I like about her is she tries to share what she does have, even if it's not a lot. And she always tries to look at the positive. And I think that's pretty cool."She does admit that Kit, who visits a hobo jungle on the outskirts of the city to write a story about the homeless and later tracks down a gang of thieves, "is a lot more brave than I am.Abigail, despite her fame and her on-screen appearances with such heavy hitters as Alan Arkin and Toni Collette in "Little Miss Sunshine," Jodie Foster in "Nim's Island" and Ryan Reynolds in "Definitely Maybe," comes across as bright and unaffected.She's home-schooled by her mother and says she has lots of friends her age -- her cousins, the kids at her playground, the kids at her swimming pool, which she especially enjoys. "One of my friends, her mom is the lifeguard at the pool."When she's not on a movie set -- and "Kit Kittredge" had to be filmed in the tiny window of opportunity Abigail had last summer between other films -- she's says "I like to swim. I like to read. I like to talk on the phone. And, oh yeah, I like to video chat ... talk about lip glosses." She doesn't seem to be wearing any for this interview, but she protests that she had some on until it got washed away by her chocolate coffee drink from Starbucks.Besides Spencer, she has a brother, Ryan, who is in college studying political science. Her father is "in telecommunications." Kim adds that "We also have this 22-year-old son who was on summer break at one point and he went with her for a little while, which isn't a bad summer job from college when you get to hang out on a film set. Not bad."When she's not working, Abigail says a typical day is "I usually wake up when," she pauses, "whenever. That's the advantage of being home-schooled. You don't have to wake up early. And then I sort of do school, hang out, go swimming maybe.""The rules are different when they're working," chimes in Kim. "They have to have a tutor for three hours on the set." Although making "Kit Kittredge" took place last summer, "They still have to have a teacher on the set, even when school isn't in session." She explains that while the parent is there as the guardian, "the studio teachers are there for mediating with the production."And Abigail's favorite scenes in "Kit Kittredge"?"My favorite part was doing the newspaper scenes," she says without hesitation. Not because she has any great interest in writing, as Kit does, but "I just like them because Wallace Shawn is in them." Shawn, a character actor best known for his role in the art-house hit "My Dinner With Andre" and whose father, William Shawn, was a longtime editor of The New Yorker, plays the curmudgeonly editor of the Cincinnati Register in the film. "He's very funny. He's so sweet. Completely the opposite of his character," Abigail adds. "It was just fun."(mjanuson(at)projo.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)