One of my most favorite parts of going on press trips is getting to interview the actors. I can honestly say that getting the opportunity to interview Ruby Barnhill (she plays Sophie in BFG (aff)) was amazing. She is around my kids' ages, so I automatically feel like protecting her LOL. That being said, she is wise beyond her years. In all the press interviews that we did for this trip, everyone she worked with told us how absolutely wonderful she was. She immediately lights up any room she walks into.
One of the first questions we asked her was how she found out she got the part. I loved her response:
When I heard that I got part, I was so, so happy. I literally thought, well, from the look on my mom and dad’s faces, I thought it was going to be news. They were literally like jumping up and down, they were so excited. They said, “Ruby, Ruby, here’s the phone for you. Here’s the phone for you. ” I was like “okay”, because I thought they were pretending, like they were trying to trick me or something. I didn’t know what was going on. Then Nina Gold said to me, “Ruby, how old are you?” I’m like I’m ten. She then said, “oh, well, that’s a shame. ” I asked “why is it a shame?”, and she said “because you’re not gonna be able to drink champagne when everyone’s celebrating, because you got the part!” I was so happy and my Nana bought me 100 balloons!
It was so great. I was so excited, because I always wanted to be an actress since I was like three or four. My dad’s an actor, I’d watched plays of his. It was really, really amazing for me to experience that.
It was amazing to hear her tell us that story. You could still hear the excitement in her voice! We also asked her what it was like working with Steven:
It’s so amazing. I’ve learned so much not only about acting and directing, but also about life in general. One of the things that I’ll remember is that I struggle with making mistakes. My art teacher told me that whenever you make a mistake you panic. You mustn’t feel like that, because everybody makes mistakes and it’s fine.
Steven really helped me realize that it’s okay to make mistakes and that nobody minds it at all. Even if you have to do like 100 takes nobody would mind. That was one thing I learned, and it was amazing. I had a great time, so it was great.
We then asked Ruby about how she felt about becoming a new kind of Disney hero. Her first response was:
Wow. I never thought of it that way.
Then she went on to say:
It’s so exciting, because a lot of Disney films now have very strong female leads andit’s really great to be a part of that. It’s really cool, because I’ve watched like Disney my whole life.
I was in the cinema, and we saw the BFG (aff) trailer and all the kids — (nobody knew it was me obviously), but all of the kids behind us were like, oh, that looks so good. We’re gonna go see that. It's really nice to know that people are gonna enjoy it, and appreciate it.
We also asked her about her favorite part about being in the movie:
I think my favorite part of just making the film was being able to come on set every day and see everyone. It was really nice, because I got to act every single day which I had wanted to do my whole life. That was really, really great. I also got to be with Steven and Mark (Rylance) every day. It was always so exciting. It’s just there’s such a magical feeling on set.
It’s great to be part of a film that has such a warming and meaningful story.
She loved making the film just as much as we all loved watching it! If you haven't seen the trailer yet, make sure you watch this!
BFG is in the theaters July 1st! Make sure you go check out Ruby as Sophie and The BFG!