Addy at Secret Life of Bees

Ok, let me start at the beginning. Addy auditioned for a role in an upcoming movie on Monday, January 7th. It took the whole day to drive to and from Wilmington, but they said they were impressed with her and we felt it was worth the experience. Then on Friday, January 11th, we got a phone call that they really liked Addy and wanted to cast her and another little girl in the role. So we reported to an onsite shooting location in Lumberton, NC on Sunday.
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Upon arriving, we were shown to Addy's room, which you will see pictured here below. It wasn't anything big, but it had her name on the door and that was cool enough for us. Then we were hustled back and forth from the actual set (an old farm house) to the back lot which is shown below (actually set up in a cow pasture - which still had cows!). Then we got to see the producers and directors on the set, and they told us they wanted to cut her hair! Here Addy is with Paul Bettany, a pretty famous actor that has been in a lot of films. He came over to comfort her after getting 6 inches of her hair cut off. I wish now I had actually asked for a picture with him, but think it is neat to see him in the moment with my daughter. Here he is telling her about his two sons. Paul Bettany plays T. Ray Owens, Lily Owens father. We also met the mother (actress Hilarie Burton from One Tree Hill) whom plays Deborah Owens.

Ok, Addy is playing the role of Young Lily Owens from the book "The Secret Life of Bees", which is being made into a movie to be released in 2009. Lily Owens is played by Dakota Fanning, and Addy is her as a young child as she remembers back to when her mom was alive. The role of Young Lily Owens is actually being played by two little girls, Addy (8 years old) and Emily (5 years old). Here you see Emily when she came back from her shots in the movie. From what we understand, Emily is the body of Young Lily Owens, and Addy is the face. **Emily's mom is Barbara Alyn Woods who plays Deb Scott on One Tree Hill.** Emily's dad is John Lind, a director/producer.

Ok, while hanging out waiting for them to call for Addy, we finally see Dakota Fanning. She came over and met Addy, they small talked, then I got this picture. Through out the evening, whenever Addy would see Dakota she would say hi. She is such a sweet girl!!

Here is Addy in costume in front of her door to her little room. If you look above the star, you will see it says "Lily-4 yr - Addy".

We have now arrived on the set for her actually shooting. When we arrived we found out that it was actually going to be a bunch of still shots of Young Lily Owens scared and terrorized by her dad. Here is the old house that all this filming is done in. Also in the fields are a bunch of fake peach trees with fake peaches on them. We are on a real orchard farm, but all the trees are bare. On the way into the house, Addy walked past Dakota Fanning, and she said "Hi Addy"! She remembered Addy's name! How cool was that!

I got a quick snapshot of Addy at the scene location. To her right is a "closet" where all her shots are being taken. It is actually a doorway that they made into a closet. In the back ground is a big time producer Lauren Shuler Donner. She was the producer in charge of everything Addy did. She was very impressed with how Addy delivered exactly what they needed. To tell you the truth, so was I.

After Addy was done, she got put into a director's chair to watch them shoot one of Dakota's scenes. In this scene, Dakota is closing the front door, then running off the porch into the orchard. It is freezing cold, but they make it look like summer, and the orchard is fake. I just can't wait to see that in the movie theater. What you don't see in this picture is the HUGE big time director sitting right next to Addy. We didn't realize that it was Gina Prince Bythewood - THE director of this film. She actually leaned over and spoke to Addy at one time, but we don't know what she said. You can see the name of the movie on the back of the chair.

Here are the girls in between scenes. We are actually getting ready to leave, but couldn't resist this opportune moment to get a picture with both of them next to each other talking and in chairs with the name of the movie. Again, Dakota is such a nice girl!!

If you look at the picture above, you will see a note in Addy's hand that Dakota wrote for her. It was the Assistant Director's idea, and we absolutely loved it. I just can't say enough how well they treated Addy like gold. It was worth the experience, even for such a small role. Look below and you can see the note and autograph she gave Addy.

Well this concludes my brief account of our day yesterday on the set of a movie. We did a lot of sitting around and waiting, and we had no idea how many people it takes just to do one scene, and how many times they do it over and over. It was a real experience for Jon and me too.
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Oh yeah, also in the movie are stars Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keyes. Will Smith is also one of the producers, but he was not there for these scenes.