Movies - TV
How Alan Arkin Sheltered Abigail Breslin From Little Miss Sunshine's Adult Language
By WALTER ROBERTS
It's sometimes hard to comprehend whether child actors in R-rated films can be shielded from the adult themes in the films that surround them. However, during the making of the R-rated dark comedy “Little Miss Sunshine,” Abigail Breslin would simply put on a pair of headphones whenever profanity in the script was acted out.
If it weren't for her co-stars, the headphones might have been little more than a prop, but in one scene involving actor Alan Arkin as the family's foul-mouthed and estranged grandfather, Arkin insisted Breslin cover her ears. In 2006, MovieFone reported that Breslin was listening to Kelly Clarkson's music in her headphones during filming and not just wearing them for show.
When Breslin appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in October 2021 to retell the story, she clarified that Arkin “would always check to make sure that I had the headphones on, and was actually listening to music. So I was listening to [Kelly Clarkson's] Breakaway album. I'm listening to, like, 'You Found Me.’”