Elise & Nikki at the Ender’s Game experience at Comic Con. Flying through space n’ shizz
We had a cool opportunity with our friends at Fangirlish to sit down for a one-on-one with Hailee Steinfeld (who plays Petra Arkanian) a few weeks ago. We talk her hairstyle, what she’s obsessed with and even a little bit about the movie’s she’s in!
Interview with Hailee Steinfeld
Q: What made you decide to get bangs?
Hailee: I had them when I was younger. I took in a couple pictures and I was like I want bangs and I want them to look exactly like that. I think I was 12 or 13. I brought in these pictures and I was like I want it to look just like that, not realizing that I didn’t have the same hair that the girl in the magazine did. I was really disappointed when I got home, then the next day when I had to do them myself. So I let them grow out. I have kind of just been having this thing where I have wanted them for awhile. I am doing a film with Kyle Newman called Barely Lethal and we decided give the character a little bit of (points up at bangs).
Q: I am excited about Barely Lethal.
Hailee: Thanks, me too. I am fight training right now, and I can’t move. We’ve got an incredible cast coming together. So ya, I kinda just wanted my character in this film to look a little different.
Q: Do you relate to your character in Ender’s Game in any way?
Hailee: I do. I think one of the main similarities is that my character in this film is placed in this world where she has to act to like an adult. And in someways, where I never acted like an adult, you know I am in this world where there are a lot of adults and a lot of time it’s called for to be more mature then I am. There is a lot of that. So I think that is definitely a similarity. Just sort of finding your way. Petra is constantly having to mask any sort of feeling that she has of wanting to youthful or innocent or sad or anything. Any of those emotions she constantly has to sort of mask. I don’t have to do that thankfully. The closest similarity in terms of that is just sort of finding yourself.
Q: If you could play any other character in the movie, who would it be?
Hailee: l love Bonzo. I think the interesting thing about that character is he does somethings that you know he doesn’t want to do, but he does it anyways. He does it out of confusion and does it out of instinct and Moises Arias does it so well. There’s Ender – I mean I don’t know that I would want to play any other role because they have been done so well. Ya, I don’t know. Maybe Coronel Graff. That would be kind of cool.
Q: Do you think that the story would have played out differently if Ender was a girl?
Hailee: In what way? Just in General?
Q: Just in general.
Hailee: I think it could play out differently. I don’t know that it would play too differently, because the circumstances are still the same. They are so strict and so exact that there is no room for it to change regardless of gender. I think that is what is so interesting. My character has this nice balance of softness and feminism within that group of guys. That’s a really interesting question. I think it would play out as differently as it could.
Q: What are you currently obsessed with?
Hailee: Baking.
Q: Seriously?
Hailee: Seriously!
Q: What do you like to bake?
Hailee: Everything. I will go on the internet and try to find the most complicated thing ever and spend hours in the kitchen baking really yummy stuff, and I eat all of it.
Bekah taking her spaceship flying duties very seriously at the Ender’s Game experience at Comic Con
Q: What kind of music do you listen to?
Hailee: I listen to everything. My brother, who is 19- we’ve listened to a lot of classic rock. A lot of pop and R&B, and a little bit of rap. A little bit of everything. I am into it all.
Q: Are there any scenes that you guys filmed that didn’t make the final cut that you wish would have:
Hailee: I don’t think so. But there were so many outtakes that I want to see more then the film. Not even kidding. We had so many moments, from dogpiling on wires in the air at the end of a rig or being on the practical sets and forgetting lines and just cracking up laughing. There is so much that went on like that and I would love to see it all.
Q: I was lucky enough to visit the set, it was so beautiful.
Hailee: It really was. It is amazing to think how practical these sets are, but they are so futuristic. The way that they were done, the way that they are, they are so beautiful.
Q: I have to say you have blossomed since set. When I first met you I thought, oh she’s so young, and now I am like she’s more mature then I am.
Hailee: No. (laughs) It’s been over a year. Almost two years. It’s been a long time. And it’s funny to see, you know everyone around you grow up – in those three to four months, let alone from then to now. I think our reunion that is just about to happen at the premiere will be pretty exciting, just to see everybody, and be together again.
Q: Did you keep intouch with a lot of people?
Hailee: Oh ya. I see Moises all the time. Khylin and Aramis I talk to. Asa and I have been traveling everywhere together. I talk to Abby. And that is what is so cool too. Having worked with friends my age, I walked away with some of my best friends. I think that’s pretty cool.
The Fab 4 about to enter the spaceship/Ender’s Game/I’m still confused about what this was…
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you have received from someone in this business?
Hailee: I have received so much advice from so many talented people, that I find different pieces of advice will come up at different times. One that I have gotten from more then one person has been as simple as have fun. I don’t take anything too seriously. I constantly remind myself of that because it’s so easy to get to wrapped up in all this stuff, and take yourself too seriously, and you forget to have fun. I like to go by that.
Q: What’s one life lesson that you took away from Ender’s Game?
Hailee: The Importance of Team Work. I have been home schooled since sixth grade and I remember being in the classroom and being paired with people for a project or something like that. But with Ender’s Game – having met the guys a couple of weeks before we started filming and over the course of the three month shoot, we just became this team. It was incredible and it comes through on screen. The fact that we were in this together – we’re all away from home and we’re all experiencing the same thing at the same time. I think that’s just a really important thing to have. A good source of communication and a sense of team.
Ender’s Game is in theaters TODAY 11/1/2013
Thanks to Erin at Fangirlish for the pics & for covering the interview alone because sometimes you get a migraine & want to die, ya know?
