The producers of Little Miss Sunshine could not have imagined that the approximately eight million dollars invested in the filming of this dramedy would turn into one of the biggest box office hits of the season.
Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival founded by the late Robert Redford, the movie made history by securing the largest distribution rights deal in its history.100 million dollars.
This road movie focuses on Olive Hoover, a girl who doesn't fit the traditional beauty pageant standards but has been selected for the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. Her dysfunctional family accompanies her from Albuquerque to California in a camper.
On the 20th anniversary of its release, we remember Abigail Breslin (30) who at 9 years old brought this character to life that not only won the audience's hearts but also the Academy's, as she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The other protagonists were Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin.
Although she achieved international fame thanks to this film, Abigail started in the industry at the age of three in a Toys R Us commercial, one of the world's largest toy companies. Her next role, as one of the main characters, was in the movie Signs (2002), where at 6 years old, she was already acting alongside Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix.
Despite the passage of time, Abigail does not mind being still associated with Olive Hoover because "I would never want to distance myself from her. She opened so many doors for me and gave me so many opportunities that it's the reason I am where I am today," she has confessed on several occasions.
The movie portrays an issue that is still relevant today, which is fitting into the beauty standards of the time. In some scenes, Olive can be seen desperately trying to conform to those beauty standards to win the pageant. The story personally impacted the actress, making her feel quite inhibited in her daily life due to her appearance.
In an episode of the podcast Vulnerable with Christy Carlson Romano in 2024, Abigail confessed that the filming emotionally harmed her because "I had moments of deep insecurity when I saw all the other girls in the beauty pageant because I thought, 'Am I the ugly one?'"
In her daily life, she faced pressure to be perfect. At 13, she was diagnosed with anxiety and, in an act of bravery, the actress revealed that at 15, she was diagnosed with bulimia and anorexia because she always wanted to fit the perfect image that Hollywood has always sought.
The industry's pressure, as well as negative comments about her physical appearance, affected her self-esteem from a very young age. Therefore, Breslin has been very critical in public when different advertising campaigns have promoted a negative body image.
In October 2022 - the month of awareness about sexual assault in the United States - the former child prodigy revealed that she had been raped by one of her partners.
On her Instagram, she wrote: "You are not obligated to have sex with someone you are in a relationship with. Dating someone is not consent. Marriage is not consent." It was two years of almost indescribable suffering.
"He would hit me regularly, lock me in rooms, and make me act like everything was fine and normal while I was severely injured... The physical injuries were accompanied by a multitude of humiliations, belittling, and severe verbal abuse," she recounted. As a result of that incident, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Fortunately, that same month, she started dating Russian businessman Ira Kunyansky, whom she married in January 2023 and still considers her soulmate. For now, the couple does not have children.
In the past, Abigail dated musician Jack Barakat and actors Tom Sturridge and Freddie Highmore.