Abigail Breslin and The Tribeca Film Festival Invade Westfield- Exclusive Interview With Abigail Breslin Included

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Westfield became Hollywood this past weekend, as The Rialto Theater welcomed
The Tribeca Film Festival. Celebrities in attendance included many of Hollywood’s best,
including the one and only Abigail Breslin. Breslin, who most notably played Olive
Hoover in the award-winning, “Little Miss Sunshine,” welcomed her new film, “Janie Jones,”
to the festival, in what many considered the highlight of a fun-filled weekend.

Arriving in a cream-colored dress, the 15-year-old exuded beauty and composure
of a woman far beyond her years. After just minutes talking, it became obvious that this
wasn’t Breslin’s first time in the Westfield area.

“My mom’s family is from here so Summit is like my second home,” Breslin
explained. “I come out to the Summit area every week or two, every Christmas Eve
and for a lot of Halloweens. Growing up close by, I’ve been to Westfield a bunch of
times.”

Abigail soon went on to talk about taking “Janie Jones” on the road and how her and
her family are so excited about it.

“As a New Yorker, it is so exciting for me to be a part of the Tribeca Film
Festival, but I think that it is really great to bring Tribeca to an area that doesn’t have
their own festival. This is a movie I am really proud of. I have a lot of family here tonight,
so I am really excited.”

When asked about the film, Breslin explained the relationship between her
character, the father and the bond that grows between the two throughout.

“I play Janie and she’s a girl who meets her dad for the first time when she’s a
teenager. She meets him because her mom is a drug addict, wants to get cleaned up
and abandons her at a bar that her dad is performing at,” Breslin explained. “He is this burnt-out rocker guy and she has to go on tour with him. They kind of bond through the fact that they are both singer/songwriters. That’s kind of what the movie is about. My songs were written by a girl named Gemma Hayes. So yea, it has been really fun.”

Breslin’s musical talents have been on display previously in “Little Miss Sunshine,”
when she gave her memorable dancing performance of “Super Freak.” Fans are eager to find if she has always wanted to be a singer as well as an actress and what the future holds musically.

“It’s not anything that I really ever thought of except I have done singing at the
church Christmas party and stuff like that. Other than that, this is my first experience with it. I taught myself guitar, then took more vocal lessons and now I have a band called Cabb with my best friend Cassidy.”

Before the start of the film, David Rosenthal, the director and writer of “Janie
Jones” revealed his inspiration for this uplifting film.

“I met my daughter for the first time when I was 30 and she was 11. When I saw
my daughter for the first time, my heart was racing. She walked out of her classroom, our eyes met and she just ran into my arms,” Rosenthal said. “From that moment to this moment right now we have been best friends. She changed my life and the way I experience love. It was just so clear that I had to tell a version of this story that had been burning inside me for so long.”

From beginning to end, the Tribeca Film Festival was a huge success and had an
opening night for the ages. The rest of the weekend included Q and A’s with actors such as Dennis Farina and Vincent D’Onofrio. Westfield and the rest of New Jersey sure hope that this is the start of a beautiful relationship with Tribeca.

Check out the interview with Abigail here: