TALENTED NEWCOMER MCKENNA GRACE TAKES
TITULAR ROLE IN “GIFTED”
An impressive
ensemble of actors led by Chris Evans along with Oscar winner Octavia Spencer,
Lindsay Duncan and Jenny Slate support young multi-talented actress McKenna
Grace as she takes on the titular role in director Marc Webb’s “Gifted.”
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| Photo credit: 20th Century Fox |
Evans plays Frank
Adler, uncle and guardian of Mary (Grace) in “Gifted” who both lead normal
lives until Evelyn (Duncan), Frank’s mom and Mary’s grandmother, decides to
take custody of her grandchild. Frank’s
sister entrusted him to raise Mary after she died for fear that her daughter
might also be subjected to the pressures she’s been through as a prodigy. But as soon as Evelyn finds out about Mary’s intellectual
state, Frank finds himself in a custody battle to keep Mary under his care.
On finding the
right child-actor, director Webb insists there was a good reason for the
massive search: “I couldn’t have made “Gifted” unless I found the right Mary
Adler. It was the biggest hurdle to making the movie. There’s an emotional
depth and sophistication you don’t see very often in an actor, but for a child,
that’s a level of
virtuosity that is incredibly rare.”
Mckenna remembers
it was very stressful meeting Marc Webb for the first time. “They had given me
the wrong sides (scenes) to read, so he just gave them to me in the hallway. I
had five minutes to memorize them. But once the audition was over, we just
talked and had a fun time. I wanted this movie more than any movie I’ve ever
wanted.” She says that she and Webb “had
an amazing connection together. He was the perfect director for this job
because we needed someone with a big, caring, loving, heart. He let me take my
time when there was a crying scene. I would walk in, and he’d sit by the camera
and he would cry with me, so then I didn’t really feel alone.”
Mckenna says she
also learned a lot from working with Evans. “He was very focused on the set,
and sometimes he would sit down and help me with my script.” Evans treated her
“more like a friend, like he treats Mary. I really like that he treated me that
way, except he did try not to say bad words around me.”
Mckenna proves
that she has a different kind of perspective, genius or not. When asked what
the message in “Gifted” means to her, she gives a most moving and simple
answer: “At the end of the day, no one can tell you if your family is perfect
or not. You may just have a mom, or you may just live with your daddy, or two
moms and two dads, or you may live with your grandparents, or you may have an
uncle like Mary does. People say that the perfect family has to have a mom and
dad, a big amazing house and a lot of money. But as long as you have a loving,
caring person that you live with, then I think that’s perfect for you.”
“Gifted” opens May 3 in cinemas
nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
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