Q&A: Our Five-Year-Old Correspondent Interviews the Stars of ‘Annie’

When it came time to chat with Annie stars Quvenzhané Wallis (Annie) and Jamie Foxx (Mr. Stacks), we thought we’d turn to our junior correspondent, five-year-old Zoe, whose love of all things Annie knows no bounds. Zoe watched the new movie (in theaters December 19) and then met its stars for a chat about all the important things… according to a five-year-old, that is.

Since Zoe is just learning how to read and write, the following was transcribed by her father, our Contributing Editor, Erik Davis.

Hi, my name is Zoe and I LOVE Annie. I’ve watched the first movie a gazillion times and I know all the songs by heart. In the new movie, Annie is played by Quvenzhané Wallis, who is super nice. I also really like Mr. Stacks, who is really funny and played by Jamie Foxx. I don’t understand why he spells his name with two X’s instead of one X – because that’s how you’re sposed to spell "Fox" – but we’ll get to that.

In the movie, Annie runs all over New York City because it gets her places faster. When I went to interview her in New York City my dad wouldn’t let us run because it was too far. So, instead, we took the subway…

See, that’s me on the subway.

And we also took a taxi. New York City is full of them!

See, that’s me hailing a taxi.

Finally, we arrived at a really fancy hotel where we got to sit down with Annie and Mr. Stacks and ask them all kinds of questions. So of course my first question was…

Fandango: Why does Annie get to run all over New York City by herself?

Quvenzhané Wallis: Well, because she’s a foster kid, and Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz) isn’t taking really good care of her. She’s just running around, having fun. That’s what she does every day – it’s just something that she does after school.

Fandango: How did you get the part of Annie?

Wallis: I met with some of the producers and we did some stuff for Annie. And then the director, Will Gluck, called me and asked me if I wanted to play Annie, and I said yes. Then I hung up and started jumping up and down!

Fandango: How do you know when a scene is good enough to keep in the movie?

Wallis: When there are no mistakes, and no one is yelling out, ‘Hey there’s Jamie Foxx! There’s Annie!’ When your lines are perfect and the motion is perfect, that’s when you know.

Fandango: What’s your favorite Annie song?

Wallis: My favorite song is “I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here.”

Jamie Foxx: And my favorite is “Tomorrow…” The sun’ll come out, you know. What’s your favorite song?

Fandango: My favorite is the first one, “Maybe.” I like how you used flashlights in the scene and you were thumping your hands on your chest – I thought that was cool.

Foxx [to Wallis]: Yeah I think that was the one where you made me cry…

Wallis [to Foxx]: Yeah, it was “Maybe.”

Foxx [to Wallis]: Right at the beginning of the movie and you had me crying….

Fandango: What’s something in Mr. Stacks’ awesome house that you wish you had in your house?

Wallis: All of it! I love the hand sensor in the elevator – how you can only open the door using the hand sensor. And when you walked in, the water popped up. That was awesome.

Foxx: Yeah that whole building is down by Ground Zero, the new World Trade Center, and that apartment they specifically designed for this movie. And man, I would love to have that apartment. That probably cost $400 million…

Wallis: More than that!

Fandango: I love that apartment! My favorite part of the trailer is when Annie is in the kitchen and she holds up an orange and says, “Orange you glad I’m back!”

Wallis: I love that part! That line wasn’t even in the script – [director] Will Gluck threw me that line while we were shooting it.

Fandango: This one is for Mr. Stacks, Jamie Foxx. How come you spell your name with two X’s instead of one X? Because you know "Fox" is spelled with only one X, right?

Wallis: Ooohh, I wanna hear this answer! Cause, yeah, fox is definitely spelled with one X.

Foxx: Well, there is a gentleman by the name of Red Foxx, who I’m sure your father is very familiar with. He was an incredible comedian who did this show called Sanford & Son. He spells his name Red Foxx, with two X’s. When I changed my name from Eric Bishop to Jamie Foxx, I said ‘Put that extra ‘X’ on the end of it cause that might give it a little somethin’ special.’ So that’s why I did it.

Fandango: Miss Hannigan is really mean to Annie and her friends. How do you handle people who are mean to you in real life?

Wallis: How I deal with all the mean stuff is that I just don’t listen to it cause who likes mean stuff – everyone likes positive stuff. So, yeah, don't listen to anyone who's mean to you because you're beautiful. They should be calling you nothing but nice names.

Fandango: I love how much of New York City is in the movie. What’s your favorite thing to do in New York City?

Wallis: The first time I came here, I went to Times Square. There were all these lights everywhere and it just felt like it had everything in it. I love going there whenever I'm in the city.

Foxx: I love riding down Chelsea Piers on a bicycle and being able to just zip through the city. That’s a whole lotta fun.

Fandango: In the movie Annie is learning how to read. I’m learning how to read right now, so what are some good tips for kids who are trying to read for the first time?

Wallis: Well when I was learning how to read, it was while I was making the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild… so that was kinda hard, but I got through it. The best way to learn is to just sound out your words and letters as much as you can. I do it myself when I don’t know a word or a word is too difficult, so I just sound it out and I find my way through it.

Fandango: Okay, my last question… can I take a picture with you to bring to my Kindergarten’s "Show & Tell"?

Wallis: Of course! Of course you can come take a picture with me!