'Beasts of the Southern Wild' stars' own magical realism - Los Angeles Times

To find those performers, the "Beasts" casting department followed the canvassing model employed by President Obama (several members of the team even worked on his 2008 election). But even as they spread their net far and wide, the casting agents and producers struggled to land leading players. After looking at some 4,000 children for the role of Hushpuppy, the team encountered Quvenzhané in a meeting room in the main branch of the Terrebonne Parish Library in Houma, a little more than an hour southwest of New Orleans. The audition notice called for girls ages 6 to 9, but Quvenzhané was only 5 at the time. Quvenzhané, who had been a part of a Christmas musical at her elementary school but had little other performing experience, showed up anyway.  

Read the whole article at LATimes.

She’s the Man of This Swamp - New York Times

Played by Quvenzhané Wallis, an untrained sprite who holds the camera’s attention with a charismatic poise that might make grown-up movie stars weep in envy, Hushpuppy is an American original, a rambunctious blend of individualism and fellow feeling. In other words, she is the inheritor of a proud literary and artistic tradition, following along a crooked path traveled by Huckleberry Finn, Scout Finch, Eloise (of the Plaza), Elliott (from “E.T.”) and other brave, wild, imaginary children. These young heroes allow us, vicariously, to assert our innocence and to accept our inevitable disillusionment when the world falls short of our ideals and expectations. Read the entire article at NYTimes.

Ray Tintori's Death to the Tinman

http://youtu.be/hOyLeuFN4z8 Ray Tintori is the mad genius who transformed baby pigs into mythical Aurochs for Beasts. Tintori and the Court 13 crew made Death to the Tin Man in 2007 as his undergraduate thesis film for Wesleyan University's Film Studies program. The film is an epic Southern adaptation of the Tin Man's origin story from the Wizard of Oz.

BOTSW Director Benh Zeitlin's UStream Q&A

On Saturday, August 4th, we hosted a live Q&A with BOTSW Director Benh Zeitlin. Benh fielded questions submitted by Facebook and Twitter fans of the film, giving an intimate look at the film's language, character, history and his living room.

Beasts of the Southern Food

video via Fox Searchlight

"Q: What was your favorite part of working on the film?"

"Quvenzané: Whenever the seafood came."

In the Bathtub, as with the rest of the South, food is a big deal!  Cooking and eating are as much about about community, love and celebration as sustenance.  From the crawfish boils to Hushpuppy's name to Dwight's being discovered as a result of running the Buttermilk Drop Bakery right across from the Court 13 production offices, food is at the core of Beasts.

image via the Amateur Gourmet

Beasts writer Lucy Alibar spoke to the Amateur Gourmet about the role that food played in both her upbringing and the film.

So you named the main character Hushpuppy. Is there anything about an actual hush puppy that speaks to her character or was it just a fun name?

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” is based on a play I wrote called “Juicy and Delicious,” following these two characters as they face the end of the known world. Hushpuppy’s dad talks about how after Hushpuppy was born, he and Hushpuppy’s mom couldn’t think of a name, so they called their baby “Big Fat Baby”. And then Hushpuppy’s mamma suggests the name “Hushpuppy”, because “a hushpuppy is a small, warm, stupid, good little thing.”

Read the whole thing here.